You are my sunshine

My only sunshine. You make me HAPPY when sky's are grayyou'll never know dear how much I LOVE you

please don't take my sunshine away

My Grandma used to sing this song to me when we would stay the night at their house. She would always sing it to me as she was waking me up. It was such a pleasant way to wake up and a memory I will never forget.
As I was laying in bed last night the memory randomly popped into my head. I wish my kids could have that kind of a relationship with my Grandparents. It's hard because they now live in Vegas. We (my family) are trying to get them to move back to California because their health is deteriorating. It breaks my heart to know they are so far away and in my case I can't go see them. My mom has pretty much been their care taker the passed four months but they have also been coming out to CA every few weeks and staying with my mom at her house, but they miss their independence and are back in Vegas. My Grandpa has cancer and my Grandmas Alzheimer's is advancing fast. It makes me very thankful for all the time we got to spend together while I was growing up. I have so many fond memories that include them and I am so happy that right now I can continue that and that hopefully my children with retain some of the memories they have had with them also.

How safe are you really

The kids and I were sitting here in the living room, normal day and then I hear a helicopter blaze over us. Seriously this thing was booking it. So of course being the nosy person that I am I peek out the window and guess where the helicopter is???

The kids and I were sitting here in the living room, normal day and then I hear a helicopter blaze over us. Seriously this thing was booking it. So of course being the nosy person that I am I peek out the window and guess where the helicopter is???
In the next neighborhood over, about a half a mile away. It's been circling for over ten minutes. I know we don't live in the safest area of the world but it still bothers me that there is crime practically in our back yard. This is not the first time I have seen a police helicopter circling over that specific area. There is a huge apartment complex there and it has a reputation on not having the best tenants there. I heard there was a shooting there last year. What makes me really nervous is my sister informed me the other day that in the neighboring city there is a child molester on the run. Again I know the world isn't perfect and there are horrible people out there but I don't want them ANYWHERE near my family.
I am a worry wart, sometimes I wish I could take all the people close to me and go live in a perfect little bubble. Kind of like The Stepford Wives minus the robots LOL I just watched that movie so it's stuck in my head right now. I just hate to think about all the scary things out in the world that eventually my kids will some way or another have to experience. For example; I went to pick Jr up from school a while back and noticed two police cars as I was pulling up. One was leaving but the other was still there. Of course that worried me but no one at the school would talk. The next day we got a letter sent home from the Principal that there was a man talking to some of the students, young girls and tried to get one of them to get in his scary. SCARY!
I guess the whole point to this post is how do you prevent/protect/talk to your kids about this kind of stuff. Jr knows there are bad people who do bad things in this world but that's about as far as I've taken it with him. He knows not to talk to strangers and what to do if he gets lost. I know a lot of this is the worry wart in me but I get the reminders every time I see that helicopter fly by the house.

Short break

I'm taking a short break from blogging. My house is currently infected with the sickies! Jr just got over pneumonia and is still trying to kick this cold. Both Samantha and Shawn have the same nasty cold and Samantha also has a double ear infection. Steve caught the cold and also got bronchitis and I'm fighting it. I can feel it in my chest (owww) and I'm super drained but I've been guzzling my emergen-c so I'm hoping this will be the worst of it.
So unless I cook something uber yummy and have to share or have other news I can resist sharing with you all I will be on Sickie break for a short time.

One of my favorite snacks, Fried Rice

Yes once in a blue moon I will randomly make fried rice for a snack. It's so simple a yummy I always make extra because my hubby will eat it all up if I don't make enough. I don't use a recipe I've just gone through by trial for a few years and now I've got it down by memory.
The basics:
White rice
Egg
Soy sauce
Butter
Green onion
Carrot
Mushrooms
I usually add zucchini and regular onion but I didn't have any today.
To get started cook up some white rice. Today I did one and a half cups of rice. While your rice is cooking go ahead and cook up your veggies in some butter.

When your veggies are done crack two eggs and scramble them. I use the same pan since it's all getting mixed together anyways.
The next step is totally unhealthy but I put in about a tablespoon of butter so I can stir fry my rice. Hey it's called fried rice for a reason LOL Then in goes your rice. The easiest way to do this is to just DUMP the rice into the pan. Literally, I tip my pot over, give a nice smack and wha-la, rice is all out.
Mix it all together, pour in how ever much soy sauce you like and you've got fried rice! Now I like my rice with a bit of spice to it so I bought some of that Sriracha Hot Chili Sauce and poured it all over.
And here's the finished product. Yummy, slightly salty, slightly spicy, a little crunch from the veggies, best homemade fried rice ever.

