Butterfly Effect

I work at a school and recently had the pleasure of taking care of 5 little caterpillars. I had them in my office and I talked to them everyday. I came back to work after one weekend and found 5 little cocoons. My little babies were growing up so fast! 

On Friday, I knew they were going to start emerging, so I took my "work" home with me. No WAY was I going to miss the miracle of new life! I raised them and I was going to make sure to capture their first moments as butterflies on camera!

 

   Saturday morning, I came downstairs and was able to capture this little guy on video. :)

 

It was so neat to watch this happen. 

My dull little caterpillars turned into beautiful butterflies!

Now it's a few days later and today is the day I'm going to release my 5 butterflies. It's still a bit overcast outside, but I knew I wanted to wear something that reminded me of butterflies. Here is what I came up with...

My butterflies have been antsy to leave their home. 

 Stayed tuned...I'll be posting pictures of their "release" into the world (i.e. the garden on the playground.)

 ***UPDATE***
 I released my baby butterflies! Here is a little play-by-play...

In my mind, this was going to be this beautiful moment. I would unzip the butterfly house, they would fly out, they'd flutter around me for a little while saying goodbye and then they'd go off into the world to seek new adventures. That didn't happen. It was REALLY windy and I could barely get the stupid thing unzipped. Then once they figured out it was open, they took off without even so much as a "Hey mom...thanks for keeping us alive!" How's THAT for gratitude.

I noticed one little butterfly left in the house. One of it's wings looked like it was slightly deformed and he couldn't fly. SO sad! What did I do wrong??? And I can't believe the nerve of his siblings taking off like that without even checking to make sure everyone got out. These butterflies aren't known for their compassion apparently.

We have some milkweed in the playground garden, so I decided to at least take him somewhere where he'll be happy.

All in all...I consider it a success! I successfully raised 4 healthy butterflies and 1 special little guy that will hopefully live long enough to enjoy some sunshine for a while without getting picked off by a 4 year old!