Butterfly Surprise

It was an impulsive decision.  We had two empty planters and I wanted some kind of herbs in them.  I chose lavender for one and parsley for the other.  Both are good for this climate.  I thought it might be nice to have fresh parsley for cooking.  Who knew I would have butterflies instead?  Here is what happened:

Step 1:  Planted parsley

Step 2:  Saw 4 black caterpillars on the parsley and realized that my mother-in-law had collected caterpillars like this before.  Called my mother-in-law asking how to do it.  Had the kids help me prepare a large bucket by putting sticks inside and covering with pantyhose to prevent escape.  Placed the caterpillars inside and fed them fresh parsley every day for 2-3 days until they formed a chrysalis on a stick.  There are no photos of the caterpillars, sorry.

Step 3:  Brought the chrysalises inside hoping they would open into butterflies in 9-11 days.

Step 4:  This morning I came into the kitchen and found a butterfly sitting on the stick.  It was beautiful.  The kids were so excited.

Step 5:  Place the stick outside so the butterfly can dry its wings and fly away.  

Step 6:  Watched the children be enthralled to the point where they wanted to eat breakfast outside in hopes of seeing the butterfly fly away.

When I went to get my camera in order to share these photos, I saw that a second butterfly had hatched.  I let him crawl onto my fingers and placed him gently outside near the first butterfly. We have two more chrysalises that will probably open tomorrow.  This has been really fun.