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Oh, Honestly!

Real Life for Real Moms

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We’re Done Throwing Birthday Parties for Our Kids

June 5, 2016 By Lauren

birthday parties

I’m excited to partner with Great Wolf Lodge for this post. All opinions are my own. Remember when birthday parties were simple affairs? A handful of friends. Streamers and balloons. A bowl of chips and some juice. A few games. A cake, still in the pan, smeared with frosting. The whole thing probably cost less than […]

Filed Under: Family Life, Holidays, Informational Tagged With: birthday, birthday parties, travel

Five Simple and FREE Birthday Traditions to Start This Year

May 29, 2015 By Lauren

Five Simple and FREE Birthday Traditions to Start This Year

  I survived another birthday season! Our kids were all born within a few weeks of each other (well, not all in the same year obviously), so springtime can be a busy and stressful time for me. I love to make my kids’ birthdays special, but I also like to keep things simple. Sometimes, by the time […]

Filed Under: Family Life, Holidays, I Tried It!, Informational Tagged With: birth, birthday, birthday traditions, birthdays, celebrate, kids, traditions

To Annelise, on Your Third Birthday

May 18, 2015 By Lauren

Third Birthday

  Dear Annelise, I was recently reminded of a poem that, other than the bit about curly hair, fits you to a T. “There was a little girl, Who had a little curl, Right in the middle of her forehead. When she was good, She was very good indeed, But when she was bad she […]

Filed Under: Family Life, Parenting Essays Tagged With: birthday, letter, letter to child, third birthday, three

To Eli, on your 7th Birthday

May 12, 2015 By Lauren

To Eli, On Your 7th Birthday

  Dear Eli, Back in January we spent a bitterly cold afternoon visiting Daddy while he worked on a construction project. We slid around on the ice-covered ground for a while, then hopped into his truck and cranked the heat in order to regain feeling in our fingers and toes. As we slowly warmed up, your […]

Filed Under: Family Life, Parenting Essays, Uncategorized Tagged With: birthday, letter, letter to child, mom, mother, seven, seventh birthday, son

To Samuel, On Your Fifth Birthday

April 22, 2015 By Lauren

To Samuel on Your Fifth Birthday

Dear Samuel, This has been a year of transition for you. Last summer I was pretty nervous about how things would go when you started preschool in the fall. You’d done a lot of growing during ‘Mommy School’ and then the fun school you spent an hour at a couple of times each week, but […]

Filed Under: Family Life, Parenting Essays Tagged With: 5, birthday, five years old, growing up, little boy, motherhood, Samuel

33 Things About Me on My 33rd Birthday

February 23, 2015 By Lauren

33rd Birthday

Today I’m celebrating my 33rd birthday. My day will probably include a few well-wishing phone calls, wiping some poopy butts, making three different lunches to suit the desires of three different kids, not having to make dinner because I use any excuse I can not to cook, and an evening spent watching DVR’d shows. I […]

Filed Under: Uncategorized Tagged With: 33, about me, birthday

Week 47: This Guy I Know

December 15, 2014 By Lauren

Keeping it Real This Guy I Know

There’s this guy I know. He was born 10 minutes after his brother and I’m pretty sure they were mischief-makers from that moment forward. This Guy I Know In school, they would wait until the teacher left the room, then climb up on a chair and set the clock ahead so she would let them […]

Filed Under: Keeping It Real Challenge Tagged With: birthday, dad, family, father, guy, keeping it real

Week 35: To Eli and Samuel on Their 6 1/3 and 4 1/3 Birthdays

September 23, 2014 By Lauren

To Eli and Samuel on Their 5 1/3 and 4 1/3 Birthdays

If you’re just joining me for the Keeping It Real Challenge, please click here to find out what it’s all about. We took the kids to Build-a-Bear this week. We were four months late. See, the kids’ birthdays all fall very close together in April and May. When I plan birthday parties I’m somewhere in […]

Filed Under: Keeping It Real Challenge Tagged With: birthday, birthday party, build-a-bear, fall, keeping it real, pumpkins

Balloons for Nicholas

May 23, 2014 By Lauren

Nicholas' balloons

On Tuesday morning I asked the question: What can I do? I’ve been following the journey of the Sauer family as their son, Ben, battled a brain tumor. His time on Earth ended last week and it left me wondering how I could honor him and his family. I knew I couldn’t necessarily do anything […]

Filed Under: Random Tagged With: balloons, ben sauer, birthday, loss, Nicholas

To Annelise, on your second birthday

May 18, 2014 By Lauren

birthday party day

You are the perfect blend of girly girl and tomboy

Filed Under: Family Life, Parenting Essays Tagged With: birthday, daughter, girl, tomboy, two

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About Lauren

If you enjoy picture-perfect home decor, perfectly prepared recipes, and perfectly behaved children, you've come to the wrong place. Meet Lauren. She isn't perfect, but she's perfectly real. Read More…

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