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

  

January Update

Wow January really got away from me.  To be honest,  January is always a survival month for us.  It's always a month we all get out of sorts and quite frankly a little unpleasant.  This year of course, it didn't help that we are all living on top of each other.  I think everyone said at least once this month that they were done living in the trailer.  The cold days and early sundowns really get hard when you have no where to get away.  But this last week has seemed better.  The sun is going down later, it has been a little warmer, so we are feeling like we can spend more time outside.  I'm sad I didn't keep up with the blog because this is really what I am using as our family journal.  So I'm going to give a quick update about the last few weeks and then hopefully I will get back on track.  

Big news! The binky is gone! Lily came up to me a couple of weeks ago with a baggie full of her binkies.  She said she wanted the binky fairy to come and bring her an LOL doll.  So she put the binkies outside and the binky fairy wasted no time in taking them away.  She has done amazing.  She hasn't asked for it at all.  The only downside is that she is no longer napping regularly.  This is a kid who used to put herself to bed at nap time.  She loved her naps.  She also takes a little longer to fall asleep at night.  But it gets better everyday and I am glad that I let her decide when it was time to get rid of it because it was so easy and stress free.  

Last moments with her binky.

Totally worth it for the doll

The other big thing we've been doing this past month is lots of skiing.  Charlie had made so much progress over Christmas and we were so excited about that.  Recently though, Kya has also made leaps and bounds.  She is super fast and she even loves to jump as she is heading down the mountain.  She asks to go skiing almost everyday.  She loves it.  Over Christmas we tried to put skis on Lily but she wasn't having it.  But then about a week ago she asked to go.  So we rented her some ski's.  The smallest boots they had were two sizes too small.  We figured it didn't matter because she probably wouldn't last very long.  We headed up the mountain and I thought I would take her out and let her scoot around a little and then we would head inside for some snacks and playtime.  Boy was I wrong.  She picked it up amazingly fast and I spent the day running up and down the magic carpet slope.  She skied for seven hours.  She outlasted Brian and Charlie by more than an hour.  I had to bribe her to take two breaks during the day because I needed it.  I am so glad she loved it.  She also asks to go everyday.  So it looks like I better learn to ski.  

All three of my skiers. 

Lily, Kya and Charlie

After seven hours of skiing, she was asleep before we pulled out of the parking lot.

Some other things we have been up to are field trips to museums, the library, indoor playgrounds, and the airplane museum.  This was Charlie's favorite.  We have been playing games and doing lots of crafts.  Charlie is way into Pokemon lately so we have been learning to play that.  I really don't like that game.  

Doing school work on the train ride home from a field trip

Life in the trailer has been going OK.  Our hot water heater has a switch that is broken, so when we need hot water we have to go outside and hit the switch.  This is a bit annoying since it's cold outside.  Hopefully we get that fixed soon.  The plug outside that our heated water hose is plugged into has shorted twice, leaving our water hose frozen.  So that was fun.  Overall though, we are still fine with living in Millie.  Lily really loves it.  The other two occasionally complain and want to live in a stationary home but then when we look at land and talk about building a house and moving out of Millie, they whine and cry.  So you can't ever go by kids reactions.  

I'm going to try harder to keep up on a more semi-daily basis with the blog.  So if you are enjoying following a long make sure to check back frequently this month to see how we are holding up this month.  

Miles of Love,
Stacey

Dance Surprise

My girls wear dance leotards on a daily basis.  It doesn't matter the weather, you can usually find them twirling around in a tutu.  So you can imagine the excitement when Lily took her first dance class.  Kya has been in this dance class for the last three years.  We go to the community center and they do a little performance in the spring.  It is the perfect balance for us.  Not a ton of pressure, just some fun dance time. It's all Lily has talked about since seeing Kya perform in June.  She was finally old enough to be signed up.
Well the morning started with some excitement.  The girls were up bright and early and ready to go.  Class didn't start until noon.  Trying to get school work done was torturous.  They just wanted to go.  Lily asked me a dozen times if her class was starting. 

