We've got Babies!

Last year in my learning to garden experience...I planted some milkweeds...

We had such fun discovering Monarch caterpillers in our garden last year...That we knew to go looking for them again this year...

See that tiny white spec on the back side of this leaf? Yep, that's a butterfly egg!

And another one!

We've patiently been waiting for the eggs to hatch...
And imagine our delight when we came home today to find teeny tiny bebeh caterpillers!!

(You may need to click on the photo to even be able to see the little guy on the leaf!)

Seriously - click here to see how big the garden friends we discovered LAST year were!

What fun!!

We brought in not one, or two, or three...but ELEVEN baby caterpillers who are now happily, and safely, munching milkweed leaves in our butterfly habitat...

Have you found any caterpillers in your own neck of the woods? Do you see (m)any butterflies flying around?

We love watching the miracles that transpire right before our very eyes!

The Cycle of Life

We have had SUCH FUN watching the life cycle of the Painted Lady Butterfly...
They started out as pretty tiny little Caterpillar guys....

And right on schedule...they hatched from their cocoons into cute little butterflies...

The little instruction booklet that came along with our Live Butterfly Kit was right on the mark as far as what we were watching for...# of days between cycles, etc -

And sure enough - shortly after the chysalides turned black...our butterflies emerged...


And shortly after THAT...we saw a lot of THIS.

Yikes!

Our instruction manual did not tell us anything out the mating habits of our new friends - but there was sure a lot of um, friendliness going on...I hope if they WERE indeed doing what we think they were doing - that they lay their eggs somewhere in our garden and we can enjoy more butterflies!

We knew we couldn't keep them for too long - so we took them to daycare & shared with our friends there - (and why I didn't think to bring the kit to daycare daily so the kids there could take in the life cycle with us is beyond me...next time right??)

And then after a week - we decided to release them...

Except they were a little bit reluctant to leave us!

Big Sister WAS interested - but we had company - and she's more about her older cousin than anything else...

So the little guy and I did the bulk of the release...

I just love his gentle side... someone please tell me he'll always be this sweet...

We have Chrysalides...and so will...

So I know you've all been dying for an update on our little caterpiller friends right?

Well, three of these babies hurried up and made chrysalides...and two took a little longer - but D and I got to watch one transform RIGHT BEFORE OUR EYES!!
Literally, this little caterpiller guy was hanging upside down wiggling like crazy...and then VIOLA!
He was all tucked up cozy inside his little cocoon like his friends!

And again - the picture quality from the Verizon HTC Incredible phone? Ah-MAZING! I don't know if I'm going to be able to give back this promo phone...and seeing as how this phone will cost me $529 plus an upgraded monthly plan...I don't see how I'm going to get it otherwise! GASP!


But the REAL moment you've all been waiting for...

And the winner is...

Comment #2 - Unplanned Cookin' - Jennifer!

Congrats!

Shoot me an email with your address so Kurt over at Insect Lore can ship you your very own Live Butterfly Garden! I hope you your kids love it as much as I mine do!

I was soo nervous to transfer these guys to their new home - to await their arrival as Painted Lady Butterflies...

thankfully, watching a video on the Insect Lore website a few times reassured me that I could do this...though on the website -they have this perfectly round piece of paper that their chrysalides were attached to - our little friends appeared to have eaten half of it???

::shrugs::

whatever...now, we wait!

I'd say by the weekend we should be the proud parents of 5 new butterfly friends!

Insect Lore Butterfly Kit - They really, truly work!

When we started this little learning experiement with our Insect Lore Butterfly Kit - I had no idea it would actually be MORE COOL than it was on the television commercials...

I was hoping we'd have a couple of these guys make it...

and almost two weeks later...all five are flourishing!

5-10-2010


And just like the little guidebook tells us - they are now hanging upside down from the lid...getting ready to form Chrysalis!

5/13/2010
(again, check out the amazing pictures taken with the Verizon Incredible HTC phone! WOW! Just...WOW!)

And about 8 hours after the above picture was taken...I woke up to find this...

CHRYSALIDES!

Don't forget...There's still time to leave a comment for the opportunity to win one of your very own Butterfly Kits! Just click here and leave a comment on this post!

Butterfly Kit...An Update

So we are now 7 days in on our Butterfly Kit we are watching/growing/LOVING courtesy of Insect Lore...

Every day, at least a dozen times, the kids say..."Mom! We have to check on our caterpillars!"
Typically, I have already just checked on them...but am more than happy to do it again! This is seriously sooo. much. fun!!
H, who is only 4, has been telling her friends all about metamorphosis.
The 2nd grader in our cul de sac told her that she only JUST learned of metamorphosis in school...and she cannot believe that H is already talking about it!

