A Fun Couple of Days!

There was no school in our district for the past two days, and we couldn't've asked for better weather. After the rain ended yesterday morning, I took the kids (Isaac, Allison, and Brock) to Kids' Crossing, a park with a huge wooden playstructure that the kids can run around in. Since other area schools were in session, we practically had the place to ourselves!

Today we went to garage sales in beautiful Mt. Horeb in the morning and had lunch at a McDonald's with an outdoor playplace. Brock had a moment of personal triumph when he overcame his fear and crossed the suspension bridge. Isaac helped Brock go halfway across and then he went the rest of the way by himself. Another time, he climbed high up and was freaked out about climbing back down. I was really proud of Allison for using encouraging words to help him down little by little. I was really proud of all of them. Having all three kids together added a fun dynamic. Both boys get to play alone with Allison often but not with each other as much. It was a lot of fun.

Here are some pictures. For some strange reason, blogger put them in reverse order and I don't have time to rearrange them. To view them in chronological order, start with the bottom photo and go up. Enjoy! :)

Happy New Year!

It's been awhile since I last wrote. Here's what's been going on in the Bentz household.

• I registered Allie for Kindergarten this week. We went to the District Office to drop off the forms and I turned to Allie and said, "That's it. You're now registered for Kindergarten!" Allie jumped up and down and said,"Hooray! Can I ride on the bus with Isaac tomorrow?" I told her, "Not yet. You have to finish preschool first and then you'll go to Kindergarten in the Fall."
• We are under a Wind Chill Warning from 6pm tonight (Wed.) through noon Friday. Area schools are expected to be cancelled. Tomorrow's high is minus 5 degrees and the wind chills are expected to be between 35 and 45 below zero. Even if school isn't cancelled, I'm keeping Isaac home!
• Isaac and I went to Cub Scouts last night. He decorated some lovely votive candleholders and colored a page that showed the Food Guide Pyramid. Afterwards we went to the library to get some books and videos to ward off any cabin fever we might get in the next few days.
• Last Friday we had friends over to watch our favorite TV show "Psych" and play a board game called Settlers of Catan, which I got for Christmas. We had a great time. The game went for an hour or two and we opened a bottle of wine which I got for Christmas from Dad and Diane. It was good red wine from Steuben County, IN, called 101 Lakes.
• Allie has her first eye doctor appointment coming up in a week or two. It's not required for addmission to Kindergarten, but they strongly recommend it. I'm curious to see what her vision is, because we're forever telling her to back away from the tv.
• Isaac seems to be doing well in school. He's reading at a 2nd grade level. I wish he enjoyed reading as much as I do. I can only get him to read the books he brings home for homework. Otherwise, he wants me to read to him. I bought him some chapter books recently to try to peak his interest. Some of them are simplified versions of books like "Treasure Island" and there's also a book about the history of chocolate, which he loved.
• I have an appoinment with my ear doctor in a few weeks to test my hearing and talk about whether I qualify for ear surgery yet. In case you forgot or didn't know, I have a dead bone in my ear that needs to be replaced when my hearing gets bad enough. Aside from temporary hearing loss from my headcold and allergies, I haven't noticed any dramatic hearing loss, so I'll be surprised if I qualify for surgery yet.
• I just finished cleaning the kids' toilet upstairs, a job I hate. Brock had an accident, which is rare and totally fine and understandable. There was pee on the floor and on the sides of the bowl, which I cleaned up. While I was there, I cleaned the toilet and the walls and floor around it because Isaac keeps missing the mark. I'm so glad I painted the walls with semi-gloss paint! Cleaning that toilet would be so much easier if he made the mark.
• I've enjoyed seeing my Mapes aunts and uncles and cousins on Facebook recently. If you don't know what Facebook is, it's a social networking website. I've been in better contact with them lately than I ever have been. What a blessing it's been to get to know my family all over again. Many of them live in the Fort Wayne area. Others live all over: Southern Indiana, San Diego, Seattle, Tucson, Ft. Sill, OK, Phoenix, and Arkansas. I've also been able to reconnect with old friends from high school and college who I thought I would never see again.
• I'm currently reading a large volume of short stories about the fictional detective Sherlock Holmes by Arthur Conan Doyle, as well as "Memoirs of a Mangy Lover" by Groucho Marx. It's not Groucho's best work; I far prefer his autobiography called "Groucho and Me," which I own a copy of and read it over and over again because it's so funny. Back to Sherlock Holmes. The stories are very interesting and often have plot twists. The stories take place in London in the late 1800's. If you know me, you know that I love English literature before 1900. They have a way of writing with such wordy conciseness (an oxymoron, I know) and they sometimes use big words that stretch one's vocabularly. Perhaps later this year I'll look into Charles Dickens' books too.
• Time to go read to Brock and Allie before naptime. Brock usually sleeps from 2 to 3:30. Allie usually stays up and plays quietly. Today, I may have her take a nap because she's been such a grouch. Wish me luck! :)

Kids in the Pool

We've had hot weather this week in Southcentral Wisconsin. Temps in the high '80's. All three kids, Isaac, Allison, and Brock (read below for his introduction) enjoyed the pool for about 30 minutes today. They were good and worn out for naptime.

The bugs have been terrible around here. The moment you step outside, you get a dozen mosquitoes, grasshoppers, and bees swirling around your head. The spiders must be having a field day with so much to eat. The grasshoppers are the size of my little finger. I can hardly stand to take the kids outside at the moment. I wonder how long it will be until it frosts...a month? Right now our overnight temps are in the 50's. I'm SO ready for Fall! A small number of trees are already showing some color at the very tops. Mmmm... I can almost smell that Fall air already.

We had a cricket on our carpet last night. It was almost funny watching Shane attempt to swat it. If you've ever tried to use a flyswatter on carpet, you'll know what I mean. It wasn't working. He swats, it jumps; he swats, it jumps; etc, for five minutes. Looking back, it was funny, but at the time, I was really squeamish. To me, crickets are worse than spiders. They kinda look like spiders, but they jump unpredictably. That freaks me out.

Introducing...the adorable Brock

Here are some pictures of Brock, the adorable 2-year-old I babysit full-time. We played with the doctor kit while Allie went to preschool. He especially liked the stethoscope and hearing himself say, "boom-boom, boom-boom" through it.