A video for all my "sisters"

My dear friend Carmen emailed me a link to this you tube video. While I did not have any biological sisters, I have had many friends and family members who are like sisters to me. Kelly Corrigan states in this clip just how close we can become and how we carry each other through the good and the bad.

As Carmen warned me....get your tissues ready :-)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u_4qwVLqt9Q

For some reason I can't embed the video....so just click on the link above.

New Ultrasound Pics

We had an ultrasound yesterday, and everything looked great! I had done a quad screen, and it had shown a slight increased risk of baby having Down Syndrome, but I wasn't too worried, because there are soooooo many false positives with that test. As the tech was doing the level 2 ultrasound (because I am of...advanced maternal age) she said everything looked great and all the measurements she took were in the normal range.

And yes, we found out if it is a boy or girl....and one of the kids was disappointed. Connor wanted a boy, Elianna wanted a girl. Elianna was disappointed. Today after school she said, well maybe they just saw a hand or something! Sorry sweetie, you will not have a little sister!

Our friends, Steve and Tara, just had an adorable little girl. We went to visit her on Monday and the kids were so good at holding Emilyn! This baby will be much loved I am thinking! They are going to be great big siblings!

Aren't these 3D ultrasounds just crazy!?! Things have come a long way since our last kids. In fact, Jon and I are doing a birthing class again...we've probably forgotten a ton! Plus, the hospital where we hope to deliver has had a big remodel since the last time we were there.

Baby was cozying up to the placenta during the ultrasound. The tech had to bug him a little bit to get him to move so she could get a better measurement. In this last picture, that is the umbilical cord hanging around by his mouth.

More FL Christmas Lights

Okay, this place with Christmas lights is much more impressive than that house that I posted earlier. That house is a little cheesy....This church was cool!! I guess some guy had donated these lights to the church (in Sarasota). He had put up around 300,000 lights at his house and had songs along with them and they lit up in different colors, etc. as the music went along. It was causing too much traffic in his neighborhood, so he donated them to the church. They added 100,000 lights to it this year!! You drove up, parked, and walked around. The church was open as well and they were handing out free hot chocolate and cookies and had an organ recital going on too. (And a bonus for me....I could use the bathroom!) If I figure out how to add videos I may do that sometime this week.



This was the computer system that had it running. I thought I had taken pictures of the manger scene they had, but I was trying to save camera battery...it was running low, so I maybe only got that on video.

Siesta Key

After the Mote Aquarium the kids thought we had to go eat at The Old Salty Dog Restaurant which is right across the street. We had gone there with Aunt Adri and Uncle Gus and Aunt Lori a couple of years ago. We moved tables 2 times because it was plenty warm and at least 1 of us was in direct sunlight. I love eating right on the water!

The kids and I then headed to Siesta Key to walk on the beach. We were just in time for a pretty sunset :-)

Look at those cheesy smiles :-)

The kids had fun digging up mud!

And they like showing each other too.

Siesta Key has the nicest sand in the area! But it is also one of the busiest beaches. We usually have a hard time finding a place to park, but it wasn't too bad this time.

Mote Aquarium

I took the kids to the Mote Aquarium on Dec. 26th. They were needing a little something to occupy their time (besides the pool!). We had gone to this aquarium a couple of years ago, too, and the kids had been asking if they could go again. So, yes, Mom is a sucker :-)I didn't get this shot of them in the front last time...bonus!

I did take a picture of them last time by the manatee size chart. 2 years ago Elianna wasn't even as big as the baby Manatee :-) (Wasn't it nice of that guy sitting there to not move at all....got his lovely legs in the picture! I'll crop them out when I actually put it in a scrapbook!)

This big tortoise was rescued after it was injured. I can't remember if they knew exactly what harmed this turtle or not, but it is blind as a result. The lady feeding him had a little clicker that she used in the water in order for him to hear where she was. The kids were excited that we arrived at these tanks at the same time the lady began feeding them. She had to be careful not to get her hands too close to his mouth.

The picture below is her stuffing spinach in the mouth of a dead squid...yuck!

The kids really like the stingray tank. All of the "stingers" have been taken out, so you are able to safely touch the sting rays. They feel pretty slimy!

Another highlight of the Mote Aquarium for the kids is their Immersion Cinema. It is an interactive movie theater with a bunch of touch screen computer monitors around the room. It is a food chain game...you start as something low on the food chain...a little fish or plankton or something. Then you have to pass some missions and/or eat certain foods. You also have to watch out for your predators so you don't get eaten! 2 years ago I helped Connor and Jon helped Elianna. Neither of us did very well at all. (Connor and I ended up eating Jon and Elianna :-)) This year, however, Connor won the whole thing!! He ended up as a Great White Shark!! Elianna and I did a whole lot better than last time, and actually moved up the food chain and ended, I think, as a humpback whale!