A Month of Celebrations!

It's been a time of celebration! We started the month with my brother's birthday. I celebrated my birthday and I LOVED celebrating with my family! We celebrated with an ice cream cake. It was always my families tradition, so my MIL has always gotten one for me, since I haven't celebrated with my family in years. 

I got a card in the mail from my sister and BIL! They are in Israel right now. I was so excited to get their card! 

 Here's a view of of our site. We are under a cover which has been a lifesaver with all the rain we've been getting. The kids can get outside, but they're protected from the rain.

 Sweetie Girl made this for me for Mother's Day. It's a bouquet of flowers! She worked so hard on it! She grabbed everything she needed and took it in her room and finished it on her bed so I wouldn't see it until Mother's Day! She's has such a sweet heart!

 We've been doing school outside on the picnic table while the boys play. She gets frequent breaks this way. She'll do a page and then play for a few minutes and then come back to do more school.

 We tested out the oven in the RV for cupcakes to celebrate Sweetie Girls birthday. I was worried about how they would turn out. I had a back up plan of buying store bought cupcakes if they failed. They turned out great! So I didn't have to go to plan B!

 We celebrated early because Grandma and Grandpa left for their summer travels before Sweetie Girl turns 7. Here are some pictures from our family celebration!

We  took the kids fishing the other night! We didn't catch anything, but had tons of fun! The boys thought it was a race to see who could reel their line in the fastest.

Baby Boy sat in his bean bag to look at this book! He kept yelling at Little Man, telling him he wanted to read it to him! "I'm trying to read this book to you!" 

Yesterday, Sweetie Girl turned 7! Y'all, I've been a mom for seven years and I can't even believe it! She's so full of life! She lives big, she loves big and she has big emotions! I love everything about her! Even when she's a struggle! 

I pray that she won't give in to peer pressure easily and she continues to be the leader that I see in her. That she will never be afraid to be exactly who she is! I love her more than I could ever express! Thank you, Sweetie Girl for making me a Mommy and teaching me SO much! 

She and I were able to go shopping. This is a tradition we've done for the past 3 years. She loves to shop, so it's the perfect thing for her to be able to pick out everything she wants. Please ignore the lack of makeup. My allergies have been kicking my rear and I mustered up just enough energy to take her shopping for her birthday.

 

The Hubs took Sweetie Girl out for lunch which is another tradition that she loves! They went to Dairy Queen because it was too rainy to go to Sonic like she originally wanted. She loved it even if she didn't get her first choice! She LOVES getting to spend one on one time with the people that she loves most! 

 We spent some time outside after dinner to let them wear off some energy. It's monsoon season here in East Texas! We're so thankful for the cover that we are under! We would not have survived this long if it wasn't for this cover!

 One of the gifts Sweetie Girl picked for her birthday were a pair of rain boots which is perfect for the weather we've been having.



We leave for the summer in less than 2 weeks! We're all pretty excited to see family and get to travel! Our first stop will be Meeman-Shelby State Park near Memphis, TN. I'll give more details on our trip as it gets closer. We've finalized more of our plans, but we're still working on some of it.

Today is my Dad's birthday and tomorrow is my sister and BIL's anniversary! It truly is our month of celebrations! So much happens in our family this month!

Adjusting to RV Life

I’ve started writing this post several times and have been having a hard time putting our adjustment period in words. The things that I thought would take time to adjust to have honestly taken a back seat to things I wasn’t anticipating being as big of a deal.

Sweetie Girl, has probably struggled the most with adjusting. She can be an emotional girl to say the least and I think her adjustment period has been affecting everyone to some extent. She had her own room in our house, so she’s adjusting to sharing a room, and a bed off the floor and noises that she isn’t use to. She’s also old enough to worry about things, knowing that we’re leaving friends at church and her homeschool group. She was super excited to see family, but there was and still is a lot of unknowns in this move.

Little Man has probably done the best, but probably had the least to adjust to. He is sleeping in a bunk, which is the biggest change for him. He kept his mattress and has shared a room for as long as he can remember. He’s always been a great sleeper. He’s not quite old enough to worry about friends and all that.

Baby Boy moved out of his crib, but seems to be sleeping better for the most part. He’s had a couple of nights where he woke up several times, but I can’t always tell who woke up first because sometimes it gets too loud before I can get to the room and everyone ends up awake. Things are settling down now and we’ve had more nights where everyone gets to sleep through the night and that’s wonderful news for this sleep deprived Mommy!

Grandpa and Grandma left for their summer of travels early this morning, so we said our goodbyes last night with a trip to play at Sonic, bedtime stories and lots of hugs and snuggles. We’ve got a couple of weeks before we head out on our summer of travels, so we’ll hopefully be completely settled and in a good routine before we move out.

The space hasn’t bothered me and we’ve been enjoying tons of time outside. It’s been nice being near family with Mother’s Day, birthdays and also to sort through what we need in the RV and what we can move to storage.

I'll post pictures again soon. We're finalizing our plans for the summer and I'm pretty excited about everything! 

