Eliot & Benjamin

Add them to milkshakes. As you can see, they are pretty proud of their idea.

If you don't know Justin Hackworth Photography, you should. Not only is he a fabulous photographer, but he's just good people.

He took our wedding photos. He then took photos of the boys about 3 years ago. And now he's worked his magic again.

Here are a few favorite ones.

The boys are learning that sometimes nature is cruel.

On one of our recent 100+ heat days, we came home to find a very baby bird on our step. Seems the neighborhood stray cat decided to leave a present for our foster cats inside.
The poor thing was baking in the sun, but very alert. It would look right at you if you talked to it.






Jared and I felt bad, but didn't think there was much we could do. It had little chance of survival. But Eliot, the ever animal rescuer, insisted we call 9-1-1. We compromised and called animal control. After bringing the bird there, they informed me there was a bird sanctuary that I could take future birds directly to. Information I would soon use.



About two weeks later, it seems the stray cat attacked again. This time killing the mother bird, leaving a much larger baby bird on the ground under the nest located in our tree. Having learned from our previous experience, I drove it straight to the local bird sanctuary. They assured me this one will survive. Good work Eliot and Ben!



Thanks to Aunt Margaret's present from last year, we were able to watch four butterflies go through their metamorphosis. However the boys learned that sometimes things don't go as smoothly as nature intended it to. One of our butterflies ended up with a messed up wing and couldn't fly. So after releasing the others, the boys found a good place in our garden for the other to be placed. They seemed okay with the idea that it might become food for another animal in the food chain.

Outfit from Daddy's trip to Ghana



Yellow mask from Ben's creation of the superhero Everman.

(in case you have forgotten, he no longer has career goals beyond being funny)

Sadly Ben's allergies and asthma will not allow us to keep a cat.

Here are the two kitties. They are getting big. They are ready to be adopted. Know of anyone in the Philadelphia area who wants a kitty? Look how cute they are!


The mommy cat has stolen my heart. She is just the sweetest cat ever. The boys are a bit in-your-face with the kittens. So they hide instantly from the boys. But the mama will cuddle with them.


She just jumps up and sits by either Ben or Eliot. They love it when she purrs.


Here Eliot is playing with one of the kittens. It looks like he is tormenting him. But he's not. The kitty is happily attacking the string.


I am SO not a cat person. But I sure love this cat. I wish we could keep her. But I'm hoping we can find a wonderful home for her before we leave for Utah this summer. She deserves a really wonderful home. We hope it's someone we know so we can visit her sometimes.


By the way, do you notice our AWESOME couch? I am pretty sure it dates to the 1960s. We love it though.

The sprinklers outside.

Look at that glee in his face!


They were so soaked. They would stand right in front of the sprinkler.


This had been a very long day, seeing that joy in their face was SO worth the inconvenience of wet clothes.

Eliot's class was learning about butterflies. They had an assignment during class to write where they would go if they could fly like a butterfly.
This is Eliot's. If you can't read it, it says "If I was a butterfly, I would go to Utah to visit lots of family"
Those of you who are reading this from Utah, know Eliot misses you A LOT and talks of you often.

The boys did a zoo school during the month of May. At the end there was a party with face painting. The teacher told me she has taught this class for over a decade and she has never had a kid ask her to do an okapi.



Ben was quite proud.


Eliot doesn't like face paint. So he opted for a snake on his arm. He was pretty proud of it as well.

If ingested, eggs cause Ben to throw up. But he really wanted to help make Daddy some french toast. So while helping, he kept reassuring me that he was being super careful and wouldn't touch the eggs.


Eliot made the best Daddy present ever. This is his "what I like about my dad" book. Each page has something he loves about his dad with a picture. He did it all himself, creative writing and all. LOVE IT.

After briefly consulting the internet, Jared created this handmade way of making ice cream. The boys liked contributing to the shaking. But the real shaking had to come from Jared. They were intrigued by the coldness of the pitcher. And enjoyed eating the liquidy substance. So when I saw an homemade ice cream machine on clearance, I bought it. I must say their interest has significantly decreased.

To try to encourage Ben to write more on the whiteboard (to help his fine motor skills), we introduced a new game into their lives. The boys have discovered the fun of pictionary. Eliot comes up with some great words (that sometimes need some help from the author to decipher). And Ben's pictures are always a treat.

Can you guess what these are?

A nightly game of red light green light went wrong this week. Eliot's arm somehow crashed through a glass pane of our sunroom door. Glass shattered everywhere. Jared calmly helped Eliot and Ben to get cleaned up and wait for me to come home. Eliot and I then went to the ER to make sure there was no glass left in his wound.

We all respond to adrenaline differently. Eliot's is to talk non-stop (as we were leaving the doctor said to me, "wow, he's a talker").They were fun conversations. We talked about why some parts of the body bleed more than others. Eliot stopped and said "Mommy, I bet your feet would bleed a lot because gravity pulls the blood down and pools there." I love the way that kid's brain is always making connections.



He's a great kid. He was a superstar in the ER. Here he is getting his X-ray.

The wound looks worse than it is. No stitches needed.

As we were driving home today, there was an ice cream truck in front of us. The boys started talking about it(although we have never bought anything from an ice cream truck, the boys always run with glee to the window to watch one drive down our street). Then Eliot said "Mommy, the truck driver gets money from kids who then get ice cream. That's a symbiotic relationship." Thank you Wild Kratts and PBS. I would never have thought to teach my 5 year old, let alone my 3 year old the concept of symbiotic relationships. Ask Ben to say "symbiotic" or "echolocation" next time you see him. It's awfully cute.