Screen Fast Review

We have officially completed our fast. We actually completed the strict fast a couple of weeks ago and we have added a tiny bit of screen time back into our day.Let me start with how the strict fast went. It went much better than I could have even imagined. The kids never even asked for electronics and they all said they liked doing the fast. They quickly adapted to going outside and finding things to do on their own and not needing me to help them figure out what to do. The benefits that I noticed were anger levels we're down drastically. Our kids were kinder to each other. Defiance was almost completely gone. My kids moods were better, they were happier and calmer. One thing I was hoping is that they would have better sleep habits but unfortunately I didn't really see a change in that. It may have to do with the sun being up later and summer being a hectic time so they're having a harder time falling asleep. Also I was noticing my one child has a few minor ticks. And these did not go away. In the book I had read it said that children with tics will tend to have them less. Since this child's ticks are not dramatic I assume that's why we didn't see a change. 

We have started adding television back in but only one show a day at most. And most days we are still not watching any. So a couple of days ago I decided to let Charlie do some math games on the computer. Of course time got away from me and he was on it for about an hour. And sure enough the next day when he woke up he was in a terrible mood and begging to be on the computer.While I have regretted letting him do that, it was an excellent lesson and just proof that we need to stick to a very strict electronic schedule. Because we do a lot of schooling online I am going to try to put electronics back in but only 15 minutes a day and make sure it is early in the day and not near bedtime. 

I have to say that the first week was so hard and I wasn't sure we would make it.  Week two was slightly better but by week three I was loving it.  So if you are like me and notice your kids need a break from screens, I know you can do it.  I have the worst follow through so really if I can stick to it, so can you.  I am so happy we did it and am really going to do my best to not fall back into old habits.

If you haven't read about our screen fast check that post out here...Screen Time Fast
Miles of Love,
Stacey

Finally Spring!

We made it!  Through winter I mean.  We always seem to go into hibernation in the winter.  We socialize less, we do fewer activities, we stay indoors mostly.  But this winter felt especially bad.  We didn't spend much time with friends, we rarely played outside and we definitely spent way too much time on electronics.  Finally, we are getting some warmer days and starting to play outside again.  It's amazing how much the weather can effect how you feel.  It's so nice to open the windows and enjoy the longer days.  I think this year I was the one who felt the winter blues the most.  I had a hard time staying motivated to get anything done and I really just didn't want to do much of anything.  It's time to get back out there and put friendships back into the forefront.

We are counting the days down till summer.  We can't wait to swim.  There is a pool directly across from us at the park we are staying at.  They are prepping it now and we are all obsessed with watching the progress.  We can't wait for lazy days at the pool. 

We are also getting more serious about finding land to build on.  We are doing on our research for a couple of plots and hoping to make an offer on something soon.  We are all getting excited to build something of our own. 

Recently to get out of the house more, we have taken up roller skating.  I didn't think I would remember how.  Turns out it all comes back to you.  The kids are picking it up rather well and we all love it.  So for now I will leave you with this little video of our last outing to the fun center.  There are also bouncy house stuff there. 
Roller Skating Video

Oh and the kids have been learning to ski.  Kya and Charlie spend most of their time on the big hill with Brian.  Lily is learning to ski with me on the small hill.  She loves it and begs to go all the time.  And I think she is the cutest thing ever when she skis down the hill. 
Lily Learning to ski

Big Kids Learn to Ski

Miles of Love,
Stacey

A Day Inside

Ever wonder what a day in the trailer really looks like?  Well Saturday was just that.  It was snowy and cold out, and not the nice fluffy snow you can play in.  So we hunkered down and stayed in ALL day.  My biggest problem with this isn't being cramped together in a small space, it's that my kids want to just sit on their tablets all day.  So we decided to work on their Valentine boxes for school.  One of my worries with homeschooling was that my kids would miss out on things like class parties and exchanging Valentines cards.  This was a huge draw back for me, as I know it is for a lot of home school parents.  It seems silly but it really is a factor in the should we home school discussion.  Since we signed up for a co-op this year, my kids go to an activity day once a week.  So this year they were able to participate in a Christmas party and now a Valentines day party.  So it's a win win.  They are so excited.  Kya has asked me a million questions about how it all works.  I love it.  So we worked on their cute boxes.  Charlie made a Pokemon character and Kya's is a collage of stickers.  
I let Lily make one too.  She just wanted to put the stickers on everything but the box.  

Look how cute they turned out

While we worked on the boxes Brian was changing the breaks on the van.  Poor guy ended up working in a snow storm.  He was a trooper and got it done.  They kids liked taunting him from the window.

