A trip to the library - What better way to celebrate the beginning of summer!

Today was the last day of my children's school. Jefferson's class had a party and I took James and Charlton with me. James felt so happy to be with his older brother and his friends. As for Charlton, he found a seat in one of the tables and just sat there expecting to be served. I think he thought he was in Nursery.
Jefferson's teachers kept telling me that they will really miss Jefferson's bright answers and hard questions, as well as his never-ending imagination. His report cards showed him to have received excellent marks in every aspect of his studies. I am very proud of him.
Gillian's class didn't have a party, but I went to see her anyways. I left James with Jefferson and his classmates, and took Charlton with me. Gillian's class knows everything about Charlton, since that's all Gillian talks about, how cute Charlton is, how smart he is, how sweet he is, and on, and on , and on. When I entered the classroom, the whole class got around Charlton; they all wanted to hold him, even the boys. It scared him a bit. But Gillian grabbed him and calmed him with her hugs and kisses. And then, she introduced him to her teacher.
Afterward, Gillian showed me her report card. I had to admit that I was a bit nervous. Gillian is very smart and has read more than the average adult out there, but she loves to play and hurries in her work. I was worried that that would be reflected in her schoolwork. With the exception of two areas in math, she had received all excellent scores. I congratulated her, and asked her what she wanted to do after school as a way to celebrate. Her answer: Let's go to the library!!! My kids don't always have easy requests, but this one I could actually do wholeheartedly. Here is a picture of a common occurrence when we go to the library, children each with their arm fulls of books reading and waiting on mom, who herself is coming with a bag of her own:
I told the children they were limited to only four each today, since we had just been to the library on Monday and already had about 100 books checked out. When we got there, they didn't even wait for me. They all rushed toward their favorite areas, while Charlton helped push the handicap button to open the door. As I was looking for them in the library, I noticed Jefferson had already gathered more than thirty books in his possession, half of which were about the navy, army, spies, revolutionary war, civil war, and many more. What do you say to a kid like that. The books behind him in the picture below are some of the ones he had collected:
While reading some books to Charlton, I noticed him get distracted and hear these loud sounds made by James. I got up quickly to tell him to be quiet. To no avail, since James was too excited to see his friend Adri there. Jacki's kids and my kids got together and started laughing and playing with each other, as if this was their playground and not the library. We apologised to the librarians, while Gillian started reading to the children to keep them quiet.

I am so happy my children are home. The summer school schedule is drawn up, the activity list is prepared, chore's poster is up, and new skills to be learned have been decided. I am truly looking forward to a great and fun summer with my family.

Exercising our bodies and minds

Every summer, my friend Amy, organizes a running club. It's a running club for our little ones, mostly. My friend measured a field where our kids could run or walk, with four laps equaling a mile. They each get a card with their name on it, and every time they complete one lap around the field, they get a hole punched on their card. The ages of the kids walking or running varied from 2 years to 15, and all of them were giving their best. Gillian, Jefferson, and James, like many other kids, completed a FIVE mile run in under an hour. I thought it was amazing, and Elijah thought it impossible, but there it was, the kids did it. For the first few miles, James ran and walked holding hands with Zoe. Later on, he joined forces with Jefferson, and they were on the lead. Gillian realizing that her brothers were ahead of her, persuaded them to wait on her so she could catch up with them. They were sweet brothers and waited on her, and so they finished the five mile together.

After they finished running, and then played at the playground, I told the children that we had to go. Charlton was making it clear to us that he was ready for his nap. On the way home, I drove by the library and then remembering I had a few books on hold waiting for me, stopped and parked the car. I told the kids we were going to be at the library for just a few minutes because Charlton really needed his nap. My friend Amy and her children had done the same thing as we were doing, had stopped at the library on their way home. What a bunch of exciting people we all were when we saw each other, as if we hadn't seen each other a few minutes ago! Without any need for the spoken word, Gillian and Mary got themselves close to books they liked, reading and sharing favorites, James, Jefferson and Zoe gathered around Amy so she could read to them, Caleb was scouting for his own books, and I approached my favorite area, the books on hold.
After a little while, Zoe wanted Charlton on her lap.

This gave us, Amy and me, a chance to talk without interruption, with the exception of the librarian, who was reminding our kids to pick up the books they had spread throughout the floor. As good mothers that we are, we were kind of embarrassed that are children were reprimanded, but to tell the truth, I thought it awesome that my kids love books so much and feel so very comfortable at the library. I knew they would pick those books up; they were just not done yet. What is really funny is the fact that both of us, Amy and I, are neat freaks, and there we were listening to this guy telling our kids to be more neat! I don't think the kids paid much attention; they were so entranced by the magic world of books, but we rounded them up and got them out of there before you could count to ten. When we arrived home, after putting Charlton down for a nap, we each found our quiet corner and spread ourselves out feeling very comfortable being home and without any one telling us where to put our books. At least till later.