Hey, Hi, hello — Where have i been?

Life has been crazy so i haven’t blogged like i planned to recently. I wanted to blog for my grandparents anniversary which also happens to be Brian’s parents anniversary, his grandparents anniversary, and the anniversary of his grandma’s death. I wanted to blog about the girls cheering their first game of the year and how they are doing in gymnastics. I wanted to do a DIY deer blind tutorial partnered with Brian. I wanted to do a post about booking our fall photography session with a new photographer and how change is nerve wracking yet exciting. I wanted to post about starting school and how it’s going. I got behind however, so rather than making a bunch of separate posts I’m going to briefly touch on those topics in this post. 

For my grandparents anniversary (the first one since his passing 3 months ago) Eilee and I spent the day with my grandma. We went to Tulsa with her and went out to eat. We sent her flowers to her house with a card that read ‘happy anniversary from heaven’. We enjoyed our day greatly and love making memories with our family. My parents got grandma a beautiful ruby and diamond ring as a gift to give her that day. I know that my papa would be happy that she didn’t spend the day alone and that we did our best to make her feel special. 

This past weekend the girls cheered for their first game of the year. They did a fantastic job despite it being very hot outside. They both love cheerleading so much. It’s exciting for me to say the least. I have looked forward to having daughters who cheer since Brian and i started dating and talking about our future babies. To see them out there doing it and enjoying it makes me so happy. They also are in gymnastics to learn how to tumble. In our area if you can tumble, you can get a cheer scholarship to community colleges. If that’s still a goal for them at that point in their lives it’s best to teach them young just in case as it’s much harder to learn when you’re older/bigger. 

Brian has basically preps for deer season year round. He’s always thinking about deer camp ideas. Planning trips to hunt. Buying ammo. Practicing shooting. Searching for the next best hunting products. Watching hunting on tv. Ect. Recently his friends and him started building deer blinds. It took Brian around 2 hours to build this blind by himself. He enjoyed doing it and is building more to sell once he finishes a few personal projects (if anyone local is interested). I didn’t get to do a picture tutorial on how he did it like i wanted to but the concept is simple. Two by fours. Screws. A drill. Tin shears. Skill saw. Spray paint. Scrap wood for trim work. Sheets of metal. Plywood. It’s super sturdy. Brian just started a big walk in chicken coop (inspiration picture below) and is doing an elevated play house for the kids next. We are going to use left over supplies from our house and barn so the kids ‘tree house’ will match our house and barn perfectly. It’ll be similar to the concept of the deer blind but nicer and bigger. It’ll have a front porch with railing. I’m going to do little flower beds with fairy gardens in them under the windows which will be less deer blind like and more typical shaped for a play house. I dropped a picture to show what the basic feel will be for those who can’t use their imaginations to picture it. The first picture is Brian’s deer blind. The other is the general concept of the play house. We want it elevated to give them a place away from the dogs and to lessen the odds of a snake being in it. It’ll have plexiglass windows and a wood door but it’ll be the layout of the picture below. The railing will go all the way across the front and have an opening on the side where the latter comes up. 

This week i took a big leap of faith for myself. Third world probs but still probs ha. I booked our fall picture session with a new photographer. A sweet local girl that does wonderful work. Until now we’ve stuck with the same girl for seven years. We have used her multiple times a year since our oldest was born and i love her work. Brian has wanted a change for awhile so that’s what i finally did. I am nervous because I’m so picky but I’m also super excited. Annie (Louise + Co Photography is her business Facebook page) has been so sweet. She’s helped me pick out outfits and we’ve shared ideas. This session will be something that i haven’t done before but is so perfect for us. It’ll be at our farm and have our cattle, chickens, horses, and dogs included in it. I’m getting my makeup professionally done which is also a first for me. Super exciting. I’ll drop inspiration shots below to better explain on the farm concept. If you are scared of a change no matter how big or minor it may be, i say do it. Go for it. I’ve done a lot of changing in my life this past month and it’s scary but worth it. Now is a season on change for my family and i. I have personal battles to win. To better myself. Goals to achieve that WILL BE successful. I’m at a new stage in life where what I’m used to isn’t what I want anymore. From bad habits to going to school to personal style to cussing too much, i just want change. Embrace the next chapter. Be the director of your own show. Be your only competition and your biggest fan. 

