Behind the scenes of our recent photo shoot

The "real" pictures should be back any minute now, but before we get the professional shots I thought I'd post a few pics that my mom took during our photo session last weekend at the Penn State arboretum & botanical garden.  We have been getting pics taken every six months or so and were planning to do pics in April, but after talking with Emily (who also took their six month photos) we decided the weather would be better and the backgrounds prettier if we waited until May. And since my parents were coming in May I thought we'd wait until they were here so we could get some nice shots with the kiddos and their grandparents too.  Unfortunately, the timing of their visit wasn't great in that it coincided with PSU graduation weekend and Mother's day which meant the arboretum which is usually very low key and fairly empty was jam packed with grads and their families all wanting to take pictures!  Just like when we did their one year shoot we were lucky and a little unlucky with the weather because it was a beautiful sunny hot day, but sunny days are not good for the lighting for pictures.  And since the garden is only about a year old there aren't many, if any, big trees to provide shade, so we left the garden for a bit and hung out in a field surrounded by tall pines that we think is part of the grounds of where the president of PSU lives, but we really aren't sure. =)

Here are some shots my mom took.  It was hard for me to do, but I left my camera at home.  Stay tuned for the professional shots later this week!

getting all gussied up.  Ellie was adamant about her shoe choice!

Here's a quick compilation of a few seconds of video of us trying to get a shot of us all walking together...

triplet refueling after all that running around  

we also found a field of dandelions behind the arboretum

After a while we headed back into the garden...

beautiful double tulips

this was way too tempting & I think 2 or 3 tulips bit the dust during our time here!

Avery with her "will anyone notice if I rip off just one petal?!" look...

I knew we wanted some pics by the water pump in the children's garden, but we also knew those needed to be at the end because inevitably they would end up soaking wet...

I love that they have these little watering cans for kiddos to use...

they LOVE filling them with water

and watering the flowers...

At this point they were already wet so I figured "what the heck, let's go wade in the water too!"

checking out the little cork boats they have for kids to play with
(have I mentioned how much I LOVE this children's garden?!)

more fun with boats

yup, that happened!  good thing we waited til the end!

After all that fun in the water we stripped everyone down & changed clothes.  We debated about which outfits to have them in for pictures and now that I look at their coloring in the candid shots I'm not sure we made the right choice, but their little black & white outfits are so cute it was hard to decide!  Oh well, I'm sure we'll get some great shots anyway...

getting dirty in the sandbox in the cave
(Isaiah would probably stay here for hours)

Grandpa & Isaiah headed out to find a spot for lunch round two

I can't remember what was cracking Ellie up, but I just love this series of her laughing and had to put them all in!  I also like seeing Avery's expressions throughout the series...

And one last shot of us all packed up and headed home...

Can't wait to share Emily's pics with you soon!!!