Lou finishes his first school year!

Lou had a really great year in pre-school. Chris and I are so proud of all the progress he's made with his speech and social development.

Here is Lou's school picture from the fall of 2008.




In addition to the activities in the regular classroom, Lou also attended speech therapy and occupational therapy weekly to help his minor developmental delays. They sure do make funny hats in Speech therapy, haha!



Here is Lou's school picture from spring 2009.





The parents were invited to an end of the year party where both the AM class and the PM class joined in the fun. Here's a rather good attempt at a group picture of 3 and 4 year olds, lol.






Lou grew a whole 3 inches just during this school year!!! He is really going to be a tall boy.


Lou was given the award for Best Attitude!!! Even though he can easily get uncomfortable with a change in routine, his teachers said they always appreciated his eagerness to please.


Lou will be in this same pre-school class again next school year, but for now we are just enjoying SUMMER BREAK!!!!! You really have a tendency to forget how great summer break is.....until you become a parent who takes your child to school and picks them up 5 days a week! Having a 3 year old, awake, dressed and in the car with breakfast by 7AM seems like a full time job! Whew! What a joy it is to sleep in!

Kitties get settled in......and start causing trouble!!

After awhile, the kitties got used to their new home and remembered the fact that they are sisters and started liking each other again. Every morning, I open the shades in the front bedroom so they can lay in the sunshine.



Princess is all about the comfort and Shadow likes to look at all the happenings going on outside.



And their afternoon napping spot is unfortunately usually wherever I am trying to get things done. Here they are sprawled out on my desk.





Occasionally they nap together in a cozy basket we set up for them.




Yes, that is Shadow up very high on top of my kitchen cabinets. She figured this out one day when I was gone the whole day. I guess without me there to follow around, she went searching for entertainment.

And of course, it wasn't long before her "lacking in grace" sister got the idea and figured out how to climb up there too. It's just a simple set of jumps from the floor to the counter to the top of the fridge, to the top of the cabinets and finally the wall that seperates the kitchen from the playroom.

And even Plato had to go exploring after he saw what the girls could do. Plato is a very large cat for not even being a year old yet, so we were quite nervous when all three of them were up there chasing each other around.

So yeah, the Ponzini feline family is quite settled in now. I do have to keep a squirt bottle of water handy when I'm cooking to discourage their exploring, but any other time, it's a lot of fun to see them love having fun on what we've started calling the "cat walk".

Surprise Baby Shower!!!!! (click here for pictures)

I am very blessed and fortunate to have an amazing group of friends here in South Carolina. These wonderful ladies schemed and plotted with my husband from the very beginning of my pregnancy and planned a surprise baby shower for me the day before Mother's Day.

I had gone to my friend, Susan's house, under the impression that we were going out for a day at the spa. I had absolutely no clue that my closest friends and female family members were all hiding inside. Once you find out that the people who you love and talk to everyday can plot and plan behind your back for months without you catching on one bit, you really wonder what else they're capable of, haha. Not to mention, my husband's amazing ability to keep something like this from me too. He knew from the very beginning of the planning stages and didn't peep a word to me!

My friend, Jessie, was the official photographer for my shower, so above is a link to the pictures she downloaded. With there being so many great pictures (except the ones where I look huge!!!) it's much easier to share them with our blog viewers by just posting the link. Enjoy!!

Lou learns how to be a big brother!

The hospital where I plan to deliver offered a sibling class for 3 to 12 year olds. Chris and I thought it would be a lot of fun for Lou and good exposure for what to expect once we bring the baby home.

Here is Lou paying attention as the instructor talks about the baby "dolls".



Chris helping Lou to properly position his hands to hold the baby.



Lou is going to be a great big brother!!!




We also got a tour of the hospital, including the delivery rooms and the rooms where the Mommies stay for a few days. The kids were given backpacks with coloring pages and some supplies for their baby sibling.




Chris is holding Lou up here so he can peek in the nursery window to see the newborn babies.