Happy happy Tuesday!
It’s another edition of Shay’s Random Grab Bag!
You know the drill…I pull some of your random questions and answer them all here in one little post.
If you missed Grab Bag #1, I covered everything from Kensington’s daily g-free meals, to where Andrew buys his clothes, marriage advice and more! Catch it HERE. If you missed Grab Bag #2, I cover how I handle crappy days, parenting tips, how I started my travel agency, how I pack my toiletries and how I organize my closet! You can read that one HERE. In Grab Bag #3’s post, I shared how I plan vacations for my family, more book suggestions, house cleaning tips and more #OOTD. You can catch that one HERE! In Grab Bag #4, I answered questions regarding my kids’ quirks, Pinterest, what I wear on a plane and more! That post is HERE.
This time, when I randomly picked from your questions, here is what ended up in the grab bag…
I feel like the older Andrew and I get, the less we like technology in our house. Or maybe it’s the older our kids get? Or maybe it’s both? Either way, we seem to limit it more and more each day because it just keeps our home more peaceful/quiet/happy/fun/better. I also think it’s not just our kids, but Andrew and I aren’t watching as much TV these days/on our phones/etc as were were ten years ago. I don’t know? I don’t have all the “right” answers for your family (or mine!), but right now, here’s pretty much what we do (and if you do something different, that’s totally cool!)…
…no TV on in our house prior to 5:00 PM. We used to let the kids watch TV in the morning before school and/or after school, but eliminating that ended up eliminating a lot of bickering/complaining/arguing. At 5:00 PM, if they’re home and inside the house and want to turn it on, I don’t care, but it goes off during dinner. I would say that most days, due to their extracurricular schedules and/or they like to play outside A LOT, the TV doesn’t get turned on until closer to 7:00.
Our kids have iPads that we used to let them watch instead of TV but last summer, Andrew took them away and locked them in our safe and now, they only get their iPads for plane rides. (Have I mentioned that Andrew HATES technology 😉 ).
We have TV screens in our cars but never turn them on. I mean legit, I’ve never used mine, and I’ve had my car for about 18 months. When we’re in the car, we listen to music and talk.
The kids don’t have phones, so that eliminates that.
The two older kids have school issued MacBooks that they use in the kitchen to do their homework. They have to stay on the kitchen counter and are only used for schoolwork when necessary.
And that’s what we do. Maybe we’ll do something different six months from now? Maybe we won’t? That’s just how it’s done right now at our house.
I love this question! Okay, off the top of my head, I always have some sort of protein (chicken breasts, ground beef, pork tenderloin, etc), Jasmine rice from Trader Joe’s, gluten-free pasta, canned tomatoes, red onions, green onions, garlic, Parmesan cheese, cheddar cheese, salsa, frozen spinach, frozen corn, avocados, Romain lettuce, cherry tomatoes, and basil. Those are the dinner staples I always have on hand (that I can recall right this minute sitting here at my desk…).
I thought one portion of this question was unique, so I’m going to address it (since the other portions are addressed in other grab bag posts already). If you’ve been here a while then you’ve followed Andrew and me as we’ve moved twice. We’ve been married 18 years and owned two homes during that time. When we first got married, we lived in an apartment in Dearborn, Michigan for a year, then we lived in an apartment in Irving, Texas for a year, then we bought our first house in McKinney and lived there for about 7 years, then we rented a home for about 18 months while we built the house we currently live in (it will be 8 years this Memorial Day since we finished and moved in!). So, we’ve basically been in McKinney for 16 years and living in the same area the entire time (both houses and the rental are all in the same master planned community). We bought our property in 2010 and knew we wanted to one day build our house on it, but weren’t ready to at the time, so we waited a few years and didn’t officially move in until May 2014. When we first built it, we thought this would be our forever home, but the older Andrew and I get, the more we realize this is our “raising our kids” home. We love it, but we get excited thinking about the next chapter of our lives too when the kids grow up and leave (hopefully, that will take a long time because I’m in no rush, but we have a plan for when it happens). I guess to answer the question…we drove to McKinney on a Sunday and went to some open houses. We met a realtor we liked and he helped us find our first house. Several years later, we found a neighborhood and property we wanted to build a house on, so we bought it and then sold our house when it was time to start building. Fun fact, the current mayor of McKinney was our homebuilder…he’s a super talented, very versatile guy 😉 .
So many questions about travel, so I thought I’d just share a few pics from last week’s trip to Mexico! Andrew and I headed back to Grand Velas for a few days (if you’ll recall, we went there last May with the Slaughters and then in June with the kids!). It’s so easy to get to Mexico from the Dallas area, so we got a little spontaneous (for us at least!) and decided to get away for a few days before the kids were out of school for summer break. Why go back to the same resort? Because who wants to mess with perfection 😉 .
