So much to share...

Wow, until I looked at the date on the previous post, I didn't realize how long it had been since I'd posted! I'm so sorry! So much has happened in the last few weeks that I'm going to have to break it up into a couple of posts. I'll start with our Duke Gardens picture adventures...

To continue from our last post, we had some pictures taken at Duke Gardens to commemorate the girls' 3rd and 1st birthdays. It was a quiet, lovely, unassuming day that was perfect for pictures. Here are some of our favorites:

Lovely pictures, aren't they? Then it happened..."THE INCIDENT", as it shall be known from this point forward.

What, you ask, was "THE INCIDENT"? Well, after romping through the gardens for over an hour, we came out of a wooded area into a small stoned in area with a tiny reflecting pool. Ella became intrigued with a small frog that was hanging out behind the pool itself. She also discovered a lovely yellow flower head that was beside the pond, and became entranced with tossing it into the pool, then fishing it out again. This happened over and over again...

It looks innocent enough, right? The photographer is snapping away while Ella plays, and I turned around to see what Natalie was doing. That's when it happened...SPLOOOOOSH!!! I whipped around just in time to see Ella's feet going into the pond, but her head and body were already in! I guess my adrenaline kicked in, because I ran over and as she came up for air, I snatched her out as quickly as I could. She was stunned, as was our photographer! Once I got Ella calmed down, the photographer looked at me and said, 'Should I keep shooting?' ABSOLUTELY!!! Here's what she got:

She was sopping wet and cold as a cucumber, but she still managed to find the silly side! She talked for days about "swimming in the frog's pond". So Sweet!!!