one family. one bus.

big on adventure. small on stuff.

Hi! We're a family of 5 (sometimes 6 when we have our bonus child in the mix) on an epic journey to turn a retired school bus into a tiny house on wheels. We'll go from McMansion to Minimalist and you're invited along for the ride.

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The latest.

Blog
Busworthy: Silipints
Busworthy: Silipints
Reset.
Reset.
Better (Almost) Late Than Never.
Better (Almost) Late Than Never.
End of the School Year: How to Make a Clean Start for Summer in 6 Steps.
End of the School Year: How to Make a Clean Start for Summer in 6 Steps.
Mama Don't Need Your Crap: 5 Things to NOT Get This Mother's Day.
Mama Don't Need Your Crap: 5 Things to NOT Get This Mother's Day.
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bus stuff!

See the entire conversion from start to our current state.

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Meet David, my new favorite handyman. . David is the guy behind The Other Man (@theotherman_savannahga) and he’s the one you want to call to get projects around the house (or bus) taken care of. He’s knowledgable, friendly, and trustworthy. David is one of those rare people who legitimately cares that the job is done right and the pride he takes in his work shows. . You know how Mary Poppins sings about how Bert is the ultimate gentleman? A vanishing breed? That’s David. He’s ultra-polite, his ma’ams are genuine, and he managed to leave the bus cleaner than when he started. Y’all he EVEN SHOWED UP EARLY. #bonuspoints . He came to work on bus stuff full of enthusiasm, patience, and high-fives. Our fans, water pump, and AC all run now thanks to his ability to apply years of experience toward finding solutions. . I almost don’t want to share him because I have a list titled “THINGS FOR DAVID TO DO ON THE BUS,” but I like him too much to keep him a secret. . (He’s not even paying me to say any of this and he likely died of embarrassment at that Mary Poppins comparison, but if you’re in the Savannah area and have things that need to get done…he’s your guy.) (You’re welcome!)
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#skoolie #skoolieconversion #skoolielife #skoolielove #skoolienation #skoolies #dreambiglivetiny #savannahgeorgia #midwaygeorgia #poolergeorgia #davidprater #theotherman #handyman #handymanservice #helparoundthehouse #doitright #electrician #thepigeonbus #themeasureofus
So while I was off getting a house ready to sell, there were still things happening on the bus! . Our super fun recycled glass countertops from @multistoneinc were installed and they did a great job! . This was a remnant piece that juuuuuust covered us. When I went to pick out counters, I had a totally different idea in mind, but I fell in love when I saw the blue and green. It’s a fun pop of color and they sparkle when the light hits just right. . We inherited Jake’s mom’s antique bottle collection when she passed away and this felt like a nice nod to those pieces that she loved so much. We’ve chosen a couple favorites as busworthy and the rest are being carefully packed away and put into storage until we end up wherever we are meant to be. . Also a big deal on the bus...we’ve got running water! Jake channeled his inner Mario and handled the plumbing like a pro. The kitchen and bathroom sinks work and the 100 gallon tank is ready to go, too. Shower is coming up soon! ________________ #skoolie #skoolieconversion #skoolielife #skoolielove #skoolienation #skoolies #skooliekids #travelgoals #bucketlist #livesimple #minimalist #microhome #tinyhouseliving #buslife #travelwithkids #prioritize #dowhatyoulovemore #travelfamily #dreambiglivetiny #recycledglasscountertops #antiquebottles #keepwhatmatters #ikeakitchen #thisishappening #thepigeonbus #themeasureofus
