VACATION!!!

I know everyone jokes about LA traffic but there is a reason so many people live in California. The weather is amazing. I have lived there for almost 10 years and I still get amazed every time we return. We just got back from a mini vacation. Ben had another ball to go to in the Santa Barbara area. I flew out to join him and we met up with my parents and our freinds the Clarks to go to the ball together. It was rather a unique event as it was held in the Ronald Reagan Library. We ate right under the old Air Force One. Yes I wore the same dress!! I'll get a new one for next year.

We were able to see my whole family minus my sister Meg and her husband. We also got to see Ben's sister Becky. We really did pack in quite a bit in for a 6 day trip. We even went to school with our nephew Niki. Ben was his show and tell. We were dying laughing at their questions. They wanted to know if Ben had been shot, had he shot someone, had he been shot in Iraq, had he been shot in the states, had he been shot at work, had he been shot not at work, was he there at Pearl Harbor when it was bombed, and finally when he mentioned Japan - was he there when we bombed Japan. We had a such fun just playing in the sun with friends and family. Too bad it was only 6 days. Thanks Hunters for taking us in.

I have a bunch of pictures to share but blogger is SLOW right now so you'll have to wait.

Good News Bad News

Good news - I had hardly any side effects from Clomid.

Bad news - the ultra sound today showed only one egg - we were hoping for more to increase our chances.

Good news - the doctor thought this was all no big deal and thought things were going according to plan.

Bad news - the egg is in the left ovary which if you remember is the one with no fallopian tube.

Good news - Dr. says that the eggs can use either tube so there is still a shot using the left ovary - which is actually

GREAT NEWS - we almost had this side removed but it turns out to be a very healthy ovary. Good thing it wasn't chopped.

Bad news - as I waited for the Dr. I read an article that said people who share too much personal information and/or blog are narcissistic. I was pretty sure this was a selfish thing so I googled it to find wikipedia's definition - Narcissism describes the character trait of self love, based on self-image or ego. Bummer now I have guilt issues with all that I have shared on the web:).

Good news - it is spring break and I am off to California to see family and friends.

Bad news - today was the first day I have cried about kids in almost 6 months.

Good news - we should hear back from the major fertility clinic next week. They will give us the date on when we will be scheduled for IVF.

Bad news - no kid stories for you right now.

Good news - I have a bunch of stories to share (vomit, pee, hugs, x-box) and I have a week off to type them up for you.

Good news - when I write about the kids I am not being narcissistic.

The Presidential Suite

This last weekend Ben and I went to a Navy Ball. It turned out to be a treat for us. The Admiral Ben works for let us have the Presidential Suite for the night. They had to rent it for the VIP social hour at the ball and they had to pay for the whole night but no one else wanted to stay the night. That is how Ben and I got to stay in a $1000 hotel room:). We were such nerds we ran around taking pictures in all the rooms. I thought you might find them interesting. I didn't even include pictures of the dining room and kitchen.

The actual ball.

Part of the bathroom.

The massive bed.

Ben showing you there was room to exercise.

The living room with fireplace.

Yes there was a NICE piano.

The game room:).

Clomid, Phonics, and Ego Boosters

Ahhh what a mixed title but this is my life.

Clomid - I start Clomid tomorrow. It is the first fertility drug that I have gone on. I wasn't really thinking it would be a big deal until I got bored the other night and googled it. It is designed to rev up your ovaries and make you produce more eggs. Some women experience almost no side effects. Others list dizziness, pain, mood swings, massive pimple breakouts, and nausea. I will keep you posted on what I experience, as I am sure you are all dying to know:). A week from Friday I go in and have an ultra sound to see if I did produce more than one egg. I feel a bit like a chicken at this point but if it gets us closer to being parents I will cluck on.

Phonics - The students are now writing journals. They are encouraged to sound words out. This works really well for most of them. But the ones with the lisps end up with their own unique spelling:). You might need to click on this to see the words.


This translates to - "My Nina is great and she plays games with everybody. She wants to play she will play mash with me but will she will she will she play soccer with me she will do anything." With is wis - exactly like she says it. Anything is enedig - again exactly like she says it.

This little girl is writing her journal all about Dr. Suess.



