October 12: Library Day

I usually don't post about library day as our visits are fairly uneventful (thankfully), but Koen had a half-day of school today, so he was THRILLED to be able to go along.  He has his own library day at school but is limited to only 1 book a week.  We usually fill up our library bag with books, but since we still had 30 library books from last week's vist at home (they weren't quite ready to give them back yet) I limited their stack of books.   The kids selected a few books and then were content to play computer games, trains, and the other interactive games, so we just hung out for a while.  It was an enjoyable visit, but Ty did miss story time.

September 28: I Love Library Day!

Each week, Ty and Koen look at books for l-o-n-g periods of time after getting a new batch of library books. 
I LOVE that they are so enthusiastic about reading!!!

September 14: Storytime at the Library

Once we arrived at the library I learned that there's a family story time at 10am each week on Wednesday...perfect!  I'm sure the group will grow in size, but for today, Ty and Brielle were 2 of 5 kids there. 

Each week focuses on an animal (this week was frogs) and the stories, songs, and rhymes focus on that animal.  Also, each week every child gets a copy of Brown Bear, Brown Bear What Do You See? by Bill Martin Jr. and illustrations by Eric Carle to read the story aloud together.  I love this!!!  The kids can "read" the story by looking at the pictures.  This may be a complete coincidence, but since we've done this, Ty has been "reading" more stories at home based on what he remembers and the pictures he sees...it's very sweet!  We will certainly be back for story time in coming weeks!

June 14: Library Day!

Today was no normal trip to the library!  This is the first week the Kent District Library is running their summer reading program and apparently today was the kick-off event!  There was face-painting, balloon animals, games in the courtyard, and TONS of people!  I had no idea this event was happening today, I was just figuring on signing up the kids for the reading program.  But the boys are now proud owners of balloon kitties, and Brielle has a balloon ladybug...we'll see how long that lasts!  They each got a sucker for playing a game, but by then things were wrapping up so we headed into the main library to select our books and play trains. 

The reading program is for kids 18 months - 5th grade they put a sticker on their calendar for each day they:

• Spend time reading a book or a magazine
• Listen to a story
• Tell a story
• Write their own story
• Read to their pet
• Attend a library program

The theme this year is "One World, Many Stories," so maybe we can be more intentional about reading stories about other cultures, etc.  If you know our family at all, we have no problem using all 25 stickers!  When they've finished placing all their stickers on the calendar, they hand it in for a prize bag and will be registered to win other prizes.  This is the first year, though, that attached to their calendar is a free kids meal card for Qdoba!  Not sure it's their first choice of cuisine, but I'm thrilled! :) 

I'm also excited that they have a Baby Bingo reading program for the first time this year.  It's a little bit different from the boys's reading calendars...Brielle has a bingo chart where we need to do a variety of early literacy activities...sing a nursery rhyme, name the body parts, sing the ABCs, etc.  When she gets a bingo we can take her card in for a rubber duck, and when we do all the activities she gets a new board book!  We sure love our library!

April 7: Tangled Movie

With it being Spring Break week there were a TON of activities available for kids!  Our library offered a free showing of Disney's Tangled, so I took the three kids while Seth worked on laying our new laminate flooring.  While I know he would have rather been with us, the floor looks wonderful!!! 

There were easily 100+ people in attendance, but the room was large and could easily accommodate us all.  We sat near the back, but were on an end so Brielle and Ty could wander around when they needed to, and Koen and Ty could position their chairs just so and then no one's head was in the way.  Once again, Ty had lots of questions...many of which were loud enough for all to hear, but he wasn't the only one. :)  The movie was great!  We all -- even Brielle -- laughed out loud more than once during this charming story. 

January 25: Library Day

We couldn't stay long at the library today, but it sure was exciting...Misty Island Rescue...a Thomas the Tank Engine movie had finally arrived for us after placing it on hold!!!

January 18: Library Day

Our usual Tuesday morning routine is to attend our church Bible Study and then go to the library.  Due to the two-hour delay for schools this morning, Bible Study was cancelled.  We still got to the library around the same time, the boys played with the trains, and we selected some books and a movie.  After we'd been there an hour, our usual amount of time there, I started warning the boys that we were going to leave soon.  Koen looked at me and asked, "Why?  Couldn't we stay a little longer?"  We had no reason to leave, Brielle was doing fine, so we stayed for another hour!!!  Koen and Ty played a Clifford game on the computer, they selected a few more books, and spent more time at the train table.  What was my hurry?  Finally, Brielle did need to go home to eat and nap, but we enjoyed our leisurely visit to the library. 

January 11: Another Day at the Library...

The boys were super excited to head back to the library today!!!  I told them I had reserved Misty Island Rescue, one of the newest Thomas movies, and that it was at the library waiting for us.  What I didn't realize was that I had reserved the book based on the movie...Koen was so disappointed!  It helped that I got on the computer at the library and reserved the DVD right away, but he was so sad I had made such a tremendous mistake!  Contrary to popular belief, Mommy's aren't perfect.

