So I realized I say "friends" almost too much, and as far as the children go, I think I might switch to "chickabiddies."  Maybe I'll just switch them completely and start these entries, "Chickabiddies!  I have SUCH A NUMBERED LIST FOR YOU today!"

Also, I'm writing them letters, a grand experiment to exercise their writing chops which has many faults, the worst of which being that it doesn't even correct their many written errors because I feel too bad once they actually write me a letter.  Defeats the purpose, a little.  One of my darlings has included a cutout-snowflake-like paper of the letter "K", some sort of Twilight trading card, and her interpretation of a carbon paper, with one side colored purple so that when I wrote on a paper against it, the purple would show up on what I had written.  Backwards, I guess.  She tends to give me small parcels stuffed in envelopes rather than paragraph-long letters like most everyone else.  I asked them about a time when they were scared, and she wrote me back about a psycho murder mystery movie she saw and a subsequent psycho murder mystery dream she had.  Oops.  She returned the question, as I encourage them to do, so after several attempts at something fourth-grade-scary friendly, I settled on a time we almost lost the dog when I was, oh, twelve.

Let me show you one in its glorious entirety, a (belated) response to my letter asking her with whom she would have dinner if she could pick anyone, living or dead; what they would eat; what she would ask this person:

If I could have dinner with anyone I wanted it would be Justin Bieber.  It would be him because he is cool he is a little like me.  Also I would like to be his friend.  I would ask him what is his favorite type of shoes?  Also what is his favorite food to eat?  I would talk about my family and ask him about his family.  I would eat spagehetti and for dessert banana pudding pie.  I would go out and eat in a restaurant because I don't know how to cook.  Miss Kaye I was wondering what does your mom look like can you describe her?  Also do you have any sisters and brothers?  See you later Miss.Kaye.
Love,
Tiffani

In which I keep dying of joy!

Friends!  Guess who made a triumphant return this weekend!  You are probably right!  It is Aundre!!!  We took a walk down to CVS, as we are wont to do, and he was finally at the register again!  When he caught our eyes, he said, "Hey family!"  I nearly died of joy.  We spent our time in CVS trying to think of something cool to say on the way out, but we didn't come up with anything good, but HE did!  He said, as we left, "Be safe!  I got your back for the rest," which was very touching and a little enigmatic.  Aundre!!!!!!!!!  I think I shall make him cookies one day.

Also this weekend, we started really putting this house together.  I bought a few of those paintings on canvasses, Justin helped me hang them, he deconstructed the 'entertainment center' down to the base tv stand, we bought and he built a coffee table, the walls and halls are so much happier now.  I can't even describe to you the affect these paintings have on me.  They are just silly abstract colors or flowers or something, but hanging prints that I chose has been more or less intoxicatingly wonderful.  Invitation responses are starting to trickle in, which is super fun, as is the plethora of compliments on my calligraphy.  I shall start a small business!

Also, you will NEVER guess the kind gesture shown us on Saturday.  It was our anniversary (this one feels fake now that a real one is coming up), so we made plans to go out for tapas using our fancy schmancy Groupon to Evo Bistro in McLean, VA.  It looked like a classy joint, so I made reservations online, and they offered a little box for "special requests for the maitre d'" and I thought, I am a soon-to-be patron of this restaurant, I can ask for something a little fun!  So I typed in my little box, "Can we have a candle at our table please?  It is our anniversary!"  We got there, our table was ready, with a fake glowing candle (it's the thought that counts), it was completely packed and crazy loud, it couldn't decide if it was fancy or casual ($10 for each plate of three bites of food; waiters all in jeans and untucked shirts), the food was incredible, the service was somewhat lacking.  We were done and it appeared they had forgotten about us, so I signaled the closest service dude on the floor, who happened to be the manager, and asked for the check.  A minute later he comes out with a waiter and a pyramid of chocolate with fruit drizzlings and wishes us a happy anniversary!  I pretty much died of joy (again) and gratitude.  Obviously, it was delicious.  It was some chocolate mousse-filled shell of chocolate, with raspberry, beautifully plated, everything.  You guys!  People are SO NICE!!!