Swipe to see what a difference two years can make! . What hasn’t changed is that Quill is still my very serious bus baby. Heading to work on the bus? You better believe you’ll have a Quill shadow. Out of the 4 kids, he’s hands down spent the most time hanging out in there. . The fact that it’s hot and sweaty and loud and dirty does little to deter him...or maybe all of that is part of the appeal. . He keeps his “ear googles” on like a pro and likes to drain my water bottle once his is empty. He can climb up to the top bunk like it’s nothing, but needs a little help to get back down. Driving the bus is his absolute favorite and he’s been over the moon since we reinstalled the driver’s seat. . Back when we thought it would only take a year to convert the bus (hahahahhahahhahaa, yeah right), I was sure it would be the first home he would remember. . Gotta hurry up and finish so maybe it still will be... _______________ #skoolie #skoolieconversion #skoolielife #skoolielove #skoolienation #skoolies #skooliekids #travelgoals #bucketlist #livesimple #minimalist #microhome #tinyhouseliving #buslife #travelwithkids #prioritize #dowhatyoulovemore #travelfamily #dreambiglivetiny #lifeofatoddler #quill #snugheadphones #eargoogles #thepigeonbus #themeasureofus
So this happened yesterday. . *insert mild panic here* . I’ve spent the last two months focusing on getting our house ready to sell and it really felt like we were never going to actually get to this point. But here we are with a for sale sign in the front yard and a lockbox on the door. . Guess this is happening. *internal screaming* . The listing should go live in a couple of days, so I’m spending the weekend in a wonderful state of not doing anything house related. (Other than constantly cleaning up after everyone because oh em gee it took me 4 days to get this house to be this clean and it’s instant mama death glares to anyone who dares track mud across the fresh floors.) . So now, while we wait for our wonderful buyer to come along, I get to go back to bus work! . Have you ever sold a house? What’s your best tips for surviving showings and keeping it show ready (especially with kids and a dog and a cat in the mix!)? _____________________ #livesimple #minimalist #microhome #tinyhouseliving #buslife #travelwithkids #prioritize #dowhatyoulovemore #travelfamily #dreambiglivetiny #sellthishouse #houseforsale #downsizing #mcmansion #skoolielife #showready #letsdothis💪 #backtothebus #dontpanic #lockbox #blues #themeasureofus
Sneak peek of the finished cabinets for the kitchen! No one who knows me in real life will be surprised by the color. #grayismyfavorite . I am so excited to see them in the bus instead of leaning up against my (also gray 😂) bedroom wall! . Countertop measurements are happening next week and we need to have the fronts on all the cabinets so the laser can get the right numbers. I found a recycled remanent piece that looks like it should juuuuust cover us, so fingers crossed that it works out! . (Check out my stories for behind the scenes of building the bunks! It went mostly to plan until it didn’t, but I think they turned out pretty cool.)
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Want to guess what color the new countertops are? (It’s not gray! 😱😆) Is anyone else terrible at making IKEA cabinet fronts line up? There’s got to be a trick to it! _________________ #skoolie #skoolieconversion #skoolielife #skoolielove #skoolienation #skoolies #skooliekids #travelgoals #bucketlist #livesimple #minimalist #microhome #tinyhouseliving #buslife #travelwithkids #prioritize #dowhatyoulovemore #travelfamily #dreambiglivetiny #thepigeonbus #ikeakitchen #grayisthenewblack #graynotgrey #skooliekitchen #travellife #themeasureofus
One of my most favorite things ever are before and after photos. . People, landscapes, seasons, rooms, whatever…I love them all and the more astounding and wildly different the transformation, the better. . Get ready to swipe for some caaa-raaaayyyyy-zeeee comparisons. Like so crazy that it’s *my* bus and I don’t even know how it went from that to this. . We went from removing rivets to bunk beds. In fact, that very spot where I was standing all those months ago, sweating my ass off trying to get the ceiling panels removed is exactly where the bunks are today. . And how did we go from a sawed in half bus to the kitchen and the bunk room being closer to done than non-existent? . In the moment of it, all of these milestones have felt like a journey made wearing lead boots, but nothing opens your eyes to how far you’ve come like a good before and after. _________________ #skoolie #skoolieconversion #skoolielife #skoolielove #skoolienation #skoolies #skooliekids #travelgoals #bucketlist #livesimple #minimalist #microhome #tinyhouseliving #buslife #travelwithkids #prioritize #dowhatyoulovemore #travelfamily #dreambiglivetiny #thepigeonbus #beforeandafters #progresshappens #bunkbeds #husbandandwifeteam #watchmework #themeasureofus
