Huge crowd last night for the library Family Movie Night showing of Tangled.  It was so nice to see so many people having a great time at the library, for a free movie with great community spirit.  At one point mid-way through the movie, a father came up to me and introduced himself, then said, “This is great!  This is so great!!  This is reminding me why we decided to move to this town in the first place!!”  And it might have been the lighting, but I could swear his eyes were a little misty. 

Of course, after the movie was over, it looked like there had been a popcorn explosion, and there were empty water bottles strewn all over the floor.  Luckily, there were six able bodied teen volunteers who made short work of the clean-up (and, it should be noted, they also did a terrific job before the movie filling 120 small bags with popcorn). 

The only downside of the night for me was that I didn’t like the movie.  At all.  I know it’s gotten good reviews, and I know that kids adore it, but I didn’t like characters, the plot, or the singing.  I guess I’ve gotten old and grumpy and those Disney musical animated features just don’t do it for me anymore.   But my opinion really doesn’t matter, since the kids and their parents had a fantastic time; last night was a true small town event, with kids lying on their bellies on the floor next to their friends and their parents sitting in the seats sharing gossip and laughs with their friends.  Awesome.

Hard to believe that we have a winter storm warning out for tomorrow, but we do…and the forecasts are just vague enough that we have decided to reschedule the Family Movie Night that was supposed to take place tomorrow at the library to next Friday, April 8, at 6:30.  Everyone who pre-registered for the movie received an email earlier this afternoon with this information, but I’m hoping to catch any potential drop-in attendees with a media blast of the rescheduled date.  Remember to pre-register for next week, since seats are limited and we’re almost at capacity now!  Licensing restrictions prevent me from listing the name of the movie here, but call the children’s room for more information.

And it’s all done – the third annual Lego Expo is over.

This one is all a blur to me, unfortunately.  I walked around the Expo like a stupid tourist who only takes photos of their trip and doesn’t take the time to actually experience the trip.  I got photos of every kid’s model, to put into the Shutterfly album for the library collection, but I only actually looked at a couple of the models that the kids made – the result of being exhausted and a wee little bit still in pain.  What a shame, since I really love seeing the awesome creativity of the kids.

But I know that there were some really great models: listening to the judges deliberate, I was impressed by their enthusiasm and respect for what the kids had created.  It’s always fun for me to hear the judges – five for each of the two older groups this year – talk about the kids’ models and decide how to distribute the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd place ribbons.  I try to keep my mouth shut during the deliberations, and simply serve as the secretary, keeping track of the names that each judge puts out as ribbon contenders and collating the Certificates of Achievement with the place ribbons [each child who attends gets a Certificate, and some also get ribbons].  This year, the judges for the middle group of ages six to eight decided that they wanted to give out ribbons specific to each age – one first place, one second place, and one third place for the six year olds, and also the seven year olds, and then the eight year olds.  What a lovely solution; that’s one that I’ll put in my notes for next year and propose for the judges next year, if they don’t come up with it themselves.

But it’s funny how my role as the children’s librarian running the Lego Expo is so very different from my old role years ago as the manager of the Toy Shop at the store’s Lego Expo.  Back in the day, my boss, the store’s owner, did all the hard work coordinating the location, setup, refreshments, and judges, and I got to do the easier tasks of checking kids in as they arrived, passing out t-shirts, and judging.  Yes, I got to be a judge back then, and I loved it – loved it.  I loved the kids’ stories about their models, I loved really getting to talk one on one with the kids and take a lot of time to look at their models, and I loved taking what I knew of Lego sets (which was a lot in those days) and seeing how the kids had used specialized components in unique and totally innovative ways that went way beyond what the Lego designers had officially intended.

Obviously, as the town’s children’s librarian, my purpose at the library Lego Expo is completely different; I need to be the organizational force, the non-judgemental smiling face that makes sure everyone is happy and settled in.  Which is still cool, and if I were more up to snuff this year, I would have had a great time like I did the last two years.  So hopefully next year my health (dental and otherwise) will be normal, and I’ll have more fun.

One last important item:  a big, big thank you to all of the judges and the volunteers and most especially my fabulous coworkers, Jennifer, Margaret, and Emma, for making the day a huge happy success for all.  🙂

Tomorrow is the third annual Lego Expo, and, oddly enough, I’m not panicking.  Which doesn’t make sense, since enrollment is the highest it has ever been, and this year I have a serious lack of volunteers.  In years past, I’ve had more volunteers than necessary, but this year my Special Programs Volunteers were mostly unavailable.  C—- and M—– and perhaps also M—– will be volunteering, and Jennifer and her daughter are coming in to help out (thank GOODNESS), but that’s many fewer hands than usual, and I’m still a bit puffy and pained from Wednesday’s surgery, meaning that I may not be as energetic as usual.

But I’m not panicking.  Weird.

One thing that has helped enormously is that I wrote up a four page single space document after last year’s Lego Expo with reminders to myself about what went well and what needed to be changed.  I also typed up an Expo preparation check-list last year, and that has been very helpful for keeping me focused on what needs to be done, and reassuring me that I haven’t forgotten some key detail.  All those prep errands have been run: the Lego raffle sets purchased last Friday, the refreshments purchased today (except for the mini cookies, which I’ll get tonight), and the extra tables put in the back of my car.  I’ve stockpiled all the paperwork and clipboards and raffle jars and pencils and certificates of achievement and raffle tickets in convenient boxes in my office, ready to be ferried upstairs in the morning.  I sent out all of the reminder emails yesterday, to the judges and participants and volunteers.  I walked Jennifer through those piles yesterday, so that I wasn’t the only one who knew what it was all about. 

And I’ll be getting to the library at 8:00 tomorrow morning to move the tables upstairs in a leisurely fashion before the library opens at 10:00.  I even just got my hair highlighted and cut today so that I can run out of the house in a more efficient manner tomorrow (8:00 AM is not my best time of day, and the hair has been difficult and blechy lately). 

So I’m not panicked, yet, and I’m thinking that the organizational systems that I figured out and documented from the first two years of the Expo is the reason I’m feeling a little more relaxed this year.  Last year I realized that it’s not enough to organize an event, you also have to put your thought processes in writing so that the logic behind the organization is clear for the next year, whether for your future self to refer to, or for another person to look at and see how things work.  Yet another reason that I feel so strongly about leaving a clear paper trail in one’s professional life!

I don’t usually post this sort of announcement on my blog, but I want to be sure the word gets out about this program change:

Due to the predicted snowstorm for Wednesday, I’ve decided to move the Create a Valentine program to Thursday from 3:30 to 4:30.

This morning some forecasters were predicting that we might have as much at 20 inches of new snow by the end of the day on Wednesday – yikes – so it seems smart and reasonable to move this Valentine workshop to a day that is predicted to have good weather.  Don’t forget to pre-register, though, since space is limited!