Will you be able to park it on your lot and have access to water, power, and (important!) sewer? And will you be doing it in the winter some place cold?

If yes and no, totally doable if you know anything about RVs. I'd go with a trailer--more space and cheaper than a motorhome.

I'd suggest the megaRVforum, http://forums.goodsamclub.com/Index.cfm. There are people who live in RVs full time (usually after the kids are grown) who might be able to help you decide what is important.

I think your kids will have fun if you don't do it for too too long!

Here is a link that might be useful: http://forums.goodsamclub.com/Index.cfm

Fori,
Thanks for your questions:
Yes, we have an acre and a half so there will be space. Water is easy, septic not so much. I'm thinking we'd have to dump it at an RV place (there's one 10miles from us) It's the south (SC) but it still gets very cold in the winter. A trailer is probably better for us budget wise and many people park them at the lake or beaches which may be an option. I'm more into the retro old airstream types I could clean up and redo cosmetically. My husband may be on night shifts for much of the build so trying to sleep while major hammering takes place. Thanks for the link! I'm thinking it would be safer for the kids (ages 4 and 7) Yes, I don't want to be doing it for long but it seems that construction always goes longer than planned.

You may get complaints from neighbors and a visit from codes enforcement. It won't be legal in a lot of places.

We have an inactive homeowners association. I think you have to move it off property after 30+days if it's occupied. We are in the county, not city (for now:) So I'll check with the county before I purchase, thanks. As for the neighbors many have motorhomes and one is occupied for 4 months out of the year though they relocated it after 30days at a time. (In-laws visiting). Ours would not be visable to any of the neighbors.

My concern would be getting rid of the thing once you no longer need it. Can you rent one instead? Certainly look into a used one, not new as the depreciation on those things must be tremendous...it would be different if you were going to keep it, but for temporary quarters, I'd put the least in I could and still live decently.

Annie, I never thought to rent, I can check into that too. We live just off a lake and they sell pretty easily I think. I'm more inclined to stay in something like this rather than an area hotel as I'm a germaphobe. I've just never stayed in one so I'll take your sage advice Annie as I might not want to reuse it as a vacation getaway after staying in it for a while and really it could just be my husband sleeping in it (though the kids would probably want to try it out too) since he'll be sleeping during the day on his night shift schedule.