The Coolest Thing Ever

A few years back, Weston's sister Robin mentioned she was dating the son of a pretty famous Children's Author/Illustrator. Now, I, being an educator and Children's Literature Lover, thought this was way cool. I thought it was even way cooler when she married Will about a year and a half ago. We got to meet his parents (who are so down-to-earth it is hard to stay star-struck around them for long), and even tour his art studio in his house at the rehearsal dinner. Very cool.

Flash forward to this Thanksgiving... since Robin and Will are now living in IL for grad. school in Champaign, it made perfect sense to host a big family get together at our house! And among our cherished guests would be Will's dad; Tedd Arnold. That's better than having a movie star come over in my opinion! And how fun for the boys!

And it was immensely fun and enjoyable. The Arnolds are incredible, and were so patient and loving towards the boys. Tedd even spent a great deal of time on the floor drawing with them! And boy were they inspired! We must have went through half a ream of computer paper that day (and in the days to follow), and our colored pencils got quite the workout. Even Kellan and Ethan, who were characterized before this by getting bored after a few meager minutes of coloring, were captivated for extended periods of time.


We have been privileged to received several autographed books of Tedd's over the past few years, but on this day we got a surprise that was more than I could have even imagined. Check out the dedication page on his new "Fly Guy" book.


(So if you are in a bookstore or library anytime soon, you have to pick up a copy of "I Spy Fly Guy". I've held back from bragging to the children's librarian so far, but probably won't be able to for long.) They even presented a copy to each boy. What a treasure! That would have been my dream come true as a child. I know it will be something they will be able to cherish forever.