Butterfly hatching!

This fall, we had the awesome privilege of hatching Monarch butterflies. A friend from church had a field full of them, and we brought home several caterpillars. We had fun learning about the stages of life - from the egg, to the caterpillar, to the hungry hungry stage, till the caterpillars hang from the lids of the jars, to the "J" stage (look it up!), to the chrysalis... and then the awesome hatching. After letting the butterflies stretch and dry their wings for several hours, we were able to let them "launch." This was the best part, because as the butterflies got acclimated to life outside the comfy cocoon, they allowed us to hold them quite a bit more than I expected. 

I didn't want to miss a single moment - which is part of why this post has taken forever for me to publish - so I was snapping pictures left and right. I have zillions, it seems. Even after choosing these 8, I am second-guessing the ones I picked and I think there are many better ones! I also have a few videos... but if I waited for those to upload, I'd never get this post done.

Without further ado.............. the butterflies! 

Beautiful!

Both boys were REALLY excited about getting to hold a butterfly. Seriously, how many times do you see a kid chasing a butterfly, unsuccessfully attempting to catch it? This was the BEST.

Matt was kind of unsure, maybe even a little creeped out by the butterfly on his shoulder. She flew there on her own, though!

Ben, of course, loved the idea and immediately requested that the butterfly be allowed (encouraged) to sit on his shoulder, too.

SO sweet. He really loved the whole thing.

Matt was pretty precious with the butterflies, too.

One of the best parts of the whole ordeal was that both boys definitely understood how fragile the butterfly was. They each REALLY wanted to hold it, and often at the same time, but they definitely showed a lot of self-control as they waited their respective turns. It was really cute watching them physically restrain themselves - so much excitement!

Ben was kind of obsessed with getting the butterfly to climb up his paratrooper bracelet. Good thing our sweet butterfly finally obliged!