Tonight's Metro: I-405 PM Closures for Friday, October 12

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The abbreviations below help us organize the Daily Updates by segment.
Sunday Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday Saturday	SU MO TU WE TH FR SA	All Wilshire Sunset Mulholland	ALL WIL SUN MUL

 

These are the PM Closures for Friday,October 12, 2012, Closures are subject to change. The latest closureinformation can be found at metro.net/405. The Wilshire Segment runs fromNational Bl to Constitution Av. The Sunset Segment runs from Constitution Av tothe Getty Center ramps. The Mulholland Segment begins at the Getty Center rampsand ends at Ventura Bl.

FR-WIL: Southbound off-ramp to Santa Monica Bl closed tonight, 9pm to8am.FR-WIL: Sepulveda Bl reduced to one lane each direction from north ofConstitution to Constitution tonight, 9pm to 6am.FR-WIL: Sepulveda fully closed from Ohio to Wilshire tonight, 9pm to6am.FR-WIL: Beloit reduced with flagger from Santa Monica Bl toMassachusetts tonight, 10pm to 5am.FR-SUN: Northbound off-ramp to Montana partially closed tonight, 7pm to8am.FR-SUN: Church Ln reduced to one lane each direction (left-turn pocketclosed too) from Sepulveda to Angelino tonight, 10pm to 6am.FR-SUN: Sepulveda fully closed from Montana to Church Ln tonight, 10pmto 6am.FR-SUN:Sepulveda northbound 2 lane closed near Casiano tonight, 9pm to 6am.FR-SUN: Northbound on-ramp from Moraga closed tonight, 8pm to 8am.FR-SUN: Northbound off-ramp to Moraga closed tonight, 7pm to 8am.FR-SUN: Sepulveda Bl reduced to one lane each direction from north ofMoraga to Church Ln tonight, 9pm to 6am.FR-SUN: Moraga Dr fully closed from Sepulveda to Bellagio tonight, 10pmto 6am.
FR-MUL: Northbound off-ramp to Skirball Center Dr closed tonight, 7pmto 8am.FR-MUL: Northbound on-ramp to Skirball closed tonight, 7pm to 8am.FR-MUL: Southbound off-ramp to Skirball Center Dr closed tonight, 7pmto 8am.FR-MUL: Southbound on-ramp from Valley Vista closed tonight, 7pm to8am.FR-MUL: Southbound 5 lane closed from Valley Vista to 2000 feet northof Mulholland Bridge tonight, 7pm to 8am.FR-MUL: Southbound 4, 5 lanes closed from Valley Vista off-ramp to Skirballtonight, 10pm to 7am.FR-MUL: Southbound 3, 4, 5 lanes closed from north of Mulholland toSkirball tonight, midnight to 6am.FR-MUL: Sepulveda Bl reduced to one lane each direction from ShermanOaks Av to Fiume Walk tonight, 10pm to 6amFR-MUL: Skirball Center Dr/Mulholland Dr fully closed from Zeldins toCasiano tonight, 10pm to 6am.

Happy Birthday Boys!!

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Today is a really special day for lots of reasons.  First and foremost- today is the boys' 3rd birthday!  I can't believe that three years ago today Jon and I woke up and headed to the hospital to deliver our babies.  Three years ago today, Jon sat anxiously in the hallway while I had my spinal put in, waiting to be called into the OR for the birth of our two little boys. We were overjoyed when they both popped out healthy as can be.  Matthew cried the second his little head entered the world.  He didn't even bother waiting for the rest of his body to make its appearance!  And I remember waiting that split second to hear Caleb's voice, but when I did, I could finally take a breath of my own.  Three years ago today Jon and I started our journey as parents with these two tiny, helpless little lives.

And now here we are, three years later, about to embark on a whole new journey!!  This is the best I've done for a birthday so far.  I had a REALLY hard time when the boys turned one, and then when they turned two.  But this year I was a little better.  I only had a lowercase hard time  :) 

We celebrated the boys' birthday with our family and friends over the weekend.  We had a skateboarding party at our house and the boys had a blast.  They got to play with all of their cousins and see all of their favorite people...  grandmas, grandpas, great grandmas and grandpas, aunts, uncles, and "aunts" and "uncles".  When we asked what kind of cake they wanted, they both agreed on a California cake.  So Jon and I spent two days working on a giant cake shaped like California, filled with all of the boys' favorite things from our trip.  They were thrilled!