We did not take many pics, but here are a few…
The food at Grand Velas is one of the major reasons why we love it so much. It is absolutely delicious…and all inclusive!
Not a bad view 🙂 .
It’s always SO FUN to get away with my favorite guy!
For more info on this resort and a million more pics, head to my other blog posts from last summer where I detail a lot about this resort!
last May with the Slaughters and then in June with the kids
I saw this question and my heart burst. So far, this is the best question to date…
…I have a post HERE where I detail my relationship with Jesus and then another one HERE where I talk about my daily quiet time. Without a doubt, the most important thing to me is my relationship with Jesus. If these posts don’t answer your questions enough, please, please, please email me. I would be happy to discuss my heart with you more. mixandmatchmama@yahoo.com
That wraps up this edition of Grab Bag!
I have big, fun plans for today, so I better go! I’ll see you back here tomorrow!
Don’t forget, my MAY GIVEAWAY is happening right now! To enter to win…
…every item in my beach bag, make sure you head to yesterday’s post for details and to complete the Rafflecopter. The winner will be announced on Friday!
Erika Slaughter says
Your Mexico pictures look amazing!!
Carrie says
We limit tech at our house. We just let my 8th grader have a phone this year. It’s not her phone, it’s hers to borrow and we made that clear. We were going to wait until highschool however we realized she needed it to let us know some pick up times for school and sports. But she also was out of touch with friends and that was the biggest issue. Teens really do communicate through text/FaceTime, etc. She really was left out a lot from things and it took us awhile to realize it. She is not on social media and that so far is her choice. We plan to teach her safe usage when she decides she wants social media ( or she might never want it).
Carly says
We look for a balance and reasonable navigation of technology so our children learn in the real world in which they are growing into adulthood. Kids have access to unlimited technology outside the home and you can not control every minute so they need tools to learn. To ban or extremely limit technology does nothing to help them navigate this, especially with middle school age children. Cell phones to a responsible child, is a basic safety issue. As a Mom I would not let my children out of the home if they did not have a safe way in which to contact us at anytime.
Mix and Match Mama says
I love your perspective! I totally think every family should do what works best for them.
Anonymous says
I seriously doubt that the Shulls would ever put their kids in a position where they didn’t have access to a safe and trusted adult, with or without a phone. Kids don’t always need technology for that access. There are a lot of highly addictive things that are readily availablein the real world that I will completely restrict my kids from in their MS years, and that includes technology and the temptations that come with it. Basic safety does not always have to include a child having access to technology…. In fact, I know many people who wish they had waited until much later to allow technology access/freedom to their children due to the lack of safety associated with technology. I know exactly zero people who wish they had offered it to their kids earlier in life. Each family is different!
Elspeth says
I love your thoughts about technology and kiddos!! So important and it’s great they aren’t glued to phones or iPads. Have a happy Tuesday!
http://www.elspethsdaybyday.com
Sara Sparks says
I just LOVE these grab bag posts!!
jennibell says
I’ve never heard of a family like ours that didn’t allow the TV on “whenever” and/or in the car. I really think that made a difference in our kids’ lives. We are 10 years advanced from you so we didn’t have the streaming and mobile device issues that you now have, but we chose not to have cable TV service (ever) so the kids grew up with DVDs, which, of course, we could control. The rule was, “if you have school today AND you have school tomorrow, no television”. In the summer we had Technology Tickets – I actually wrote about them in 2014: https://jennisseasons.blogspot.com/2014/07/technology-tickets.html
We always, always did books on tape in the car rather than movies and we got through so many series together. I think the more time kids have to free play and use their imagination and hands/eyes/ears, the better.
Love these types of posts — I did think it was funny that you and Andrew have a “plan” for 15 years from now. . .ha!!! I kind of wish we would have. . .all the kids are “on their own” (not necessarily out of the house) and we are kind of just wandering, wondering what we should do next :/
Suzy Bennett says
My girls are in their fifties so I didn’t face tech issues, but I did cut off tv during the week. Each one had one show each week to watch. They spent more time on their homework, read books etc. I found them racing through homework or forgetting homework to watch stupid shows like Three’s Company. Life was a lot better without tv.
Dana says
Hey Shay!
Do you still drive a Cadillac?
Mix and Match Mama says
I do!
Margaret says
I’m not sure if I’m entering contest correctly.
Mix and Match Mama says
Did you complete the Rafflecopter at the bottom? If you did, then you’ve entered!
Johannah says
I’m VERY JEALOUS that Andrew hates technology; my husband loves it and it’s a major source of contention around here!! :)I agree, the kids are much better off without it and I find it so difficult to monitor usage time and content. It’s a headache that could easily have been avoided if we were raising these kids 1980s style!! ?
