Ladybugs, Eggs, & Larva

A couple weeks ago I went outside to get one of our soccer balls when I found a wonderful thing.  I saw tiny yellow things and a ladybug.  I worried if what I was seeing were ladybug eggs so I googled it.  I was happy to find they were ladybug eggs.  Since then we have been seeing ladybugs and ladybug larva everywhere.  It is wonderful, but part of the reason we see so many ladybugs is there are thousands of aphids all over my roses.  We are trying to encouraged the ladybugs to stay by only using water to spray the aphids off the roses.  We also protected the eggs, so they could hatch.  We hope the ladybugs will stay and feast on the aphids.

Ladybug eggs

Yes, it is a Toy Story soccer ball.  Do you see the alien?

I know it is hard to see, but this ladybug is eating an aphid.

Check out all the aphids...YUCK!

Can you see the ladybug larva?  It is right next to the lace on the ball.  It is so tiny.

Ladybug Larva

Ladybug larva on Rich's hand.

Ladybug larva next to some kind of green caterpillar.

Green caterpillar on Ava's hand.  We don't know what kind of caterpillar it is.  Does anybody recognize it?  We want to know if it is good or bad.