Sad Story followed by Big News

DON'T SCROLL DOWN TO THE BIG NEWS...PLEASE READ THE SAD STORY FIRST!

Last week Ben, Talon and I were leaving to pick up Simon from school. I was buckling Talon into his carseat when Ben yells "Mom! There's a caterpillar!" "Okay Ben. I'll be right there." Not believing him really.

There was indeed a caterpillar. Right where I was going to drive down the driveway. Ben was so excited. For a split-second I thought about getting jar and poking holes in the top. Ben didn't mention keeping it so I decided to get a stick and a cup - slid the caterpillar into the cup with the stick and put it in the grass. The caterpillar curled up and I thought died. So I put the cup next to it to see if it was still there when we got home.

We got home a few minutes later and I checked it immediately. Gone! Oh yea, I thought, it was fine! I looked around to see if I could find it - I was sure it hadn't gotten very far.

It didn't get very far at all - it was flattened by our dear neighbor Jim's car. I didn't tell Jim. He would have been so upset. I felt horrible enough for both of us I'm sure. I kept thinking that I should have just relented and kept it but I really didn't want a caterpillar in a jar on my kitchen counter. Now the caterpillar was dead and it was all my fault.

And now...on to the BIG NEWS!

Thursday, while I was with Simon at the eye doctor, Jon and Ben found a new caterpillar! And don't you know that as soon as I got home I found a jar and poked some holes in the lid. And now we have a green caterpillar - who has now been named Slimey (thanks Angie!) - happily munching on leaves and grass in a jar on my kitchen counter. I was not going to let this one get smashed by our neighbor's car. No sir...not on my watch!

So I guess we officially have our first pet! That's our big news! You can't see it in these pictures, but it's in there! I could actually hear it crunching when I checked on it for the 20th time today - that's what made me think to take some pictures of it.

And since I wrote this post, we thought it was dead. But really it was just resting from all of it's hard work making a chrysalis! YES! It's making a cocoon right there in a jar on my kitchen counter!!!