Lady Bug Lady Bug Fly Away.........

Somehow it became a tradition to purchase a bag of Lady Bugs from Western Gardens for Emma and Erin. I think I bought a bag for Emma one year for her birthday because at the time, Lady Bugs were her obsession. Now, every time we go to Western Gardens, the girls try to talk me into buying some. I usually cave once a summer. It's actually become a pretty good tool to get them to do something (i.e. clean their room, stop whining, take 3 more bites, fasten their seat belts). It's great because I start by refusing to purchase them. Then after we have them, I don't let them free them without completing a task or two. I can milk it for a good 2 or 3 days. And sometimes they panic because when they check on the bugs (we keep them in the fridge in the garage until we let them go) they look dead. But, after being in room temperature for a minute or two, they all wake up.

Eventually, they do get to free them. It's great fun for all of us. You have to let them go at dusk so some of our pictures are a little dark but I love the one's of Emma trying to "save" them all. They "plant" 1800 bugs in the bag but only advertise on the front that there are 1500 because you tend to lose some along the way. Well, Emma is not okay with only having 1500. She cannot stand the thought of one dying. So as they all started walking away from the flowers, she tried to catch them and place them where they will survive. I'm convinced she did save them all and we ended up with a head count of 1800. . . it seemed like a million.

The next morning, Emma went in the back yard to check on them. I was out front mowing the lawn. I could hear her yelling my name over the lawn mower, so I turned it off and when I looked up at her, this is what I saw......

Oh how I love my little girl.