Bye bye butterflies

Bye bye butterflies, originally uploaded by tommiea1.

We have had a blast raising the butterflies. This morning the fifth butterfly came out of the chrysalis. The other four are now two days old. The little bit of sugar water, fresh flowers, and orange slices were enough for them for now. Since they were banging around into their little net house, we thought it was time to let them go.

This evening we carefully unzipped the little hut.........waiting patiently the first one flew out. It flitted around and flew into the tree in our front yard. I wasn't going to include this blurry pic of Livi, but it totally showed how excited she was. If you look closely, (or click on it, it takes you to the big one on Flickr), she kind of looks like she is three degrees of crazy.....not that that isn't too far from the truth!

One landed in the flower beds, long enough to snap a few pics. I think this was the one that was only a day old.

All in all, it was a great project. We will definitely do it again. It was almost two weeks to the day that we got five tiny, barely an inch long caterpillars and watched them turn in to beautiful Painted Lady butterflies.

weekend recap

Livi and I did go get a mani. Note to self: a three year old does not have the ability to sit still for the time it takes an adult to get a mani. So we should stick to the mommy-done mani's, done at home! So there are no cute shots of her hands. The lady put a clear top coat on them, which just made them smudge better!

The boys washed cars. Look at him raisin' that boy up right!

Husband absolutely loves his Mr.clean car wash thingy. It has a place to put soap, as well as a spot-free rinse filter. Just hook it up to your hose and it does the work!

Plenty of sunshine makes for lots of time outside, riding Powerwheels, tricycles, and scooters.

Finally, two of the butterflies came out of their chrysalis's.....we didn't see them come out. But we did see it very soon after. The wings weren't even completely uncurled yet. We have put some flowers with the sugar water on them in the bottom of the net container. The paper that came with them also said they liked fresh oranges and watermelon. So we put some of that in their too. It is so amazing to see these little creatures right before our eyes!

weekend recap

It has been a great weekend. Laid back, not too hot, a bit of rain to cool things off, kind of weekend.

We each took a kid out on a 'date'. Husband and Livi went to Olive Garden. All the wait staff loved her! Will and I had just as much fun at TGIFridays. He had 'dirt in a cup' for dessert. After lunch out the kids wanted to go to the park with the dinosaurs. I am surprised they even remembered this one. We haven't been to that park in over a year! It was fun. The kids are already planning the next date.

The caterpillars are doing great. We put them into the net mesh now that all of them are in the chrysalis stage. They do not like being taken outside when it is in the mid-50s here! That is the coldest it has been since February!

The best thing all weekend...I am a winner! I won a blog makeover from Nap Warden Designs. I am so excited to see what she does. Go check her out, she does some cute stuff! That's right and she is going to pimp my blog! whoo hoo

Happy Sunday, y'all!

weekly winner, April 20-26, 2008

Thanks to Lotus at sarcastic mom for hosting this fun way to see all those extra pics that I didn't blog about this week.

part of the mongo play structure in the backyard

The storm that rolled through yesterday evening

towel roller here

day four of our caterpillar project....four of the five are on the top ready to do the chrysalis stage

Not much this week......I guess I need to pick up the camera more....happy weekend, y'all!

Caterpillar to butterfly- days 1-3

Ceterpillar to butterfly- days 1-3, originally uploaded by tommiea1.

Will got a butterfly canopy for Christmas from his Aunt M. It is one of those expandable things with a fine mesh walls. There is a little card included to send in to get the caterpillars. Note to all: Don't lose that card. Since you have already paid for the caterpillars in the canopy set, all you have to pay is shipping when you send in that card.

BUT if you lose that card you end up spending $14.99 + shipping, for more live caterpillars. You get five Painted Lady caterpillars in a cup. There is food at the bottom of the cup. When they arrived I was sure one was dead. It didn't move for almost 20 hours. Then the second day it had not only moved, but it doubled in size. It should take about three weeks for the total change from caterpillars to chrysalis to butterflies.

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Right now the food is disappearing at an alarming rate. I hope there is enough in there for them. There are tiny silk threads in there to help them climb. So far so good....