How Butterflies learned to fly part 3 the end!

Well, our insect stopped moving one day and his 14th cousin bumped into his rear end. The startled cousin shouted (for it was very noisy with the sound of millions of tiny feet pattering and wings batting) "Why did you stop? Get moving will you? I'm on my way up!"

But our insect did not budge. You see, he was looking at the real Up.

The real Up was the sky. and he saw that the blue sky quivered, also with the movement of the clouds and the glittering yellow sun. He began to feel - desire.

He noticed his wings beginning to pump harder and his feet became lighter and his heart became so big that he could barely breathe. He needed - air.

A nosey old aunt saw what was happening, hurried over and using her antennae to stroke his brow, she said "I know what you are thinking my dear, but it is a very bad idea. I know because I also felt like you once and I ventured to the topmost limb of our tree and I crawled to the topmost branch and then I even stood on the tip-toppest stem. I had to hold on very tightly because the Great Wind was tempting me to let go. Then I heard the voices of my friends and family calling and I slowly backed down into the tree's canopy. When I had recovered myself in the shade of the leaves again, I realized what a terrible mistake I had almost made. Now there, there, don't you feel better?" Then she waddled off in the direction of the newest blooms for a nectar-party with her girlfriends.

However, our insect did not feel better and could not say so because his heart was so big now that all he could hear was its thumping in his ears. He listened to his heart and began to run. He ran all the way to the tip-toppest part of the tree and when he got there he stopped. Waiting for him was the Great Wind. He shook hands with the wind and she pulled him into the air. His wings began to pump and he flew! The Great Wind was kind enough to swirl him round and round the tree so that all his friends and relatives could see how wonderful it was to fly.

Everyone in the tree was a flutter! Soon they were all watching. The old aunt rolled up her tongue and stopped sucking nectar long enough to nudge her neighbor and say, "I tried to tell him, but young ones never listen to those of us with more experience. All over the tree young butterflies were flapping their wings and declaring they would also fly while their parents were refusing to grant permission.

All of a sudden, a great flying bird appeared behind our butterfly. A bird, we call the jay. It doesn't seem so big to us but back then, to the insects, it was monstrous! Jay came flying very, very fast and in an instant, the tiny butterfly was eaten up. His beautiful wings fluttered to the ground and he was gone. The whole colony witnessed the tragedy and they mourned, but there were one or two friends of our butterfly who could not forget how beautiful he had been with his wings flashing in the wind and they continued to tell his story. Soon the story became so enhanced and exaggerated that it was all any young butterfly could talk about.

Every time the butterflies spoke of the jay they felt venom rise in their throats. Their excitement grew within them all winter and the next spring when they emerged from their sleep, their desire to fly was uncontrollable. Hundreds of the young butterflies called out to shake hands with the Great Wind and she obliged. The air was soon filled with butterflies and the commotion attracted Jay and his friends.

The jays swooped into the flutter and began to catch them in their beaks. But now the jays were spitting the butterflies out! The venom that had grown in the butterflies poisoned the jays. They flew away and never bothered the butterflies again. The young butterflies now called to their aunts and uncles and sisters and brothers and mothers and fathers to follow them into the sky!

The Great Wind began to blow in thousands of directions because she wanted to play with all her new friends at once. Soon the tree was completely alone. The tree stretched her roots a little deeper into the soil where the water was good and cold and then stretched her limbs higher into the sky to gather a little more sunlight. She grew three feet that summer and many, many seedlings grew under her shade until she became old and laid herself down in the grass to rest and then the new trees grew over her and provided shade.

And the Jays? Why the Jays went off in disgust (they are a rowdy lot, you know) to visit an apple tree that was rumored to have a great many worms. After all, it was still very early in the morning and early in the life of the world.

Get Cooking Healthy Meals with your Kids

Cooking healthy meals is one of the biggest events in our home. We try to add more items often to keep the girls interested. 

Our girls love to be in the kitchen while we cook so we try to include them as often as we can always keeping safety in mind, we tell the why we use the certain ingredients.

1) When we plan the meal I ask each of our girls what they would like to make. It makes them feel like they are really part of the planning so that holds there interest. We will help them pick and choose until we all agree!

