What's In Your Purse (or Wallet)?

Quite a while ago, I heard a teacher (in a scrapbook class) talk about how you can tell a lot about a person by what they carry in their purse (or wallet). The things that are kept most accessible and taken everywhere that person goes can say a lot about what is important to them. One example she gave was that in her wallet you could find a zoo membership card, which told you that she lived close to a zoo and enjoyed taking her children there frequently.

From time to time, I have thought about what the contents of my purse and wallet say about me. One thing you'll find in my wallet are these well-used cards:

These are our library cards (for those old enough to have one). The library is one of our favorite places to visit, and we make weekly trips there.

This library is one of two in The Woodlands and isn't far from our house. It is only a couple of years old now and is really nice. There is a great Children's Library section that has all kinds of things -- tables with puzzles, listening stations, and a whole row of computers with headphones and little chairs.

The kids play little games on Web sites like Sesame Street when we are there. It's been neat to watch the collection of books grow from when the library first opened. There used to be only a handful on each shelf, and it's fun to see the shelves filling up!

One of my favorite things about the library is the ability to request books from the library Web site at home. You can search the whole library catalog (which they've recently expanded to also include some of the Harris county libraries) and request up to 10 items per card to be held for you at your local library (they will hold them for a week). I use this "feature" so frequently that most of the librarians know us when we come in and will say things like "A bunch of your books came in for you today!" Our first stop at the library is always the "hold" shelves. We usually pick books off the shelves while we're there, but I love being able to look through the book orders the kids bring home, as well as a Children's Book-of-the-Month catalog I get with the new releases and choose those books that look interesting, then get on-line and request them.

We also like the library because we can get all kinds of audio books and DVDs. They have a pretty good selection of DVDs -- even new releases -- you just have to be willing to be on a waiting list for them (sometimes for several months).

McKay's favorite part about the library is the self check-out. (He likes self check-outs anywhere we go, like the grocery store.) In order to use the self check-out, you have to have one of the newer styles of library cards (notice that McKay's card is different from everyone else's in the above picture). He begged me to get him a new card so he could do self check-out. I was reluctant at first, because I had everyone's card numbers memorized (for requesting books on-line), but we did end up getting one (and eventually memorizing the new number!). He loves to check out as many books as he can everytime we go.

Hayley loves to look at new books and often has a hard time giving them up momentarily so they can be checked out. Today we found some "Angelina Ballerina" books that she and Courtney fought over at first, but eventually decided to share so they sat down at my feet while I was finishing checking out.

We love the library!