Tag: 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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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

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!

What’s Up Wednesday {10.25.23}

Posted on by Lauren Lane

How did we get to the last Wednesday in October? It flew. The whole month, absolutely flew by. The holidays are right around the corner, and it’s a mad dash until the end of the year. Again….how did we get here?!

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: So far this week, we were lucky enough to have my dad offer to smoke some brisket and give us a portion of it….which I absolutely never say no to when there’s smoked meats involved. And then we’ll round out the week with some spaghetti and meatballs and baked salmon.

2: WHAT I’M REMINISCING ABOUT:

Aidan is up on all fours and doing the rock back and forth. The precursor to full blown crawling. He’s going to put it together any day now. And given how close to the same time of year Aidan and Harrison were born, all of my memories showing up on TimeHop right now of this little one crawling for the first time…

Nathan and I were talking just the other night that watching some of these videos of baby Harrison crawling is like watching a video of Aidan.

3. WHAT I’M LOVING:

It took us awhile to get here, but the boys have been really into imaginative play lately. I loooooove listening to them craft stories, rules, come up with ideas. It’s the MOST FUN THING to overhear.

The most recent concoction was a full blown construction site in Jonathan’s room. Jonathan kept coming downstairs asking me to put his drill back in his back jeans pocket.

And getting some fresh fall flowers with the boys has been bringing me so much joy on dreary days.

4. WHAT WE’VE BEEN UP TO:

Soooo busy. Lots and lots of fun things!

Harrison finished up his fall soccer season.

Nathan and I celebrated our nine year anniversary!

Of course, I went to the Taylor Swift Eras Tour movie, which was so much fun to get to see the concert again!

I was able to skip out from work one morning to get to go on Harrison’s first school field trip to the apple orchard with him.

Aidan started solids. Seriously, almost seven months have gone by in a flash….how did we get here?!

And then last weekend, we cheered Nathan on as he finished his first half marathon!

And we went pumpkin patchin’ with the cousins.

5. WHAT I’M DREADING:

Nothing at the moment.

6. WHAT I’M WORKING ON:

At the moment, I’m working on our laundry for the week. Ha!

7. WHAT I’M EXCITED ABOUT:

I’m so excited for Halloween with the boys. Harrison & Jonathan both really get it, are so into it, and these holidays with little kids are just something special. Look at these cuties from last year!

Jonathan would have been thrilled to dress up in his lawn mowing costume again. He’s still VERY into lawn mowing.

And Harrison is still into superheroes.

8. WHAT I’M WATCHING & READING: I’m watching all of my typical Bravo shows. But I’ve been particularly pleased with this season of Southern Charm. Last season was….meh.

Much more entertaining this season!

I just started My Sister’s Keeper audio book based on my Mom’s recommendation. I’m still very much behind on doing a new book review. Maybe next month!

9. WHAT I’M LISTENING TO: Taylor. Taylor. Taylor.

10. WHAT I’M WEARING:

I’m a 100% obsessed with this new pullover from Target. I got an XL based on reading the reviews….because sizing was….weird.

Still love this dress for fall.

11. WHAT I’M DOING THIS WEEKEND: It’s going to be cold. And rainy. With no plans. Ahhhhhh. We’ll have to find something to do out of the house! Definitely carving our pumpkins for Halloween!

12: FAVORITE AMAZON FIND THIS MONTH:

Few things have brought me more joy of things I’ve purchased lately than these gigantic spiders…

13. WHAT I’M LOOKING FORWARD TO NEXT MONTH: Thanksgiving. Of course. It’s almost annual biscuits and gravy time in the Lane house.

Happy Wednesday, friends!

How I Do Laundry for Our Family of 5

Posted on by Lauren Lane

The truth is, I don’t mind the actual doing of laundry. When I have the time, I don’t mind the sorting and the folding. It’s the putting away laundry that’s the particularly icky part of this chore. And because I don’t mind laundry…and I would never trust my husband to do my or the kids’ laundry (hello….we’d end up with stains on everything because he’d never check them before throwing them into the wash)…I’m Chief Laundry Attendant.

Let me tell you, though, something in the laundry universe shifted when we went from a four person family to a five person family. It started to feel like a MASSIVE undertaking each week. And pile on that certain kids needing certain uniforms washed by certain days…you sports parents know what I’m talking about…and I was DONE. And annoyed.

So I switched up how I do laundry, annnnnd, I’m back to really kind of liking laundry day now.

I’m going to take you back, though. Back to the way I used to laundry. I designated one day every other week as laundry day. It usually took me realistically two days to get through, but I did EVERYONE’s laundry at the same time.

The pendulum shifted with that fifth kid, though. And the folding of clothes and getting all five people’s clothes back to the right spot became too much. It was like a part-time job for two days straight.

So, I changed what I was doing over the past six months. And now, I do laundry by person.

Adults get their laundry done every other week. Nathan has a day of laundry. Everything gets sorted, washed, and folded for him to put away.

I get a day of just my laundry. Sort, wash, fold, and put away.

And then there’s one day each week that I do all of the kids laundry together. Does it result in more loads of laundry? Maybe. But it makes the pieces much more manageable.

Laundering of linens and bath towels happens every other week, and the off weeks of adult laundry.

And that, friends, has truly made a difference in my sanity and enjoyment.

You didn’t even realize you could enjoy a whole post about laundry, did you?

What’s Up Wednesday {09.27.23}

Posted on by Lauren Lane

Happy WUW post. You guys know I love this post. A little bit of everything from our life lately.

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: It’s still pretty hot here, so I haven’t switched over to more fall and winter type dishes. We’re eating grilled chicken, sausage pot pie, and homemade carnitas burrito bowls this week.

2: WHAT I’M REMINISCING ABOUT:

Lately, the videos of Jonathan popping up on my phone from a year ago have me marveling at how much has changed for him in a year.

He was still a big talker even last year, but his language has just exploded in the past year.

Remembering the way their little voices used to sound is the hardest part for me to keep in my memories. You can see them physically grow, as they grow out of clothes. You see their face shape changing and their hair. But their voice…that’s just harder to remember. And I’m endlessly thankful for the videos I took of these boys. And reminded to keep recording them now!

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Our Fall 2023 Bucket List

Posted on by Lauren Lane

If you missed my posts last week, yesterday was my big “back to work” day. And in the scope of things, I’m feeling pretty good. Focusing instead on all of the fun things we want to do coming up, and how lucky we are that Aidan’s grandparents are helping to take care of him for a few weeks here while we wait for a spot to open up at our daycare.

I sat down with Harrison on Friday while he was out of school, and we made and decorated our Fall Bucket List for this year. And Jonathan later approved it. 🙂

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