Literally, we do have butterflies! Well, just one butterfly.

A few weeks ago, Jake went on a frenzy with milkweed plants and caterpillars. In short, there was a milkweed plant growing outside of our apartment and Jake noticed there were caterpillars on it! This excited him so much that we went to our local ACE Hardware to buy a milkweed plant for ourselves. It was so exciting to watch the caterpillars that came on the plant eat the leaves and grow. We didn’t realize how ferociously the caterpillars would devour our plant. We had to go back to ACE to get another milkweed plant so the caterpillars would have enough leaves to eat. But it seemed like a neverending cycle because the plant we bought came with its own caterpillars…

Anyway, we got to watch the caterpillars grow very large and then turn into chrysalises! There were about 3 of them hanging in random places on our balcony.

Well, one finally “hatched” this week! It was so amazing to see the entire process. We got to see the pupae turn from a leafy green color with gold flecks into to a solid black color. We were able to see the wings forming too! And then one day the butterfly just emerged!! We just happened to check on the pupae at just the right time! Because a few hours later, the butterfly was gone.