Butterfly!

Abby came home from school on Friday all excited because the chrysalis that we'd taken in to her classroom finally produced a butterfly.  I was excited for her but kind of sad I didn't get to see it.

Well, this afternoon while Stephen was eating lunch, he noticed a butterfly emerging in one of our Butterfly Keepers.  It was very cool!  For the first hour or so, it's wings were floppy.  But then it started crawling and the kids took turns holding it.

Joanna loves creepy-crawlies of all kinds, so this didn't bother her a bit (she willingly removes cabbage worms that even I think are disgusting.)  At this point, we could tell it was a boy.  Females have much more blue on their wings.  We named him Elmer, because at one point the chrysalis fell off the branch it had attached to, and I had to glue it back on.

Abby despises bugs of any kind, so I was shocked that she wanted to hold him.  I love this picture of her, she was absolutely enthralled.

After another few hours, we decided to take him out and let him go.  It didn't take long for him to fly off, and I felt like a little kid watching him go.  He flew all over, and Joanna chased him.

When he landed on one of the bushes, he crawled onto her hand.

One last pose and he was off.  Hopefully there will be more soon!