Raising Caterpillars {Finished Friday} come link up your finished projects, too!

link up your finished projects at the bottom of this post

A couple of years ago my friend, Kristin, posted about her children's experience raising caterpillars. I filed the idea away for when my own children were a little older.

Well, this year the timing was finally right...and we just happened to find two large swallowtail caterpillars munching on the carrot tops in our garden.

Our carrots were very pleased to be rid of their plump and unwelcome guests and our kiddos were thrilled with their new pets.

Thankfully, both of our caterpillars were almost to the chrysalis stage as Tim really couldn't stand cutting off any more of our carrot tops to feed these little "pests."

Mrs. Little (named by Emahry because she was...little) and Mr. Big (yes, the creativity abounds) began the chrysalis stage one day apart and emerged as beautiful butterflies less than two weeks later. Of course, those two weeks were tortuously long for our kids as they checked on the caterpillars several times each day.

Throughout our waiting we enjoy reading about caterpillars and butterflies. Our favorite book was Bob and Otto that tells the story of a friendship between a caterpillar and an earthworm.

Mrs. Little was the first to complete the transformation and was so ready to fly that the only photo we have of her release is the kids waving to her as she flew over our patio fence.

Mr. Big, however, was still readying his wings when we discovered him, so we were able to enjoy him a little bit longer.

I don't think I ever raised a caterpillar as a child. If I did, I certainly don't remember it, so this was a learning experience for me as well.

I hope this caterpillar raising will become a yearly tradition in our family...it's definitely worth repeating!

Since Kristin did such a great job simplifying the process, I'm not going to try to reinvent the wheel. Just head on over to her post for directions on how to raise your own caterpillars.

Today's Questions: Have you ever raised caterpillars? Is it something you'd like to do with your children?

I'm trying to hold myself accountable to finish some of the projects on my to do list by posting each Friday about a project I've completed.

Would you like to join in? Link up to your own projects below.

1. Link to your project post, not your blog's home page, so we can find it easily.
2. Let us know what project you are sharing in your title, for example: Spring Wreath
3. We'd love it if your post links back here so that your readers can come join the fun. Feel free to copy & paste our Finished Friday Button into your post. (Just copy the text in the box below the button, click on the "Edit HTML" tab for your post and paste it there.)

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