Butterflies

Our family has a new obsession. Ethan received a butterfly farm for his birthday. We filled out the form and in return got 5 TEENY TINY caterpillars. They promised at least 3 of them would turn in to butterflies. The kids were so excited - we even put them up on the mantle so we could keep our eye on them (despite Chris who got totally grossed out and refused to come near them). Here is what they looked like when they came: Day 1They were so small - you can see one towards the top of the lid:Anyway, we watched anxiously and sure enough they grew VERY quickly. The little container has their food in it so we didn't have to do anything but watch...I'll spare you the gross pictures, because I'm sure I'd get plenty of hate comments like I did with Emma's throat pictures. But here is one that's not bad... Day 5:

Now about 10 times it's original size, the first one starts to hang and make it's chrysalis. Day 9:

By day 11 all 5 were in the chrysalis and we transferred them to the butterfly habitat:

On Day 20 we wake up to excited screams! FINALLY! The first one breaks free. It stays at the top for a couple hours until it's wings dry: (can you see it's broken chrysalis and the butterfly right below?)

By the afternoon the orange color appears and it flies around a little. The kids wanted to feed it so we put an orange slice in there and some sugar water (yes the instructions said to do that!):
Day 21 (today) 4 of the 5 butterflies are free and the kids think it's the coolest thing ever!