2 Points

After a 10 game road trip that lasted almost 3 weeks, the Kings finally came home to Staples Center. Kat and I got see a really exciting game for some crucial 2 points in the Western Conference standings. For those who don't follow hockey, the race in the West has been tight all season with teams rising/falling pretty much on a weekly, now daily basis.

Several teams are tied in points and a win can boost them into the top 8 which is a playoff berth. Every game will be important and hopefully the Kings can keep up their hard work.

We played the Wild last night who we tied with in points. It was a great game and we won (in regulation) so the Kings get 2 points and the Wild get 0.  Next game is Colorado on Saturday and even though the Avs are not doing that well most likely our of the playoffs, they can be the spoiler for teams trying to secure a spot.

Enough, picture time.

Diehard Kings fans. Thanks goodness, they're fit otherwise it would be ugly.

Damage Control

Remember a few days ago when Joshua lost his tooth...well, I seriously dropped the ball when I went to wake Josh up the next morning to find him in the fetal position already awake. He said in a very sad voice that the tooth fairy didn't come that night. Epic fail. He then started crying and I felt so bad I gave him $5. I do not think well on my feet in a crisis so I blurted out that mom & dad leave money which I felt awful about.

Of course a minute later, I realized that I should have made up something since its only his 2nd tooth he lost. I told Hector knowing he would come up with a good excuse. Hector said that the tooth fairy takes Tuesdays off. Duuhhhh.

That night he brought home a plain card and I wrote a note from the tooth fairy explaining the lateness etc with more $.

The next morning, Josh came into our bedroom saying the tooth fairy left him a note. He seemed satisfied with it so hopefully my lame explanation (truth) never sunk into his brain. Phew, thanks honey.

See? Josh survived the ordeal I put him through.

He enjoys the many ways to wear Kat's monkey hat.

Sleepover

I'm a bit behind with the blogging but here are some photos from our sleepover time with Sherri's kids plus our 2 boys to make a total of 5 kids, ranging from 5 years to 11 years old.

Overall, it was a huge success. No one became homesick, only a couple of bumps and lots of fun. There was an impromptu backyard baseball game, a movie night with lots of popcorn and a massive blanket fort that used 12 dining room chairs & dining table to make a huge spaceship.

Showing off her pretty sparking fingers and toes.

Morning Wake Up

Had a lovely 3 day weekend with the kids...more on that later. This morning I was woken by Joshua bursting in saying he pulled out his tooth! Very impressive since he was a bit apprehensive about pulling it out but he kept wiggling it till it fell out. :)

We put the tooth in a little baggie for tonight's offering to the tooth fairy which will be the 2nd one this weekend if you add in Tyler's tooth (molar?) that left a bloody trail of tissues in the bathroom. He had no problem ripping out his tooth at all.

Now to gather $$ for them tonight...Shhh Joshua still believes in the tooth fairy while Tyler believes in Dad's wallet. :)

Questions

My youngest son Josh throws out some questions that will throw me off sometimes. They do relate to the matter at hand but I just wonder where he picks up these ideas.

For example: One night the internet went down so Josh was very impatient while waiting for the system to reboot. He kept sighing heavily and groaning then finally asked me, "Do we operate off a mainframe?"
I was a bit stunned but said no, you can talk to Dad about that. So Hector explained about our server etc so maybe next time Josh will remember. My mind drifted off...

Another day, Josh was playing on Club Penguin (his online kid club) and asked me, "Are you regular or goofy?" For those who don't know that refers to snowboarding/skateboarding/surfing(?) about which foot is in front. Left foot is regular and right foot is goofy.  I answered, "I'm regular, your dad is goofy." So true.

It's a Beautiful Day

Headed over to White Point this morning to see how the view was and I was not disappointed. I met a nice elderly gentleman who told me about the history of White Point/ Royal Palms and showed me where the remnants of the swimming pool was.

I then made my way down the hill to enjoys the sounds of the ocean. The only sad thing is all the feral cats that live among the rocks. They are scraggly and sickly while crazy cat people come by to feed them. Ugh.

It was high tide so the waves crashing into the rocks were pretty spectacular.

Maybe on Monday I'll bring the kids back during low tide and poke around on the rocks...

Read more about the White Point Hot Springs Hotel.

Don't Fence Me In

Even though there's rain for the rest of the week, I felt the need to be outside. Good thing the marsh is nearby so I could take some pictures.



I didn't go into the actual marsh but the garden area by the info center. Lots of blooming plants, bees and even a hummingbird. I wanted to stay close by to the car in case it started raining.



Have a look at the full set dated 2-16-11 for my photos here.

Before the Rain

We are expecting rain for the rest of the week. It began drizzling Tuesday morning on and off so basketball practice was cancelled.