Lily had seen someone make barbie shoes on YouTube.  They used a hot glue gun and when she saw mine in the craft box, she insisted we try.  So this was our attempt at making barbie shoes.  It took a long time and after I finished them lily told me she hated them.  Kids! No appreciation.  I mean they weren't pretty but they did fit Barbie perfectly.  

Already disappointed before I even start.

We wrapped her feet in plastic wrap and then covered them with hot glue

Barbie seems to like them but they needed color

So we painted them with blue nail polish

And they are done.  They looked more like house slippers than the tennis shoes that Lily had hoped for.

So after a full day of crafting do you wonder what a small RV looks like?  Well let me show you.

Yep, that is totally real life.  I got behind on dishes and there were toys and craft items everywhere.

However when people ask me what I like most about living in a tiny house, my answer is always the same.  The house can go from this to this in less that thirty minutes.

Even the kids are better about helping because they know it's quick.  I spend so much less time cleaning and it makes the messes not feel like a big deal at all.  I have to admit that when it is messy it feels like the walls are caving in.  But just a quick clean up and everything feels much better.  We lived in a three story house before and after a day of crafts and playing, it would have taken me closer to two hours of cleaning to get the house clean again.  So I am always thankful at the end of the day that my time is much better spent now.  

So that is how a day inside goes.  We do a lot of crafting, play dough time, puzzles, really anything to keep us off electronics.  I will be so happy when the sun stays up later and when it's warm enough to go out and play.  

Lots of Love,

Stacey

  

Christmas

There is nothing better in the world than Christmas with little kids.  This year, it was just what we needed after all the sickness we had the previous week.  On Christmas eve we like to do a small gift exchange with just the five of us.  The kids could hardly wait to get to it.  They each received Christmas PJ's and a small toy.  This year we also drew names for each other and exchanged those gifts.

  
Brian's sister hosted Christmas eve and we enjoyed a delicious dinner and a really fun version of a white elephant exchange.  We also read the Christmas story from The Bible and sang carols.  Lily was so happy we sang Jingle Bells.  She talked about it for days after.  The kids kept track of Santa on the phone and when he started to get close we set off for bed.  
We spend the night at my sisters house every year.  So we hurried to bed so we could get up bright and early for Santa.  This is my favorite moment of the entire year.  Anyone who knows me, knows I am a believer in all things Christmas.  Parenting is hard but I feel this one moment was made to make it all worth it.  Listening to the kids quietly chatter about where Santa is and what he will be bringing.  Their excitement for the morning making it hard to fall asleep.  It takes me right back to those moments with my siblings when we were small.  It makes my heart so full I can hardly stand it.  
We all finally did make it to sleep and the kids actually slept to a somewhat decent hour in the morning.  
Side note: My family is a bit freakishly close.  We don't like to miss even one second of anything that any of the children do.  So you can imagine the paparazzi frenzy of Christmas morning.
So of course when the kids wake up, we stop them on the stairs and make them wait until all adults are up and cameras are at the ready.  It's a little like torture for the kids but totally worth it for the grown ups. 
Santa had left their presents in a bag this year.  This worked nicely to keep them at a steady pace in seeing their presents.  They were beyond excited and there was a lot of squealing and laughter, even from the kids.

This is my favorite picture from all of Christmas. It has my cute niece in the back smiling so big about her cute bracelet she now shares with her puppy, and Lily sticking her head all the way into her sack to see what Santa brought.  Charlie is happy here.  I just caught him mid explanation about his Pokemon cards.

  After the excitement of Santa we took a breather and my dad and I headed out to get my best friend from Florida.  More about her in my next post.  
This year instead of a big dinner, we opted for a fancy brunch.  I liked this way better since breakfast foods are my favorite. We did our family gift exchange and there were more delightful sounds of joy.  I love Christmas day so much.  I love that everyone lounges around in PJ's all day and that the kids happily play and share their toys with excitement. 
A few favorite things the kids got this year:  
Charlie got Cozmo the robot.  When he saw it he said "I got a new friend for Christmas!"  Charlie asked for him last year too.  Since he didn't get it, this year it was the only thing he asked for from Santa.
Kya got lots of L.O.L. dolls.  Pretty much all she asked for also.  Another favorite was her makeup kits.  She is obsessed.  She got one from both her Nana and her aunt Stephanie.  
Lily also got lots of L.O.L. dolls but her favorite toys she got were her new Anna and Elsa barbies with matching little Anna and Elsa's.  She is obsessed with barbies.
Now back to real life.  

Miles of Love,
Stacey

Worst Day Ever!

Today was by far the hardest day in the trailer to date.  First of all, we have been passing a stomach virus around for the last couple of weeks.  This thing has been the worst.  I think Lily picked up a virus at the pool and then passed it to each of us one at a time.  So everyday for the last 12 days I have had at least one bed to change.  Usually more than one though.  Taking care of 3 little sick people while being sick myself has not been the easiest.  Still, I felt like we were surviving and I was holding it together.  Not today though...

