Category: Our Life

What’s Up Wednesday {03.27.24}

Posted on by Lauren Lane

Happy last Wednesday of the month! Just one day before our little Aidan surprised us a year ago with his appearance! Ahhhh…I just can’t even believe it.

As always, I’m linking up with Shay and Sheaffer to share with you what’s going on in our life!

1: WHAT WE’RE EATING THIS WEEK: We had a favorite of Nathan and minethis week: Chicken Tikka Masala. The boys like the naan bread. Just a complete shock, I’m sure, for all of you that have had young kids. Nothing but carbs.

We’re also having salmon this week and Sausage Vodka Pasta for Aidan’s birthday.

2: WHAT I’M REMINISCING ABOUT:

I have so many feelings about our last little boy turning one. It truly doesn’t feel possible that it’s been a year with our baby Aidan. He’s just the sweetest, calmest baby.

Watching Harrison really become so protective of Aidan has been so fun, and Jonathan learning the ropes of big brotherhood – which as this point means having the patience of Job when it comes to Aidan messing up whatever you’re trying to play with.

The day Harrison and Jonathan met their little brother in the hospital will forever be one of my most favorite memories of all. How proud they were of their little bro. Just all of the heart eyes for my boys.

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Let’s Look…At What’s in Our Grocery Carts

Posted on by Lauren Lane

Hi all! For those on spring break, I hope you had a great one! We didn’t go anywhere, but I used the good weather to get a lot of client’s seasonal spring planters done. Wow – it feels so good to be out working in the dirt again!

Today is another edition of Let’s Look!

In January, we shared a peek into how we clean our closets.

Last month, I shared the little things I do each day.

And this month, I’m sharing the things you can *almost* always find in my grocery cart.

I thought it was funny because I never take a picture of my grocery cart, but I just happened to take this picture a few weeks back when I was at Trader Joe’s…

How convenient that this ended up being the prompt for this month!

I go grocery shopping once a week. Generally, I will put in an online order on a Thursday for pantry staples and meat for the week. And then I go to one other grocery store for produce because I don’t trust anyone else picking out our produce, and anything that was out for our online order.

There are the ALWAYS, every single week, I’m buying items…

  • Bread – And I’ve apparently created little bread snobs because they will ONLY eat one type of bread.
  • Yogurt – The kids have a yogurt with breakfast every single morning.
  • Milk – I’m about to add another milk drinker to our house as Aidan transitions over to whole milk, and I already can’t believe the amount of milk we go through in a week. At least a full gallon or more – and everyone warns me it’s only going to get worse!
  • Fruit. When it comes to in between meal snacking, we always allow our kids to eat fruit or vegetables. And they always pick fruit. Strawberries, blueberries, oranges, bananas, pineapple, watermelon….we go through a lot of fruit. And of course they prefer berries because that’s what really hits our pocketbook.

Aside from these things, you can usually find in my cart…

Some type of cheese. Shredded cheese, sliced cheese for sandwiches, block cheese for making cheese and crackers. There’s almost always cheese involved every week.

Crackers. We roll through crackers in this house because they’re any easy to grab snack that isn’t completely unhealthy.

A salad mix. And it gets eaten 50% of the time. And the other 50%, I throw it away and replace it with a new one the following week with the intention of having it for lunch.

And lastly, if I’m at Trader Joe’s, you can guarantee that there’s flowers in my cart. Whether it’s a fresh bouquet or, in this case, a potted plant. I can’t resist their blooms!

What are your grocery staples? Have they changed over the years depending upon your kids’ ages?

What’s Up Wednesday {01.31.24}

Posted on by Lauren Lane

First What’s Up Wednesday of the new year! You all know that this is my favorite post of the month. I love to go back and read these as a little scrapbook in time of our lives. A little bit of reading, wearing, family, and work all in one post!

As always, I’m linking up with Shay and Sheaffer to share with you what’s going on in our life!

1: WHAT WE’RE EATING THIS WEEK: I have a confession to make. I was very anti-Cozi family calendar. It got to a point, though, where it was really difficult to track who was responsible for which kid/activity/driving/babysitting/all the things that goes along with keeping track of a family in our work Outlook calendars. So, I gave Cozi another shot. We’ve been using it for four months now, and I love it. Including using it to track our meal plan each week.

This week, we’re doing Sheet Pan sausage and veggies, Chicken Taquitos, and Creamy Broccoli Cheddar Chicken.

2: WHAT I’M REMINISCING ABOUT:

Aidan turned ten months old this past weekend, and man. All of sudden, that first birthday seems REALLY close. And it feels like yesterday that he was this small.

