Constantine the Monarch

The day has finally arrived - launch day! We first met Constantine the Monarch as a caterpillar on the milkweed in the front yard a couple weeks ago (Daddy says the milkweed is unsightly, but we're helping to conserve the natural habitat for this beautiful species, so we feel it's worth the ugly milkweed. Plus, Mom hates weeding in that front flower bed where the chiggers get her.)

As Mom has been reading "The History of the Medieval World" by Susan Wise Bauer while watering and weeding the garden this summer, it seemed appropriate to name our Monarch after a medieval monarch - Emperor Constantine I. So our FIRST monarch of the season was named after the FIRST Roman emperor to make Christianity legal. It was perfect - until Constantine emerged from the chrysalis after 10 days (perfectly on time) and we made the discovery that Constantine is a female (thicker "veins" and no black spot). No matter, we promptly renamed her Constantina. 

Rain was a possibility for the afternoon and we worried about having a good window of opportunity for Constantina to dry her wings in the sun. But God kept the rain clouds away and the afternoon turned out lovely. In fact, it was a bit too warm to sit in the sun, so we spread our blanket in the shade and relaxed (for a few minutes, until the boys left to go shoot chestnuts at chipmunks with slingshots).

Before the guys took off, we did notice a surprise visitor behind us - a doe. She just stared at us, stamped her foot a few times, and only ambled off when Henry started walking her way (don't worry, he was strictly forbidden from shooting deer with the slingshot).

Helen decided to make a video of the butterfly to show her cousin Max, who may not know about Monarchs yet, she figured. The camerawork by a 5 year old is a bit jumpy, but she did know her facts. 

Finally, it was just about time! We noticed Constantina pumping her wings and called the kids over. At this point, the neighbor boys had come by and there was a huge expedition to collect frogs of various kinds and sizes from the pond. In their traipsing through the woods, Henry somehow managed to graze his knee on the barbed wire that denotes the property line. So while Mom ran inside to grab supplies to clean up the bloody knee, Constantina took that moment to literally spread her wings and fly up and over the roof of the house. Mom missed it... but at least all the kids were there to bid her bon voyage. 

While Micah, Henry, and Liam continued the frog hunt, Helen and Noah borrowed the camera and took some silly photos. Micah and Liam were covered in mud by the end of the afternoon, but it was a fabulous afternoon of adventuring outdoors!

The kids are back at it with the frog catching again this afternoon. Guess it's the new fad for this week at the Roe house (this is homeschool science at its best, right?!).

And Henry had a cavity filled today - first time with Novocaine (poor kid!). It was not an easy thing to endure, especially the anticipation of it. But he was brave! (AND we had several people praying for him - God was giving him strength!) The side of his face was numb for a while, which was a novelty. He thought that the cushy thing they put in your mouth so you don't bite your tongue was pretty cool. Kept it in his mouth all afternoon (thankfully, the dentist gave us extras - he came in from catching frogs in the pond to say that he accidentally dropped it in the mud and needed a new one. Mom was SO glad he didn't just put it back into his mouth!) 

Micah's role is to wade into the water/muck (he earns a shower immediately upon entering the house) and use a butterfly net to scoop up the frogs. Henry gets them into the bug tent so they can be observed for a while before being returned to their home "free and in the wild" (big fans of Wild Kratts here). However, today the butterfly net didn't survive their endeavors, so tomorrow they'll have to come up with another plan.