In a funk

I haven't been posting to much lately cause I've been in quite the funk lately. A lot has been going on and it has me worried. I am a worry wart and tend to over exaggerate in my worries but when it comes to my kids I take no chances.
Some history. Jr has pneumonia, again. This is the second time in less then a month and the other week he was on the verge on pneumonia but we caught it in time . The first time the Dr misdiagnosed him so I took him to another Dr the next day and got the right diagnosis. Here we are almost a month later and he is sick again. I went to the Dr's and he pretty much blew me off. Told me to continue treating him as I have been. My husband was PISSED. So he went in and demanded to talk to the Dr. Finally the Dr comes in and they start going through his records. Come to find out we were never given one of his test results from back in October! Apparently Jr does not produce what he needs in order to fight off streptococcus pneumonia. My husband and I, naturally are worried about this. The Dr suggested we run some more blood work and take another chest x-ray. So we did and I brought the kids home to put the younger two to bed and Steve and Jr went back around 8:30 when the results were in. The blood tests led the Dr to believe he has viral pneumonia and the chest x-ray is pretty much the same as it was last month, maybe slightly better on his right lung. This is round two of anti-biotics with no help. And since it's viral there is nothing we can do. Were continuing with the breathing treatments because his coughing is getting pretty bad which is making it hard for him to breath at times.
My husband kept trying to ask the Dr what can we do for him, if anything and the Dr wasn't understanding him so he had the nerve to say to my husband that he had been working a 13 hour shift and he's already spent to much time on my son! Can you believe that!! My husband was livid yet some how managed to keep his cool. He told him that his opinion used to be the only one at Kaiser that he valued and since he said that he has lost all respect for him. Go hubby. I wouldn't have kept so calm. He only spent maybe 20 minutes in the room with me and Jr when we went to see him. So the Dr is going to talk to a Immunologist and see what he thinks and then a Pulmologist and get back to us. Pretty much the Dr is stumped and doesn't know why Jr can't kick the pneumonia. In the meantime Jr has a recheck tomorrow and if he has improved we are getting him the pneumonia vaccine for bacterial pneumonia since if he were to get it he couldn't fight it.
So here we sit, and play the waiting game. I am trying not to worry about my baby but I can't help it. My wheels are spinning a million miles a minute. I wont be able to calm down until we can get some answers.

Samanthas first dance class

My sister called me last week and told me she had a coupon for one free dance class at the place she takes her daughter to. She asked if I would be interested in taking Samantha. Like I would ever say no to that LOL
I was keeping my fingers crossed and hoping for the best. Sam has never been to daycare or out of my care unless it's with family, and even then it's not for that long. She has been talking about the class since yesterday saying how excited she is and that she can't wait to be with Marisa (my niece). She was like this until they closed the door of the studio. I heard a little whimper but not again for about 5 minutes. And then I heard her crying. Not screaming though or they would have brought her out to me. The teacher came out about 10 minutes later and asked who the mom was of the pretty little blond all in pink. I raised my hand and smiled and said "you mean the one crying, that would be me" LOL. She said she was doing fine until one of the girls accidentally hit her in the eye while they were spinning in circles. She asked if she could keep her in there since she seemed to like her and I said sure, no problem. For the rest of the class I would hear her off and on crying/whimpering. Not once though did she let out a real cry so I knew she would be ok. It was cute watching her from the TV's they had set up, the teacher held her hand a lot and had her sitting in her lap. I thought that was very sweet of her to try and make her comfortable.
I told my mom I just knew what Sam's reaction would be when she was done with class. She was going to say she had fun and wanted to come back. Sure enough that was her exact response. Classes are $480 a year if you pay monthly or $420 if you pay in full. That's a pretty penny for us to drop on something plus you have to pay $60 for recital dresses so I'm not sure we will proceed to register her there.
Since it was a closed room I didn't get but a few pictures. I was very bummed about that. But they did have a big window I could see her from outside. So here's my baby girl all dressed up for her dance class.

Before class, happy as can be :)

She pretty much didn't move from this spot the entire time

A shot from outside looking in the window, I had to barely peek my head over so she didn't see me and completely loose it

Chicken Parmigiana

Growing up we didn't have a lot of Italian food so I got lucky marrying into an Italian family, or so I thought LOL My husband doesn't cook much. He will do the occasional Preggo sauce (GAG) and once in a blue moon he will really cook. Usually fish but he also makes this amazing sausage dish with a red sauce and lots of sauteed onions and peppers, so good.
I was browsing online earlier today looking for some chicken recipes because, well I'm pretty bored of the same ole thing. After finding a whole lot of nothing at allrecipes I headed on over to one of my favorite sites, The Pioneer Woman. If you have never been there I highly suggest you go take a look. I don't think there is a single recipe on her site that doesn't look good. I decided to make Chicken Parmigiana. Yummy chicken smothered in cheese and marinara sauce.
Now my pictures are no where near as good as hers but here's our dinner tonight.

Frying up the chicken

Mmmm, onions, garlic & wine. You can't go wrong with those three ingredients

The marinara sauce

The best part, melted Parmesan on top of the chicken

Hubby's plate full of delicious Chicken Parmigiana