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

Wordless Wednesday

Jr is home from school sick today and he's just been lounging around all day. Samantha and Shawn wanted to join him :)

Fun in the sun

Today was eventful to say the least. We only have one car seeing as my husband had school at 11:00 and my daughter had a Dr appointment at 10:00 I grabbed the double stroller and the kids and I went for a walk to the Dr's office. As soon as we entered our driveway I stopped in my tracks and dug through my purse, freaking out cause there were no keys in there. That's right, my husband had left for school and my house keys were sitting on the kitchen table. Sooooo not cool! I called my husband three times but he was already in class. It was already passed Shawns nap time and with Samantha still having occasional accidents I was not looking forward to spending two hours outside.
Thank goodness the condominiums office was open so I could let Sam use the potty. After about an hour playing outside I was starving. I hadn't eaten yet and it was noon. So I said screw it, lets go to Jack in the Box, almost two miles away. So I packed the kids in the stroller again and headed out. I am so glad this didn't happen in the dead of Summer or I might have died LOL We finally got home about 1:20. Enough time for me to change the baby, put him down for a nap and run right back out the door to pick my oldest up from school.
So it was a bit of an eventful day, also one to remind me to always make sure I have my keys when I leave the house. Even if my husband is home, they will be glued to my side.
But all in all it was a good day. Tiring yes but the kids had fun and that in itself puts a smile on my face.

Silly little girl was hiding from me but she couldn't stop giggling (I'm so bummed the camera didn't focus on her)

Shawn was completely engrossed by this spiked "ball"

My baby looks so BIG here (waaaaaah)

Rainy day meet the chitlens

I am totally loving this rainy weather. It's so calm outside and the smell of rain is just the best.

The kids....not so much. What is one to do on a rainy day with three kids running around the house BORED out of their minds??? Dress up! Jr found his peter pan costume from two years ago and then a few minutes later he brought out the buzz lightyear costume from three years ago. I figured, what the heck. Might as well let them have a little fun while trapped inside :) So I let them get Sam's fairy wings from last year and they are all dressed up. They half follow a theme lol

Predicament

If your a new reader let me give you a little bit of history. Back in 2008 I reluctantly agreed to move in to sperm donors aka bio fathers rental house. He needed tenants and we needed a home since we had just moved back to California from Georgia and couldn't find a decent rental out here. While we were living there my bank account got hacked into and our account was cleared out. Of course it was the day before rent was due. I called to inform him of what had happened and he didn't believe me. He said he will take the legal steps he has to. As you can imagine I was pissed. I told him fine, you do what you have to and I will do what I have to for my family. I began looking for another place to live. The day we were moving out we got served with a lawsuit. Yes that's right, he was suing us. He filed and eviction and a small claims suit for rent that was not paid. Mind you this was only after being EIGHT days late on our rent! Fast forward a year and three addition lawsuits he filed, we are happy in our current home. I have ceased any communication between him and I. He is not allowed near our children. I even called him about 11 months ago to ask him to stop with this child like behavior and think about what he is doing to my family and any chance of a relationship he has with my family. He had the nerve to tell me I did this myself. I'm sorry I was unaware that having my money stolen was my fault.
So since that conversation he has not been a part of our lives. As you can imagine I was very bothered by that whole situation. I had the person who help give me life treat me as though I were some random Joe Schmoe that meant nothing to him and all he wanted was money. There was no sympathy for our situation, nothing but greed. Unfortunately my sister is still in contact with him so I still have to hear about him. I just got off the phone with my sister and hour ago and I'm still trying to process our conversation. She was calling to invite me to dinner, nice gesture right??? No. Sperm donor wanted to know if I wanted to join them for dinner. Why you ask, because he wanted to know if I was still mad at him.
Seriously! I mean do I not have a right to be mad at him. He ruined my credit, I know have a judgment against me because of him. He put me through hell dragging us back and forth to court all because he couldn't wait until the bank refunded our money. If he had any compasion he would have done so. This behavior is very typical of him. He did the same thing to my mother every single year, dragging her back to court, even stooping so low to accuse my DAD (step father who has been more of a father to me then I could have wished for) of hurting my sister and I when we were younger. Excuse my language but he is a pussy. He has no balls in between his legs and his only way of knowing how to do thing is to act like a child and then pretend it never happened.
I can't be open with my sister about my feelings because the one time I did it almost ruined our relationship. I would never ask her to not be in contact with her father, that is her decision but she never once had any sympathy for our situation either. She took his side. Yes I realize saying that is childish too but it hurt me at the time. I do not hold anything against my sister, never have and never will. It is unfair for him (sperm donor) to put her in the middle like he has. And I feel sorry she has been put there so many times.
Wow I am rambling. Back to my original thought, I can't believe he had the nerve to even ask if I wanted to go to dinner with them. Does he honestly think I want anything to do with him. If he ever wants to even try and have a relationship with me he needs to grow the hell up and apologize for everything he did!