It’s been a busy week! Last Sunday we moved into the RV, and Monday we closed on our house. I think it was possibly the most stressful day of my life. We left way more stuff in the house than we thought and spent the entire day getting everything out!









Here are some pictures of the kids playing at the play area. This was in the middle of the RV Park and included a basketball court, volley ball court, tether ball, a sand area with sand toys.

It was a bit chilly the first few days in the RV. Hence the coats, but that didn't stop us from enjoying the outdoors!

Mini Pooch found the perfect spot in the RV for sunbathing! She loves the sun!








Wednesday was Sweetie Girl’s last day at her homeschool group and she had her awards ceremony for her 2^nd year of Awana. Little Man got an award for his first year of Awana! They were super excited about getting their awards! They’re sad they have to wait until fall to start again.

Here are some pictures of the kids room. Here you can see Sweetie Girl's bed and Baby Boy's bed. There is a storage space under Baby Boy's bed.

Here's a picture with the garage door, their toy bin and a basket of books.

Here's Little Man's bed and two of our storage bunks. The bottom bunk has plastic bins for the kids clothes, some toy storage and a fan that was moved to the living room now that we're parked for a few weeks. The middle bunk has book storage, another drawer for clothes, shoe storage and bean bag storage when they're not being used.

Here are the boys playing with water at the RV Park in Colorado.

Here's Baby Boy asking me what I wanted for lunch! They were bringing me shovels full of rocks and serving me breakfast, lunch and dinner! 

Friday morning, we woke up, loaded a bunch of our stuff and left Colorado. We spent the night at a rest area just east of Amarillo. Yesterday we drove across TX and landed at an RV park in East TX.

 Here's our last view of Pikes Peak before leaving Colorado Springs!

This is how Mini Pooch spends her time when we travel! She loves to nap on my lap when ever she's in a vehicle. She is the easiest dog to travel with as long as she can be in someones lap! 

The kids eating a snack in the car. They got all sorts of special snacks and treats that they don't get on a regular basis.

Entering New Mexico from Raton Pass. The big sign was blocked by a semi, so I'm glad I snap this quick shot of the little sign on an overpass! 

Here's the sign as we entered Texas! I may have grown up in Michigan, but Texas is where I consider home! Texas is where almost all of the major events in my life have taken place! We got married in Michigan, but we met and lived in Texas before and after we got married.   Sweetie Girl, Little Man and Baby Boy were all born in Texas. Mini Pooch and Gigantor Dog were both born in Texas as well. 

Gigantor Dog had to get as close to us as he could on our drive. Here he is sleeping sitting up, so he could be close to me! 

Sunday, we had a family get together to celebrate Mother’s Day! The kids got reacquainted with their cousins and had a blast! We all had a wonderful time with The Hubs family. We hadn’t seen his brother and his family in almost 3 years. Baby Boy was just 2 months old when we moved to Colorado and he will be 3 this summer. 

 Here's Baby Boy playing with his cousin before we ate dinner! 

 Here's our first complete family picture probably since Baby Boy was born! The kids had a blast playing together! 

Monday, The Hubs spent the whole day helping his dad get their jeep ready for their summer of traveling. The kids and I got to spend most of the day with Grandma! I also got a chance to workout. We had dinner together and this was my view from the breakfast bar on my in-laws patio! You should be jealous! 

Tuesday, we spend the day getting stuff organized, doing laundry and taking things to storage.

I drove into town and there’s basically a whole new town attached to the south part! They’ve added so much!

Yesterday was my birthday! We had a relaxing day at the RV. The Hubs made me biscuits and gravy for breakfast. I worked out my lower body, abs and went for a 20 minute run. A month and a half ago, I would have died and told anyone who suggested doing that much that they were crazy! Honestly, when The Hubs suggested adding a 20 minute run, I thought he was nuts. After I did The Betty Rockers: Make Fat Cry 30 Day Challenge, I'm in so much better shape than I've be since high school! I felt great after my workout and had enough energy to do more if I had wanted. If you're interested in trying out a free 30 day fitness challenge, here's the link: http://makefatcrychallenge.com

Last night we gave the boys haircuts! Baby Boys hair was just too long for the Texas heat and was drenched in sweat almost all day. So, he got a drastic buzz and I'm still getting use to it! He looks like a completely different child! After they got their haircut, they played with chalk until it was time to get washed up for bed.

Today, I took the kids to a local park and they had a blast playing! I love this park because it's huge, but it's fenced in and there is only 1 entrance/exit, so there isn't as much worry of the kids wandering off and me not seeing them! There were so many different things for them to play on!

 Tonight we celebrate my birthday with our family! I'm excited for an excuse to get everyone together! My birthday is the first birthday in the RV, we've got Sweetie Girls at the end of the month. Then several in July.

I'll work on getting more pictures of the rest of the RV, our site. I'll also be working on a post about what it has been like adjusting to the RV. If there's anything you want more information about, just leave a comment!