I woke up in the early morning hours to a child throwing up in their bed.  So I got her showered and put her in bed with me and slept for a couple of more hours.  Then I was woken up to another child who had an accident in bed and wouldn't you know it, a 3rd kid then yelled out they had wet the bed.  So looked like all three kids beds had to be changed.  Then that first kid woke up in my bed and oops, looks like an accident in my bed.  Awesome.  Let's just say at this point I was feeling a little overwhelmed.  After stripping all the beds and throwing the laundry onto the porch, it was way too big of a pile to keep inside, I walked in the bathroom to find someone had peed on the floor!  I was losing it fast. I burst into tears and sat down on the toilet to hide.  I decided it was too smelly in there and the place is so small that those littles out there would eventually find me.  So off I went to get ready for the day and start cleaning up the place. 

This is what it looks like when we are disinfecting the bunk house.

Sick kids everywhere, at least they sleep a lot.

Oh yeah and remember the kid that threw up.  Well she mainly hit the carpet right next to her bed. So that was on the clean up list too.  It was really top priority since it was stinking the whole house up.  Luckily, I have a good friend who brought over a carpet cleaner and lunch.  That lifted my spirits for sure.  We headed off to the laundromat, got our car washed and headed back home.  Things were going better but I could still feel that I was teetering on insanity.  So I decided we were going to go get dinner, I couldn't take washing dishes tonight, and go see Christmas lights.  

Dinner was fine, remember we are all sick so no one really ate much and then we headed to see the lights.  Wouldn't you know it, all the kids were fighting in the car and tattle telling on each other.  All I could think was, maybe we should just go home and go to bed.  Lucky I didn't, because when we reached the city park and started driving through the display, listening to Christmas music, everyone started talking excitedly and squealing with joy.  I love Christmas.  It really is so magical.  

After the lights everyone was much happier.  As I write this the kids are all playing with their baby dolls and all 3 are playing happily together.  I really needed this day to end on a happy note.  I'm sure glad it has.  The thing is, that messes of this magnitude seem so much more intense in a smaller space.  It's harder to clean up when you don't have the room to make piles of laundry and you have to leave the house to do laundry.  Days like these make us miss our stationary home, but we also have big dreams and have to keep perspective to get through.  Tomorrow already looks better.  Now here's hoping for a good night sleep.

Miles of Love,

Stacey

2nd Snow Day & Giveaway

We had our second snow day and I am happy to report that it was much more successful.  First of all, we had electricity.  Brian added plastic to the sides of our porch so the snow at the entryway was not quite as bad. 

We felt nice and cozy in the trailer.  So of course a snowy morning called for hot chocolate and pancakes.  Charlie wanted his with sprinkles.  So, why not. 

We ate and watched the snow fall outside. It was actually quite magical. 

We hustled through our school work that morning so that we could get out and play.  The kids refused to get bundled properly and by the time I was done shoveling, they decided that they were too cold, so our snow play was short lived. 

 Charlie took this photo and when I saw it on my phone I couldn't help but smile.  This perfectly encompasses my days.  Kya is always right under foot, following my every step.  Some days, being a mom gets tiring.  I crave the days when I could sit down to eat a meal or go to the bathroom in peace, but I know someday I will wish there was a little one behind me, asking questions incessantly. I really am so thankful for this time I get with my littles. I love that Charlie captured this moment of my little shadow perfectly in step with mine.  Oh how I love her. 

 So while we didn't make it long in the snow, we had a very nice cozy snow day.  Maybe next time I will convince them to wear their snow clothes and we can make it to the sledding hill.

On a side note.... While I sit here typing this, Charlie and his friend are sitting at the table, playing chess and drinking hot cocoa.  The small quarters makes moments like this feel so cozy and perfect.  It's in these moments, that I am so happy we are here.

BIG ANNOUNCEMENT

O.K. people, now for some fun!  Charlie is dying to do a giveaway. Remember how he is obsessed with You Tube.  Well, they do giveaways and he really wants me to do one.  I told him when we get to 50 followers we will do it.  So your mission? Share, Share and Share! Oh and hit the follow button if you haven't already.  We aren't sharing what the giveaway will be yet, but Charlie came up with it and it is the cutest ever!  So you won't want to miss out!  

Miles of Love,

Stacey

Decorating for Christmas

All of our Christmas decor is in storage.  Not that we have a lot, I gave away almost all of it.  However, even the stuff we do have isn't really worth getting into.  So I decided to take the kids to the dollar store and we just bought a few things to brighten up the place.  The kids had fun loading the cart up and picking out treats.  The dollar store is one of their favorite places. 😄

The kids were excited to get started hanging the decorations.  We did a little tinsel and some cute hanging decorations.  

