No School Butterfly

The kids have missed seeing the monarchs emerge this year. We've only had late season butterflies and so the kids have been in school. Luckily it was parent teacher conferences this week, so that means today is a teacher work day, so the kiddos are out of school today, and today one of the monarchs emerged! And we're gonna be lucky again tomorrow, which is when the other one will emerge (judging by the timing of when they turned into chrysalis') So, hooray! They were able to see the butterfly today! So pretty.

It made a nice addition the vase of flowers on the kitchen table.

Sophi, who had been the most tearful to have not held the caterpillars, was the first to hold the butterfly.

And then we put it on the kitchen table for kids to watch.

Eventually we took it outside. This pretty butterfly is a boy!!

(Can you see the dark spots on the two bottom wings?) We put it out on the tree in the backyard before noon, and it was there through out the afternoon when we checked on it. I let a few neighbor kids hold it as I was out checking on it and they were passing through the yard. And as we switched it fingers between kids on our front porch, it flew away and into the tree farm. I didn't have shoes on so I didn't follow it, and so it was soon out of sight and probably impossible to find. So with that we bid this young fellow adieu. I did just check the weather, and today it was fine, but the forecast tomorrow and into the next week don't look good for butterflies...

I have just been doing more butterfly research and google tells me via butterfly fun facts that they can't fly if it's below 60 - and the high temperatures next week are lower than that. And if they are wet in freezing temperatures they will die. We're getting down to freezing on Monday... I hope that little guy makes it! I might put out a request on facebook tomorrow (like I did in 2017) to see if anyone can take our last butterfly down to south to warmer weather.

Tonight Corey and I went on a date to the Church Museum. It was raining, so Corey parked the car. While I waited, I looked around the gift shop where I saw some beautiful cards, which I have since learned are called Quilling Cards. Holy amazing, wow-wow-wow-wow. They were just on white paper - but then there was small paper scrolls shaped into beautiful pictures and images - I loved the colors, love the detail, love love love them! I started to pick out ones I wanted - they had a monarch butterfly ~

Gotta have that one, and I wanted the violin too, and the other violin... cause I couldn't decide which one I liked more. And they had a pretty piano card too, and an Eagle (for Skyline, so that's part of our family history, or could be for the USA). As I've looked online they have more that they didn't have at the store - a saxophone and trumpet, cool! Looks like we got most of our musical instruments covered. Sorry Mel, no flute. Anyway, at the museum I soon had a pile of 10. I put most of them back, but did get a few that I hope to put on the walls soon! I still hardly have anything decorating the walls here. it was nice to be there and to get a little more inspired and to see a little more of the art from the International Art Competition. This time I was most impressed by the piece "What is a Seed but Sunlight Sent into the Future" Looking at that one up close, I still could not tell that they were photographs of seeds, but I loved the idea, the title, and the work that went into recreating the Palmyra night sky in March 1820. I have a goal to someday make something to enter, I hope it's something with symbolism and meaning behind it. After Corey and I looked around we sat in a pioneer exhibit to see info about how people traveled to Utah/Zion. Our yoga baby used the opportunity at the museum to get in more downward dog practice.

Peek a boo Peter!!! You are the cutest!

It was a nice date, I think I'd like for us to go there more often and bring the kids too.