2) Helping them cook. We do stress safety first as there are so many things in the kitchen that can do great harm if they are not taught the proper way to handle tools of the trade so to speak. Also we teach them to wash all fruits and veggies because of all the handling that happens at the stores.

3) We like having them pick at leased one veggie and Choosing a peace of fruit that will be part of the desert excites them so we let them pick one and decide if there should be a topping or just natural.

4) We try to bring into the kitchen new ideas and new foods. When I was a kid we very rarely had new things as most of the foods we ate came from the old world and were traditions. But every now and then someone in the family came visiting and we would all get a treat (most of the time) Not always! 

5) We sometimes sneak something that we know the kids would not eat if they saw us add it. This becomes somewhat tricky as they are always right in the mix of things but either my wife or I will distract them and throw whatever it is in. lol then after we eat we say wow girls we didn’t know you liked green peppers or mushrooms so much and they get a funny look on their faces and we all laugh together.

I believe as a family we have taught them to try new things and so we are happy with the way they have learned to be more willing to try maybe not like but at least try what we have all made together and that as a parent is very satisfying.

We all love using rice as a main dish mixed veggies and stir in some green onions and broccoli maybe some mushrooms .We all love rice a lot. We open a can orf cream soup of different kinds and serve over our rice can be brown or and whole grain in any case we always count on UNCLE BEN’S. 

Get your kids who enjoy cooking with you then you should get involved in the Ben’s Beginner’s contest. Uncle Ben’s has launched a national contest called Ben’s Beginners and they are looking for parents with children ages 5-12 to submit a 2-3 minute video of you cooking a rice-based dish with your children. The lucky winner of this contest will win $20,000 and a $50,000 grant towards a makeover for their child’s school cafeteria. In addition to this great prize, they will have a chance to appear on The Rachael Ray show! For more info on the contest, please check outBen’s Beginners on Facebook! 

Disclosure: I wrote this blog post while participating in the SocialMoms and Uncle Ben’s blogging program, for 6,000 My SocialMoms Rewards Points. For more information on how you can participate, click here.

How Butterflies learned to fly PART 2

A nosey old aunt saw what was happening, hurried over and using her antennae to stroke his brow, she said "I know what you are thinking my dear, but it is a very bad idea. I recognized your problem immediately because I also felt like you once and I ventured to the topmost limb of our tree and I crawled to the topmost branch and then I even stood on the tip-toppiest stem. I had to hold on very tightly because the Great Wind was tempting me to let go.  Then I heard the voices of my friends and family calling and I slowly backed down into the tree's canopy. When I had recovered myself in the shade of the leaves again, I realized what a terrible mistake I had almost made. Now. There, there, don't you feel better?"  Then she waddled off in the direction of the newest blooms for a nectar-party with her girlfriends.

However, the butterfly did not feel better and could not say so because his heart was so big now that all he could hear was its thumping in his ears.  He listened to his heart and began to run. He ran all the way to the tip-toppiest part of the tree and when he got there he stopped. Waiting for him was the Great Wind. He shook hands with her and she pulled him into the air. All on their own his wings began to pump up and down and he flew! The butterfly had never felt so happy in his life. He knew now why the clouds and the sun spent their days flying.

The Great Wind was kind enough to swirl him round and round the tree so that all his friends and relatives could see how wonderful it was to fly. Soon everyone in the tree was a flutter! The old aunt rolled up her tongue and stopped sucking nectar long enough to nudge her neighbor and say, "I tried to tell him, but young ones never listen to those of us with more experience." All over the tree young butterflies were flapping their wings and declaring they would fly some day while their parents were shouting that the butterfly should come home because it was highly dangerous!

All of a sudden, a great flying bird appeared behind our butterfly. A bird, we call the Jay. It doesn't seem so big to us but back then, to the insects, it was monstrous! Jay came flying very, very fast and in an instant, the tiny butterfly was eaten up. His beautiful wings fluttered to the ground without him. The whole colony witnessed the tragedy and they mourned, Mothers and fathers all over the tree were saying "I told you so." and "You see?" But there were one or two friends of our butterfly who could not forget how beautiful he had been with his wings flashing in the wind and they continued to tell his story. Soon the story became so enhanced and exaggerated that it was all any young butterfly could talk about.

