Teddy Bear Picnic

I LOVE our library. We have some of the most wonderful, kind, creative children's librarians in the world. They make the library a warm and welcoming place for my little ones and I appreciate the library so much. It doesn't hurt either that the library is in our neighborhood. My kids have spent so much time there over the course of our life that it seems almost like a second home to us. We try to make it to story time every week, depending on nap schedules. Lately we've been a bit hit and miss due to Bennett's two nap a day schedule. When they announced the second annual Teddy Bear Picnic, though, I knew it was a can't miss event. It coincides with National Library Day and the librarians invited everyone to bring their lunch and picnic blankets for a picnic behind the library. We met Dawn and Lily there for a fun afternoon event.

Maura and Lily had so much fun trading animals and pretending their animals were climbing trees. The kids ran around like crazy, blew bubbles and generally had a wonderful time until they were called in for story time. Ms. Kathy read "Teddy Bear Picnic" and then it was time for bed.

We tucked our animals in for a Teddy Bear sleepover. You can see Tristan's T. Rex up at the top of the photo. He tucked his T. Rex in nice and tight, we gathered up all our things, walked to the parking lot, and he sprinted back to the library. When I finally caught up with him, he was pulling his T. Rex out of the "bed." No amount of explaining could get him to leave his animal there. Oh well! When we picked up Maura's kitty the next day, they had a book prepared with photos of all the animals and the mischief they'd gotten into that night. It was so cute! Love those librarians!

I just had to include this photo of Maura with a bird she made out of clay. I thought it was pretty awesome! She's a talented one, she is!