Library Day

Every Tuesday, rain or shine, this crew goes to the library. It's the way we've done things for a long time now and it's the only way we manage to get most of our books back on time. I can't lie to you and say that we never have to pay a fine for overdue books, but we do pretty well for a family of 6 bookworms (I'm counting M. as a bookworm-wannabe). When we do pay fines, we do it in a big way--I believe we personally funded a new wing on the library Back Home.

We've worked out a pretty good strategy for our library experience. First, lug in bags of books to slide in the book return and then split up to cover ground more efficiently. Now, before I get scolded for leaving my children unsupervised in the library, let me explain that I stick with M. in the children's section, having long ago given up any hope of looking at books for myself. M. and I put together puzzles, talk on the play phones, work with the flannel board, and chat with other toddlers and moms. E. heads downstairs to the adult nonfiction section to gather armloads of books on animal topics--dog breeds and behavior mostly, these days. My two "middles" have their favorite sections close to where I'm sitting so they are free to come and go, using me as "home base". N. currently majors in Presidents and Dinosaurs, while K. majors in American Girl books. Sometimes, when E. has finished looking, she relieves me so I can take a quick run through the magazine section (just about all my short attention span and even shorter free-time allow).

Now, to the front desk to check-out our books. I have the younger kids' library cards in my purse so I dole out cards and books to each of them, while M. weaves between poles, tries to play with the automatic doors, and generally makes a nuisance of himself, to the accompaniment of constant scolding and nagging to stay close to Mama. This exhausts and exasperates me and E. so we are glad to put the experience behind us and gather the troops for the ride home. Sometimes we stop by the "Scary Librarian" statue grouping outside before heading to the car, because my younger kids never get tired of pretending to listen to the story she's reading and putting "bunny ears" behind her.

Back home, I need time to recover and the kids are excited about their new books so it's a perfect chance to let everybody wander off to their rooms for some quiet reading before jumping back into regular schoolwork.

The photos are pretty representative of our every Tuesday experience, but I did want to point out that I accidentally captured M. mid-jump on our way to the van; which is, after all, pretty representative of the M. experience!

Later Days!
Kelly

P.S. Are you happier that there were grandkid pictures today?