The Tjarks Family: July 2012

Well, we've made the move and are now finally settled in our own home again at 818 E. Brian Street! It's safe to say that everyone in our family is thrilled to be here! It's been a pretty jam-packed month, with the packing, moving, and lots of visitors!!! Before we left Mitchell, Kate and the kids flew in and spent three weeks in town. We had a total blast with them, and it was wonderful for the cousins to get to know each other a little better and play together! I loved watching those little people! I'm racking my brain trying to decide what eventful things happened during that time, but I think we honestly just spent our days chasing those kids around and trying to keep the house in some sense of order. We did celebrate little Zach's 2nd birthday at the pool, dressed in our pirate gear and all! I also celebrated my 26th birthday at the end of June. Joel took me out to dinner and then we went to see the movie Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter. We're so fancy. We also threw a party for Joel's Grandma Tjarks' 80th birthday! The whole Tjarks clan was in town for the annual fly-in, so it was extra special! The 4th of July was spent in Mitchell at the Aslesen's, where we had great food and shot off fireworks. I was shocked that Benjamin enjoyed them! He was completely mesmerized by the lights and sounds. Last week, Kate's husband Brian came to Mitchell as well as my sister Amy, so we had all sorts of family around. We tried our best to document our adventures with plenty of pictures, so I'm happy to finally have some to share on the blog.

We moved into our new place on June 30th, and have been unpacking and settling ever since! We've been doing a lot of traveling to and from Mitchell since then, so we've been joking that we've been there about the same amount of time as we've been in Tea! Life has settled now for awhile though, so I can do a little more exploring around town and get to know some people! I'm so happy we decided to move here instead of Sioux Falls. Tea truly has a small-town atmosphere, and I'm especially grateful for that sense of security. We live right off the interstate, so it takes just a couple minutes to get into the "city", which is very handy. Even Joel can get to the hospital in no more than 15 minutes. The real kicker, though, was the other night when we were watching the local news. They were showing a story about a casino robbery in Sioux Falls. As we watched, that casino started to look more and more familiar... We saw the financial advisor and Mexican grocery store next door and finally realized that we looked at an apartment above that very casino when we were hunting for a place to live!!! Ahhh!!! We probably would've been witnesses. Or murdered. Oh geez! Anyway, we had a good laugh about that and were never so glad to live in sleepy Tea, SD.

Well, Joel took about a five second break and then jumped right into his rotations at the beginning of this month. He's starting off in pediatrics, and so far totally loves it. It keeps him very busy, though, and he's unable to come home for lunch, so we sure miss him during the day! It sounds like he sees a ton of kids coming in for well-child checkups, so nothing too interesting quite yet. I don't know if many of you remember the story I wrote about his first clinical experience during his first year, when he went to "shadow" a doctor and got thrown in the lion's den? Well, he's baaaack! Joel was randomly assigned to this same physician once a week for something they call PCAP. We had to chuckle about that. At least this time around Joel know how to use an otoscope. :)

Our little Benjamin boy sure is having the time of his life these days. He had SO MUCH FUN this summer with his Grandma, Grandpa, Amy, Becky, Brandon, Nana, Papa, Katie, Brian, Maddie and Zach! In fact, since we've made the move all he's done is talk about those people that he loves and misses. He's also found time to play with his trucks and cars, color in his coloring book, sleep in his BIG BOY BED!!!, draw on the driveway with chalk, jump, dance, and sing songs! He's such a little man. I think spending all that time with his cousins really encouraged his vocabulary, because he's been talking and singing up a storm. He loves to sing Itsy Bitsy Spider, The Wiseman and the Foolish Man, Twinkle Twinkle, and the ABCs. It's so cute! He knows everything - all his colors, numbers, shapes, and knows how to say practically every word imaginable. I don't even know how he knows some of the words he says. Recently he's also been speaking in 2-word sentences. One of my favorite things he does when he wants something is say "Ben....something." He calls himself Ben. It's so cute. He's still a skinny little squirt. But he's got tons of personality and a great smile that makes you melt! Well, hopefully by next month we'll be all settled in our place and living the life! Here are some pictures that I've been meaning to post!!!