January 4: Library Day

It's been a while but we finally made it back to the library!!!  We tried to go on Christmas Eve day, but they were closed, much to the kids's disappointment.  The highlight of this visit was the NEW TRAIN TABLE!!!  We spent over an hour at the library this afternoon and most of that time they boys were in front of the train table.  The new table hosts Sir Topham Hatt in his car, Spencer (and tender!), Thomas, Percy, Lady, and a few generic trains.  Koen and Ty were thrilled! 

What thrilled me was what happened when we returned home.  I ran upstairs to put a few things away and when I came down this is what I saw...

They sat like this for almost 20 minutes!  Love it!  It's amazing what a new book can do.  Ironically, Koen came home with an assignment from school where he was supposed to count the number of books on his bookshelf.  Seth helped him a little and we discovered the boys currently have 224 books on their book shelf!  WOW!!!  That's not counting the books in Brielle's room, downstairs, and those in the basement!  We certainly are blessed with books!!!  And yet the discovery of a new book is still exciting!  Koen even read a book or two to Ty, but as soon as I came close he got quiet or stopped altogether.  I'm not sure if he's shy or embarrassed to read in front of me or if it's something else.  I'm just thankful they love to read, and I pray that love continues as they grow older!

October 28: Library Day

It'd been a while since we'd visited the library, so it was high time.  Koen had been asking to go to the library with the doll house and blocks (Gaines Township) so we decided to head that direction.  Of course, once we got there I realized they don't open til noon on Thursdays and we'd arrived at 10:30am.  Koen was devastated --tears and all, but decided that he'd rather go to the Kentwood Library than go back home.  So we turned around and traveled back in the direction we'd come from.  There seems to be something about that Gaines Township library that brings tears to my kids eyes (remember my entries about Ty's tears when we visited there while the Kentwood branch was closed?).

I noticed a new statue in the entryway of the Kentwood branch and found out later it had been an ArtPrize entry.  Having been ill during much of the ArtPrize time, I was glad to at least see one part of it!  (Picture of "Flight of Learning" Statue in the KDL entryway)  While it does look nice and I appreciate what it represents, I think that the $30,000 spent on it could have been used in other ways.  Just my opinion...

The children's media specialist was at her desk talking with another mom and I overheard her say that they hoped to have a new train table in the children's section by the end of the year!  The boys were thrilled to hear that!  It's always a hard lesson when multiple kids want to play with the few trains there, but it's great to teach sharing and getting along with others.   The library also plans to get a Duplo table which will be great, too!  Now we'll just wait patiently for these new additions...

August 25: The New Library!!!

We waited until Seth got home from his golf tournament and went all together to the NEW Kent District Library (Kentwood Branch).  The library building is beautiful!!!  It's a huge improvement over the prior building, but not everything about the place is a huge improvement (in my humble opinion). 

I was disappointed in the layout of the children's section.  In the old building, the books were in a L-shape around the play area making it very easy to watch the kids while looking for books for them.  In the new building, the play area is farther away from the stacks which will make it more difficult to look for books while keeping track of the kids.  We'll see how that goes in future visits.  Also, nothing was labeled.  I'm sure they're still trying to set everything up, but there weren't even temporary signs up on the lower level.  The volume of materials was down, too, though I'm sure that had something to do with them extending the due dates for all materials during the two-week move.  They certainly have room to grow, though, so that's exciting!  And the view!  The view behind the library is a beautiful field...complete with blue sky, a setting sun, and white puffy clouds on the evening of our visit.

While the train table, a highlight from the previous location, didn't make it over to the new place, neither Koen or Ty said anything about it!  There are a number of play things to keep them busy during our upcoming visits:  an airplane-shaped play area, white board complete with magnets, and a grocery store area (although the shopping cart was taken away from some kids while we were there).  I wonder how long it will take before they realize the library doesn't have trains anymore!?!

Seth and I each took a turn venturing upstairs into the adult sections.  We didn't have much time to look around, and I'm not sure how often I'll be trekking upstairs with three kids in tow when we go it alone.  I liked the all-on-one-floor layout better, but that's just from a parent's point-of-view. 

I'm sure we'll all grow to love this new library, but change always time some time to get used to, doesn't it?

August 19: Gaines Township Library -- Take Two

The Kentwood District Library was still closed for this week, so the plan was to head back to the Gaines Township Library.  This visit went just as smoothly as the last visit, which, if you recall, did not go smoothly at all. 

Tysen located his blankie and paci and announced he wanted to go to his bed just minutes after I told Koen we could head out to the library.  So while Koen and Brielle waited patiently in the van, Tysen and I had a WWF-style wrestling match to get his sandals on.  During this event, Ty hid behind the couch, a lamp fell off the table, his kicking knocked Brielle's 8x10 picture off the table and shattered the glass, and I was kneed a number of times in a variety of areas.  I think we could have charged admission and people who enjoy these kinds of events would've walked away happy.  So I finally wrestle him into the carseat without shoes on (you can't win them all, right?) 