However, today was a bit sad as well.  Unfortunately daddy had to go back to work today... on their birthday of all days!!!  Both boys cried a few tears when they woke up and daddy wasn't here.  But they bounced back quickly because today we started a new adventure of our own.  Preschool!  Today is also the day that their movie, Five Year Engagement, is being released on DVD.  So after our morning preschool activities, we headed out to the store to buy a copy and the boys got to see themselves on our TV screen  :)  What a special birthday treat for our two tiny movie stars!  We can't wait for daddy to get home to watch it with us (and to eat the cupcakes we bought while we were out!)

I'm gonna post some birthday pics here, and then I'll do our first day of preschool as a separate post.  Too much for one page!  So for now- HAPPY BIRTHDAY CALEB AND MATTHEW!  You are two very special little boys!


Opening Auntie Tara's present before the party...
 Caleb showing off his new skateboarding helmet from Auntie Tara, Uncle Dave, Alex, and Perez!
 Skateboarding!! California Cake- with all of the boys favorite California things, including the counting book we wrote with pictures we took all over Los Angeles!
 California Cake
 Blowing out their candles

Opening presents

Uncle George was the only one brave enough to take credit for this gift, though it was rumored that MANY were involved!!! LOL!!!

We're back!

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Whew.  Sorry for the absence.  We've had a crazy couple of days.  Three days ago Jon said, "Hey- I think we need to call the plumber to snake the drain."  You see, every fall the drain in the basement backs up and floods our basement.  When we moved in 7 years ago, the plumber said he's done this house every fall for the last 20 years and that it just needs to be done the same time each year.  We've totally flooded the basement three times since we've lived here.  This year we thought we'd get it done before the flood but Jon didn't call the darn plumber that night and sure enough the next day- flood!  So we spent an evening at the laundromat washing all of the laundry I had sitting on the floor in the basement (hey- I never claimed that keeping up with laundry was a specialty of mine!!).  Then we had to videotape a big audition for the boys which took an entire day because I got into a fight of epic proportions with file sharing program we use.  Then Matthew attempted to ingest a half a tube of fluoride toothpaste while I THOUGHT he was sleeping- turns out he was quiet not because he was sleeping but because he had snuck himself in the bathroom, closed the door, climbed the toilet to the counter and was enjoying a nice little snack of yup- fluoride toothpaste!  So I got to have a nice little chat with the lady at the poison control hot line.  Nice lady.  Then the computer crashed.  Well, we thought it crashed but it was just confused.  Then, last but not least, our world got turned upside down once again with a discussion about relocating our family.  I'm still not standing totally rightside up after that one.  Everything else is back in order.  But that last one has left me feeling a bit tipsy still.  Each time its harder for me to recover.  Oh- and we did hear back from the casting director today about the video audition we sent in...  the director will be booking tomorrow for a shoot in Mexico on Tuesday- so if that falls in place, things could get quite hairy around here again being that none of us have passports and Tuesday is only four days after Friday.  Needless to say,we haven't done any preschool in the last two days!!!

But we're back!!!  This morning I actually delayed our preschool time because the boys were engaging in the most wonderful imaginative play I have ever seen.  They were pretending that the laundry basket  was their bathtub and the entire basket full of socks (see above!) was the water.  They got all the balls out of their ball bin to be their bubbles, and their dolls were mommy and daddy watching then in the tub.  They talked back and forth sharing ideas- sometimes agreeing and sometimes disagreeing- but always building on their fun!  It was truly amazing.  I just sat there with my coffee while petting Rigby and watched.  For nearly an hour.  The tub then turned into a zoo and we moved into their bedroom where there were more "animals".  I refilled my coffee and silently thanked God for these amazingly creative, verbal, wonderful little boys.

Then we got started on school!  We started learning the days of the week- because the boys ask each morning where Daddy is and what days he will be home from work.  We sand and practiced a song about the days of the week- catchy little tune is still stuck my head.  Then we took out days of the week cards and traced the letters while we talked about weekdays vs. weekend days.  Then I let the boys dig into their tub of letters and match the letters to help with recognition of the days of the week.

Next we started on some sight words.  Is.  It.  In.  We used flash cards and our sight word sticks to match.  Then we used the little sight word board I found on Pinterest where the boys had to pick a card, spell the word with magnet letters, then write it with a dry-erase marker.  HUGE hit!  The boys practiced each of the 3 words multiple times before they got bored.  Then we read three little books that are part of this awesome box set called Sight Word Readers by Scholastic.  Each book has two sight words and they are really simple reads- the boys LOVED them!  So we did the books with is, it, and in.  Three times each.  Matthew was really getting the hang of it.  Caleb was getting it too, but he was getting lost in the pictures (which isn't a bad thing- its how he helps himself "read" and figure out the story!).   Then we reviewed our flash cards and sticks and both of them were able to remember and "read" all three words! 

