Missing Idaho, Greeting Texas

Moving to Texas for the summer has its perks. Since leaving our Idaho home, we've had Lo be extra on-track with his daily routine, waking exactly at 6am, napping at just about noon every day, and going to bed consistently around 8pm. We have enjoyed seeing new sights, swimming almost every day in the most glorious of pools, and meeting the BEST library story time lady EVER! But still, most days Lo mentions several times wanting to go back to Idaho. Here is what he misses: He used to have daily playtime with the little girl next door. She is about a year older than Lo, but they have similar personalities and interests. They would move from one activity to another, be it sidewalk chalk, swinging on the swings, jumping on the trampoline, eating snacks, checking the mail, climbing on the monkey bars or other playground equipment, sliding down the slide, gathering gravel from the driveway and distributing it all over the yard, riding trikes, etc. Lo misses all these fun times! We have yet to discover a playgroup or any friends his age out here and his definitely social personality feels the lack. Family! Living near countless extended family members made any activity more enjoyable. Here is Lo at the zoo with Aunt Booy and baby Ashlyn. Lo had really gotten to love Ashlyn. Being OUT in the dirt. This dirt pile was one of Lo's favorite places to be. If he ever snuck out of the house without me noticing, the first place I'd go check is the dirt pile (and 9 times out of 10 he'd be there digging away). So yes, we have a sand volleyball pit here at our apartment complex in Texas but it is full of cigarette butts. Not quite the same... Anyway, adjustment simply takes time and I'm sure we will keep finding more things to love about our new area the longer we are here. In the meantime, I'll keep Lo focused on the joys of Texas: daily ice cream, palm trees galore (he calls them "poky trees"), and frequent excursions to sites new-to-us.

Texas arrival

Safely arrived in Texas a few days ago. No, this isn't the plane we flew on to get here--just some old shot I came across. :) The flight here was a real confidence booster for me as a mom, because it went SO WONDERFUL, and not just because we got lucky (though there is always a little Heavenly blessing thrown in to make all successes happen). No, the travel was smooth and enjoyable because I have traveled a lot with a child by now and learned a few skills along the way. The main help I have learned is to give Lo emotional preparation. Weeks in advance, talking lots about the trip and drawing pictures about it, letting him be involved in the preparations, etc. gives him the power of visualization. Then, during the trip itself we get to just sit back and enjoy the ride. Another fun addition I did for this trip was wrapping all the toys/snacks in fun, brightly colored gift-wrap. He stared at those wrapped presents for days before departure. He even asked, "Let's play airplane," and then when he had pretended to seat us on the plane, he turned to me and smiled, "Now we get to open our presents!" I chose the toys and activities carefully, looking for basic, brain-building or creativity-inducing ones like Clay, wiki sticks (spelling?), and a new board book, etc. The clay especially was a hit, because he could easily play with it on the airplane's food tray. He has played a lot with play-doh in the past, but this was the first time to touch REAL clay, and apparently it is a different enough experience he felt totally fascinated. Here is our apartment. It has a generic, hotel-room feel to it, not very "homey" since we forgot to even bring framed family photos to display. Seriously only packed a few items of clothing and toys pretty much. And our rice cooker. :) But hopefully we won't spend much time at the apartment anyway, since we only get a couple months to enjoy the adventures of this new area! Yesterday we spent hours at the pool and "sandbox" aka sand volleyball pit. The heat here reminds us of Hong Kong--nice and tropical, never abating even for evenings. It is fun getting to live in all the different areas of the US. So far the Tam Fam has lived in: New England (Massachusetts), the Midwest (Ohio), the South (that's what Texas is, right?), Intermountain West/Northwest Pacific (some question as to what category Idaho falls into), and Rocky Mountain region (Utah). Where else do we need to live before we have it all covered?

My little brother Brandon got married a couple weeks ago, and they had a reception in New York the same day of their wedding. Jerry and I decided we could not afford to fly out for that part of the wedding, so instead I contented myself with preparing for the "Idaho celebration" as we did a Memorial Day breakfast in honor of Brandon and Savannah.

My part of helping with the Idaho open house consisted of coming up with a theme/design and creating decorations. Brandon and Savannah gave the basic color of pink as a preference and said they wanted strawberries, Nutella, and whipped cream, but otherwise that was it! They are laid-back people, easy to please. My aunt was my cohort on the decor, and she made these tissue flowers for the center of the pavilion. We also made photo jars with mason glass jars, tied with ribbon and raffia. Used similar jars as the vases for flowers, which were mini carnations. I have never been a fan of carnations (they look too common maybe?) but fell in love with mini carns! I like how the blooms go all the way up the stem of minis. I don't have many photos at the moment of the whole thing, but here above is one with my sister's baby Ashlyn enjoying the decor. And below, a couple pics of the happy couple:

I am so thrilled for Brandon to find such a wonderful woman as Savannah. She won my heart when I saw how easily Lo warmed up to her--this gal is GREAT with kids.