The kids didn't want to wait for me to finish taking photos so I let them head down to the nearly deserted beach.

Earlier the clouds were solid, gray and gloomy but during the afternoon,  the clouds parted to give way to bits of blue skies and sun.

View from the parking lot.

I decided to take advantage of the cancelled practice to head to the beach and see how the view was. Meanwhile the kids really wanted to play kickball so it all worked out.

I really like this pic. Too bad the sinkhole is there but oh well.

View of Palos Verdes with my kids playing by the lifeguard tower.

Four miles to the beach and the kids took off down the steep hill to play in the sand. The clouds clumped up more than I liked but it was still fun and nice for the kids to run around. They would have stayed a lot longer but after 15 minutes, I was freezing. I look forward to more days at the beach.

Candid moment with the boys.

Happy Valentine's Day

and a bonus day off school for the kids. They were sweet and let me sleep until 8:30am. I headed downstairs for their breakfast and was greeted with Valentine's Day cards propped up on my coffee maker. Hector knows me so well. :)

The kids and I are going to have dim-sum with my mom today and maybe even take a side trip to Best Buy (the kids want to buy some DS games). More science fair project work then back to school with a shortened week then another 3 days weekend. Yay!

Meanwhile, enjoy some pics of the kids as they indulge me forcing them into making hearts with their hands. I'm so cruel...

Chocolate dessert with raspberries and champagne.

Our lovely view at dinner.

Cuteness

Not nearly as many photos as Tyler had when he was a baby but here is a favorite of ours of Josh at around age 6-9 months.



Josh at almost 1 year old. I don't what this loveseat has to attract the shirtless guys but there it is. :)



Not sure what Josh is holding but I think we are at Embassy Suites on one of our many trips to San Diego. Love Josh's belly.

Note: all this scanning business is brought to you because Josh has a 100 day project and another mom gave me an idea to use 100 photos of Josh make our poster. It's a big job but I figure that we would have a nice keepsake after it is all done. I'm going thru my files and shrinking the photos down to about 2.5 x 2.5 to keep the entire poster size down.

Eerie Glow

Unintentional double/triple exposure that I like.

I was messing around with exposure and it was dark in the family room. Can you tell what this is?

It's a Wii-mote charging in its cradle. Oh, it's charged. It would be red if it was charging.

50 Steps

As an attempt to practice photography, I'm starting a 50 step project. Since I spend a lot of time in front of my computer and I always can't get out to interesting locations for photos, I will limit myself to 50 steps (approximate more or less) which is pretty much the house and yard.

Screen Door slider.

Next time I will count how far 50 steps will take me but for the meanwhile, today is my house with lots of backyard photos.

Top of propane set with dead spider.

Here is the 50 Step Flickr set. Please take a look and let me know what you think. I'm looking forward to adding more very soon. I don't want to upload all the photos I took today but look for more 50 step pics soon!

Rewind

I will say that I absolutely love this scarf! Its construction, textured pattern and colors but as you can see it will fit my 8 year old just fine but on me, it's a noose plus it's super warm. Not something that I can practically use in SoCal.

I followed the pattern but I need more stitches so it will be longer so I can wear it in a more relaxed fashion and if it does get chilly, I can double it so it will rest loosely around the collarbone area.

So enjoy the pictures of Josh wearing it because I will be frogging it and start over with modifications. I was going to call it Happy-Go-Lucky because of the colors that make me happy but you'll have to wait for v2.0.

See how nice the length is, but not intended for a child. I tried stretching it out but no go.

I love how the half twist adds to the style when doubled.

Gorgeous colors too. The construction is fascinating with the bright pink being the cast on point then knit/purl in a figure 8 that gets the color on the top/bottom. Kind of hard to wrap my head around it but it works which is great. :)

Back to Normal

Tyler is back to normal..how do I know?? I had to keep reminding him to stop bugging his brother. :)

Meanwhile, it just occurred to me that I have to get a move on our check-off list for our cruise. School projects NEED to be completed this weekend (thank goodness for 3 day weekends) which turns out to be quite a bit this month. Science fair, book reports and 100 day project/presentation before we leave.

Today I smogged my BMW, doing laundry, went grocery shopping (hello, Taco flavor Doritos) and mailed off a package to family while talking to my mom that yes, she can bring nail clippers, what type of clothing to bring and the weather in Mexico.

I did have a fabulous sandwich that I made with a sourdough roll, tri-tip roast, mayo, horseradish mustard, cheese and lettuce with a side of Cheetos. Yum.

Okay, time to do more laundry....