Breadman TR520 bread maker Review

I have always been one that enjoys cooking. I love to try new recipes and I'm one of those weird one's that thinks the harder the better, well at least more fun for me. Baking is not really my thing though. Don't get me wrong I love to bake BUT I love to eat also. I have a major sweet tooth and unfortunately my kids have inherited my love of sweets. I do not bake so I don't gain ten pounds a month and my kids don't get mouths full of cavities.
Making bread from scratch is something I have always wanted to do but never got up the nerve to do it. But today I am getting over myself and busting out the bread maker and making some yummy banana bread. I thought I would start off with something reasonably simple and you can't really mess up banana bread, right???
For this yummy batch of banana bread I am using the Breadman TR520 bread maker . I love that there isn't really any setting up with this machine, however for your first use the owners manual suggests you run it through the cooking process once to cook off any residue from chemicals. :::Warning It will stink a bit::: I washed it before I ran it through the first cooking cycle and then again afterwards. After you have picked your recipe you simply pour all your ingredients in the bread pan. You do your wet ingredients first followed by your dry ingredients. Now, are you ready for the hard part? Pick up the bread pan and put it in the bread maker, choose your program, setting and then press start. Yes that's it. That's all you have to do. You couldn't ask for a more user-friendly machine. The programming of the bread maker is very easy, just keep pressing the button until you find the setting you need. There are only eight settings so you wont get lost trying to find the one you need.

Say hello to my little friend, the Breadman bread maker!
In go the wet ingredients (it may look a little scary but it makes awesome bread!)
And now the dry ingredients

A peek into the mixing process

The end of the mixing process

Not only does this machine make bread, but you can also use it for kneading dough. Wonderful ooey gooey dough for things like rolls, bagel dough, pizza crust and my favorite cinnamon rolls! Those are on my next to make list.

Now back to my banana bread. It is done and isn't it just the cutest little banana loaf you've seen? The Breadman TR520 will bake up to a two pound loaf but this particular batch was about one pound, and just so you have an idea it measured about seven inches long by four inches wide. The total time to bake this loaf was an hour and a half; 30 minutes for mixing and one hour for cooking.

This is my first time using a bread machine and I couldn't be more pleased. The bread has a crunchy crust around the outside but not too crunchy as if it were burnt. The inside is nice and moist but too moist as if it were under cooked. I personally prefer a less crispy crust on my bread but that can easily be changed with the "crust color" setting. There are three settings for crust color: light, medium, and dark. I had mine set on medium so next time I will try with light.

Clean up was a breeze on this machine, all that is involved is washing it with hot soap and water.
The only thing I can say that might need improvement is the beams that hold the lid on. I do like that it is light weight but when it is open all the way back I feel like it might fall off if it were to be moved the wrong way.

I was provided a product for this review. Opinions expressed in this post are strictly my own.

Bed time routine

I just put my daughter to sleep and as I did it got me thinking, are we the only one's who have good night rituals. I'm not talking about reading stories before bed time. I'm talking about the little things we say to them as our good nights.
Ever since my husband and I got married we would say to each other sleep good and have sweet dream followed by our I love you's. When we started having kids it was just natural for me to carry that on with them. I do it with all of them, even Shawn the "baby". Samantha has just now started saying it back to me which I just love.
So does anyone else have their little bed time rituals like this?

And what would a post about bed time be without pics of my sleeping babies

Odd taste, I don't think so

My husband thinks I have odd taste in my pictures. I think it's just because it's not his taste that makes it odd LOL For example when we were having "storms" the other week I saw the sun peeking through over my moms house and snapped a picture of it. I thought it looked pretty, dh, not so much. What are you opinions? Honest one's, you wont hurt my feelings. I'm always open to peoples input.

Chop chop

There's nothing like sitting in the chair at the hair salon and having someone chop it all off! I rarely get a hair cut so when I do I feel completely pampered. I love having someone else do my hair. I ended up cutting eight inches off and Im thinking I might go a little shorter when I go in for a trim. My husband might flip but even though I cut off a lot of my hair I feel like it's still the same ole look for me. We shall see in a couple months what happens. But for now, here is a pic of my new do.

I originally started typing this post three days ago but I didn't like any pictures I had so I took a new one today LOL. Oh and don't mind the funky eyes I've been playing around with my psp and trying my hand at eye pop