Metamorphosis

Katie and I received five caterpillars in a cup.

They were really small at first but we watched them grow every day.

We watched them climb to the top of the cup and form a chrysalis.

When each chrysalis had dried and hardened.  We moved each of them to the house designed especially for them.

We were very excited when they hatched!!

We fed them fruit and brought them fresh flowers every day.  

Katie named them all after carbs.  Doughnut, Beignet,  Pancake, French Toast (Frenchy), and Crepe. 

 Poor Crepe got stuck in his chrysalis and couldn't quite break free before his wings dried.  We eventually used a very small pair of scissors to cut him free but it was too late for his wings.  It was clear he would never fly, but he was a survivor and he could wobble around.  

I sat him on a fresh orange slice so he could eat.  We were able to examine him very closely because he couldn't fly away.  He actually sat with me through an entire math lesson.

Unfortunately, after a couple of days, some of his poor wings just fell off and he couldn't even stay upright.  He just lay on his back and kicked.  We decided at that point that the kindest thing to do for him would be to euthanize him (after extensive research about whether or not a butterflies wings can be helped).  We put him in the freezer which is the easiest least painful way to do it.

After about a week of observing our babies, we took them out to an area full of flowers and released them.

Now, whenever we are walking the dogs and see a butterfly, we hope it is one of ours and that they are having good lives!