Happy 2019!!

Happy New Year!  I hope you had a wonderful holiday season.  We had a good one!  We didn't leave the area - I had to work - but we enjoyed each others' company and found many ways to have fun.  Husband and I quit putting up a Christmas tree years before the kids were born and we have never had one with them (though we have made one for the fridge door last year and this year).  In addition, this year we all went to Make a Wish Pottery and painted a ceramic tree.  It was a cute and small addition to the Hideout...though the presents weren't really under the tree!

Our painted ceramic tree with a holiday lights necklace
is in the midst of the presents on Christmas Eve.

Brother turned nine in December!  Parents say this all the time but it is true, it seems like yesterday he was my little peanut.  He has turned out to be such a cool kid.  I couldn't even imagine how awesome he would be when I first held him.  I am so proud to be his mom.  I am so lucky to be able to share so many moments with my 'little birds.'  It seems so natural and right to spend our days together, making, playing, hiking, cooking, learning, joking around and exploring our world.  I love that we are not a very busy family.  Thankfully I was able to work mostly from home over the holiday break so that we could all be together.  

Don't look!  It is so hard to
see your kiddo suffer pain.

But my poor kiddo suffered - the day after his birthday party he fell while playing outside and broke his arm again (nearly 10 weeks after he first broke it) except that this time it was not a buckle fracture of the radius and ulna, it was a complete fracture of both bones in the exact same place.  His arm was at a terrible angle - there was no doubt it was broken.  The drive to Phoenix Children's Hospital emergency room was a horrible experience for all of us.  Of course Brother was howling in pain and agony, Sister was crying in sympathy and we parents felt completely useless and anxious as we fought rush hour traffic...ultimately Husband drove on the shoulder of the freeway to reach our exit as sitting still just didn't seem like an option.  So...it has now been over three weeks.  He has had his cast on for two weeks.  It is a full arm cast (above the elbow).  He may graduate to a short arm cast when this one comes off in two more weeks...we will see.  I have so much love and empathy for parents with suffering children.  I am glad our tribulations have been relatively mild compared to the plight of others and these events really highlight how fortunate we are to have our health.

In other news we finally purchased high-speed internet.  Though we have been able to do everything with our two line, $100/mo, T Mobile unlimited data plan (using 70GB a month!) via hotspot to our computers and other devices, there were some down sides.  For instance we had limits to the number of devices that could be connected and/or streaming while others were, well, working! If too many were on/streaming, others would have to be very patient on a slow internet.  We now have a $65/mo bill.  Because we avoided that for 18 months we saved almost $1200!  The real reason we decided make a change is that we bought an Xbox for the kids because their cousins have Xboxes (is that a word?) and we wanted them to be able to play games together.  Though Brother could not even hold a controller for the first week after the break, he is now Minecrafting (another made up word?) with his cousins.  It is so nice for him to have that while his activity options are limited.  Even Sister has enjoyed playing, though her attention span is significantly shorter.  I love that the connections the kids made over the summer can be built upon and they have a relationship with their family 2,000 miles away.

Stormy seems to be pretty happy with his new home

In fun news, we added a furry friend to our family! We adopted Stormy the kitten from the Humane Society almost four weeks ago and he is a sweetie.  The only problem is that he has persistent conjunctivitis and we have taken him to the vet three times for more medication.  I really hope it clears up soon because goopy cat eyes are no fun!





Husband and I have a decision to make because our yearly lot fee here in Mesa will come due in April and they raised the rate to $3,600/year ($300/mo).  We had set this renewal date as the date when we decide if we want to continue this lifestyle or move back into something more conventional.  We have been debating and investigating so many options it makes ones head spin.  The bottom line is that the kids have both celebrated two birthdays in the Hideout and they are getting big!  Sister was two when we moved in....when winter finally came to AZ we had to get winter clothes and they are bursting out of the clothes bins!  Also, the Hideout is not ideal for the beginning of the school year when the temps in AZ are still in the high 100-teens.  It is too small of a space for four people to be stuck inside.  The good part about this life is that we have spent a lot more time outdoors - but in the desert it's just not possible in August and September.  While I think that our current rig is ideal for traveling across the country in terms of size and gas efficiency, it is not as ideal for being parked for nine months of the year.  We also have significant limitations in space when it comes to homeschooling and working from home.  Our goal is to become location independent which means we have to have a better set-up for work.  The new semester begins Monday.  Husband is taking all of his classes online.  I am teaching all but one of my classes online, Brother needs a work space for fourth grade and Sister is also doing preschool workbooks and projects and will start Kindergarten next year.  Both Husband and I do most of our work sitting in our bed, which wreaks havoc on the lower back.  We have considered renting, buying a home, buying a manufactured home and buying a new rig.  Our number one priority is to stay debt free and continue to save money.  We also want to minimize the hit to our current savings, but one thing is certain we LOVED traveling and want to do it again and again.  So...after much deliberation we have decided to move into a larger rig and get a bigger truck (selling and/or trading in both the Hideout and our Tacoma).  If we did have a house to stay in for the school year we would keep our current set up, but we like the full-time RV life and don't want to be burdened with home ownership, landlords, or costly rent.  When we started this adventure we didn't want to sink too much money into it because we had no idea if we would like it.  We were fortunate that we owned our truck outright and that it was able to pull the Hideout (which we bought for $22,000).  Now that we are no longer rookies and well versed in the lifestyle we are ready to take the next step.  So we have been looking at rigs and will be making a change in 2019...stay tuned!

(P.S. To my friends that I have spoken to over the past month, I may have said something different because that was where we were at that point in time - but I think this decision is final....well, nothing lasts forever!)