Catching Fireflies

I am convinced that one of the great joys of having small children is letting them in on the little mysteries of life like fireflies. Up until tonight Laurelei barely new these fun little bugs existed.  For a couple of nights now Matt and I have been sitting on our couch, looking out the window and admiring them in our yard. I have such vivid memories of when I was a child, spending cool summer nights catching the magical little bugs and collecting them in jars. We would always race to see who could fill up their jars the fastest, hoping to have the best 'light show' when we opened the lids to set them free. So many good memories.

I saved up all the energy I could today just to share in these 15 minutes of memories with Matt and L 'firefly hunting,' and it was well worth it!

When we gave L the jar I don't quite think she knew what was going on, but she caught on quickly and got very, very excited about the adventure that ensued. 

She quickly followed daddy around the yard shouting, "I want one, I want one!" whenever he would catch one. In the beginning daddy lamented how catching fireflies seemed a lot easier when he was a kid.

Every time she got her hands on one her face would light up. Her little smiles are priceless!

She would run back to whoever was holding the jar at the time exclaming "I got another one, I got another one!!"

 When we all decided it was getting late and probably time for the fireflies to go nigh-night, Laurelei came and sat on my lap where I was camped out on the front walk. We watched the fireflies go and said good night to each of them, one-by-one.

It was the perfect 15 minutes of memory making.  

We came inside, kissed Laurelei goodnight and tucked her into bed. 

Then I began counting my many, many blessings, one-by-one.