following up on a blog post of another mommy blogger(http://allinaniowamomsday.blogspot.com/) I read, this subject matter seemed particularly apropos for this house…

        Now, I love my tower of books stacked at my bedside precariously leaning North like an Inuit Inuksuk (thanks Brooke) pointing my way home. But I love my Kindle app on my iPad and Droid phone almost as much. As mobile as I have to be, its great to be able to grab my iPad or phone and read a few chapters while I have to “hurry up and wait” at a Drs. appointment, what seems like the weekly ER visit with some broken child, pick someone up at some school or sports event, etc. etc. etc….. I do tend to try and keep to a personal rule of ” real books in bed, digital ones everywhere else.” The fact that my iPad is usually claimed by the man-child come bedtime so he can feed and tend to all his dragons on Dragonvale ::eyeroll:: may have something to do with it.

     But nothing compares to the smell of a real book. (Except maybe for the ones that have been chewed on by dogs or babies, dropped in dirty mop buckets or inadvertently left out in the rain…for a week… )The rustle of the pages as they are turned, the almost braille feel of the printed typset, dog-eared corners and even some penciled in notes…The genres vary, so do the forms. Paper back, hard cover, photography magazines, my bible.  Egyptian history, murder mystery, medical journals, inspirational writings, humor and even some biographies. My interests actually outnumber my amount of kids and dogs. Who knew….
But, I am acutely aware though, that were it not for technology, most of my children wouldn’t read anything more than cereal boxes and ketchup bottles. So I appreciate the fact that I find my kids reading more than just Facebook updates and Tumbler feeds on their phones and various iDevices. BUT… I do try and keep the idea of actual books alive for my children. I take them to the library and show them what it was like in “olden days” and even have Jordyn, Kasey and Kylie reading some Little House on the Prairie and Judy Blume books I picked up there for them. “Mom, did you actually KNOW Laura Ingalls Wilder?” (I swear I did not mean to kick her, it was my twitch…)  And as soon as I can trust Ryan and Charlie enough to toilet alone, I just may allow them to get a book from the library as well.

         As you all can imagine, a trip to the library with my crew always ends up as an adventure. Usually ending with me skulking out with my head hanging in shame while the librarians look upon me with a combination of sympathy and disdain. Security watches us as I herd my crew out the doors to the truck and I swear I have seen them jot down my license plate for future reference.

      The fact our library has a Dunkin Donuts actually located IN the building has got to be one of the smartest business decisions I have ever seen. Because for moms like me, venturing into the library with no less than 5 kids, who all act like this is the first time I have taken them from their cages in the garage and let them walk upright, completely dressed, in a public setting, caffeine and sugar are actual medical requirements and are not optional, by any means.

      At the library, I feel like I’m in the Tell Tale Heart as we approach the childrens section. I swear I can hear my own heartbeat in my ears as my blood pressure rises as Charlies hands start touching. It spikes as Ryan stands at the bottom of the huge open spiral stairway and lets one rip, dissolving into a pile of giggles and slobber as everyone in the building stops and looks over at us. Kylies wide eyed, open mouthed facial expression says it all and Jordyn wanders off with the look of “I have no clue who these people are.”on her face…IMAG0158 (1)

relegated to chair post stairwell flatulence

Kasey, still bopping away to her very own theme music in her head is happily reading her book, too involved in the storyline to care about what’s going on around her (so much like her mamma…..)

All in all, Id like to say, we have a good balance of both happening here….probably the only thing in the house that actually IS balanced….