Ordinary Day {At the Library}

Back in March, when I saw that Renee, a blogger I've read for years and one who has inspired me multiple times, took her camera along when she took her kids (well, some of them) ;-) to the library, I decided to do the same.  After all, although a trip to the library might not seem terribly exciting, it is a significant part of the Fisher family at this stage of life; and I just know that when I'm an old lady (in about 50 years or so) ;-), I'll LOVE seeing these pictures and remembering what it was like to take my five children to the library with me.

So, here we go!

Every good trip to the library starts with the wall.

 This wall, that we often park beside.

The boys pretend that they're climbing it...

...then they tell me how dizzy it makes them feel to stand right beside it and look straight up.  

Something about those rows of bricks, I guess.

Anyway, after getting dizzy at the wall, we move on.

Down the street...

...around the corner...

...and to the library's entrance.

I'm grateful for boys who are eager to help, either by pushing Moriah in the stroller or pulling the cart we use to haul books.

First stop? The book return...

...where everyone pitches in to get every item out of our cart and into the correct slot.

I cannot tell you how big of a thrill it is to certain little people I know to push the button that makes the doors open automatically.

I also cannot tell you how many disputes we've had to resolve through the years about WHOSE turn it was and WHO did it last time and HOW OFTEN certain people get to do it compared with others.  Oy!  It got to the point where I would have to prep them on the way:  "There are to be NO arguments about who gets to push the buttons.  Child A will push the one for the outside doors, Child B will push the one for the inside doors, and Child C will push the one for the elevator.  GOT IT?"   :)

I'm immensely grateful that these days, there's--usually--enough maturity flowing around that we don't have arguments about this any longer.  Whew!

The older boys always opt to take the stairs on the way up; but I, because of the stroller and the cart, utilize the elevator.  Shav is often my helper, making sure we get to the right place.  :)

And then the fun begins...

 Let me pause for a moment to extol the wonders of this cart.  If I'm going a bit too far by calling it a life-saver, at least let me call it a back-saver.  When we first moved here and only had two children, I would take cloth bags along to hold the books we chose; but as we began to bring home more and more books each trip, my shoulders began to complain about the great weight they were forced to carry.  Enter the wheeled cart.  It, along with two other things, have mightily increased the ease with which I undertake library trips.

(Curious what the other two things are?  OK, I'll tell you.  First, keeping my youngest one in a stroller means that I know where at least one of my children is at all times; reducing the head count by one diminishes the stress of wondering what all they're getting into at any given moment.  Second, being able to reserve books online means that rather than making a big trip into the library every week, I can often pull up outside in the loading zone and stay in the car while one of the older boys runs in to pick up our reserved items.  Definitely a time-saver for me!)

 

 After we've chosen our books, we get to stop at the movie section and pick out a few--probably the most anticipated part of the trip for at least some of my boys.

 Waiting to go down...

When we got to the bottom, Shav wanted to go back up the steps so he could come down with his big brothers.

  They wanted to line up in birth order.  Fine by me!

 Everybody helps put the books and movies from the cart...

 ...to the desk.

 When you have 65 items checked out at a time, it makes kind of a tall tower(s).  :)

 On this particular day, the boys went into the foyer to wait.

 Clearly they were having a good time.

 We always admire this tall nutcracker by the circulation desk, especially because our much shorter nutcrackers here at home are some of my boys' favorite Christmas decorations.

 And then it's back to the van...

...where a mostly quiet ride home awaits as everyone savors new books to read and look at.

 I'm so grateful that the rhythm of our days--our ordinary days...

...includes regular visits to the library!