Big Weekend: Birthdays and Easter

I'm a bit overwhelmed with the amount of pictures from the past weekend filled with many great memories of celebrating two birthdays and Easter with the help of my parents and niece Elly from Washington. Both my mom and us had our cameras going, so even after deleting a bunch, I have over 100. It's too hard to choose! Thus, I've decided to just post a few. (There are more on Facebook for anyone desperate for them.)

My parents arrived Thursday late afternoon, and we both survived many, many, many "how much longer?" questions from both Elly in the car and Claire at home. At one point, Claire even parked a chair in front of the window, declaring she would just wait there until she saw them come down the driveway. At that point, they were still 1 1/2 hours away. When they did arrive, Claire and Elly got right down to business playing. Although we gave them 15 minutes before the first little turf battle, they actually lasted a few hours. Elly got to sleep with Claire in her room, and they actually feel right asleep.

On Friday we went to the Museum of the Rockies to check out the wonderful exhibit on frogs and play in the children's Yellowstone Center room. Of course, Grandpa had to treat us to ice-cream afterward.

Saturday was Nate's Birthday. We spent a few hours on the Missouri River with a campfire and fishing, before enjoying a lamb chop and angel food cake birthday meal.

On Easter morning the girls woke up to discover the Easter bunny had come to bring them baskets (but that he would return later to hide the eggs for the hunt after it had warmed up to at least 40 degrees!). We dressed up a little more than usual and headed to Bozeman's First Presbyterian Church for Easter Services. After church, the Easter bunny returned to hide eggs around the property, and we had a ham dinner.

Finally, Monday, Claire's big day had arrived! She started the day by dressing herself (like a big girl) and wondering where her presents were. We had a few friends over for lunch and some simple party games: Pin the butterfly on the flower, drop the butterfly into the vase, jelly bean relay, and a butterfly craft. Then we opened presents, many lovely gifts, and we had the butterfly birthday cake (sense a theme here?). Once the party was over, I think we all crashed! Nate and I were supposed to go out for a birthday meal date, but who wanted to leave the couch?

A big thanks to my parents for making the effort to drive out and help us celebrate and to my sister for lending us her daughter to make the weekend even more special!

Because I want to do what I want to do

We've been experiencing the trials and tribulations of a pre-schooler with an increasingly stubborn and determined personality. While I love that Claire has a fire to her personality and a fearless approach to life, I also want her to learn obedience and respect. We are trying to work on some specific behaviors: listening the first time, not responding to a "No" with pout and anger (you should see how far she can get her upper lip to jut out), speaking politely, and cooperating with others. Some days she earns all the stickers on her chart, and others, like yesterday, are a string of big X's (STRIKE OUT!). **Yes, that was my child in Time-Out on the steps during Swim Lessons. I am happy that I can provide the instructive service to other parents for their children about "What Not to Do." You're welcome.***

In one of our many conversations about her behavior, I asked Claire why she wasn't listening to me. She responded simply with, "Because I want to do what I want to do." Actually,her response seems quite profound to me. Isn't that what we all struggle with on some level: the desire for self-gratification over the obligations to our families, jobs, health, and Maker? How do we instill in our children a desire for what "I want to do" that isn't destructive to themselves or others in the long run, that might actually be a desire to love others, bring peace, do the right thing? Beyond the day to day tedium of reminding Claire to say "Thank You," to clean up her toys, to play nicely with other kids, this is the larger goal, and, at the moment, a daunting one.

Between spring storms we fit in a picnic alongside the Missouri River. Claire loves to cast her Diego rod and hunt the shore for interesting rocks, feathers, and even little shells.
Hot dog roast over the fire while Dad fishes the Missouri River. (I got a chance to fish too.)
We attended the American Indian Council Pow Wow at Montana State. The cultures of all the various tribes in Montana are vibrant and beautiful. We had shown Claire some pictures ahead of time from the computer and had her listen to some drumming so she would know what to expect; unfortunately, what this led to was her commenting as loudly as she could while we walked in, "Look, Dad, there's a REAL Indian." Then a few seconds later, "Dad, there's another REAL Indian." At that point, we just picked her up and hustled ourselves into some seats : )