I have to admit, bugs in general kind of creep me out. I’ll admit they are really interesting – (I actually have a strange obsession with National Geographic documentaries that my husband makes fun of me for but my kids still think is cool) – but when I see one crawling over across the floor in my house I’m the first one to run away screaming. The ironic thing is, I was the kid who used to love going bug hunting. I used to hide out in my friend’s backyard tree house letting daddy long legs crawl up my arm and even now potato bugs are the still coolest thing ever – as long as my kids refrain from putting them in their pockets and forgetting to tell me about them before I wash their pants. There are, however, three major reasons why I still absolutely love bugs even though they freak me out a little:

If you’ve been following our posts, you know we’ve been exploring butterflies over the past few weeks with the help of an Insect Lore Butterfly Garden kit.

If you want to enjoy your own Butterfly Garden you can win one by attending #MomStorm on Thursday May 6th at 6:30 PST. RSVP to be entered to win here.

You can also buy a Butterfly Garden (or anything else from Insect Lore) at a discount. Insect Lore has a great offer for Busy Mommy Media readers. Use the code “busymommysave20″ at www.shop-insectlore.com to get 20% off of anything. This Insect Lore coupon code is valid through May 15, 2010.

Follow Insect Lore on Twitter to hear about some great buggy facts or to hear about other promotions.

Insect Lore Butterfly Release Party

We couldn’t end such a fun butterfly adventure without a party! I think my kids would have kept their butterfly forever but honestly, releasing them was one of the best parts of the experience. We let our butterflies go one at a time so we could enjoy each one. Some flew right out and we watched them until we couldn’t see them anymore. Some allowed my children to hold them gently on their hands and explore their delicate features up close.

My children acted out the butterfly life cycle using a small preschool-sized parachute. I used to run a home daycare so we had two of them. They started on the ground as a tiny caterpillar egg, crawled across the ground as a caterpillar, then wrapped the parachute around themselves as they formed chrysalids and then flew around the yard as butterflies.

Insect Lore has a great set of butterfly life cycle figures. We pulled them out during our butterfly party to remind the kids about the changes that their butterflies had gone through over the past few weeks.

The kids had a blast and it was really fun for me to take some time out from being a busy mom to just be a mom and enjoy the sound of my kids’ laughter and the beautiful spring weather. It was very peaceful and I hope it’s a memory that my kids will keep forever.