ALS Ice Water Bucket Challenge

Yes, we at the library got on the bandwagon, and participated in the ALS Ice Water Bucket Challenge.  As soon as I told Allison I was going to be going back to the library last night and why, she says, "Can I do it too?"   All the way home last night after doing it, "That was so AWESOME!  That was AWESOME!"

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Preparing for Summer Reading Program at the Library

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Family Storytime....New Year Begins

...and who would the new family storytime storyteller????  Why it is ME!  ...and we had our first session Thursday evening.  I was nervous, believe it or not.  I had done storytime before Allison was born, when I worked at the library before.  I did my last storytime like two or three weeks before Allison was born...almost 7 years ago.  I normally feel competent to work with kids, and talking in front of kids, and in fact when I do something like this, I don't even realize there are adults/parents in the room. However, like I said, I was nervous going into it.  I don't think I felt as prepared as I would have liked to have been. Plus, we've had two really really creative people lead family storytime in the interim.  I am working 10 hours a week at the library now, which does include the 4.5 hours that I do Homework Center. That leaves me 5.5 hours to plan and actually DO the storytime each week.  That may sound like a lot of time but it really goes fast.

So, how did Thursday go? It went fine. It went FAST too!  Allison really liked Mandy, the last person who did storytime. She was disappointed when she left.  She really wasn't that happy that I took it over either. It's interesting how all the child development/psychology material say that parents should be involved in their children's lives, at school, etc etc etc......I think Allison feels I am TOO involved in her life!!!  Whether it be school, Sunday School, activities, and NOW library too....it's too much! LOL    So,  asked her how I did after storytime was over Thursday night. She looks real serious and says, "Better than I expected really."  Well, okay then......


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Wings of Love bird shows - Kansas City

Today at the public library here in town, I took Allison and we were supposed to see the above.  While I was able to 'push' Allison toward the front of the group, and she was able to see the entire show, this is what *I* saw......

Yes...the backs of people...   Can you see the windows in the background?   That's about where the show was.  Never did the library folks expect to have such a crowd. There has been tons of very good programs there and tons with with very cool animals. For whatever reason, the birds were a hUGE draw.  It is very cute. There were tons of senior citizens who came to see the animals, too.  That was unusual.  It did not bring out the best in many people either.  There were a lot of really rude people there who were complaining very loudly.  

You know, I've worked at the library and i've worked in setting up and promoting library programs.  I know that  one of the ways to feel validated about the success of a program is to have a really good crowd attend.  I heard comments from library board members how GREAT this crowd was!  Well......yes, it's good to have such a turnout, BUT when you annoy at least half of them because they can't see, and sort of annoy the other half because they are squished in, does that make it GREAT?  Are these folks going to be likely to come back the next time?  Sure some are...but others won't.  There was no way to know how many were going to come. However, I just have to say...sometimes bigger isn't necessarily better......

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