This is one of our top students. I actually really like her spelling of words. If you can't guess what she is saying, I have included a translation.

"My soccer coach teach me how to keep the ball on the ground and how to keep the ball ready and how to get ready and how to keep the ball rolling." She ran out of room so rolling was put at the top.

A few other kindergarten tales for you. These seem to have a theme. The students forgot to do something the other day and I was joking with them that they weren't old so they weren't allowed to forget stuff. I said when they were old like me they could forget stuff. One little girl yells out, "You're not old you're skinny." I think a mom has been training this little one and the signals got mixed.

I referred to myself again as old today and another little girls says to me. "Mrs. Leppard you are not old. You are new." I like that. I am new.

Finally the teacher was telling the students that I was going on a trip soon. She said she wanted to get in my suitcase and come with me. They all said she couldn't fit and that she shouldn't do that. Finally one little boy says, "You could do that if you had a fat suitcase." The teacher, who is very skinny, asked if he was saying she was fat. "Oh no, but you would need a fat suitcase to hold all the air you need."

And of course tea-bag darling has one for you. She has not lost any teeth yet but the rest of the class has them falling out left and right. They come in with their money from the tooth fairy. She has watched all this for a month now. Finally this week she walks up to me and is attempting to wiggle a very solid tooth. She says, "Mrs. Leppard, my tooth if very loose. And when it falls out I am going to get 100 dollar cents."

Terrific Tuesday

There are days in Kindergarten where the kids give me so many great little comments and stories I have to go home and write them up right away. Today was such a day

Scene One - Recess
A little cutie in our class is causing quite the stir among the boys. They all want to sit by her and play with her. Ultimately they want to play chase. Our smartest boy tried to win her heart by using his new found writing ability and gave her a note that read.

"Sheila if you be my friend I will catch you at recess if you be my friend. i love you" It was followed by 5 well drawn hearts.

However there is a problem, she can't read very well and didn't know what it said. It was brought to me and we had to have a discussion about girlfriends with the little lover boy, who was quite embarrassed and kept insisting he just wanted to be her friend.

Scene two - walking little girl to the office

Girl "I am getting a baby brother."

Me "Does Mommy have a baby in her tummy?"

Girl "No, not yet. When I am in first grade I will get a baby brother."

Moment of silence

Girl "God has a big bird that will come down and poke my mommy's belly and then I will have a baby brother."

Me "That will be nice."

Scene Three - lunch room

A little friend is sad as a boy said he wants to marry her when he grows up. I tell them that they are only five and can't possibly know who they will marry and that we are all JUST friends. A little girls speaks up and says, "I know who I am going to marry when I grow up." I start to say again how we can't know at 5 who we will marry, when she interrupts me with, "But Mrs. Leppard I do know who I will marry. I am going to marry a king." She can dream can't she?

Scene Four - during writing time.

There were completing the sentence "I would tell my Mom the truth because....." One little girl was trying hard to spell out a word. I went over to help her out and she says. "I need to know how to spelling whooping. Because if I tell a lie I get a whooping. I tell the truth A LOT." I especially like that she didn't claim to always tell the truth.

I forgot one earlier - Scene Five - also during writing time.

One little girl wanted to write why she would not eat green eggs and ham. She said because "they are from out of space." It took me a good five minutes to convince her it was outer space not out of space.

Black and White

My friend Jessi started a small photo club on Flika. I love it as it makes me practice using my amazing camera. I have not even begun to touch what this camera can do. This week we were to just use black and white. This is my favorite form of photography. I was already in a really good mood because Ben came home. He was gone for 10 days and this time it felt long. I got sick and it made me lonely. However Saturday the weather warmed up, I felt better from my cold, Ben arrived home, and flowers began to bloom in my garden. What more could I ask for? I decided to share these pictures and also just to share my joy as we head into a new week.







One side note on this piano shot. We have cat named Baci (Italian for kisses -she likes to lick). She hates it when I whistle and will come up and gently bite me to let me know how much this annoys her. We got a keyboard this January and she seems to think it is me whistling. If I start playing she will soon be at my feet hitting my arms and biting my ankles. It doesn't hurt but sure is distracting in the middle of Beethoven to get nibbled.