I am working on my September calendar and even more reminded that our lives have never been this chaotic. No wonder Brian always says that ‘he’s too old for this’ ha. It’s a lot of work to run a family, period but running a family of 6 and counting — we must be crazy. Life will never be the same in the Lane home and I’m thrilled about it. 

Cheer Season is Here!

Cheer season is here and you know that your girl is EATING IT UP! The girls have their first game of the year on Saturday and we are ready. We practice cheering daily at the house (even Brian and Hudson have chimed in ha) as well as practice twice a week with the squad. Ironically the cheers are basically the same as they were when i cheered varsity (cough cough nobody fucking cares how many) years ago. It’s been easy to teach and transition the kids into those chants and routines. Our only thing left to conquer is Andlee’s inherited resting bitch face. She absolutely loves to dance and cheer and she’s naturally good at it (girls got moves) but oh my, that rbf. She looks like she’s gonna pummel the football team if they don’t win. Team spirit to the core, right? Charlee is very robotic. She’s the girl who never misses a motion and focuses hard on being perfect. She loves the challenge. Our first black and gold Friday is this week and our little team is set to show their school spirit. They are 3rd generation Bulldogs on both sides of their family, after all. Livestock showing season is also here for us so that’s another thing that we’ve been focused on. Charlee, Andlee, and Brian are each showing next month in Tulsa. We look forward to that and one day my goal is to show myself for the experience of it. My papa Jerry begged me to show in high school. Begged me! But i was too wrapped up in friends, cheerleading, and *puke* boys to do it. I know that he’d be proud of me to do that at least once for him. 

Life is full of even more chaos than normal as a family of six and I’m loving it. Not to mention me starting school soon. Hopefully my transition into that will be smooth. I’m getting a little nervous about the huge change but I’m so ready! Apparently Eilee is too because she cries for Brian when he leaves now. Boo! She’s switching teams on me and I’m not about that life AT ALL! 

Baby name game round five

Today is rainy again (yay) so we’ve spent the morning at home before we head off to two birthday parties later. As we were chilling in the living room watching deer hunting, Brian and i got to talking about baby names. That’s a common subject around here because as you all know by now, i LOVE the baby name game. Seriously, it’s one of my favorite things. Recently my mom found a journal from when i was 12 with ‘Andlee Grace’ written in it. ‘Hudson Joe’ was also in it.  It’s so neat to me that two of my kids were named by me when i was a child myself. That just goes to show you how long I’ve loved naming babies ha. My 10 year old niece is the same way. She’s had her future kids names picked for years. Rosie and Violet, being two of them. My mom has always randomly text me baby name ideas for years. Her favorites are Gracelee and Jolee as well as Oliver. We are just a name gaming family i suppose. 

If Eilee had been a boy her name would have been Granger Wayne. Granger is still our top runner for a boys name but we do throw out other names just for fun. I don’t know if I’ll spoil what baby #5 (or #6) will be named until they are born but i will share our current baby names list. It’s ever growing just to keep life exciting. Our pregnancy with Baby Lane will be full of jokes and tricks so everyone better be ready to stay on their toes. I’m SO excited. 

Despite the gender of Baby #5 — the middle name will be Wayne after my Papa. 

Boy names:

Granger (after Hermione from Harry Potter) 

Rainer

Ledger

Stetson

Lockner 

McCall

Nash

Langston 

Girl names: 

Whimslee aka Winnie (after my love for all things whimsical and witchy)

Gracelee (after my great grandma)

Everlee 

Auralee (are-ah-lee)

Brendlee (my mother in law and I’s names combined/my husband’s idea)

Claire 

Reese

Sutton

Brighton

Riann (after Brian and myself)

If you love the name game as much as i do and have favorites to share, I’m all ears. 

