Butterflies!!!!!

My kids have been overly interested in butterflies lately.  We've been reading about them, and watching shows about them. I love when they get on kicks we can research together!  Growing up, we had a "butterfly bush."  It was always so fun twice a year to see the plant fill up with eggs, then watch the little caterpillars devour the leaves, cover our house with cocoons, and then watch them hatch.  I told my kids about it and Isabelle wanted a plant too.  My parents were coming, so Isabelle called my mom and asked her to bring some pieces for us to plant here. Not only did my mom bring us two bits to plant, but she also brought us 5 cocoons!!!!  My kids were ecstatic!

This was the clever way my mom figured out how to bring us cocoons.  Isabelle was giggling so much.


A few days after my parents got here, the kids found monarch caterpillars on the plants.  Mom apparently brought us some eggs to! :)  Super bonus! There were 7 or 8 caterpillars, but thanks to my kids enthusiasm, none of them made it long. The plants we have aren't big enough to have gotten even one of them to chrysalis phase anyway, so not too big of a deal this time around.



The kids checked on our chrysalises often and watched them change color. Then a few days after my parents left, we got butterflies!!!!  We got 1 one day and 4 the next.  They watched them hang dry and then took them outside on their fingers just as it was time for them to fly.  We stood outside for a while watching them.







Luke is into waving all the time.  He kept going to them and waving, but was scared to get any closer.


This was so much fun!  I can't wait until fall when they migrate through and we get to do this again.  Thanks mom for the effort!  It paid off!  We loved every second! My favorite part of this is the way Michael says chrysalis.  It comes out "Tisawis."  It's pretty stinkin adorable!