Finally the time came, we piled into the car and headed off.  We got there and Lily was bouncing off the walls.  We had to wait a few minutes for the class before us to let out.  Then the door opened and can you guess what Lily said?
"I do NOT want to dance!" She dug in her heals and I had to push her through the door.  She wanted no part of it.  What?! I was seriously at a loss.  It never even crossed my mind that she would freeze up at the last minute.  Lesson learned...Never trust a three year old. 

Kya offered to sit next to her, nope not happening.  I offered to hula hoop with her, no way.  Finally once the class started we scooted over to the circle and she cowered in my lap while I tried doing the moves.  Great, I'm going to be dancing every week.  Doesn't she know this is my time to check my phone, text people back, look up stuff on the internet.  It's why I sign them up for things. I mean come on.  Okay, so I wasn't really upset, but I did want her to join in because I knew later she would regret it.  Honestly, I don't know how it happened. One minute she was hiding in my lap and the next she was up following along.  She tentatively followed the teacher around the room and then let me go back to my seat.  And then this happened...

It turned out to be so much fun.  The girls can't wait for next week.  Kya was such a good big sister.  She is so motherly and helped Lily and was so excited to see her doing a good job.  She takes the class after Lily.  She also did great and was excited to be back in dance class.

A few photos of the dancers.

Miles of Love,

Stacey

Best Friends For Life

I am the luckiest.  You want to know why.  I have had the same best friend for 30 years. Every year on Christmas day she flies out here from Florida to spend a week with us.  The kids love it so much and they think that her kids are their cousins. I never correct them.  In fact my whole family looks at her like another sister.  Christmas day is special but her arrival makes it even more so.  Her girls have taken up skiing and her oldest has gotten quite good.  So we spend a lot of time up at the ski resorts.  The kids all ski and we sit inside and drink hot chocolate.  It works quite well.  
Let me tell you about Angela.  You'll never meet anyone more giving or generous.  She is loyal to a fault, hence the friends for 30 years.  I'm sure she should have kicked me to the curb many times, but she never would.  She never speaks unkindly about anyone, ever.  Trust me, I've tried.  She has the patience of a saint and I have never heard her raise her voice.  And trust me, I can be quite a brat.  I absolutely deserved to be yelled at more than once.  Anyway, I'm pretty lucky she has been by my side during this life.  I'm certain God knew what he was doing when he crossed our paths.  
So this is our winter holiday tradition.  Every year she arrives and we do as many snow activities as we can before they head back to the warmth of Florida, and I am left here to freeze.  
We did three ski days while they were here. 

One of the ski days turned into a small blizzard while the kids were out.  The little girls lessons were even canceled half way through.  But that did not stop Halle and Brian. They kept at it, getting pelted by wind and snow. 

This was the last ski day.  It was freezing outside so only Halle was willing to brave the elements.

This year we decided to travel up to Idaho and go to Lava Hot Springs.  We didn't know much about it.  We made the mistake of going into their indoor pool first and once the kids saw the play structure we were stuck.  So we never made it to the outdoor pools.  Maybe next year.  It was still fun driving up there.  It was such a cute little town.

We spent New Years Eve at my sisters house.  She got really sick so Angela and I ended up helping her get the party ready.  It was quite an adventure.  We did a fondue party and I have to say the food was amazing.  We all ate way too much.

We also went sledding while we were at her house.  She has the best hill in her neighborhood.  

It is always so hard to say goodbye.  Kya cried all the way home. 

The time always goes so fast when they are here. I've already convinced Halle to come back in the summer and that she should go to college here.  Her parents can thank me later.  

Oh and if you are wondering, yes we all stayed in Millie together.  It actually worked pretty well.  We stayed here for six of the nights.  We kept busy during the day and everyone stayed nice and cozy at night.  We did run out of propane one night and our hot water malfunctioned a couple of times, oh and our toilet backed up, but overall it was a fun adventure.  

Miles 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