I got stuck on the same spot every single time I tried to make dnd work for my group. What finally worked for us was tokens. You dont have to go out and buy expensive miniatures - we use pennies, parts from other boardgames, coasters to represent area effects like guardian of faith, extra dice etc etc. The one other thing you need is a grid board. Someone in my group had one so we lucked out but I see them online for $20 to $30. Knowing where everyone is, how far you can move, who is gonna be hit by that cone of cold etc etc took off so much of the mental load and let us go back to having fun. You may already be doing this or it might not be right for your group but it helped us immensely.
The grid we use is dry erasable so we draw the battle map on there. We also use the markers on the pennies so we know the red marked one is the fire guy and so on. If you have any questions about this style of play lmk.
I would love to have a replica of this, it is gourgeous. I love how they included different animals and how expressive each one is.