painted ladies

for Easter, we got K a butterfly garden kit (fabulous deal on amazon.com!). we sent away for some painted lady caterpillars, and when they arrived, they ate and ate...and spun themselves into these beautiful chrysalis' with threads of gold...

after about a week, we woke up one morning to find 4 butterflies fluttering about in the butterfly garden. :) after a bit of time, the fifth butterfly hatched...

upon hatching, you must provide them with a food source. we gave them freshly cut oranges and sugar water on wadded up tissues (simulating a flower)...


here is K watchin' her butterflies :)

after observing them for a few days (i think we kept ours for a week - a little too long - you'll see why soon)...we let them go... we waited for a pretty day (it had been raining a lot)...

i put one of the butterflies on K's hand :) it was really neat... :) katherine stood still and watched the butterfly just sit there for a little bit....

the butterfly stayed there for a few minutes and then flew away...

the butterflies laid hundreds and hundreds of little turquoise eggs in our butterfly habitat (which is why i'm thinking we kept them too long...musta been some butterfly hanky panky going on! :)). we got to see them hatch into these wee little caterpillars that were about the size of a half of an eyelash... so incredibly tiny. and absolutely amazing!

we watched them eat some leaves for a few days and then placed them in the grassy/leafy areas of our yard in hopes that they would complete the life cycle again and again...

we'll be looking for our friendly butterflies all summer... :)

(mental note: it's good to proof read your post before it posts... nothing like writing about BUTTflies....)