Our homeschool likely looks a little different than most. . Prepping materials for the bus and welding lessons with Daddy is as normal around here as spelling lists and science experiments. . We read every single day from a variety of books, but worksheets are unheard of. We are taking a break from formal math for sanity sake and instead focusing on lots of life math as it comes…cooking, measuring, counting, playing games, budgeting, and paying at stores have clicked far better than any of the curriculums we tried. “Are there any videos about *insert random topic*?” is asked who knows how many times a day. Off we go to find out. Interest leads to more videos, a search on our library’s app for related books, and Googling for more resources. . Hours of the day are left open and filled with time outside, building, inventing, and playing with brothers. . It’s a good life. . What’s your typical day look like? Do you have a favorite homeschool IG that you follow? I’d love to add to my list for inspiration and ideas! __________________ #homeschool #homeschooling #homeschoolmom #homeschoollife #homeschoolers #homeschoolrocks #homeschoolfamily #homeschoolmama #homeschoolife #homeschoolperks #homeschoolingboys #homeschoolersofinstagram #homeschooladventures #secularhomeschool #unschooling #thepigeonbus #skoolieconversion #skoolie #themeasureofus
We recently finished our latest breakfast read aloud, Ollie’s Odyssey by William Joyce, and all three boys were hanging on to their waffles until the very end. I think it was especially loved because, like in the book, two out of the three boys have their own special “favs” that cross the line of pretend and plunge down deep into the world of childhood real. . Eli has a bear that he totally stole from @honeynowdoula’s house and Silas has this cat who wears a cape made out of his very first baby blanket. They aren’t stuffed animals, they are family and they will absolutely be coming along for our own adventure. . We had so many great conversations because of this book! What it means to have a “fav” and what it takes to be one. When to follow rules and when to break them. How easy it is to let sad turn to bitter. The importance of forgiveness and trusting your own instincts. . Thanks again to @thunderridgeacres for recommending this one! . Do your kids have favs? What should our next breakfast read aloud be? We just started on The Green Ember, but I’m always looking for what’s next!
_________________________________ #homeschool #homeschooling #homeschoolmom #homeschoollife #homeschoolers #homeschoolrocks #homeschoolfamily #homeschoolmama #homeschoolife #homeschoolperks #homeschoolingboys #homeschoolersofinstagram #homeschooladventures #secularhomeschool #readaloud #breakfastreading #reads #olliesodyssey #williamjoyce #momofboyslife #themeasureofus
It’s my husband’s birthday today. He’s my all time most favorite fellow bus converter (husband, father to my children, lifter of the heavy things, insert schmoopy endearments, etcetera) and he’s so amazing that he didn’t even mind me getting teary over the fact that I could put his coconut cream pie down. . On a makeshift countertop. . On the newly installed kitchen cabinets. . In the bus we’ve been painstakingly working on for over a year and a half. . In the bus that has felt more and more like a totally impossible feat to finish. . We always say, “It’s a whole new bus!” after any little thing gets added because small things really do transform the space. But this afternoon, he put a board across a cabinet and it all shifted again. The spot where I’ll turn ingredients into love on the plate appeared like magic. Here it was…the spot where the future birthday cakes and pies would be created where there was just plywood and metal only moments before. . The impossible got a little less daunting. . And who better to tackle the slightly less terrifying with than my (slightly older and better than ever) other half?
