After doing some research, we discovered that they were Swallowtail Butterfly caterpillars. So we caught two of them and put them in a jar with some wild dill (the weed we were pulling, and the weed that the caterpillars just happen to eat) so J could show them to her Daddy. Then we were going to let them go, however, when we got home from church, we saw this. . .
One of the caterpillars had made it's cocoon already, so we let her keep them so she could watch their transformation into butterflies. A few days later, the second caterpillar was in a cocoon as well. About a week and a half later we woke up to
We took the jar outside so that once the butterflies wings were dried it could fly away without getting stuck in the house. J was so fascinated that she sat there and watched until the butterfly flew off. It was worth it for her because on it's first short flight, the butterfly landed on her arm. It stayed there and rested for a short while before flying down to the grass where it could spread its wings into the sun so they cold finish drying out before it eventually flew off.
A few days later we repeated the entire process (including the landing on J's arm) with the other butterfly. J frequently asks where her butterflies are and likes to gather "caterpillar food" from the yard just in case they come back.





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