Lastly, for math we played a very fun numbers game.  I made a "Domino's Parking Lot" worksheet and the boys had to take domino's and "park" them in the correct parking spot based on how many dots were on each piece.  By this point we had been sitting for almost 45 minutes.  Matthew parked 4 domino's and wandered off, but Caleb parked 11!  He was quite upset that he couldn't finish- but I couldn't for the life of me find the domino that has 11 dots!!!  Oh well!!!


Caleb tracing the letters in "Monday" with his finger.

Matthew letter matching the letters in Sunday

Caleb letter matching

We used flash cards and sight word sticks to introduce 3 new sight words- Is, It, In

Matty lovin' the sight word board!!

Caleb working on "it"

Three little books we read to help focus on on new sight words Caleb playing his "Domino's Parking Lot" math game

You've Got to be Kidding Me!

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So glad to have my computer back!!  It was just too annoying to update the blog from our iPad.  But boy oh boy have we had some adventures in the last few weeks.  I think my new favorite phrase has become "You've got to be kidding me!" I can't even tell you how many times I've muttered this in the last week or so.  I'm really not sure why I continue to be surprised by the shenanigans the boys manage to get themselves into, yet somehow each time they up the ante and I find myself with my head in my hands muttering my new catch phrase yet again. 

Rewind a week and a half.  The boys were on the tail end of a miserable cold that deprived us all of a weeks worth of sleep, and me of my sanity.  My sanity was only partially due to the lack of sleep.  The rest was attributed to my dear Matthew's inability to peform a basic and simple human task- the cough.  For four days, he spent the first hour each morning coughing until he puked.  I don't deal well with puke.  Even when I handle it decently well in the moment, my anxiety lingers for days and it just plain wipes me out.  Anyways.  So we're at the tail end of this wonderful week.  It is Friday and the boys desperately need a nap to catch up on some sleep.  Uh-uh.  Not gonna happen.  I tried separating them but it just wasn't in the cards.  Their cards anyways.  It was most certainly in mine!!!  So I ended up letting them both hang out in their bedroom with some books and the lights on.  I begged for a half hour.  After about 20 minutes, the giggling got real quiet.  I desperately wanted to believe they had crashed out of pure exhaustion, that they were quietly snuggled together in one of their beds and it would be so adorable that I would sneak in to snap a few pictures before I enjoyed a gloriously peaceful afternoon to myself to recharge my own batteries.  Uh-uh.  Not gonna happen!  So when I went in there to check, do you know what I found?  Do you even know?!  I found both boys naked.  And pee all over the wall.  And I mean ALL over the wall.  With a giant puddle spreading out from the base molding.  I stood there with my mouth hanging open, speechless.  After a moment, the words started running through my head.  Somehow, I had the mental capacities to filter them.  But nothing coming to mind was appropriate to say.  Finally I uttered an exasperated "What in the hell did you do?!" to which they replied, "We were tryin' to pee in those holes!" while pointing at the electrical outlet.  Honest to God.  I couldn't make this stuff up if I tried!!!  Now I'm really speechless.  Really, truly, completely speechless.  What is one supposed to say when one's children try to pee in an electrical outlet??  Is there a standard protocol for such a situation?  Even if there was a written guide to raising toddlers, I'm fairly certain this wouldn't be in it!!!  So I called Jon.  I called Jon in hope that he could tell me the exact words that I was supposed to say.  Except that he had no words either. I could see his jaw drop- yes, I could see this happening through the phone!  And at the same time, I could see the little devil horns on the boys heads grow another inch.  Since Jon was no help, I was on my own.  So I marched my little devils back into their bedroom and handed them a roll of paper towels and some wet washcloths.  And then, in a stroke of pure genius of which I cannot identify the origins being that I was utterly and completely at my wits end, I went and fetched myself the M&M jar.  The one the boys get to take 3 M&Ms from each night that they have had no accidents during the day.  And I sat there on Caleb's bed, gorging myself on M&Ms while they cleaned up.  After all, I hadn't had any accidents!  They cried.  They begged.  But they cleaned up that whole mess.  And then, after I had eaten enough M&Ms to hopefully get myself through the rest of the afternoon on chocolate power, because lets face it- that's all I had going for me, I put my jar away and on we went with the rest of our day.  Oi vey! 

