Very Hungry Caterpillars

To say that finding monarch caterpillars on our milkweed this year was exciting would be an understatement!  Ever since our neighbor started posting about them 5 years ago, getting to see them in their various growing stages has been a fun side step on our occasional walks.  We even had a year where our neighbor let us have a few eggs, and we got to attempt watching them grow close up.  Sadly, that didn't turn out as we had hoped, with only one making it, and being deformed at that.  Nonetheless, we know that the monarch butterfly population is low, so planting milkweed felt like the next right step.  And when we discovered a total of ELEVEN caterpillars on our milkweed this year, we were ready to watch them grow!!

While it's challenging to really see the size difference in photos, if you look at them in comparison to the leaves, you can see how some are much smaller. In real life, it was clear that they were all at different growth stages, and in particular, two caterpillars seemed to be very small.  We were concerned that without some additional help, they might not make it.  So, we decided to grab our butterfly habitat and bring them in with some fresh milkweed.  Nani was so sad to not be included in all the hubbub, but as you can imagine, she wasn't exactly picking up on the idea of watching caterpillars eat and grow.  They are VERY tiny, so you'll have to look closely in that middle picture on the stem to find one!!

When I reached out to our local butterfly expert, she advised me that people are now suggesting you leave the caterpillars in their natural habitat.  That lined up to me, since we had not had a great first experience with growing them, so we left the other 9 out on our milkweed and checked in on them in the mornings.  It was actually really neat to see them growing and chomping away at that plant!!  We counted each day and had several days where we happily counted all 9.  Until we didn't.

In a few nights, we went from 9 to 8 to 4 (6 total).  Although I had done some good reading to find out the reasons why raising monarchs in the wild was best for the monarch population, it also mentioned that as long as you are raising fewer than 10 a year (which we clearly were), then it wasn't as big a concern.  So, we moved them all off the milkweed plant and into a protected habitat.  Getting to see them up close really was quite the educational experience!!  As they began to get ready for their chrysalis, they started climbing more so they could find a place to hang upside down.  They also began to have a light green film develop on their body, which you can see both on the head of the hanging one and the belly of the one climbing on the bottom.

With so many caterpillars growing at once, it was neat to watch each of them develop at their own rate and in their own time.  We got to see the largest one go into its chrysalis first, and then see our smallest friends continue to fill themselves, poop constantly (see all the little black spots), and shed their skins to grow and grow.  It was also interesting to see new details about how they develop, like the barely noticeable silk that they use to hang themselves with.

Similarly, as they move into their chrysalis, they also shed their final caterpillar skin.  You can see the remnants of one below.  You can also see the layers of their chrysalis as they are building it, before it hardens.  And if you look VERY closely, you can get an early peek at the monarch wings that are forming inside.

We were excited to see this stage of their development happen, and it felt like it went so quickly.  We were constantly checking on them and making sure they had plenty of milkweed so they would grow.  And then, we suddenly had 6 chrysalises, and the constant activity came to a screeching halt, where the waiting game for butterflies began.  I'm excited to share the next part of the journey with you!

 Until next time, 

Aerial Silks in Action

 After a bit of a tumultuous start to sixth grade at our new hybrid school, our family decided to do full-time homeschool for the rest of the year.  As a part of this, we signed Emma up for a few extra classes: one engineering, one art, and one acro/silks.  Of all the extra classes Emma took, her acro plus silks class was her favorite by far.  She loved going for an hour and a half every week and being able to stretch, flip, twist, and drop!  As a parent and family who continues to be cautious about getting Covid, what I loved was that the owner was supportive of us continuing to mask indoors, amazingly encouraging to the kids as they built their skill set, and that their end-of-year performance was outdoors!

If ever there was a moment when a previous photographer's work influenced me, this was one of those moments (thanks, Jenn Bowers)!  As Emma was getting ready for her performance, my Momma heart kicked in strong, and I wanted to hold onto to this first moment of my girl stepping into performance mode.  I grabbed my camera to take a few quick shots, and then it was off to the Fluid Motion Dance Academy studio, where her performance would be!

Watching her work on her skills has been a real treat.  Jason installed a silk on our garage to allow her to practice as much of her routine as possible at home, but watching her perform on a high rig was so cool.  And writing this blog has helped me learn the official names of all the fancy things she does!  She started out with the Seatbelt Series, doing the Rebecca Split and followed by a Split Roll.

At home, getting down this next skill was a labor of love!!  She worked and worked at moving from the Cross-back Straddle, named for the silks being crossed behind her back while in a straddle, so that she could transition into the Belay.  She then moved into the Monkey Drop (the seated position), where she dropped backwards. 

Her final skill was another Cross-back Straddle in combination with a partner skill where she held another performer in the air.  

Of course, a bow and then a follow-up outdoor acro performance for the girls to be able to highlight the second part of the skills they worked on in their two-part class.  It has been a real treat watching the girls perform and work so hard to learn how to do everything they did this term.  We are all so excited for Emma to continue her silks journey!!

Until next time,

The Start of Year Twelve

Ah, twelve.  The end of the age of innocence.  And the beginning of growing up and taking on more responsibilities.  Or at least it was for our household this year.  Over the last few years, for persuasive writing assignments, Emma has learned to do an excellent job of researching and persuading us to take a second look at things.  Case in point: Emma has wanted a hedgehog for over a year.  In an attempt to get us to take a second look, she gathered her pluses and what she anticipated to be our minuses (before we stated them) to bring to us the idea of getting one for Christmas.  While we were definitely willing to listen, we told her that she needed to prove to us that she was responsible enough to handle the extra work.  And although she didn't make that happen by Christmas, we could tell she was well on her way.  So, for her birthday, we told her that we would help foot the bills and she could get one.  To say she was excited is a massive understatement.   Since hedgehogs are nocturnal, we met Blossom the hedgehog later in the evening on the weekend before her birthday.  Emma had already spent some serious time getting the right set up and then spent the rest of that weekend starting to bond with Blossom.

A few days later, a couple of Emma's previous classmates meet us at an outdoor ice skating rink in St. Louis.  It was a perfect space for the girls to skate - and with less than 20 people there the entire time!  As a bonus, the weather had been warm for days, and it was a mild 50 degrees, making it a lovely afternoon to be outside.  Of course, by the time the sun set, the chill had returned and reminded us that it was still February in the midwest.

Emma's birthday morning meant getting the new hedgehog out and trying to make her more comfortable. What we knew—but weren't really prepared for—was how persnickety hedgehogs really are.  Emma continues to work on getting her out of her defensive mode, but it's certainly a long process.

And of course, birthday day means opening birthday gifts.  Since the big gift was the hedgehog, everything else was pretty low-key, but Emma enjoyed it nonetheless.

In fourth grade, part of learning about chemistry was about the chemistry of food.  The unit aligned with Emma's birthday, and she baked her first cake FOR her birthday.  She really enjoyed it for two years but wasn't planning on doing it again this year.  However, at the last minute, she decided to do it anyway.  She does such a great job of basically doing everything on her own, and it's awesome to see how her creativity comes into play, from the flavor decisions she makes (vanilla cake with strawberry icing and coconut) to her decoration choices.

With a yummy cake all baked up, it was time to celebrate our girl one final time by eating it!!  We enjoyed a quiet afternoon and evening as a small group and sang her into her next trip around the sun.

I won't lie; it's a bit surreal to think that 12 years ago, this growing young lady was just joining the world.  But what a beautiful path she is creating.

Until next time,