One of those days

I guess it was inevitable that a child would get sick after all the coughing, sneezing going on in this house. Yesterday Tyler seemed less energetic than usual (kind of funny if you know him but I could tell) and I found him laying in bed with a book beside him. He said he had a headache and complained of some dizziness. Tyler can be a little dramatic so I suggested he lay down with the lights off and he agreed which is another flag he wasn't feeling well. I checked on him 15 minutes later and he was asleep. Okay, he's sick, not like Hector and I but out of sorts kind of sick.

I kept him home today and he's taking it easy. I gave him Advil, Ichiban ramen for lunch and he's said he'll go to school tomorrow. I'm just hoping and praying that Josh won't get sick.

Super Bowl Sunday

The football game was okay...I wasn't really into it but watched it anyway. The halftime/music performances were blech with strange glow in the dark dancers with boxes on their heads.

The commercials were much better with the Darth Vader VW, Doritos (the one where the guy brings things back to life) and various car commercials were memorable.

Hector and I are still in the recovery stages of this nasty cough/cold. I seem to be nearing the end with lingering cough/mucus while Hector caught another cold sometime at Mammoth so he is in the gross mucus/violent coughing stage. I got to stay in my PJs all day while Hector did the outside errands. He got several racks of cooked pork ribs ($5 each), potato salad and other goodies so I didn't have to move. :) Thanks honey.

So I knit and drank tea....

What is that flying object? It's Joshua!

I might as well post more birthday celebration photos. Remember that sometimes the simple times are the most memorable. We didn't have anything extra special ie clowns or magicians but some games, a bounce house and fireworks. :)

Here are more pics, excuse the blurriness but low lighting will be my excuse!

Best Day Ever

That was some quotes directly from several kids' mouths yesterday as we held Josh's belated birthday. Okay his actual b-day is December 27 so don't judge. He had a great time as did all the other kids. This year we kept it small and invited 5 kids to a bounce house and some games.

The kids ranged from 5 years to 11 years and it's still a big hit. We played some Minute To Win It inspired games (video later), lit some fireworks and bounced some more.

One child was overheard saying he wanted to stay forever...um, okay. :) Another wanted to have sleepover so we are in the plans for that. I need a few weeks to rest up for that one. :)

Here are few bounce house photos...

Pattern 2

Here is another project OTN that have been languishing for a while.

Tyler and Joshua gave me each some sock yarn that they personally chose so I can knit them socks. Josh picked a nice solid blue color while Tyler chose a multi-hued yarn that is a mix of green, orange, pink and white. He really does love color so the tiny amount of pink doesn't phase him but when trying to knit it up, the colors came off as a bit girly so this is my solution.

I picked out a pattern in Sensational Knitted Socks that has the generic name of Pattern 2. From the chart I would never have guessed that this is how it would look but I did my usual intensive research on Ravelry and really liked the look of them. I found a nice generic brown to contrast with Tyler's chosen sock yarn and this is what I have for the leg so far.



I am at the heel which in my sick and sorry state, I cannot wrap my head around the heel portion which uses both yarns. I am going to wait a day or two to see if the pattern makes sense to me then or just wing it with one color.



I do like the undulating waves of colors so I will dub these socks Undulation.

Possum

Rodent or luxury? It's both actually. The possums in the US are ugly, nasty things. In New Zealand they are better looking but still pests. Click here to see the critters. They were introduced in the 1800's for the fur industry and of course they have no predators and many plants/animals have been destroyed by these possums. So New Zealand tries to get some use out of them and possum yarn in one of them.

My friend Kat's parents, Buddy and Carol went on a month -long cruise Down Under to LA and I asked them to see if they could find some possum yarn for me. They sure did and asked me to knit a pair of warm possum socks for Buddy. I haven't knit any men-sized socks in a very long time so it was a bit of a shock to knit size 11. :) As I knit them, I'd stick my hand or toes in them and even then I could tell these socks retain heat like crazy due to the hollow core inside the hair. Plus, the fiber is super soft, who knew that these NZ possums are so soft?



Now I just have to deliver them to Buddy and take his picture wearing these bad boys.  Yay!!

White Stuff

Decided to post more pics from our trip since this cold is holding me down. This is what Josh decides to do after I said not to roll around in the snow because he only had snow boots on not snow clothing. Of course, he falls down and quickly looks to see if I saw....yes, I see you. Pants were a bit damp on the long ride home but what can you do...



I wonder where this road leads to...follow the snowy white road (sing the tune from Wizard of Oz).



Here is my postcard picture that says, "Wish You Were Here!" I might have to print this one out and frame it.



Tyler and Josh posing for me. Check out Tyler's monster-sized feet. I think Hector bought mens size 9 for Tyler who is about 7.5 so we figured he could get a couple of good years out of them. Oy.