The One with a Question Mark

March 23 - 26, 2018

Well, I finally did it.  8 months in to the project.  Not too shabby!  but, I completely forgot to record the events of the past weekend.  I forgot about my 2020 Project!  I'm kind of mad at myself, but in all fairness, life has been moving at warp speed the past few weeks, and the girls were both in Logan County all weekend, so I barely even saw them!  I knew there would be weekends like this!

So, yeah.  They were in Orlando at the Flying H (Horinek) ranch all weekend.  It was the closing weekend for her Spring Break, and Lara went out there Thursday night, and came back after church on Sunday.  They took a picture with their step-siblings.

But, I didn't see Lara Sunday, either!  She was off to Stillwater High School to work on decorations for the upcoming SMAC Week that starts soon.  The rest of the evening was spent watching NCAA March Madness, and trying to get everyone to bed on time since it was back to school on Monday!

The one with giggles

March 16-19, 2018

Not much to report from last weekend.  There was nothing on the calendar and it was a nice time to relax and just spent time with family.  There was Netflix, and Hulu, and family bonding.  Shooting hoops, window shopping, dinners out and sibling squabbles (inevitable!) It was the “closing weekend” for Emma’s Spring Break; and the “opening” one for Lara.  Emma had spent most of the week at Nana and Grandpa’s house in Perkins.  She got some driving in, some shopping in, and had a nice relaxing time.  This coming week is Lara’s turn!  She has big plans to get in on the shopping action!

The girls each took turns “measuring up” to Jake.  He has officially passed Lara, and he is *very* close to catching Emma.

Jake (11 - 5'7") and Lara (15 - 5'6") *measurements approximate

Jake (11 - 5'7") and Emma (15 - 5'7") *measurements approximate

On Sunday, Emma spent a few hours at our house, and I caught a fun picture of them lounging together on our couch.  They were both on their phones, of course, but they were laughing, giggling, and having a good time jest being teenage girls.  Made my momma heart happy.

Twins, Sisters, Twisters #redhairdontcare

In other news, Lara and Colby are no longer an item.  And that’s all I have to say about that.

Here’s to another week of Spring Break!  Rest up, so we can finish sophomore year STRONG!

The One with Omaha and a 5K

March 9-12, 2018
One was on Spring Break; One had just finished finals.  Never a dull moment and always an exercise in logistics!

Emma was out for Spring Break as of Friday afternoon.  She has signed up to do a 5K Color Run with her sister (more on that later), and then go to Western Kansas with her Nana to visit our Kansas family.  But!  An illness sidelined the Kansas trip, and her Dad and step-family had planned a trip to Omaha for a couple of days, so off she went on Friday - to return Monday afternoon!  Here are some pics from her adventures being a tourist.  She even went skiing at Mount Crescent Ski Area!

Right before Spring Break, she also had some time with her Lady Panther Basketball team, and they took some pictures to commemorate the year.  Here is Emma and the rest of the Sophomore class!

Lara had just finished finals for the first 9 weeks of her second semester, and baseball season was in full swing, so she needed the time off to rest a bit!  Friday night was spent in Ponca City with her beloved Pioneer Varsity Baseball team.  And after a late arrival home that night, she had to get up BRIGHT and early Saturday morning to participate in the SMAC Week 5k Color Run!  (Her sister was supposed to be there, too, but, life happens!)

This was Lara's fist 5K, and she ran it without training first.  Needless to say, she spent the rest of the weekend, um, RECOVERING!  But she had a blast and loves supporting SMAC.  Her committee event is coming up in just a couple weeks - barring the teacher walk-out in Oklahoma that is looming.

So for Emma, this week is Spring Break; while for Lara it is the first week of the LAST 9 weeks of her Sophomore year.  Wow - that went FAST!

If you would like to donate to SMAC (Stillwater Makes a Change - an annual philanthropic campaign initiated and led by Stillwater High School students to raise money and awareness for a local charity), this year's recipient is Our Daily Bread.  HERE IS A LINK to  donate directly!

Here's to another week of fun adventures!

The One With Five More Minutes

March 2-5, 2018
For the first time in a long time – and for another long time to come, this past weekend was calm.  Not a ton of stuff going on – just a few things to keep us entertained.  And the sun was out, cool, early spring temperatures, and lots of time to just “be.”  It was very relaxing, and very welcomed!

Emma came to Stillwater Friday evening to spend the weekend with us.  She got to town after we had gone out to grab some Chick-fil-A before taking Jake on an adventure with his friends.  She spent the evening playing with Finn – her biggest fan – and signing in to her family’s Netflix account so we could ALL binge our favorite shows on our favorite devices.  She got to surprise Jake by going with dad to pick him up from “Open Gym” at Youth Fitness Zone later in the evening.

Saturday was an easy morning.  Lara drove herself (well, chauffeured me, technically – but I went right back home) to Couch Park for the Pioneer Baseball team’s home opener about 11:00am, and the rest of us joined her for the first pitch at noon.  It was kind of windy, and that kept us pretty cool.  Emma enjoyed talking to friends she saw around the ballpark, and Lara worked from the dugout for the 7 inning game.  Our Pioneers came up ONE RUN short, but it was a beautiful day of sunshine and home opener baseball.

Sunshine and Baseball (Jake was at a friend's birthday party)

The rest of the afternoon was more just resting and relaxing.  Lara left for a couple hours to go walk the 3 mile trail around Boomer Lake with Colby, while the rest of just took advantage of a last day.

Sunday, was much the same.  Catching up, watching TV, playing games.  We went to church at Life.Church at 4:00pm - where I forced them to take a picture!  If they are all 4 in one place, I try to capture it!  I know the days of them being together are getting fewer and farther between!  After church, we took Emma back to Orlando so she could start her week.  And, in the spirit of tradition – and keeping the big family going forward – we had our usual Sunday Night Family Meeting in the car on the way home.  Went over the calendar for next week, checked everyone’s grades, and talked about out highlights of the week gone by.  Prepared for the week to come – even though SOMETHING always changes last minute!

It was Windy.  And Finn is 6.

This laid back, put your feet up weekend reminded me, it’s still going so very fast – even if we have time to enjoy it more.  We weren’t rushing from here to there and eating in the car and hoping everyone got homework and laundry done!  But, we were wishing the weekend away in other ways.  Just waiting for the next thing.  When the next thing is still coming WAY TOO SOON!  And as if the turning of the calendar pages isn’t enough, the song “Five More Minutes” by Scotty McCreedy is on REPEAT on the country radio stations around here.  It has a line that says:

Time rolls by the clock don't stop

I wish I had a few more drops

Of the good stuff, the good times 

Oh but they just keep on flying

Even on slow, lazy weekends like this past one, I still wish I had 5 more minutes.  To hug them.  To soak it all in.  To really LISTEN to that rambling story about friends I don’t really know and inside jokes form class that I’ll never get.  A few more drops of watching them with their brothers.  With each other (I hear you talking in that room after you “go to bed”).  With us.  It is still going WAY too fast!  And this blog is still my feeble attempt to write it all down.  To try and hold on for Five More Minutes…