hanging with fireflies

Okay, so these aren't fireflies.

Have you ever tried to take pictures of fireflies? 

Butterflies, Turtle Back Zoo, New Jersey

We went to Costa Rica.

We came home.

Mikhail went on a business trip.

We went on an overnight camping trip with Elan's preschool camping trip.

A giant owl buzzed my windshield. 

Mikhail went on another business trip.

My mother-in-law came to rescue me from the horrors of double-bedtime-alone duty.

Mikhail came home.

Elan graduated from preschool.

I cried.

Just a little.

I got on a plane with my two boys and came to New Jersey to see my extended family.

Grandparents, aunts, uncles, and cousins, oh my!

And now the three of us are heading to Baltimore to visit my college roommate and her kids.

And then home.

Hi, honey! We miss you!

And then Elan's camp starts.

His first time at summer camp.

It feels like this kid is growing up too fast. 

Can't I slow him down, just for a few months while I catch my breath?

I'm really enjoying seeing my relatives who I only get to see once or twice a year. Watching my kids bond with my Back East family. Driving the crazy New Jersey highways in the minivan with my kids and my parents, everyone playing the alphabet-roadtrip game. Sitting on the porch watching the fireflies light up the forest like miniature fireworks.

I wish we had fireflies in California.

You can't be stressed out while you're hanging with fireflies.

Somewhere in the midst of all this packing and unpacking, I am trying to get my work done and not drop too many balls.

Yesterday, I realized that I had dropped two balls.

I do not like that feeling of How on earth did I forget that?

It's like misplacing your wallet, or your wedding ring.

Except I didn't misplace my wallet or my wedding ring.

Not yet, at least.

I give credit to my new packing system.

I'll tell you about it.

Later.

Really, I will.