Story Time is Here!

"Story time is here. Story time is here," we sing. "Lots of fun for everyone, 'cause story time is here."

Luke's favorite time of the week is Tuesday morning. That is library story time with Miss Beth.

In the past 10 years, all six of my boys have enjoyed story time with Miss Beth - so she is almost part of the family. I took my camera with me to story time last week, so that I can capture this special part of all my boys' lives for posterity's sake.

Miss Beth always does the same things, which is great for little guys this age. They always know what to expect and look forward to their favorite part.

First, all the kidlets help Miss Beth lay out the story blanket by billowing it up and down like a parachute. They love this! Look at Luke's face.

Then they do a few fun hand rhymes and read a few books about the theme of the week. This week it was about rain

"Are you ready to look up? Are you ready to look down? Are you ready to look... all... around?

Fiddle dee dum, fiddle dee dee. Find the one that matches me."

Miss Beth always plays a game where the kids have to look all around the room and look for little images she has hidden everywhere. The kids love to be the first to find it and point it out.

She always ends her story time with the kids acting out "Once there was a man who was very, very, tall, and he had a friend who was very, very small. The man who was very, very small, said to the man who was very, very tall, 'hello, up there.' And the man who was very, very tall, said to the man that was very,very small, 'hello down there.' They tipped their hats and made this reply, 'Goodbye, my friend. Goodbye, goodbye, goodbye."

(That is my favorite part.)

Then comes Luke's favorite part - the craft. That boy is a serious colorer. Check out how he is working that tongue! He is very thorough, and is never done until every last bit of white paper is colored. Miss Beth laughs because she remembers when the twins came to story time. Dylan was just like Luke, and was always the last kid left coloring while Derek scribbled on his project for all of 3 seconds before declaring he was done.

How wonderful that Miss Beth remembers all my boys - even things that I had forgotten.

Luke always shows her his completed project and she always piles on the praise.

This last week Luke asked Miss Beth to help him find a Cars book, because he told her he loves Lightening McQueen, but she said that the library didn't have any Cars books. This week when we showed up to story time she had a special gift for Luke - a Cars picture book. Someone had donated it to the library book sale, and when she saw it she knew just who would love it, so she bought it for Luke. He was so excited, and has been carrying that book with him and having me or one of his brothers read it to him ever since!

We love Miss Beth. She is like a fixture in our family. But Luke will be starting preschool in the fall, and story time will soon be a thing of the past. After 10 years, that's the end of an era.

Kind of sad for me.

Thank you Miss Beth. We all love you!

"Good bye, my friend. Good bye, good bye, good bye."