Fast forward a week.  We're all feeling better.  The boys had a great week and we were enjoying a beautiful fall Saturday.  I was making dinner while the boys were coloring and Jon was outside cleaning his car when all of a sudden I hear the loudest most painful earth shattering scream.  Matthew, who moments earlier had been coloring peacefully at his desk, runs into the kitchen with his hands pressed over his eyes.  He takes a breath and lets out another God awful shriek.  I take a breath and am overcome by the smell of Icy Hot.  You have got to be kidding me.  You have really got to be kidding me.  Over the last few weeks, we have had to remove every tube or bottle of squeezable anything because the boys have come to enjoy squeezing out every toothpaste, lotion, etc. they can get their grubby little hands on.  I thought we had gotten it all out of reach.  Except that the night before I had taken down my Icy Hot arthritis lotion for my knees and I had left it on the night stand next to my bed.  I scoop up Matthew, letting out my own earth shattering scream for Jon to come inside, and on our way to the bathroom, I manage to see Caleb standing in my bedroom and half the bottle of lotion all over the place.  You have GOT to be kidding me!!!  So we got Matthew over my legs on the edge of the bathtub with me holding his eye lids wide open and Jon dumping cups of water in them as he screams bloody murder.  It was awful.  Just awful!!!  Then, as we are doing this, Caleb who is standing next to us in the bathroom starts to scream the same God awful scream.  It hadn't even occurred to me that he had the lotion on his hands too, and he just then decided to touch his eyes.  Now we've got two screaming kids, four little eye peeled and pinned open, and the two of us desperately dumping water onto their screaming childrens exposed eyeballs.  I'm pretty certain the neighbors must have thought we were performing a ritualistic sacrifice.  Of our kids.  I'm truly surprised no one called CPS.

Oh I'm not done.  Fast forward one more time.  Its 24 hours later- Sunday night.  Jon and I are about to fall asleep.  My lips are dry, so I reach over to my nightstand to get some bag balm.  I dip my finger in and rub it on my lips.  My lips are instantly on fire.  You have got to be frickin' kidding me!!!!!  Yup.  My little devils managed to squirt some of the icy hot lotion into my bag balm, which I had just smeared all over my lips.  Seriously.  I'm starting to believe our friends and family when they say we need our own reality show.  I'm not sure why the current reality shows have to make stuff up.  Because this is not fabricated folks.  This is not an alcohol induced made-up reality!!!  This is my life!  My cough-puke-electrocuted with urine-icy hot in the eyes-lips on fire life!  The truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth!  We really should be getting paid for this.

How to Raise a Redneck: Part 259

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So the boys have decided that this cold, rainy October morning is just perfect for duck hunting. I truly had no idea that being a duck hunting redneck was genetic- but clearly it must be because the boys have turned their bean bag chair into their duck blind and have made guns out of duplo blocks.  All on their own.  They're sitting as still as can be in their blind yelling "Come on ducks!  We're hunting you!!!!"  For some reason, I'm not sure this is the proper technique.  But who am I to tell them that they are sitting still wrong?!   Of course Jon thinks this is adorable and he is beaming with pride.  So he gives them some duck decoys and duck calls.  Now they're honking away and blasting imaginary ducks on my ceiling.  But the funniest part is the dog.  The poor dog keeps getting all excited when they honk on the calls and yell, "Take 'em!  Shoot 'em!"  I think he's really expecting to go hunting.  I'm just not sure what he expects to retrieve when his masters are shooting with lego guns!!!

TOMORROW: Friday Oct. 12th - Manny's Pizzeria Donates 15% of sales to "Slice of Hope" Cancer Foundation

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Our very own Bel-Air/Sepulveda neighborhood pizzeria, Manny's Pizzeria, is joining pizza restaurants across the country to help defeat cancer for good! 
On Friday, October 12th, visit Manny's for a slice of pizza or meal and he will donate 15% of sales to the Karen Mullen Breast Cancer Foundation.
We'll be there, and we hope you will be to. 
To learn more about the foundation, please visit: www.endthisdisease.org
To learn more about Manny's Pizzeria, please visit www.mannyspizzeria.com

Join the "Great Shake Out" earthquake preparedness drill next week Thurs, Oct. 18, 2012

