Coming up for air...

...but only for a second.

Lindsey had a friend in town this weekend, which was lovely. He's a sweetie. We also got to see our friend Alan, who was home briefly between flight school & water survival "school," before he goes to something else in Arkansas, at which point I think he'll get the privilege of flying very large heavy airplanes back and forth to vacation destinations like Iraq & Afghanistan. Not that we'll know where he is, or anything, but not being morons, I'm pretty sure we'll be able to narrow down the choices.

Friday I returned to Jackson to visit Monkey's schoolwide art show. I got to see some of my very favorite kiddos on the planet, which rocked. The art was amazing, too. Learn more about this here, and also see darling pictures of very cute kids.

VBS planning continues to go swimmingly, with a whole bunch of people saying things like, "just tell me what you want me to do." Here's hoping that they DO those things after I tell them what they are.

I'll be at the International Reading Association conference through Thursay, which promises to be interesting. I get to stand in the presence of some fabulous thinkers, writers, & teachers, not to mention some really cool children's book authors.

Along those lines, here are some great kiddie lit blogs for those of you with kids. I'm thinking of starting my own this summer. It's already got a title. :)
Miss Rumphius Effect is written by a teacher ed professor, and is forever being updated.
Planet Esme is written by the author of Educating Esme, which, if you teach but haven't read, is a phenomenal piece of work that you must read.

In other news, one of my rose bushes actually looks like it'll have lots of blooms by midweek! Now, I can quit being an embarassment to my rose-growing neighbors.

Happy Week, kids.