So off to the library we go.  Ty sonics the whole way there and again starts fighting when I try to put his sandals on (he's now mad because I didn't take his racer shoes --aka tennis shoes).  So I figured he could walk on the hot, scratchy parking lot and he'd be begging to have his sandals on by the time we reached the door.  Nope.  He was just fine in his bare feet.  Of course, the librarian who saw us as we entered the library was not "just fine" with the situation and asked that his shoes be on his feet.  I said I'd try but that she could expect some screams from the children's area. 

So I told Ty that the library lady said he had to have his shoes on.  He whimpered the word "no" about four times and then was totally fine...sandals on.  He made me sound like a moron after telling the librarian she could expect screaming, after all, that's all I'd heard for the past 30-45 minutes.  I think I'm going to start using this logic at home -- "Ty, the library lady said you have to pick up your toys."  "Ty, the library lady said you need to get dressed now." etc.  Maybe it'll reduce the number of battles we have.  Who knows?

So after all that, we had a lovely time at the library.  Maybe trips to the new Kentwood Library (open next week) won't be quite so dramatic.  I'd be OK with that.

August 12: Gaines Township Library

Our Kentwood District Library (KDL) branch is currently moving locations, so it's closed for two weeks.  Since Thursday is library day, we decided to try a different KDL branch to see what it had to offer.  We could have gone to the Wyoming branch, but we chose the Gaines Township branch since it was a little closer (only 10 minutes from home).  I had just told Koen that we could go to the library when Ty came downstairs with blankie and paci in hand asking to go to bed.  Not good.  He was not interested in going anywhere, but of course Koen was planning on going and already had his shoes on.  Since we're trying to cut down Ty's naps I decided to try to head out anyway. 

During that 10 minute ride to the library, Tysen fell asleep.  If you've ever had to wake Tysen up from a nap, you know it usually is not a pleasant experience.  So when we arrived, I woke Ty up and what followed was just embarrassing.  He cried and threw himself down on the parking lot which means he got hurt.  He wanted to be carried into the library, but with Brielle and the diaper bag, that just wasn't going to happen.  More crying ensued.  I finally half-dragged him into the entryway where he screamed.  We sat outside for about five minutes until he kind of calmed down.  We finally got in the the library, found the children's section, and he was as happy as could be. 

This "new" library had the usual books and movies we loved, but instead of a train table, it was home to some Duplo blocks and table, a fabulous wooden doll house, and puppets with a small puppet stage.  The boys played contentedly for a good half-hour!

On our way home, I asked the boys if they liked this new library and Koen said it was a lot of fun!  It just goes to show, you don't need a train table at the library to have an enjoyable experience! :)

June 16: Combo Day

I've mentioned before that our "schedule" is a flexible one, so today we combined Project Day and Library Day since Mommy had plans to scrapbook on Library Day.  But don't worry...the boys didn't care because they got to play with Ian all day on Thursday. 

MIXING DAY --  I'm not what you'd call a science-minded person (so please excuse any inaccuracies as I describe things), but I enjoy little science experiments and think it's important for the boys to be exposed to as well.  Of course, when we mix things we get different results depending on what we're mixing. 

The first things we mixed together were vinegar (as much as you desire) and baking soda (about a Tablespoon).  If you've done this before, you know that it creates a high volume of fizz in a volcano-like eruption.  Koen's preschool teacher had done this for his class this spring and all the kids were impressed.  Not surprisingly, Koen and Tysen were impressed by this reaction and asked for it to happen again and again. 

Next, we mixed 1 cup of cornstarch with 1/2 cup water.  This was another idea from Disney's Family Fun magazine.  It creates an amazing substance that isn't quite solid and isn't quite liquid.  Tysen refused to touch it, but Koen enjoyed playing with it, trying to grab it, and letting it drip off his fingers.  (WARNING:  If you choose to make this substance, DO NOT save it to play with it later.  I kept it in a container to play with it another day and the stench made me gag.  It's better just to make a new batch!)

The final mixture project was making Ocean Waves bottles.  These didn't turn out as well as I thought they would, but the boys LOVED them.  They liked the color, how the water and oil made little bubbles when you shook the bottle and then separated again as you left it alone (not that they left it alone for long). 

The "recipe" had called for vegetable oil, but we used canola oil...I don't know if that was part of the problem, but I thought the water and oil mixed too easily?!?  I also tried to glue the cap on so we would have no accidental spills (can you imagine the clean up on that?), but Seth got the cap off easily when he was looking at it.  I reglued it, but maybe I need something stronger than Elmers.  Besides, Seth is so much stronger than the boys, it may have been his brute strength that busted the cap open!

In the picture...notice Hiro next to Koen's Ocean Waves bottle -- an almost constant companion.  Also note Koen's cool visor made in Children's Worship in Grandpa & Grandma Smits's church.  He rarely takes it off! 

Prior to making this fabulous mixtures, we had gone to the library and signed up for the summer reading program!  We read everyday anyway...why not get prizes for it?!?!

June 10: Library Day

The boys LOVE time at the library! They mainly play with the train set there (like we don't have our own!), but they also pick out books and a movie each visit. Not too many things happen at the library when we visit, but we always have a good time and come home with another round of "new" stories.