Seriously. This is just too cool.
Remember how our little friends started out?

Here are our little friends 2 days later...growing....

And two more days later...definitely getting noticeably bigger...

And then today, I finally wised up and took the cardboard off of the cup! HA HA! See, Insect Lore makes this so dang easy, literally, all you do is open the cardboard box that arrives (WITH biodegradable packing peanuts I might add!) and viola!

You are all set to immediately start watching/learning about your new friends!

This next picture was taken 5/8/2010 with the camera on the NEW Verizon Incredible HTC smartphone - More on that later, but I am currently at the halfway point of taking it for a test run/review...stay tuned...

Yes, it's called the Incredible...and yes, yes it is! I'm not sure how I'm going to give it back!!

BWAHAHAHAHAHAA I looove this picture! D got an insect kit for Christmas and the kids not only had that out today (first with a fly and a french fry in it, and after he 'escaped' they filled it with worms and dirt! - um, I think gifts from Insect Lore for our next birthdays/Christmas are in order don't you???)

While the last three pictures are date stamped the 7th, they are actually the 8th...turns out if you have the time set to am when it's really pm on your camera - it takes a few more hours for the date to change on it! oops!

Anyway - We have five growing, thriving caterpillars...there is all kinds of silky stuff in our little cup and we absolutely cannot wait until they form their chrysalis! I sort of think we have more than 5 caterpillars growing in here...as there are some small black particles inside the cup that appear to be pieces of actual Caterpillar...maybe teeny tiny ones? Or maybe just Caterpillar poo...Perhaps I should ask Kurt at Insect Lore...

Regardless - five. LIVE. caterpillars that will hopefully soon be in hiding to go through their metamorphosis to painted lady butterflies!

oooohhhhh....sooo exciting!

Don't forget...you have until next Friday the 14th to simply leave a comment for a chance to win one of these kits of your very own! Just visit the original Insect Lore post on my blog by clicking here!

A thing about Spring...

So...it's no secret I've got this thing about spring...

I just love the renewed sense of life that one has when the snow all disappears and new life starts popping up all around us...
I'm learning to garden, little by little...and absolutely loving it...


I don't do food (yet) unless you count an occasional pumpkin -


but oh how I love the flowers ~ for with the flowers, come the butterflies. We looove our butterflies...and we even put special treats out for them...see how we kept them happy last year??

The kids get just as excited as I do about our butterfly friends...they are soo beautiful to look at...


So, you can imagine how awesome I thought these butterfly kits were that we saw on tv, from a pretty neat company called Insect Lore. H asked me a few times if we could get that...and I'll admit...I was thinking - that cannot be for real...can it?

So...I thought I'd find out for myself by contacting the company.

Not five days later...I came home to a package on my doorstep, courtesy of Insect Lore. I'd be lying if I told you that I wasn't as excited about this as my kids are! ok, truth be told, I might even be more excited...


In said package? An awesome poster showing the life cycle of a Painted Lady Butterfly - which is already hanging on D's bedroom wall per his insistence,

Lifecycle Stages Figures that the kids are absolutely fighting over -



and...get this you guys...LIVE BUTTERFLY LARVAE!


I am sooo. beyond. excited.

We have this cup with little teeny tiny larvae in it and we are having soo much fun watching them hang out and eat...

What an amazing experience to be able to watch this life cycle transpire right before our eyes!


Thanks to Kurt and the kind folks at Insect Lore - my kids are enjoying this experience, and not only that -

one of my readers also has the opportunity to win
the VERY. SAME. PRIZE PACKAGE! EEK!
SOOO EXCITING!!

That's right folks! Kurt at Insect Lore has offered to ship the same great things to one of you awesome readers...
What do you have to do?

Simply leave me a comment telling me what you like about spring, or what other products from Insect Lore you think are cool, or that you think I'm awesome...or all of the above. Or none of the above... but seriously. That's it. Just leave a comment. I'm not going to give away extra entries for becoming my fan on facebook or following me on twitter, though I'm happy to have you along for the ride over there if you want and would love to have you share this super cool experiment with your friends...


If you want to follow along with Insect Lore on Twitter - do that too! But it's not required!!


Are you as excited as I am about our new found friends residing on our kitchen counter?

Go ahead...tell me how cool it is via my comments and you too might be able to play along with your very own kit should you be the comment that random.org selects! Comments will be closed on May 14th at midnight with a winner to be drawn shortly after that!

Can't wait?

Visit insectlore.com to order up your own today!

These words are my own. I was not compensated to talk about the Butterfly Kit, however my family was given the above mentioned items to review in exchange for my honest feedback/opinion.