We're going down to the Library

I absolutely LOVE the library. I have loved it since I was little. My mom would take my little brother and I to get as many books as we ever wanted. I loved (and still love) the smell of new library books. I specifically remember the smell from when I was little. You know how smells can be the strongest link to a memory...

I'm hoping Cam and Bren will be as enchanted with it as I always have been. I took them to story time for the first time ever. This is the first year that I ever thought about even attending. It was fun. There were a lot of moms and kids there and we sat on the floor. The story lady led us in singing songs, adding puppets to a few of them, read a book here and there and the boys overall enjoyed the 20 minutes. It lasts 30 minutes, but both boys were finished after 20.

Then we....

looked at books

played with the statue
waited for the elevator
rode in the elevator
went up and down the stairs
walked through the garden
hopped on the stones
sat on the hill

ran up and down the hill

played "army" with this kid we met in the garden
(until the second I overhead him telling Cam that all people,
especially GIRLS, are the ENEMY and should be shot)

walked through the sky walk

and read books in the car.

I LOVE the library. Even this much....

My Uncle Mark would play this song in his classroom and introduced me to it when I started teaching. He teaches fourth grade and is the best fourth grade teacher there is, 'sides me. He is one of the reasons I became a teacher.

He also has worked at the Public Library for over 20 years. He has been keeping us enchanted with it since we were little. He would take us into the bowels and show us all the ins and outs of every inch of it. It was always a special treat to be able to go there after hours. Something about being so intimate with a public place when no one was there made it so special. I will always remember how much fun we had there and all the books he would find for us. He seemed to know every author, illustrator and most summaries of any book you could think of. Still does.

He was even on the front page of the Daily Herald last week. It was a full page and a half article about him. He is so amazing and actually quite legendary. We can't go anywhere without people recognizing him. I am so proud to be his niece.

And so I started playing this song in my classroom when I started teaching almost 9 years ago. I played it every year. Even this year. And so the girls and I made a video about how the library is part of our homeschooling. Besides my horrible cameo and the amateur footage and editing, the movie turned out really well, I thought (the song matches perfectly with the footage in the original movie, but it has lost a little speed in this version).
We are proud of it.

and I LOVE the library.