But every time the butterflies spoke of the Jay they felt fear. During their winter slumber they dreamed of flying like their friend and sometimes they dreamed of the Jay chasing them also. Both Desire and Fear grew within them all winter and the next spring when they emerged from their sleep, their desire to fly was uncontrollable.  They determined that to overcome their fear, they must all fly together. All over the tree the butterflies were folding and unfolding their wings. Hundreds of the young butterflies called out to shake hands with the Great Wind and she obliged. The air was soon filled with butterflies and the commotion attracted Jay and his friends. 

The Jays swooped into the flutter and began to catch the butterflies in their beaks. But now the Jays were spitting the butterflies out! The fear that had grown in the butterflies protected them and poisoned the Jays. The Jays flew away and never bothered the butterflies again. The young butterflies now called to their aunts and uncles and sisters and brothers and mothers and fathers to follow them into the sky! One by one all the butterflies climbed to the tip-topest part of the tree and took the Great Wind's hand.

The Great Wind began to blow in thousands of directions because she wanted to play with all her new friends at once. The butterflies held hands with her and flew to places all over the earth. Many of them changed their colors. Some chose the deepest blue of the sea and some chose the dusty green of the prairies. Some chose the colors of the rainbow.

But this is not the end of the story for now the tree found herself completely alone. So she stretched her roots a little deeper into the soil where the water was good and cold and then stretched her limbs higher into the sky to gather a little more sunlight. She grew three feet that summer and many, many seedlings grew under her shade until she became old and laid herself down in the grass to rest and then the new trees grew over her and provided shade.

And the Jays? Why the Jays flew off in a huff (they are a rowdy lot, you know) to visit an apple tree that the Robin said had a great many worms. After all, it was still very early in the morning and early in the life of the world. 

Original Version:
Once there was an insect whose wings glistened with the colors of the sun.  I believe we humans call them butterflies now but when this story happened they had no name. We were not here on Earth to name them, but he was not alone. He lived in a colony of a million insects whose wings glistened with the same colors. These insects spent their days walking up and down the branches and limbs of a sheltering tree. In the summer their movements made the tree quiver and shiver and in the winter their cocoons made the bare tree look as if it had some form of tree leprosy.  The insects were contented but they were not all happy, nor was the tree.

PLEASE COME BACK FOR THE ENDING !

How Butterflies learned to fly

I read this wonderful story and wanted to share it with you all. As a Grand Pops I love telling my Grand kids fun and interesting stories and this author has done a great job here please read and enjoy and pass on to your little one's . By : Lavonne W.

Part 1)


A long time ago before even your grandmamma can remember - bugs could not fly.  It's true! Even the ones with wings did not fly. This story is about some bugs with beautiful black and gold wings which they kept folded up on their backs. We call them butterflies now but when this story happened they had no name for we were not here on Earth to name them.

In the beginning they all lived in one tree and they all looked the same. Each butterfly had four wings and each wing was covered in black and gold scales of the velvety-est black and the glistening-est gold. A million butterflies all lived together on the tree. They spent their days walking up and down its branches and limbs. In the summer their movements made the tree quiver and in the winter their cocoons made the bare tree look as if it were sick.  The butterflies were contented but not all of them were really happy and neither was the tree.

One morning, one butterfly just stopped walking and his 14th cousin bumped into his rear end. The startled cousin shouted (for it was very noisy with the sound of millions of tiny feet pattering) "Why did you stop? Get moving will you? I'm on my way up!"

But our butterfly did not budge. You see, he was looking at something he had never noticed before - the real Up.

The real Up was the sky and he saw all the things that could fly in the sky. There were clouds and the sun and birds. Each of these things had their own kind of wings. The cloud's wings were ever changing, growing and shrinking and sometimes floating right off by themselves. The sun had wings like fiery thorns and the birds? The birds had wings which were almost like his own. Up was certainly different from Here.

His cousin backed up. In fact, all his cousins backed up which was a good thing because he needed more air and began taking deep breaths. His wings which had been held straight up most of his life were now moving up and down with each breath he took. All that air made him giddy and he began to feel - Desire.


Please come back for part two IN A DAY OR TWO