For Lilly's birthday I decided to get her a butterfly pavilion. I ordered the pavilion and then sent away for the live caterpillars. About 2 weeks later we received the caterpillars. Lilly was really excited! They were very tiny and in a plastic cup with food on the bottom. This was taken with my old camera and they had been growing for a few days at this point (they were the size of my fingernail when they arrived). You can see the silk they spun on the bottom of the cup.
I was shocked to see how very large they grew! That must be pretty potent food on the base of the cup! We had fun watching them grow each day. They doubled their size daily.
Before long they climbed up to the top of the cup and formed a button of silk to hang from. They hung and spun for two days all the while spinning their cocoons.
Here you can see the one had formed a chrysalis while the others were still hanging and working making one.
One of the chrysalis' dropped to the bottom of the cup but was still attached to the lid by the silk. I was worried about whether or not it would survive.
Once they all became chrysalis' we transferred the paper from the underside of the lid to the butterfly pavilion. We were very careful!
They instructions said if one had fallen to carefully remove it and place it on a paper towel on the base of the pavilion.
We watched and waited about two weeks. Suddenly one emerged! We had missed it.
The red gook under this butterfly is meconium. It is a combination of leftover tissue and dye from the wings that comes out of the butterfly. It is not blood. *I have Krissy to thank for all of her knowledge during this process since she used to do this with her first graders every year. I called her and said, "The butterfly is bleeding!!!"
Within 48 hours all the butterflies emerged (even the one on the paper towel). We didn't get to witness a single one break ouf of the cocoon. One time I looked in seconds too late and saw one of the butterflies with wet crumpled wings sitting on its cocoon.
We waited for a 55+ degree day to release the butterflies. Today was perfect as it's 61 and sunny. To top it off Andy is home from work today so we were able to do it together as a family.
At lunch Andy and I explained to Lilly why the butterflies had to be released. She wasn't so sure at first but then came to accept it and get excited about it. We came home and headed out back for the big release!
They were hesitant to come out of their cozy home.
I was shocked to see how very large they grew! That must be pretty potent food on the base of the cup! We had fun watching them grow each day. They doubled their size daily.
Before long they climbed up to the top of the cup and formed a button of silk to hang from. They hung and spun for two days all the while spinning their cocoons.
Here you can see the one had formed a chrysalis while the others were still hanging and working making one.
One of the chrysalis' dropped to the bottom of the cup but was still attached to the lid by the silk. I was worried about whether or not it would survive.
Once they all became chrysalis' we transferred the paper from the underside of the lid to the butterfly pavilion. We were very careful! 
They instructions said if one had fallen to carefully remove it and place it on a paper towel on the base of the pavilion.
We watched and waited about two weeks. Suddenly one emerged! We had missed it.
The red gook under this butterfly is meconium. It is a combination of leftover tissue and dye from the wings that comes out of the butterfly. It is not blood. *I have Krissy to thank for all of her knowledge during this process since she used to do this with her first graders every year. I called her and said, "The butterfly is bleeding!!!"Within 48 hours all the butterflies emerged (even the one on the paper towel). We didn't get to witness a single one break ouf of the cocoon. One time I looked in seconds too late and saw one of the butterflies with wet crumpled wings sitting on its cocoon.
We waited for a 55+ degree day to release the butterflies. Today was perfect as it's 61 and sunny. To top it off Andy is home from work today so we were able to do it together as a family.
At lunch Andy and I explained to Lilly why the butterflies had to be released. She wasn't so sure at first but then came to accept it and get excited about it. We came home and headed out back for the big release!
They were hesitant to come out of their cozy home. *We're getting new siding on our house as you can see in the background of the picture.
Finally one flew out! 
Another one landed nearby on one of our Evergreen trees. 
Lilly tried to catch one on her finger.
Flapping it's wings and trying to put it on Lilly's hand.
My favorite picture.
This one really liked Andy and hung out with him for a few minutes.
It was fun and we let all 5 go into the beautiful warm air. Lilly had a blast and it was such a fun project to do as a family. Hopefully they're off enjoying the beautiful weather as we are today.
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