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A Typical Day in January 2024

Posted on by Lauren Lane

A true typical day in January 2024 should show one kid home sick, one kid home because it is yet another snow day or school holiday, and me trying to frantically fit in all of work and home things in between juggling kids at home. Somehow, this random day that I picked to document was our FIRST DAY in a week (and practically all of January) with all children at their respective “schools.”

I woke up early to get my workout at Bar Method in before the kids got up…

As soon as I get home, I get out milk for the big boys and go feed Aidan. Jonathan is always my first kid up.

Then after wrestling a nine month old to get a new diaper on and get changed, it’s time to herd cats getting big J and Harrison dressed and ready.

Happy helper!

Then it’s downstairs for breakfast for the boys!

After breakfast, I do little kid drop off at daycare, and then call my mom on the way home.

At home, I grabbed a cup of coffee, flipped on my work computer, and grabbed the boys’ laundry. It was boys laundry day.

I sorted dirty clothes while doing a work call. Then got some work done on my computer while the first load started.

This morning I had a long overdue haircut…

Finally feeling more put together 🙂

Back at work – fold a load of clothes while on another call and pumping…

Then very non exciting work happened…but I listened to part of this book while I worked on mindless tasks

Grabbed a protein bar as interim sustenance…

More work…then a pump break and bottle prep…

Followed by elementary school snack prep for the next day and dinner prep…This little tool has saved me so much time chopping vegetables. Highly recommend.

Another little snack to tide me over until dinner…

Around 5, I took a quick shower, put the kids’ clean clothes away, and was ready to go do pick-ups. I had a couple of new clothes to try on…

I usually pick up Harrison from school in the evenings.

Once we got home…

It was time to start dinner. Harrison wanted to help make dinner this evening.

Chaos…I mean the little boys arrive home around 5:30 or so, and then we sat down to eat as a family.

A family favorite, the ever popular TACOS.

After dinner, I clean up the leftovers and load the dishwasher while the boys play. Then I’m in charge of baby Aidan’s bedtime.

Bath & snuggled up in his towel!

One last bottle, and he’s ready for bed!

Then it was Jonathan’s turn to go down for bed, and finally Harrison…

He chose the Chiefs book to read this night because his dad had refused to read it the night before…

After the boys are down, I usually make myself a treat or a cup of tea. This night I picked hot chocolate…

And I watch a little TV or read before it’s time for bed!

I read this day back, and it sounds exhausting. Because it is so tiring. It is a constant pace of doing to make it to the next marker in the day. To breakfast, to kids out the door, to bath. I find myself wiped by the end of most days. The thing I long for most these days is more time to do things for me. Things I’m passionate about.

But reading this back also made me remember how much I love this life. This life with these little humans that’s so loud, demanding and chaotic. It is magical. And in the scheme of things, so fast.

Just the other day Harrison showered himself and got himself ready for bed. And we did nooothing. And that was both thrilling and sad. Another end and a clear sign of my babies growing up. It’s hard to remember in the slog of the typical days that they’re growing up. And someday, we’ll bathe our babies for the last time. But that engine of time churns on. Ready or not. And I have a feeling when I’m old and gray and my babies have long since left the nest, I’ll be glad to go back and read this post of what life looked like when they still needed me for everything.

Thanks for sticking with me.

Happy New Year!

Posted on by Lauren Lane

We are back to the normal grind this morning. Back to work, back to school, and baby Aidan starts daycare today! It feels like all of the things all at once, and I’m bummed that the holidays are over. We had a really good break. Christmas was lovely. People were healthy (all of the praise hands!!!). And I slept sooo much, and it felt so good.

Sharing some of the pics from our holiday season as we get back into the swing of things around here!

These boys were excited for Christmas morning!

Christmas morning with the boys!

The big boys got big kid bikes. Jonathan literally learned to ride a two wheel back on Christmas day.

Many new sports jerseys were opened…

We saw family on Christmas Day, and got to celebrate Christmas with both my parents and Nathan’s parents on Christmas Day.

We enjoyed a “kid free” date night with the big boys sleeping over at Gigi & Pops.

Just this little guy joining us for drinks and dinner…

There was lots of playing at grandparents’ houses over the break.

And we celebrated the New Year (a bit early because Jonathan was fading fast) with all of the boys’ favorite treats. Little smokies, chips and dip, and popcorn

And we hosted my family for our annual New Year’s day “Good luck bean soup.”

We had such a wonderful break. Hope you all had a good one too!