Rain, Rain — STAY! STAY! STAY!

**At one point 3 cows were staring in the windows mooing as if they wanted to be let in (there are videos on my personal Facebook page if you want to add me as a friend). In that moment my instinct was to call my papa and tell him about it. He would have laughed so hard. I had a little break down over that. Three months and it still doesn’t seem real that he’s gone. Grief is so hard. So, so hard. 

If you’re a farmer, you know how important rain is for our lively hood. It’s always a welcomed matter but in Northeast Oklahoma/Northwest Arkansas area, farmers DESPERATELY need it. We are in a serious drought for our region. We rely on rain to water our crops and hay fields but also to fill our ponds (for those who don’t have automatic water feeders or running springs). Rain is an essential aspect of our lives. There has been so many storms recently but they all have literally split at us — missing us completely. We get the clouds. We get the lightening. We get the thunder. But we don’t get the rain. Well, until today that is. Right now it’s POURING and we are thankful! If you know me you know that I’m a huge fan of cloudy, stormy, dark, Fall like days. We built cathedral height windows in our living room so that i could watch it storm and snow. That was seriously our only reason for doing it. I live for it. Add a herd of cows in my front yard to that mix and I’m done. That’s a type of heaven to me. Some people complain about storms and rain, but not me. Not today. Not unless it’s a dramatic flooding situation. I’m so grateful for the rain and although i may be catching up on folding 3 loads of laundry, at least I’m enjoying the view. I am stupid smitten with it. 

Happy Friday, friends. My bigs are off to their 2nd day of school and drop off went perfectly. They each had a wonderful day yesterday. My heart is full and so glad that it was a positive experience. 

First day of school for our bigs

Charlee is in first grade. Her favorite color is purple. She wants to be a doctor when she grows up and a mom but she’s going to adopt a child (one child because more than that are too many) so that she doesn’t have to be pregnant. 

Andlee is also in first grade. Her favorite color is pink. She wants to be a ballerina or a veterinarian when she grows up. She also wants to be a mom and have a bunch of babies. 

Hudson is in kindergarten. His favorite color is blue. He wants to be a bull rider and a daddy when he grows up! 

My bigs started school today and there were NO TEARS shed by ANY of us. They were so big and brave. Andlee has been extremely scared about going back to school. She struggles greatly with insecurity and was bullied a lot last year for her size. She hates school because of that. It’s a very touchy subject. Brian and i do everything that we can to help her. We work very hard to build her up and remind her how perfect she is. We work with her nutritionist and endocrinologist to address her thyroid issues. Andlee has an irregular thyroid but she also has a hormone imbalance. She has had it since birth. She doesn’t make enough of the hormone that tells your brain that you’re full so her brain believes that she is always hungry. She’s never satisfied. The treatment for that is enforcing portion control and not allowing her to eat at unscheduled times. We have school staff looking out for her and helping encourage her. It is hands down the hardest thing that I’ve battled as a mom. You think that you are enough to help your baby. You think that you can control every situation and how they see themselves. You think that you can make everything all better for them. But you can’t. This is my first time realizing that. There are no words to describe how hard this is for us and how helpless we feel. She told me 3 days ago that she thinks that everyone else in the world is beautiful except for her. You don’t know heart ache until you’ve watched your 6 year old bawl and say those words to you. I can’t handle it. I have to stop there and i will simply ask for you to send prayers or positive vibes to Andlee. If you’re local and see her in the halls, shoot her a kind word. It’ll make her day. She did good this morning, thankfully. She didn’t cry and her morning was not stressful like her last few weeks leading up to school have been. We have tried to over compensate and exaggerate how amazing school will be this year and how much she will love it. We made the kids teachers and my mom little gifts which were fun. This year is my mom’s first year teaching. She’s teaching 7th grade history so the kids didn’t want to leave her out in making the gifts. It was sweet of them. I’m very anxious to hear how their first days went. I’ve already text each of their teachers and checked in on them... twice ha! 

I hope that all of your little ones have a wonderful time back to school and that you’re handling it well. 

