Small but sweet success!

I love those Family Home Evenings when everything seems to fall into place. During dinner John had suggested a library trip as our activity tonight. My response: the kids are crabby and tired. John's wise response: We won't look at any books to check out! So this is how our discussion seemed to go. Our discussion ended with me once again agreeing to what seemed a harebrained idea with the kids in such awful spirits today!

Dinner was over. The girls knew we were going on a little trip! They weren't exactly sure where, but they guessed because they listened closely during dinner for once. :)

This was Family Home Evening. I didn't want to make this all about what we were going to get at the the library. So Amber chose a song to sing, we had a prayer, and then a short lesson. We read Doctrine & Covenants 90:15 and then discussed why it is important to learn from good books. Then we discussed how we can find good books. So naturally, this led us into the activity of going to the library for what else, but books!

The real purpose for going to the library: We really did not intend to check out books. The library has a summer reading program for both kids and adults. They have been doing this for quite a few years now. It is one of the highlights of the summer for us! Especially since it is completely free. Each month we get a small little prize, with the final prize in August being a free book for completing the program! It is actually quite simple. The kids set their own time limit to read each day. I set it for them at 20 minutes per day! Not hard for my kids. They are always reading. Adults had to read I think 6, or maybe 10, books this summer. Reading books to a child counted. Hmmmm . . . not hard for me as my kids love to have books read to them!
So, our purpose for going to the library was to turn in our completed forms and get our free books! How much better can it be for a kid who likes to read? My kids were so excited that they get to keep the book and don't have to return it! They were angels at the library. No fighting. No whining. Oh, Timothy did escape and run down the aisle once. But he's not even 2 yet. He was amazingly good!
But wait, Family Home Evening isn't complete without a treat! On our way home we stopped at Winder Dairy for icecream cones. Jaime had told me they had orange soft serve icecream! Get it in a twist and it tastes just like an orange dreamsicle! Yum yum. My kids were so excited. I hadn't told anybody we were going to stop. I just did it! When Amber saw somebody come out of the Country Store with a big icecream cone, her eyes lit up and she asked "You can get icecream here?" So much for the surprise. A happy dance ensued as soon as she was free of the confines of the car!
The sweet smell of success! It is so refreshing. The secret: I still don't know. But when I have it all figured out, I'll be sure to let you know!