Life of a Painted Lady

We have wanted to try out Insect Lore for sometime now and Bear got lucky to have received a butterfly pavilion for Christmas. We sent in for the caterpillars a few weeks ago and have documented with pictures their life cycle.

We received 5 small caterpillars in the mail and watched them grow for about 10 days. They more than quadrupled in sized!

After about 10 days they started hanging from the top of their container getting ready to turn into a chrysalis, or cocoon.

I was lucky enough to see the first caterpillar transform and stood by to catch the next one on camera.

The far right caterpillar is in transformation in this picture. I have video of it below.

The process takes a few minutes. This video is almost 5 minutes long however if you want to fast forward to 2:20 you can really see the transformation take place. It wiggles quite a bit and you see the slender caterpillar take on a more round bulging shape and lose its back half. I was quite fascinated. And of course, so were the kids.

Once they had all turned into chrysalis we transferred the top half into the butterfly pavilion where we waited for about a week before they turned into butterflies.

Love this picture of Bear! Every day the kids would watch and wait!

We missed the first shedding of the cocoon into a butterfly but we got the second. Which ironically is the same one that was videoed turning int a chrysalis.

When the butterflies come out they sit perpendicular for a few minutes while they pump blood into their wings. Within a few minutes the wings are full size and they excrete their "meconium" or leftover tissues that weren't needed in the transformation. Yeah, it got pretty gross!

Here is the short video of the butterfly shedding its cocoon.

They like to eat the juices from sliced oranges (among other things) and the kids like to take a butterfly out and watch him fly. They then take their Target dollar spot butterfly nets to catch them and put 'em back in the pavilion.

Their favorite dinner guests are Lego men. Bear named his 5 different butterflies: Max, Duke or Nuke, Tate, Chip (Gavin's) and Flower (Reese's).

GNO - Reese n Mommy

Reese and I went to our good friend Chelsea B.'s house for a little pampering. She cut my hair while I was here going to BYU and totally haven't cut my hair in half a year waiting for her to move back to Utah and cut my hair!! She and I both got ours cut (I didn't get a picture of me, but I LOVE it!).

Reese and I then went out to Chili's (her choice) for a little dinner. We got pretty silly there! I love that she's getting older now that we can actually go out and enjoy ourselves with a new level of conversation and understanding.

Things got pretty crazy and Reese's seat actually fell off! lol It was real funny. She insisted we take a video of it.

We almost made it to Claire's before they closed to get a new pair of earrings as it is almost time when she can change hers out! Instead we went out for ice cream! Such a fun night! Love you my girlie girl!

Scouting for Food

Since Christopher is in scouting here in Utah, Gavin gets to tag along on various scouting opportunities as a cub. This past Saturday he was really excited to be a part of scouting for food and bringing it to the local food bank. I love that he has developed an attitude and appreciation of service!

Texas Lovin'

I love that Texas is so awesome that other states (read: Utah) sales TEXAS cookies at the grocery store! LOVE IT!!! I miss you my lone star friend but you are everywhere!

Light as a Feather

Watch out! Christopher got his dream triathlon racing bike. Just needs some new racing wheels. He's been waiting years for this and his patience finally paid off.

It is a full carbon framed bike which makes it extremely light. The kids liked that they were "super strong" to pick it up themselves.

Cervelo's maiden voyage!

Happy St. Pancakes Day

Green pancakes (which I burnt most of them...) and green milk for St. Paddy's day! The kids enjoyed a green breakfast before school and then green cornbread, corned beef and cabbage for dinner! I love that Bear is photo-bombing this pic!

Plan of Happiness

The kids rock at diagramming the Plan of Happiness during FHE!

Back Porch Campfire

The kids were all dressed for bed when Christopher and I decided to start a little backyard campfire. The kids roasted hot dogs (which we ended up throwing away since we were using a duraflame log) and Christopher got all comfy with the boys bed room chair!

New Eyes Arrive!

Reese and her new glasses. She got a rainbow colored pair and a purple and blue pair. She is just too cute!

Hogle Zoo Day

I broke down and bought Zoo passes for the family this year. Only after I bought them did I find out that half the Zoo is under construction! Oh well. We need things to do around here and this the Zoo is fun to go to with our cousins. We saw bats...

We sure do...

Turkey's just roaming the grounds. And yes, still snow in March. It isn't Spring in Utah without spring snow showers and ice ponds!

And peacocks too...

Gavin sure loves his little buddy Hudson. He was giving free piggy rides.

Love this sign!

At the Hogle Zoo, they feed their giraffe's Christmas trees! The kids sure got a hoot outta that!

The tigers had a few Christmas trees near their beds too...

This gorilla was walking around his enclosure and then when we came in the walked straight up to Bear and just sat like this staring at him. There were lots of people inside but he was content taking in Bear. And he loved it!

Gotta love the Christmas trees in the elephant enclosures too. What is up with that?

And of course the water ball of fun.