This edition of New Mercies Monday…brought to you on TUESDAY. Because, life.
Between nursing my very sick husband back to health, snuggling my very emotional 5 year old who just got over being sick, making uber amounts of garlic tea and chicken stock and onion poultices…oh my, my newest mercy yesterday was that we all SURVIVED!
BUT…I’ve been excited all week to share about our new mercies from last week…so here we go!
We all needed some new life around these parts so I decided to get us some caterpillars towards the end of March! When I told my friend Courtney about them she was super impressed, asking me if we went out and caught them ourselves…which, we basically did…from Theeee Amazon!! Not the jungle, but the internet site. They’re basically the same thing, right?
The sweet little buddies arrived and it was so much fun to let the kids open the box and discover what was inside. We observed, journaled, drew pictures, did art crafts, checked out a million books at the library and filled our little brains with all there was to know about our new special friends.
…until we came home from preschool on Tuesday and FOUND A BUTTERFLY!!!!!!
The next day, we woke up to ANOTHER butterfly!!! We were all so excited! And then, for the next amazing act…I was staring at one of the Chrysalises because it seemed like it was totally clear when all of a sudden, I saw the butterfly’s head poke out!!! I frantically called for the kids and Brian and raced to get my phone and got back just in time to capture THIS on video!!! (And please excuse my frantic calling to Selah…she was missing the whole thing because she was so intent on explaining to her Daddy what was happening! I didn’t want her to miss it!!! Ha.)
How SPECIAL is that?!!! Oh my goodness, I couldn’t get over it!! It was such a thrilling experience!!
The fourth butterfly came out later that day and the fifth came out the next morning! Hooray!
We read a million butterfly books and talked about symmetry and did lots of butterfly activities. One of our books talked about the types of flowers butterflies are attracted to, and Elliott could not get it out of his head and continually asked us if we could, “buy some perennials that butterflies are attracted to and plant them!!!” If you know me, you know I certainly don’t have a green thumb, but we figured it out and finally were able to plant the flowers this week once the blizzard passed. We’ll let you know if they actually grow!!! (Aunt Melanie, are you SO proud of us?!!!)
I found the following project here, and I think they are simply stunning!! I folded a paper in half, drew half a butterfly on one of the sides in pencil for each kid (and for myself!!) and then poured some black paint into one of our half-filled glue bottles. The kids traced my pencil outline and then made whatever designs they wanted on the inside. The folded them in half to imprint the black outlines on the other half and waited for them to dry. Then we filled them in with watercolors!
And you’ve just gotta see the kids’ journals. Oh my, I think they are the most precious things on the planet!
And finally, we released them. It was fairly warm out, but a SUPER windy day. They were definitely hesitant to leave their little cage. One finally flew to the top of the cage and then I gentle put my finger under his feet. He crawled on my hand and we got some cute memento photos before he took flight. I finally grabbed a stick and used it to reach in and gently put it under the other butterflies’ feet. Selah was brave enough to hold a stick with a butterfly on it, but Elliott kept his distance ;).
If you read about Selah’s potty training experience, you know she is very descriptive when it comes to describing her poop. Sunday night after struggling a bit to get a long one out (is this tmi?? Sorry…) I finally heard it splash into the bowl. I said, “Wow, are you alright?” She responded, out of breath, “Yeah. Wow, my poop was like a chrysalis hanging from my bottom!!!!”
Teachers, can we all agree that this here 3 year old met the learning objectives and understands the life cycle of a butterfly?! Hahahaha!!!!
So there you have it…such a new mercy for us this week!!!
And three other bonuses for you:
And now it’s YOUR turn!! Comment below and tell me about the Lord’s new mercies to YOU this past week! I’d love to hear about them!
Totally darling!
That was absolutely mesmerizing! What a treat, thanks for sharing! Along the Nature Coast of FL where we live, we’ve already had blueberries and now strawberries in season. We too are hungering for local watermelon. I like the idea of sitting down with spoons and going at it that way. I can just see U. Serge and I now … have a blessed week, everyone! Love & God Bless!
xxxooo
If you and uncle Serge dive into a watermelon with a spoon, be sure to take a picture!!! 🙂
Susanne, this is awesome! Makes me want to go to the Amazon and get some butterflies myself!! And remember the time we saw these at a wedding. I just want to say that you’ve inspired me to pause, think about my week, and remember what the Lord has done for us. Thank you. He is with us everyday.
Amen! Praise God you’ve been remembering all that the Lord has done for you! Love you!!
Wonderful story. Hope everyone is totally over the sickness too! I remembering doing baby quail with our two when they were about 7 and 8. That was a great way to inspire them to appreciate God’s beauty too.
Blessings
Well since you taught me everything I know about (6th grade) science, you had a hand in their first butterfly science lesson in an indirect way!! 🙂