Congrats again, Brandon and Savannah! We love you!

Dressing Himself

Great Guys

Feeling proud of the boys in my life: My sweet Husby has an intelligent mind, diligent work ethic, and positive attitude. All three attributes culminated in him getting amazing grades this first semester back in school. He was awarded an academic scholarship as well as THREE A+ grades on his transcript (honestly, I didn't even know it was possible to get that kind of grade on a college report card). One of those classes where he scored an A+ had been a crazily challenging class (taxation) and I saw the work he put into achieving that grade, so it means even more. All my days of "single motherhood" have been worth it! (kidding...Jerry is a remarkably supportive husband and father despite his school busy-ness). Lo Lo: wished me "Happy Mother's Day" about 20 times yesterday. My first Mother's Day to hear those words from my own child's mouth! It felt awesome. I am proud of my smart, adorable kid. My brothers: all three of them gave me reason to be proud this past weekend. My littlest bro David qualified to run at the State Track Meet next week in TWO events (open 800 and 4x4 relay). My next youngest brother Justin, serving a mission in Canada, just got news he is TRAINING, and he has only had 2 transfers in the field. Obviously he has started his mission off really strong and from our phone call conversation with him yesterday, it sounds like he is so happy. Lastly, my other brother Brandon got sealed (married for time and all eternity) to a wonderful girl in the Palmyra New York Temple. I'm so proud of him for being truly a catch, good marriage material, and for living worthy to be married in the temple. Hooray for the guys I love!

Hibachi Face

We celebrated Jerry's last day of classes last week by going out to dinner. Mr. Lo ordered Hibachi, his third or fourth time to eat this type of meal.

Even before the "fireworks" started, Lo started to anticipate them by putting his fingers in his mouth. He kept his fingers in his mouth the entire time the chef prepared the food. He also remembered well the tradition of the chef throwing shrimp in the mouths of the patrons, and our sweet child got a good half dozen attempts to catch food in his mouth. He opened SOOOO wide! Nice try, Lo!

Letters

I forgot to mention something else in those last couple posts about Lo enjoying the YMCA swimming pool and climbing wall. He calls the YMCA "CYM." It makes me smile! We told him we were driving to the YMCA, and then when we stopped at a different place to run an errand en route, he said from the backseat, "Hey, this does not look like the CYM!" Much reassuring ensued. He does not verbally identify all his ABC's yet (I have not made much effort to work with him on it much) but has a few favorite letters he likes to point out whenever he sees them. Especially "M for Mommy," as he calls it, and "Upside-down M," which then he can also call by its accurate name "W" if I ask. And he pretty consistently can point out all the letters from his name.

Climber

I've mentioned before about Mr. Lo's daring personality. Lately he has experimented with all sorts of climbing.

This dirt path is at a local park. It is so steep, I wondered if even I could climb it! Lo did most of it on his own, but at the last few yards Jerry carried him.

For the "Unplugged Week" our YMCA let the kids to free time on the climbing wall.

Mostly Lo just got lifted up by the guy on the ground. =) But it was cute how much he thought he was actually doing the climbing.

Lizards

I have always loved the wildlife in my parents' backyard. These are the rock walls around the garden area where blue belly lizards pop out on sunny days. Fun items of note: Lo's chocolate face (I think that's what he was eating) and there are TWO lizards in that bottom shot, one right in front of Lo and another off to the right of him, a bit farther ahead on the next rock ledge.

Texas

I guess that last post warrants a little explanation with my brief mention of moving. Jerry has been awarded an exciting internship this summer with Dell. We will spend June-August in Texas. Side note: as part of the start-up paperwork, the company asked for a 7-year address history, including places lived for school or work. As we reviewed all the addresses in Jerry's past 7 years, the total came to 11. That's right, since returning from his mission just 7 years ago, Jerry has moved a lot. And after we relocate this summer, the number will rise still higher. Since beginning our marriage together just 4 years ago, us Tams have moved 6 times, now looking forward to move number 7 as we spend the summer in Texas. But on the plus side, the Texas move will be low-key--our apartment is fully furnished, and utilities included, so we won't have to go through as much of the usual transition hassle associated with moving. And most of our stuff will stay at my parent's house. I even get to fly down with Lo instead of driving, so all in all should be pleasant.