House Guests!

All summer I was looking forward to having one of my best friends, Kathryn, and her kids come stay with us for a few days.  (She endured a 6-hour car ride from western Idaho alone with three kids.  Isn't she a rock star?)  There's nothing like getting to spend time with a good girlfriend, and the kids had a great time too.  Unfortunately, Jack was sick the day Kathryn was supposed to come, but he recovered quickly so we didn't have to shorten our visit too much.

One of the first things the kids did was set up a tea party - 
here are Raeya, Cat, Kinsley, and Jack 

Later in the afternoon we went to an elementary school in Provo with a fun Pirate playground.

Unfortunately, it was so hot that the kids preferred to play in the tiny shaded space
by the storage shed rather than the pirate ship.

So we went back to the house and cooled off with the sprinkler in the back yard.

After dinner we celebrated all of the summer birthdays
by getting ice cream cones at the Creamery. 

Then we headed up to the Orem Public Library for an activity with Tom Lichtenheld, author and illustrator of several children's books.  I had never heard of this guy, but I admit that I am not very good at remembering the names of authors or illustrators.  I need to do better with that.  So I hadn't read any of Lichtenheld's books before, but I'm definitely a fan now.   We've read just a few of his books since going to his event at the library, and they're all great.  If you're curious, check out Shark vs. Train; Goodnight, Goodnight, Construction Site; and Zero the Hero (which is the one we bought and had him sign.)  I like him even more after checking out his website, and especially spending a few minutes on his blog.  He really has a great sense of humor.

He started out by sharing the book Duck! Rabbit! by having two kids come up to the front and read the two different parts.

In case you're not familiar with the book...

He also talked about the elements of a good book and how many times a great story can come out of putting a character in an unexpected setting.  Then he had two bags of prompts for everyone: one contained characters, and the other contained settings.  Some of the prompt pairs the kids in our group received were: a snowman in a tree house, a monster in a castle, a tiger on a farm.  There were tables set up and each child received a blank book to write his or her story and add illustrations.  What a great project!  I'd like to make two jars of story prompts now.

Kathryn and I each bought a book for Tom to sign.  He was great with everybody, and even looked at the kids' books they'd written and added a doodle to the back cover for most of them.

Although the kids were exhausted from a busy day (with no naps for the little ones) they still took a little time to settle down from all of the excitement.  We let everyone sleep in the playroom, except Kathryn's little boy, Layton, who preferred to seep in a real bed.

Kathryn and I stayed up talking until the wee hours of the morning, which is one of my favorite summer memories.  Unfortunately, they had to leave after breakfast the next morning, but we were so glad for the time we had together.  We need to do it again soon!!