Merry Christmas! Love, the Lanes

Posted on by Lauren Lane

It’s time for me to sign-off for the year and focus on a magical Christmas and restful New Year’s. My to-do list to get ready for the holidays seems forever long, and I know come December 26th, I’ll miss all of the excitement and build up. But I also just love resting and the promise of time to just be in January.

Aside from all of the holiday fun, I’m planning on working on a potential new venture, kitchen renovation planning, and blog post planning! If you have any ideas of things you want me to write about next year, let me know!

Until 2024, thanks for sticking through this off and on crazy 2023 in blog world. As always, I am so thankful for all of you.

Love, Lauren

Let’s Look At…Stocking Stuffers

Posted on by Lauren Lane

The very last “Let’s Look” of the year is a look at stocking stuffers for the holidays.

I start collecting stocking stuffers in October for the boys as I come across little items that they would like. Take note of small things they ask for over the last few months of the year. Have you seen that meme about a little kid needing more toothpaste, and their mom saying that they’ll have to ask Santa for it.

I definitely feel like that sometimes when it comes to stocking stuffers! But here are a few items that I go to year after year…

First off, there must always be a little bit of candy. I remember to this day getting an M&M filled candy cane and a chocolate Santa in my stocking year after year. I looked forward to those treats every single year.

Second, my boys love bath bombs. They do a bath bomb in their bath every Sunday. So Santa always stocks them up on bath bombs in their stockings. Santa also made the mistake years ago of gifting bath bombs that have a prize inside of them, and now he’s not allowed to bring anything but that. This is the brand I usually buy because it doesn’t irritate my kids skin, who are both extremely susceptible to eczema.

They always get a re-stock on craft supplies that are low. This year, the only thing they need are new markers.

Band-aids, special hot chocolate, and a book that was specifically requested. Harrison specially asked for more gum from Santa. So Santa is going to deliver this year.

And then they are getting counters, and Jonathan is getting a visual timer.

Adult male stocking is always very exciting…

It always, always, always includes new Kansas City dress socks. Santa’s going to need to come up with some new designs next year, because I think Nathan owns nearly every pair the big guy already makes.

And then it includes some specific soap that Nathan likes, and usually a specific special item. This year, it’s a K-State sweatshirt.

What are your go-to’s for stocking stuffers each year??

Happy Advent!

Posted on by Lauren Lane

It’s December! And this house has FINALLY turned a corner on all of the sicknesses. I’ve slept in my OWN bed for several nights without being woken up. Coughs are subsiding. And my goodness, it’s December and time to look forward to the holidays.

Last year, I began a journey to make our advent season more intentional. I love the anticipation of the season, but wanted to feel like we could do a little bit each day to celebrate the season and build up to the celebration of the birth of the Christ child. In particular, I wanted our advent season to focus on the joy of giving. And thus, we began doing an advent calendar that incorporated some fun activities for the boys, and various ways to “Be the Gift” in the holiday season.

The boys are still so young, but I want them to grow up having always looked for ways that they could show kindness and love to others.

I’m sharing two pages of printable advent prompts with ideas of how to Be the Gift this season for little kids (and big kids alike!)

Advent Calendar- Be-the-Gift-promptsDownload

Hoping your advent season is full of meaning and expectation as we get ready to welcome the Christ child this year.

When It Rains, It Pours

Posted on by Lauren Lane

Friends. We just can’t seem to catch a break. Poor Nathan was diagnosed with pneumonia now. And I’ve got little Aidan home with me full time because of additional potential exposure to a stomach bug. And you guys, I’m just hanging by a thread. I’m going to take care of my people this week, and try to get us back on track. While knocking on every piece of wood in this house that somehow we are out of the woods with illnesses for awhile. This mama is tired. Hoping your households are healthy!

Thanksgiving 2023

Posted on by Lauren Lane

I seem to remember I had planned last year a post to share some pictures and stories from Thanksgiving. And then we all ended up so absurdly sick.

And here I am to share some pictures and stories from Thanksgiving 2023, and what I have to share is we must be cursed on this holiday. For a second year in a row, the entire family was so sick. First, COVID got passed around through everyone.

The ol positive test….

And then just when we thought we were out of the woods, Nathan woke up with a fever again on Thanksgiving only to find out later that weekend that it was the flu.

Thanksgiving sicky crew reporting their family picture.

We did manage to decorate the tree…

And then I redecorated it after they went to bed….

And then it snowed…and it looked pretty for the morning and the boys were excited to play.

And that was our Thanksgiving. Remains to be seen how the rest of this week goes and if anyone else gets sick. Crossing my fingers, toes, hair….legs….basically everything. Hope your Thanksgiving was more restful!