May 4, 2010

We Have Painted Ladies!

Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new. 2 Corinthians 5:17

What a great miracle to behold! Those nasty, ugly caterpillars turned into beautiful butterflies.


Apr 29, 2010

Metamorphis In Progress

We learned that the chrysalides might shake while in the pavilion. Apparently, the shaking is a method of protection. When we moved the chrysalides from their former home into their current one, they started shaking like crazy! Now, after being transferred to the pavilion, they are resting peacefully, and we have not seen anymore violent shaking.

Now the wait for their final transformation begins!

Apr 27, 2010

Spring Books

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These are just few of the books we've been enjoying this spring. We will be moving our chrysalides to their new home in the butterfly pavilion soon, so stay tuned for pictures!

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Apr 25, 2010

Making a Cocoon

Our caterpillars have made rapid changes in the eight days that we have had them. They've gone from tiny little, almost cute, caterpillars to big, ugly caterpillars. Lots of words have been used to describe our critters in the last few days--words like gross, disgusting, and yucky. We've had them sitting on our kitchen counter so that we could easily watch them and not forget about them; however, in hind sight, maybe watching butterfly larvae while you are attempting to make a delicious dinner or prepare yourself an afternoon snack was not the best plan.

Here are our caterpillars on day six. They were making their way to the lid of the container they are kept in.

Here they are today--day eight. One little fellow is not a rule follower as you can see he made his cocoon in the middle of the container. They are supposed to make their cocoons on the lid for easy removal to the butterfly pavilion later.
Mmm... I can see that some brave soul may actually have to touch him to get him in the right place. We are also waiting for another caterpillar to finish making his cocoon before they can be transferred to their new home in the butterfly pavilion. Even though the larvae grossed us out, I have to say that new words are being used to describe the larvae in their cocoons. Cool! Neat! Wow! We are looking forward to the last stage in the butterfly life cycle!

Apr 17, 2010

Painted Ladies

I am NOT an insect lover. I like nature until it comes to bugs. But, I do like butterflies. Clothed in so many different colors and patterns, butterflies are another display of God's glory. So, I decided to go for it. We bought a butterfly habitat and sent off for our larvae. They came today!

The beauty of this kit is that I don't even have to touch them in their larva stage. They arrived in this cup complete with air holes and food for their first stage of life.

Looking for signs of life

I think the day our Painted Ladies hatch from their chrysalis, the process will have been worth the effort on our part.

Apr 13, 2010

The Dandelion

"A weed is just a plant whose virtues have not yet been discovered." ~Ralph Waldo Emerson
We love dandelions at our house. What's not fun about blowing the seeds of a dandelion all over the front yard? I decided to find out about this common wild flower, and was surprised at how little I knew. For instance, I never knew that the flower head changes into the white seed head and can do so overnight!

We are always on the look-out for something unusual when we are outside. Chloe won this time by finding this dandelion seed head. Look how fat its stem is!

I have pictures of all my kids when they are little blowing dandelion seeds. I was almost too late getting a picture of little Chloe! We took care of that today.
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