Someday I will have something substantial to say, but today is not that day

Friends!  SO MANY THINGS have happened in just the last few days!

1. Lots of calligraphy practiced!
2. Invitations addressed!
3. Flowers planted -- at school!
4. and at dad-in-law's!
5. (I even "designed" that one!)
6. Mother's Day present thought of and made!
7. Letters to students written!
8. Moved -- across the hall to the bigger, master bedroom!

Also, friends, I have found a website that gives me lots of perfect shoe options.  Which, of course, provides too many jams.  (The larger your selection, the longer you take to decide, the less happy you are with your ultimate choice. :(  )  Now I am worried about hair and makeup.  Guys, my hair doesn't do ANYTHING cool.  Sorry wedding, my hair is single-strandedly bringing down your class.  Also, for your entertainment, listen to how I pick and choose the WACKIEST things about which to get REALLY nervous:  I just emailed our wedding coordinator at our venue (which is its own caterer) to ask if they had a cake cutter we could use.  I even told her I knew it was a silly question.  She is very nice and very patient.

The school year is closing.  Stay tuned for a numbered list of summer goals.

Our job is to put ourselves out of business.

^ Straight from an all-day training on writing IEPs.  I actually think that's a really sweet way to describe teaching.  Also especially because it was said in the context of not giving kids more accommodations than they actually need, and the idea is to bridge the gap, not make school easy for the rest of their academic careers... don't you worry, I still have PLENTY of conflicting opinions on the whole thing, but I did like that interpretation of teaching.  It reminded me of parenting, that ultimate goal of being unnecessary.  Except then it was kind of deflated when I saw some student's work hanging in the hallway where the teacher crossed out and corrected something that was correct, SIGH.  ("Pieces of rock and soil are what cause erosion"... she crossed out the "are" and wrote "is."  Really?  Really?) 

And oh!  It's Earth Day!  I am going to plant a pumpkin for the first time in many years.  I am also going to plant a tomato for the first time in all my years.  Time to go green... for my thumb.  And some of the most delightful stamps EVAR CREATED are being released today!  I will not rest until I own at least seven sheets of these darlings. 

PS: How devastated am I about Tim Urban?  Extremely.

SO MANY THINGS

1. You guys.  Groupon.  Why didn't any of you crazy kids tell me about this?  Whenever I saw GET DC FOR 94.5% OFF on the side of facebook, I thought it was just one of those spam gimmicks that make you sign up for $39.99 monthly subscriptions before you can do anything ("WE ARE LOOKING FOR TESTERS IN THE DC AREA FOR THE PURPLE MACBOOK").  So far, I've hooked us up with groupons for tapas, a deli, and photography.  I've been tempted to hook us up with groupons for many, many other things.  Really.  Do this wonderful thing.
2. I have made it my life goal to be obsessed with Ludacris.  I do hate How Low, but overall I am just so happy that this absurd early-aughts rapper has come out of the clear blue sky collaborating on like 17 hits that are so hot right now.  Oh AND, I happen to LOVE when singers introduce themselves before they start a song AND when they're featured on something completely outside their element.  So imagine my joy at "LUDA!  When I was thurrteeeen, I met my furst luuve."  Oh man.
3. Let's slow it down for a second here.  Let me tell you about one of my kids.  I'll call him Ryan.  Now, it's not in his IEP, but Ryan has something profoundly debilitating.  He's the kind of kid that's so disabled, to see him in his motorized wheelchair or standing contraptions (seriously.. for lack of a better word - he's more or less strapped and padded into a standing position for maybe half the day) and his bent arms and curled fingers that can't hold a pencil is more than a little ... intimidating.  There's a slight aversion, of course, a sort of fear that's jarring when you first see something like this.  Then you realize that if you listen closely, you can actually understand the words he says.  They're a little awkwardly paused or broken up, but he does speak in sentences.  Intelligent ones.  He correctly explained how something "impacted" something else recently, without hearing that word spoken by someone else prior.  He has huge eyes and huger eyelashes, which he bats flirtatiously and he knows it.  He smiles with a bizarre awareness, somehow his smile and his twinkling eyes convey that his degenerative condition is an inside joke and he's in on it.  With that smile and twinkling eyes he asks me what I had for lunch, or can I explain two-digit by two-digit multiplication to him again.  Roughly three billion articles have been written with the thesis either "disabled kids are just normal kids" or "disabled kids are way better than normal kids," and I'm not trying to say either of those, just a few crazy things that hit me both immediately and gradually. 
4. Also: How adorable is Tim Urban?  Ridiculously.  
5. Also also:  Totally validated.