___________________________ #skoolie #skoolieconversion #skoolielife #skoolielove #skoolienation #skoolies #skooliekids #travelgoals #bucketlist #livesimple #minimalist #microhome #tinyhouseliving #buslife #travelwithkids #prioritize #dowhatyoulovemore #travelfamily #dreambiglivetiny #husbandwifeteam #coconutcreampie #marriagegoals #thepigeonbus #skooliekitchen #themeasureofus
We’re a snack-loving family, so when @livbars asked if we wanted to try some of their energy bars the answer was, duh, yes…thank you for feeding these bottomless pit children of mine. . I peeked to see if these were going to be the typical junky snack that I was going to have to taste test in private, you know…for the health of the children, but alas, they were so jam packed with goodness that I had to share. We *love* being able to pronounce all of the ingredients that make up our food, and these LivBars scored bonus points because not only could we easily read the entire list, but we could actually SEE all the bits that made each tasty bite. . And our most favorite thing? The wrapper is compostable!! And because we’re #homeschoolers, you know this Mama had to turn it into a thing. Snack turned science, yes please!
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Thanks LivBar for the basket full of bus snacks!
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#skoolie #skoolieconversion #skoolielife #skoolielove #skoolienation #skoolies #skooliekids #travelgoals #bucketlist #livesimple #minimalist #eatwell #healthysnacksforkids #homeschoolfamily #homeschoolmama #homeschoolife #homeschoolperks #homeschoolingboys #sendsnacks #sponsorus #momofboys #thepigeonbus #themeasureofus
A while back, Raquel over at @mccloudlife (Are you following them? No? You should be.) posted about having an anxious child and I ended up having a comments conversation about some of the ways we help our own worrier. . Eli is 7 and with an extra large heart, the guy has got concerns. One of the ways we make worries manageable is to talk about things he can actually *do* to either help prevent the worry from happening in the first place, or to have a plan of action ready, just in case that worry becomes reality. Knowing what you *can* do in a situation is a huge anxiety reliever and it cuts the what if cycle off at the knees. . One of his biggest interests is the state of the environment. He’s determined that one day he’s going to invent something that will solve the climate crisis, and if anyone can do it, it’s Eli. But for now, he worries over it. A particular concern is oil spills and what’s being done to clean them up. He wanted to DO something to help the process and that’s how we first learned about donating hair to be used in mats to help clean up oil spills as well as filtering out all the stuff that shouldn’t end up in the ocean in the first place via storm drains. . And so, since last summer, Eli has happily told anyone who would listen that he was growing his hair out for a scientist to fight oil spills. Of course, there had to be at least one little brother on the hair bandwagon, too. . The original plan was to grow their hair until the Spring Equinox, but there was a day of particularly bad bedhead where everyone threw in the towel early. (Sorry, scientists!) . They were both SO proud of their contribution and I’ve got our brown paper bag of hair clippings (haircuts courtesy of Mama) to send to @matteroftrust.
. Do you have an anxious kid? What are some of your coping strategies?
_________________________________ #homeschool #homeschooling #homeschoolmom #homeschoollife #homeschoolers #homeschoolrocks #homeschoolfamily #homeschoolmama #homeschoolife #homeschoolperks #homeschoolingboys #homeschooladventures #secularhomeschool #anxietylife #oilspill #environmentalist #doyourpart #hairdonation #copingskills #momofboyslife #themeasureofus
I surprised my almost 12 year old daughter and we got to spend a rare weekend together!
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I scored us the Harry Potter Airbnb (message me if you’d like the link to it!) and we did a whole lot of nothing, which was just as requested. . “Mama…can we go to Target?” “Absolutely.” “Think we can watch all 8 HP movies?”
“No, but we can try.” (We ended up watching GoF, OotP, and HBP!) “Can we eat breakfast at iHOP?” “Dude. We can eat there TWICE.” (I am in SO MUCH PAIN because of this. #worthit #damnyoucarbs)
“UNO Championship?” “Girl, it is ON.” (She beat me for the first time ever. 16 wins to my 14. I’ve never been so proud or so annoyed.) “Pizza for dinner?” “How about pizza AND cupcakes?” “Mama, I love you.”
“SAAAAAME.” . It was a much needed weekend for the both of us.
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