Claire Klein says
I love your limiting tech suggestions—thank you for sharing! I’m sure you’ve posted about this before, but since you are a loyal Kindle user, do your kids have Kindles too? My daughter is a beginning reader so thinking ahead!
Mix and Match Mama says
My two older kids have Kindles (they were from Santa), but they both share a bit with Ashby. None of our Kindles have internet access, so it’s just for reading books (mine included!).
Claire says
Love that! I think it’s still premature to get her a Kindle but I need to learn more about them! Do you guys use any other learning “technology” like Osmo or LeapFrog? Would love a post of you have any thoughts or suggestions—there are so many (too many?) options!
Mix and Match Mama says
When they were younger, they did things like ABC Mouse and Leap Frog, but now that they’re older, they do not.
Becky says
Your tech plan sounds really good. It is a work in progress over here. I feel like I need to do some tweaking again soon though.
Sheaffer says
And now I want to go eat breakfast in Mexico.
Kate says
Do you spray tan and/or fake tan before you go on beach trips, and if so, does it impact your ability to actually tan ?
Mix and Match Mama says
I will totally spray tan before a beach trip. I think it always blends with my natural tan by the end.
Sarina says
My family is Indian and rice is a main staple in our house – try substituting the jasmine rice with long grain (or extra long grain) rice (found at any grocery store). When cooking it in a rice cooker, it is so much fluffier 🙂
Sarah M. says
Okay, here’s a question – how do you keep applying sunscreen while wearing your jewelry? I think you and other people that wear jewelry by the pool look so nice but I get so frustrated with it I don’t wear it. Do you just deal with it or do you take it all off and put it back on after re-applying? Does anything get stained or tarnished with the sunscreen?
Argh, sunscreen, the necessary evil!!
Mix and Match Mama says
I just spray over my jewelry. If it starts to get yucky, I’ll clean it up, but I don’t worry about it. I spray right on over it. Sometimes, pieces will get a film on them, but I just clean them off as needed.
Lori says
Do you were your jewelry in the pool/ocean? I notice you always have it on but it looks soo good!
Lori says
That should say wear?? 😀
Mix and Match Mama says
I do!
Laura B says
I loved how you shared about your kids tech use. Thank you!!!
Jen says
I think these are my favorite posts. I love the variety!
I’d be interested in hearing more about how you use the Rover app when you travel. Do the pet sitters stay in your home? Do you drop off your pets at the pet sitter’s house?
Mix and Match Mama says
You can do either! We do it a variety of ways with a few different sitters we’ve found and loved, but that’s what’s so convenient, you can do what works best for you and your pet(s).
Denise says
You mention a plan for when the kids leave, do you plan to stay in McKinney? Love your love of planning!!
Mix and Match Mama says
I think we’ll downsize and live there part of the time and hopefully the New England area part of the time too.
Amanda says
I absolutely admire everything you said about technology. Hold fast and firm, y’all. My youngest is 16 and we gave all 3 of ours phones at age 14. It truly became kind of a necessity (or so it seemed at the time) but we for sure let things get a bit lax over the years. I wish I could go back and do things a little differently. I think you guys are swimming upstream in the best and most meaningful way.
Beth Knecht says
I love the limited technology!! I’m in my early 30’s and friends think it so old-fashioned to not constantly be on technology or social media, but I feel less tech is more life giving! Would love to hear Andrew’s perspective on technology and what technology he uses on a daily basis. Does he use social media as much as you? I find it that our partners tend to use the social world differently than we do.
Terry says
Shay, your plans for down the road when your kids are grown might include downsizing. If case they do, let me speak as a mom of 5 and Mimi to 12. Your family will grow and you’ll want your kids to come home. A smaller home sends the message that we want you to come, but not to stay. Trust me, you’ll want them to feel comfortable to come and hang out together for a few days. That’s why we have a bunk room with 3 sets of bunk beds. But when we built our home 16 years ago, we didn’t have any grandchildren yet. Best decision ever!
Lisa says
I too am curious to hear Andrew’s thoughts on technology. I’m very strict about my 3 kids’ use of it (but have not locked up the devices yet!) #1 – my kids have to ask to use any type of technology. They are not allowed to just pick up an iPad or turn on the TV whenever they want. If we say yes, there is a time limit. Mon-Fri they don’t even ask bc we are so busy! This has been how we’ve handled it from the get-go and it works very well for us. Also, I love love love Grand Velas!!
Mix and Match Mama says
Andrew and Tab both talk about it in episode 8 of of season 2 on The Bestie Breakdown. Thank you so much for your feedback too!