Return of Itemized Thoughts!

Well hello friends!  Let me tell you a story.  A story about the time that my dance card filled more than I could have possibly ever expected, and throughout I had various thoughts.  Let me share some of those with you!  In my favorite format.  Numbered list.

1. Baseball uniforms are the most classic, yet the most unattractive sport uniforms.  Athletes per sport have such specific body types, but the shapelessness of baseball uniforms means we'll (as in, you know, the general public) never know what the baseball body type is. 
2. You will never understand how sad I am that facebook deletes wall posts and wall-to-walls after a given time (months? years?).  Trust and believe, I am devastated at the loss of some of the wonderful, heartwarming things that were once written there.  The deletion stings even more because like most post-college facebook users, my wall is used like 1% of what it used to be, so I don't get new adorable things either.  It's even worse than how I feel about cell phones not saving messages! (NB: everyone, call me on my google number!  it will save your message which i know will be wonderful and heartwarming!)
3. Speaking of facebook's grievances, does anyone else think we are drowning in pictures these days?  Even separate from the instant-notstalgia argument, there are just too many.  There are too many posted, even outside of facebook, there are too many taken in the first place.  Pictures used to mean something...!
4. The fiance and I bought and put together an IKEA dresser!  I am very proud of us.  Next up is a couch on loan from his dad so we can stop sitting in The Least Comfortable Futon of All Time.
5. You guys.  Modern Family.  I don't know that I have ever watched a show where I love, I mean LOVE, every.  Single.  Character.  Seriously, Modern Family.
6. There need to be more Catholic churches that feature cry rooms and friendly priests.  I try to be patient and compassionate, but screaming, rambunctious children and midstream reminders about letting down the kneelers gently and please don't put your gum under the pew really take away from the Mass.
7. One of the main highlights of my life thus far happened on the way out of The Last Song yesterday.  If you know me, you know that I am pretty much mainly about vanity plates that say something.  Anything, really.  If a car's tags say something, I am extremely stoked.  Parked in the movie theater's extremely crowded lot was a car.  A car with the license plate that said only "KISS".  I wanted nothing more than a stranger to take our picture kissing in front of the KISS plate (or maybe sticking our tongues way the hell out, rock and roll signs and all).  But, you know.  Debilitating embarrassment ensued, and I chickened out before even fetching my camera from the car.  :(
8. In Lents past I gave up pretty serious things (chocolate, facebook, elevator, music, elevator music, etc), but this time, my main thing was to reflect prayerfully.  Oh, man.
9. We're officially inside 100 days!  If anyone sees fun shoes, flat to maybe an inch high, let me know.  Nothing I look at seems fun enough.

OMG YOU GUYS

So remember that last post?  WELL GUESS WHAT.  Justin and I went for a walk around our silly little neighborhood on Sunday, and we're a couple of streets over from our silly little house and who is walking towards us with his friend but AUNDRE!!  As you can imagine, I almost died of love and joy.  We even almost passed him before we all recognized each other!  We were in the middle of exchanging I-see-you,-other-human pleasantries as we passed each other on the street and then we were all like WAIT A MINUTE HEEEEEEEY!  He came back and HUGGED US BOTH SIMULTANEOUSLY and I said how I almost didn't recognize him because he changed his hair (from smaller dreads to bigger dreads!) and he said something about how he likes to go into outer space when he gets the chance and how he lives on the other side of that big hill and then okay see you around soon!  Now we are trying to figure out where he meant, what other side of which hill.  It all happened so fast, and it took me several more blocks to get my bearings.  Aundre is our neighbor!