My Butterfly

I went to pick up Jaiden from school the other day, and I couldn't spot her right away. I knew what she was wearing that day, but something was different....


Apparently, her entire class had a face-painting party, and Jaiden chose a butterfly! It turned out very cute. I felt bad that we had to scrub it off that evening before bed.

Of course, it's not at all surprising that Jaiden chose a butterfly. She's always liked them -- from the colorful nylon and wire butterflies that flutter from her bedroom ceiling to the real butterflies we recently watched change from tiny caterpillars. I guess Mommy has always liked them, too. Jaiden even wore butterfly wings in our wedding!

Jaiden is my little butterfly. She has grown and changed so much since the first day I saw her... and she's grown into a beautiful, bright little girl, who enjoys sitting around quietly just as much as she loves to flit and flutter around from one activity to the next.


"Love is like a butterfly: It goes wherever it pleases, and it pleases wherever it goes."
~Author Unknown

We have BABY caterpillars!

SO.... about a week ago, I noticed that our butterfly treehouse contained some new additions.... hundreds of extremely tiny, mint-green butterfly eggs scattered all over the orange slice and the paper plate that were in there.
(Here is a picture that shows an example of butterfly eggs. I did not take a photo of our eggs with my camera, just 'cause those things were so small!)


At any rate, I didn't think much about the butterfly eggs... until last night. I guess I figured the little eggs wouldn't really hatch.
But, they did.
And when we got home yesterday evening, there were hundreds of teensy, weensy caterpillars crawling in -- and out -- of the treehouse.
(Here is another picture just for reference. Ours our not this color, but it gives you an idea of what they look like!)


So, I spent about an hour or so delicately moving the minuscule little creatures into the treehouse and taking the whole thing outside. Sean gathered some thistle (which, apparently, is their food of choice), and we left them to hopefully chow down.
I checked on them this morning and found (and relocated) several more escapees. I'm not really sure how many will actually make it. But it sure was a neat surprise! The whole butterfly life cycle starting all over again! WOW!
Here's to hoping those little 'pillars make it to butterflyhood!

And Then There Were Five...

Well, we now have 5 beautiful butterflies in our butterfly treehouse! The last two popped out after Jaiden and I left the house on Wednesday morning. And now that I finally dug out the "real" camera, here are a few more shots of our "Painted lady" butterflies!


They are much more active now, spreading their wings, fluttering around and eating! They seem to like the fresh oranges, and it's quite entertaining to watch them unwind their long "tongues" and drink the OJ! (You can spot 3 butterflies in this shot!)


And they'll even sit on my hand for a bit... especailly if I have fresh orange juice on my fingers. FUN! (Maybe that's the secret when visiting a "butterfly farm" -- wear some sugar water or juice as your perfume that day!) ;)

Butterfly Update

Still only three butterflies when we left this morning. So, for now, here's a picture of two butterflies, one of which seems to be quite the adventurer... That, or he's contemplating his escape!

From Chrysalides to Butterflies!

On our way out the door this morning, I decided to take a peek at the caterpillars... uh, I mean chrysalides.... to see if there had been any changes overnight. Lo and behold, there were three butterflies looking back at me! (Well, sort of; they were really just hanging around... literally!) Now there are only two chrysalides left! They may turn into butterflies today or tomorrow.
Jaiden and I were pretty excited. We gathered a handful of flowers and made them some "food" (sugar + water). I'll have to pick up some oranges and carnations on the way home... that's what the directions say, anyway!
This photo shows two of the butterflies (and the two remaining chrysalides). The other butterfly ventured out a bit and was hanging near the top of the butterfly treehouse. I only had my phone ready, so excuse the low-quality picture. I will post some better photos soon!

From Caterpillars to Chrysalides...

Sean and I got Jaiden a "butterfly treehouse" for Christmas, and right before Spring Break, we received our order of caterpillar larvae in the U.S. mail! (Forget snail mail, right?!?) A little cardboard box with a little plastic cup arrived with 5 teensy-tiny caterpillars inside.

On day one at the Alcazar house, the caterpillars were about the size of grains of rice. The next day, they were twice that long. The day after that, they were twice their size again... but this time twice as fat!
They grew more and more every day until three days ago when they crawled to the top of their little cup and hung upside-down like little letter "J's." That's when the first part of the transformation began. The little guys swung and shook and turned their little caterpillar bodies into hard, irridescent chrysalides. It was amazing to watch!
Today, Jaiden and I moved the 5 little chrysalides into their butterfly tree house. In about a week, we should see the immergence of painted lady butterflies.

We're pretty excited. Actually, I think I may be the most excited of all. It's SOOOOOOO cool! And I plan to document more as the excitement continues. So check back for butterfly updates!