Thursday, April 9, 2009

Attack of the Killer Butterflies!!

I just saw one of the funniest things ever. And it was at my children's expense.

A few weeks ago, we purchased a butterfly treehouse. It's pretty much just a pop-up empty container, sold to house butterflies. There is an order form on the inside, which for a mere $6, you get 5 live caterpillars.

We received the caterpillars in the mail pretty quickly. The box contained a small plastic cup filled about 1/2 inch with a super thick peanut butter looking substance and 5 TINY larvae. Seriously, they were teeny tiny. A week later the larvae were ginormous caterpillars. It was ridiculous how large they were. They started out the size of maggots and 7~ish days later, they were the size of the the top two knuckles of my pinkie finger. Crazy huge comparatively speaking! Within a day, they hardened into their cocoons (it's like their bodies just folded over and hardened) and I had 5 hanging soon to be butterflies in the cup. Then, another 7~ish days, they all hatch within a day of each other and we are the owners of 5 painted ladies butterflies.

Amazing.

The butterflies eat sugar water during the time we'll keep them in captivity. As I opened the little door this evening, one escaped. I yelped with surprise as I didn't want it to get away in the house and the girls gave one hell of an amazing reaction.

TERROR.

They screamed and took off running. The screams continued down the hallway, honest to goodness screams, as I hear their bedroom door slam shut. After catching the butterfly and returning it to it's house, a mere 10 seconds later, I open the door to their room to see two little girls scared to death. They were crying at this point, sitting with one another on the floor, huddled together. So scared.

As me and the hubby tried to sooth them, I hear Ella mention something about spongebob squarepants. And then I remember.

There was an episode where there was a butterfly in an air bubble at the bottom of the sea. The spongebob crew, never seeing a butterfly, thought it was a monster and the entire population of the sea were paralyzed with fear over the sight of this creature. In addition to the creatures at the bottom of the sea, my girls were now also petrified. Of butterflies. For real.

Damn that spongebob.

20 comments:

Ali said...

Ha ha! Love it!

areyoukiddingme said...

That's kind of hilarious...although I'm sorry your girls were traumatized. Last year, we were at my MIL's house enjoying the butterflies. There are always a lot as my MIL loves them and plants as many flowers as possible to attract them. Our niece, who is 8 was shrieking in terror and running away from the butterflies. However, due to her being a drama queen, I figured it was all a show. She claimed to be scared of butterflies. This year, not so much, as she was going on and on about how beautiful the lone butterfly that was out in March was.

areyoukiddingme said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Beautiful Mess said...

LMFAO!!!! That's hilarious! Poor girls.

GeekByMarriage said...

BWAHAHAHAHAHHA BEWARE THE BUTTERFLY!

Anonymous said...

That Butterfly Treehouse is awesome, TBB would just love to get caterpillars in the mail. He also likes Spongebob though........

The Thagards said...

That is friggin' hilarious! Thanks for starting my morning off with a laugh...
Robin

Misty Dawn said...

LOL Dang spongebob for instilling the fear of the butterfly!

Martha said...

What a cute story. Spongebob has taught my dd lots of interesting things. . . from "Oh barnacles!" to "Idiot Boy!"

Jen said...

That is freakin' hilarious!

Birdee said...

That is so funny =D

Michelle said...

WOW....of butterflies huh? Mine is afraid of insects in general. Expecially ladybugs. I have no idea how she got the fears but at least you found out how they got their fear.

Any ideas how you'll get them to understand that they won't hurt them?

Do they like watching them in the cage? They just don't like them outside the cage I take it?

Great idea though with the butterflies...

Amanda said...

That is too funny!

Your poor girls, though. How traumatizing!

Lisa said...

I am so sorry but that is hilarious!

Sarah said...

LOL....fucking SpongeBob. Way to terrify little girls!!

This will be one of those stories that gets retold when they're 25. :)

Miss Tori said...

Oh the poor things! I guess going to the Butterfly Pavilion in Denver isn't going to happen anytime soon. lol

Coco said...

What a cute story!!!!

jill said...

That is such a neat idea - to let kids watch caterpillars turn into butterflies.

Very funny reaction, though! Did you get them to change their minds?

Kelly said...

Ok, that is just too funny!!!

Michelle said...

I too curse Spongebob more often than I should.