For Christmas, we gave Makenna a "Butterfly Habitat." It is a pop-up mesh cage and you can send for caterpillars and wait for them to turn into butterflies. She was so excited, and it was a long wait for the caterpillars to arrive. Once they arrived, we had to leave them in the container they came in and we watched them eat and eat and get bigger and bigger. After a few weeks, they hung themselves upside-down to the top of the lid and they turned into chrysales (that's plural for chrysalis!) It was so cool to watch! Then after a couple more weeks, they (2 out of the 3 - I think one died) emerged from the chysalis and are beautiful painted lady butterflies! Makenna loves animals and creatures of all kinds, and because of her interest and passion, our whole family has been able to have this experience. And I must admit it is pretty cool to watch the transformation - it is nothing short of miraculous! And we all feel such a responsibility to care for these creatures! It has been a fun thing, and we are looking forward (but a little sad!) to releasing them outside in a few weeks!
During the weeks that we were waiting for the caterpillars to turn into their chrysales, Makenna and her cousin Luke found a caterpillar in the gutter, buried under some snow. I figured it was dead but she insisted on putting it in a paper cup and taking it inside. Within minutes, the caterpillar was moving around - Makenna was tickled that it was alive! (I hoped that we hadn't disrupted it's hibernation!) For a few weeks, she took care of the caterpillar and gave it lettuce to eat and water on a paper towel to drink. After a few weeks, imagine our surprise when we found it one day in a chrysalis! So now we're waiting for that one to "hatch" too! It has been fun!
Kasidee celebrated her 4 and 1/2 birthday! In preschool, we celebrate the summer birthdays on their half-year mark, and since Kasidee's birthday is in August we got to celebrate it in February! She was so excited, and she was especially surprised that Minnie Mouse (her favorite!) called our house to wish her a happy birthday! Pretty cool!
Quentin's grandma celebrated her 97th birthday! "Butterfly Grandma" (as my kids call her) is an inspiration. She is amazingly upbeat and just loves life. She got up in front of everyone in her high heels and told stories. She's just so darn cute.
(I thought this pic was cute - this is Grandma with her grandson Adam, who got married just before Grandma's birthday party!)
The weather lately has been so nice, and the girls have enjoyed playing outside. Kiera got rollerblades for Christmas, but she still prefers wearing my old ones - so Makenna gets to wear Kiera's new ones...And Kasidee recently learned how to rollerblade too!
Quentin surprised the girls and me on Valentine's Day morning with some treats and cute balloons! That night, Quentin and I had a date - we saw "Grease" at Woods Cross High.
In other news, Makenna began piano lessons in January and is surprising us by how much she is enjoying it. She is doing really well, and it's fun to see how quickly she is picking up on it!
1 comment:
We got a butterfly habitat too...I have hesitated getting the butterfly's, but since you had so much fun maybe we will try it!
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