so sorry for your friend
i was thinking about things i would want in this situation ... and one thing i though of was something that i could pass on to my children - like maybe have someone collect letters about me and pics of me from all my friends (from childhood to today) so that some stories, memories, etc could be shared with the kids in the future (i'm imagining a big scrapbook type thing). in the near term, i think that taking the kids to do something fun for an afternoon would be nice, to give the kids a little time to get away and just have fun. coming to grab laundry from the house and bringing it back washed and folded. maybe some baskets with ingredients for a movie night at home, sundae party, etc - something they can do at home as a family.