Next we put a few little statues on the steps.

Then Charlie and I decided to hang some lights around the door.  There were a lot of lights left over so we zig-zagged them next to the door.  We both stood back and at the same time said, "that looks terrible".  We laughed about it and then went back inside, leaving the terrible looking lights up in place.  Oh well, it was freezing out there, so maybe on a nicer day we will try to fix them.  Or maybe not.  Sometimes the stuff that doesn't turn out is the stuff we remember the most.  

                                  They look even worse turned on at night  😂😂😂

The kids made some cute decorations at my mom's house this past weekend so we taped them to the mirror.  There isn't a lot of wall space so we have to get creative.  

The one thing I really miss is our manger.  Every year we have a wooden manger and when the kids do an act of kindness we put in a piece of hay.  We try to get it all filled up so that on Christmas morning baby Jesus comes and sleeps in the manger.  The kids love it so much.  I'm trying to figure out how to make it work, but getting the baby out of storage may be impossible.  My mom made this nativity scene out of rocks and put magnets on the back, so we are using this since all of our nativity scenes are also out of reach.  I love this one though so much.  I think it is by far my favorite one we own.  

And last, we made a tree.  There isn't any room for even a very small tree.  My sister, who is the best, let the kids decorate a tree of their very own at her house.  We spend Christmas at her house so this works out great.  However, I still wanted them to feel like we had a tree they could see everyday.  So we made a flat one on the wall.  I just used construction paper and then the kids made ornaments for it.  They said it was better than a real one because they could make it however they wanted.  I love children and how they look at the world with such simple innocence.  Even in our big house, I tried to let them be part of the decorating and let them make most of what we did.  Someday when they are grown and it's just Brian and I decorating, then we'll make it all look perfect.  And I will miss the miss matched Christmas that I love so much. 

I really miss our stockings.  They are at my sisters, all ready for Santa, but they are one of my favorite things we own.  When I was little my mom made all of us stockings.  The year I got married mine went missing.  I was so heartbroken.  I still am.  Brian didn't have a stocking so it gave me the opportunity to make us both stockings.  We had Charlie that year also, so he got one too. Which meant both girls got one when they were born.  I am in no way a seamstress.  I wish.  My aunt is and I idolize her for it.  Anyways, they are not perfect, but they are made with so much of my love.  I loved seeing them hanging on the mantle all season.  I certainly miss them this year. 

Here they are at my sister's house
Waiting patiently for us.

Miles of love,

Stacey 

First Snow Day & No Power

Oh man, we had our first snow day in the RV.  Boy were we ready! We had the trailer skirted, the heated water hose hooked up, the propane tanks full and the new porch up and ready to block our doorway from the storm.  We were looking forward to waking up all cozy and warm and looking out the windows at a beautiful blanket of white.  That is not how it went.  At 5 AM I heard Brian whisper, "Oh No!"  I sat up and asked what was wrong.  The electricity was out.  In the whole neighborhood.  That's right, no power in 20 degree weather and dropping.  No problem when you are in an RV because you have batteries that will still run your furnace.  Only problem is, our batteries didn't work and we never replaced them. Yep, we are really smart people. 

We actually fell back asleep and stayed warm with our pile of blankets.  Surprisingly the kids didn't start piling in until about 7:00.  We all snuggled in bed for another hour and then everyone started getting hungry. 

It was cold climbing out of bed and we all bundled up and turned on the stove for a little bit of warmth. We turned on the faucets to a trickle so the pipes wouldn't freeze.

Knowing this was not going to cut it, we headed out for a breakfast at IHOP and some Grinch pancakes.  Charlie had been begging for weeks to go, so he was over the moon. 

Oh wait, back up, remember how we worked so hard to get the porch up to protect our entry way.  Well this is what it looked like when we opened our door. 

So, there is a small opening up by the awning, but I don't think that would let this much snow in.  My thought is that the roof is so high that if the snow doesn't fall directly down, which of course it doesn't, then it blows right onto the porch.  Looks like we may need to put some plastic sides up.  Anyway, after everyone was fed we headed off to Costco and got some batteries.  We won't be caught off guard next time. 

The kids did get to play in the snow for a while, but it was pretty cold out so they didn't last very long. 

We decided to head to a movie.  My kids hate movies, but we bribed them with treats and we all went to see Smallfoot.  It wasn't exactly how we envisioned the day to go, but a little spontaneity is a good thing.  It goes to show that it's always the one thing you don't think to plan for that you end up needing.  We haven't given those batteries a second thought since being hooked up to power. I guess you can never really be truly prepared.

Miles of Love,
Stacey

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