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Wednesday October 10, 2012, 7:03 PM LASD - HQ Newsroom (SHB), Los Angeles County Sheriff Community: Join the "Great Shake Out" earthquake preparedness drill next week Thurs, Oct. 18, 2012 Hi Bel-Air Association,You are invited to join millions of people who will Drop, Cover, and Hold On at 10:18 a.m. on next week on Thurs, October 18th in the 2012 Great California ShakeOut! Last year more than 12.5 million people were registered in ShakeOut drills worldwide. Participating is a great way for your family or organization to be prepared to survive and recover quickly from big earthquakes. Please visit the Great Shake Out website: http://www.shakeout.org/california/ Partner to prevent or report crime by contacting your local Sheriff’s station. Or if you wish to remain Anonymous, call “LA Crime Stoppers” by dialing 800-222-TIPS (8477), texting the letters TIPLA plus your tip to CRIMES (274637), or using the website http://lacrimestoppers.org Forwarded by: Captain Mike Parker Sheriff's Headquarters Bureau - Newsroom Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department (323) 267-4800 http://www.lasd.org SHBNewsroom@lasd.org LASD text and emails: www.Nixle.com http://nixle.com/lasd----hq-newsroom-shb-los-angeles-county-sheriff/ Twitter @LASD_News http://twitter.com/#!/LASD_News http://www.facebook.com/LosAngelesCountySheriffsDepartment Leroy D. Baca, Sheriff Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department To receive more detailed, up-to-date information directly from the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department (LASD) via e-mail, register for "Nixle" alerts at www.Nixle.com or more directly at https://local.nixle.com/register/ and register for "LASD – Headquarters Newsroom (SHB), Los Angeles County Sheriff" and your local LASD station area. Or, text your zip code to 888777 to receive text alerts only. Standard text messaging rates may apply depending on your calling plan. For full details, view this message on the web. Sent by LASD - HQ Newsroom (SHB), Los Angeles County Sheriff 4700 W Ramona Blvd, Monterey Park, CA 91754To manage your email settings, click here. To update your account settings, login here. If you prefer not to receive future emails, unsubscribe here. Powered by . © 2012 Nixle, LLC. All rights reserved.

Wilshire Bl Closure- Sepulveda to Veteran

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ATTENTION RESIDENTS, BUSINESS OWNERS AND TRAVELING PUBLIC IN THE VICINITY OF WILSHIRE BL BEWTEEN SEPULVEDA BL AND VETERAN AV

Wilshire Bl will be fully closed beginning Tuesday, October 9, 2012, 10pm to 6am, from Sepulveda Bl to Veteran Av. These nightly closures are expected to continue until Saturday, October 13, 2012, and will resume again from Monday, October 15, 2012 to Tuesday, October 16, 2012. These nightly closures are necessary to construct falsework for the EB Wilshire NB 405 on-ramp.

What: Full closure for on-ramp falsework construction.

When: Full nightly closures of Wilshire Bl are anticipated to start on Tuesday, October 9, 2012, until Saturday, October 13, 2012 and will resume again from Monday, October 15, 2012 to Tuesday, October 16, 2012. Closures and work hours are from 10pm to 6am.

Where: Wilshire Bl between Sepulveda Bl and Veteran Av.

What to expect:
 Detour will be Veteran Av to Santa Monica Bl to San Vicente Bl and vice versa.
 For daily closure information, please visit metro.net/405

TODAY: Friday Oct. 12th - Manny's Pizzeria Donates 15% of sales to "Slice of Hope" Cancer Foundation

To contact us Click HERE

Our very own Bel-Air/Sepulveda neighborhood pizzeria, Manny's Pizzeria, is joining pizza restaurants across the country to help defeat cancer for good! 
On Friday, October 12th, visit Manny's for a slice of pizza or meal and he will donate 15% of sales to the Karen Mullen Breast Cancer Foundation.
We'll be there, and we hope you will be to. 
To learn more about the foundation, please visit: www.endthisdisease.org
To learn more about Manny's Pizzeria, please visit www.mannyspizzeria.com

Space Shuttle Endeavour Fact Sheet

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Friday October 12, 2012, 9:00 AM LAPD Headquarters Advisory: Space Shuttle Endeavour Fact Sheet Hi Bel-Air Association,• Endeavour traveled 122 million miles over 25 missions • 122 feet long, 78 feet wide, stands 5 stories tall at the tail • Combined weight with transporter is 170,000lbs (80 tons) • 2180 1.5” steel composite plates secured to the street to distribute its weight over important infrastructure • 12 mile route through Los Angeles and Inglewood • 265 trees cut down in Los Angeles • 67 traffic signals and 48 mast arms removed • Largest object ever moved through the streets of Los Angeles • 3 of the 4 shuttles have traveled to their new homes: o Enterprise- Intrepid Sea Air & Space Museum in NY, NY o Discovery – Simithsonian National Air & Space Museum in VA o Atlantis – Kennedy Space Center, Cape Canaveral, FL o Endeavour – CA Science Center, Los Angeles, CA For full details, view this message on the web. Sent by LAPD Headquarters 100 W 1st St, Los Angeles, CA 90012To manage your email settings, click here. To update your account settings, login here. If you prefer not to receive future emails, unsubscribe here. Powered by . © 2012 Nixle, LLC. All rights reserved.