School Prep — Tips & Tricks for making mom life easier

Open house is tomorrow for our bigs and school starts on Thursday. We already know who they got as teachers (perks of small town living) but of course, the kids are pumped to take their supplies and see their new classrooms. I can’t believe that summer is over. It’s went by so fast. It makes me sad how quickly time goes. We finished school supply shopping this past week and spent roughly $250 total for all three kids. That’s not including their back packs our school clothes. 

The list for us was: 

12 - glue sticks

12 - 24 count crayola crayons

3 - 10 count crayola markers 

3 - blunt tip fiskar scissors

30 - black expo markers (low odor)

6 - boxes of Kleenex 

5 - packages of Clorox wipes 

3 - Ticonderoga pencils 

3 - pencil boxes

8 - soft pink erasers

2 - spiral notebooks

2 - 100 count note cards

3 - packages of cardstock 

2 - sets of ear buds 

6 - plastic pocket folders with brads 

1 - bottle of hand sanitizer 

1 - package of play dough (no rose art) 

(Note cards, hand sanitizer, the glue sticks, and a package of expos aren’t pictured. I left that bag in Brian’s truck by accident and he’s not home.) 

As far as clothes go, i get asked SO much about where i get my kids clothes. Specifically the girls clothes. I addressed that in { this post } last year but i do have a few new favorites. Little Rancher is a local business but you can find her on Facebook or Etsy. Silcox in Gentry, AR is also local and that’s where we get most of our big bows. They are cheap there. I stock up regularly because you can never have too many bows ha. If you’re local, check them out. I also get home decor and clothes for myself there. Little Loper is where i get a lot of Eilee’s bows. You can find her online. Sparkle in Pink is awesome for kids under a size 8. Flower Sak is my top favorite currently. You can find them online too. 

Here are a few of my favs: 

This year i bought the kids clothes over a few months period rather than all at once so I’m not digging it all out just to lay it out for a picture only to have to put it all right back 60 seconds later but their clothes came from the places listed above and in last years post. It’s a large variety. I hit sales 99% of the time. Kids regularly ruin clothes in one wear when they are in school. Don’t by expensive things. I bought nice personalized first day shirts but that’s pretty much it. The rest were under $15 a piece (aside from some of the dresses). 

This is my 4th year with children in school (Charlee did a headstart program at the school four years ago) so I’ve definitely learned tricks to help my life be easier. 

A weekly changing station is huge for us. { click here for my post last year about it } We pick their clothes out a week in advance and you talk about convenient. It makes mornings go a million times smoother. It’ll be especially helpful for Brian once i start school since he will have to get the kids ready for their day. My school is an hour from me so I’ll have to leave before the kids finish breakfast. 

We’ve had a command center since we were foster parents, many years ago. It’s pictured below:

Now our command center looks like this:

It’s a must for organization and keeping things simple. We use ours for bill paying, scheduling, menu plans, storage for documents, internet access, photography editing, dog breeding info (Ginny is in full blow standing heat so fingers crossed for babies soon. They’d be due mid October and ready to go in time for Christmas. YAY!), and just basic house hold running. I highly recommend setting one up if you don’t already have one. 

We’ve always had a habit of coming in after school and doing homework before snacks. The kids had hooks in their rooms for their back packs to go but this year i wanted to try something new. I wanted the kids to have one designated area for hanging up their bags and doing their homework. A place for them to go to every day the moment that they get home. Somewhere to take their shoes off and do their work. We call it our hang it & homework it station. I’m in love with how it turned it and so are the kids. I go through their bags in the car after i pick them up to get out the papers for me then hand them back their bags to take into the house themselves. 

Our nightly routine is my last trick for easer mornings. We have had the same routine for seven years. I swear by it. We eat dinner, have family time, shower/bath, pjs, tuck in, story, sleep. We do this by 8 pm at the very latest every night. It gives the kids plenty of time to sleep which in return makes waking them up go peacefully since they are well rested. 

I hope that these tips help you guys out and i hope that you’re family has a wonderful first week back to school.