Woohoo! Monarch butterflies! And this year, we've learned LOTS!!!!
First comes the egg!
Out come the tiniest of babies!
The babies grow VERY quickly!
The caterpillars will shed their skin about 5 times. After they shed their skin, they may turn around and EAT it! Yummy! Notice this little caterpillar on the left caught in the act!!
When a caterpillar is ready to pupate, or go to the pupa stage (chrysalis) it will wander around and look for a spot. Usually they do not leave their host plant...which is milkweed for monarchs. However, we did have one little fella wander around on our kitchen floor looking for a spot. He was very close to being stepped on.

After they find a spot, they will eject a sticky substance from their mouths. Once they have created a little blob, they turn around and stick their backsides into it.  They stay that way for about half an hour until they are good and "set". Then, they will drop into a J position where they will stay for several hours.
The J position
Monarchs do not "spin" a chyrsalis, they "molt" it. We were VERY lucky to witness it three separate times! After hanging in the J position, the caterpillar will drop slightly and the skin will literally split up the caterpillar. The next few pictures show the process.
You will notice the skin literally splits right up the caterpillar, and then falls off once it gets to the top. In these pictures there are yellow rings around the chrysalis, however, once it dries, it will be green and the yellow will disappear.
Here is the final product. I'll update this page when our butterflies arrive!!