night of butterflies

Last night, while watching a couple of my favorite six-year-olds, I discovered I am a butterfly whisperer. 

We were reading before bedtime  when a butterfly escaped from the homemade mesh-and-cardboard cage-like thing they have hanging above their couch. They are raising several Monarchs--from egg, to caterpillar, to butterfly to... you know. (Usually they release them right after they mate but weather delayed everything and now it is too cold for them to fly free. )

After some initial shrieking and my telling the girls to "Calm down just a little bit please. It's OK. I'll catch it." I was able to actually catch the darn thing with the help of some Tupperware and a colander. I'm actually really proud of the colander idea. It then stayed on the kitchen counter until their dad came home and we ushered it back into its home. 

The picture is horrible but hopefully you can see it.

After the girls went to bed I was sitting on the couch watching TV when I noticed another escapee. I quickly and quietly got up, stalked the thing like a ninja, and caught it with my BARE HANDS. 

I freakin' rock. I'm totally adding this to my resume. Right under "Balloon animal making artist". But that's a story for another day.