Maybe this is why...

My kids are big into reading. They start early, they seem to be ahead of what people think is appropriate for their age. I get asked a lot what I do with them to make them such big readers, but I never really knew how to respond because I never felt like we did anything out of the ordinary. Today though, I came up with a theory :) Today was library day. Library day is a little crazy in the Roberts house. First we have to round up all the books, cd's, and movies and make sure everything is accounted for. We had to round up 100 items today, so it took us about 45 minutes. Then there is always that lone book that has been misplaced, and it is a miracle if I don't find myself uttering a sincere prayer to Heavenly Father explaining how our time before naps (and consequently meltdowns if we are late in taking those naps) is fast approaching and we need help in finding the missing book. And He never fails to answer. Today the answer was an immediate thought to go look in the car of all places and I found it tucked in a pocket. So, after the roundup and prayer, we drive down to Provo. Why Provo when the Orem Library is a mere 5 minutes away? Because they have a much better selection of children's books, and their movie and cd rentals are free. So we drive the 20 minutes down to Provo. The next step is to unload everyone from the car and precariously balance 100 books on a double stroller with 2 children still sitting in it. I've got mad skills now when it comes to that particular challenge. We hurry in and try not to draw everyone's attention as we return our 100 books "One at a time" into the book drop. That usually takes another 10 minutes. Then comes the fun part of letting the kids go wild and choose out all their books in a mad rush to finish before Kate has had enough. Again, we balance precariously and head over to check them all out-which takes another 15 minutes. We had a new record today: 116 items. And to think that before it all started I advised everyone that we should maybe try to not get as many this week. Yeah right, like that was going to happen. We make the drive home, and the 3 hour library adventure is at an end....at least for the next three weeks. It's pretty crazy. And I'm definitely at the point where I feel like everyone is staring and wondering why in the world we have so many books. But most of the time, they read every single one. It is a lot of work, but I just love to see my kids excited about books and learning and reading. I don't want to squash it. Even if it means that I'm the crazy lady at the library with her four kids and a million books shoved into bags hanging all over the cart. Because I looked around today at all the kids with 5 or 10 books and realized that I'm definitely in the minority category in my approach to the library. I don't think most people get nervous as they near a hundred items because they are wondering if that is the maximum number of things you can check out. So yeah, maybe our library experience has something to do with my kids and their reading :)