The One Where They Reunited With Friends

August 23-25, 2019

Senior year kind of became real this weekend.  There were things.  That gave us feelings.  And we will not be denied!  Class of 2020!

Friday was busy.  Emma was in Stillwater for Tech but then didn't have high school because it was fair day.  She came to visit me at my office for a while before her Senior Class Auction was going down.  They were raising money for their senior trip.  And they had a little photoshoot, too!  And while that was going down, Stillwater High School Pioneers were hosting a scrimmage at Pioneer Stadium, so Lara got her first taste of football for the season.  She was a very busy manager/trainer for sure!

Emma came to my office

But she did not dress up or clean up! LOL!

Mulhall Orlando Class of 2020

Friends

The 2020 Girls

WILD and FREE

Livin' Life

Scrimmages call for A LOT of water

Most I saw of her all week

The rest of the weekend was pretty typical.  I am not sure what all Emma did.  Lara babysat, did homework, went to lunch with friends.  Church, Laundry, family meeting, repeat!  The 5 Stillwater Weavers had a nice time Sunday night with a family movie and NO PHONES!  Those are few and far between these days, so I'll take it.

Lara and her friends at Howdy Week

I can't believe we are under 40 weekends to go...

The One Where They Started Senior Year

August 16 - 18, 2019

Senior Year.  Starts Now.  Class of 2020.

Emma started her Redlands Community College concurrent online classes on Monday; Meridian Technology Center class on Wednesday, and Mulhall-Orlando High School on Friday.  Lar starts Stillwater High School on Monday, and Oklahoma State University concurrent classes on Tuesday.  I am so thankful for smart kids, ambitious girls, and calendars!  It is going to be quite a chore to keep it all starts this year!  (And did I mention, my 2 OSU Grad School classes start this week as well!)

But it was another fun-filled weekend!  Emma went to the lake with friends on Saturday and earned herself an epic sunburn.  But she had a blast tubing and just being out there with friends.  When she got back to town, she actually met a boy (16, Connor, from Okarche) while at a stop sign.  It's always an adventure with this one.

Lara spent Saturday glued to social media to see which sorority all of her older friends went to on Bid Day!  Seeing all the excitement, hearing me talk about it all week (I spent a lot of time in the kitchen at the Welsey Center this week where Alpha Delta Pi held recruitment due to our house is a huge hole in the ground), and now knowing where her friends are has made her even MORE ready for formal recruitment next summer!  She cannot wait to Go Greek!  And Saturday night she spent her last night with Erika and Kendall.  She was supposed to sleepover, but came home around midnight, not feeling well.  Kendall leaves for Harvard very early Monday morning...

But my favorite part of this weekend is the Back-to-School photo shoot we did this week.  Here are my favorites:

There is really no stopping them now.  I cannot believe it is here.  It happened too fast!  Jake also starts 7th grade tomorrow and Finn has an extra week of summer as his BRAND NEW elementary school is not complete enough for the teachers and students to come nack yet, but he starts next Monday.  The first football scrimmage for the Pioneers is this Friday.  Fair Day for MO is this Friday as well. It. Is. HAPPENING!

Maybe a slow start for Lara - st least she doesn't have to be at school until 1pm tomorrow.  Jett the Jetta has a flat tire.  Putting the spare on tomorrow morning so she can go to the tire shop.

And on a Senior Mom note, I ordered football mom and dad shirts for Football Senior "Family Pictures" which are in a few weeks.  Traditionally, the moms take pics with their boys, but this year we are changing it up a bit and moms AND dads get to be involved!  Can't Wait!

The One With Extra Family Time

August 9 - 11, 2019

Senior Year is so very, VERY close!  Schedule pick up for Lara was on Monday.  She did a little babysitting this week.  And a whole lot of hanging out with Erika and Kendall.  The reality of Kendall leaving for Boston soon is really starting to sink in.  At the end of the weekend, Lara even pointed out that this was probably the last weekend they would all get to hang out together - specifically with Erika's cousin Anna who was in town from Kansas this week as well.  Summer went by fast - and the last days are speeding by.

Friday, Emma went to a Rodeo in Pawnee with friends from all over north central Oklahoma. It was a pre-celebration of Sarah Hatfield's 17th birthday.  Because she was in this area of the county, she actually stayed at our house!  She and Lara spent the night in the same room for the first time in almost 2 years!  Her first day of Meridian is this Wednesday, and M-O high school starts on Friday.

We got a little family time in this weekend as well.  Here is a family picture from Saturday afternoon:

And on Sunday afternoon, we went to Perkins and put a slip n slide in the front yard and had a water balloon fight.  Jake, Finn, and Lara had a blast.  What a great way to close out the weekend.

And on a Senior Mom note, I have scheduled their senior pictures for October!

The One Where Back to School Became a REALITY

August 2 - 4, 2019

These really are the dog days of summer.  Nothing is really scheduled to happen, yet I find myself unaware of getting nothing done!  I know Kayleigh was here from Texas part of the weekend and though Thursday of the next week.  I know Lara went places with friends and swam in pools  I know all of this, but the specifics have already escaped me!  I will do my best to reconstruct...

Friday afternoon, Lara and her friends Kendall and Erika took a little rod trip south to visit as many record (vinyl) stores as they possibly could.  The started in Edmond, moved on down to Oklahoma City, and I think they visited 4 in all.  I know Lara came home with new records and new stories.  They went to Penn Square Mall to hang out for a bit, then went to Cheesecake Factory for dinner.  Dad tried to prank them with a typical dad joke, and it kind of worked, but we let them off the hook pretty quickly!  They came back to Stillwater and spent the night at Kendall's house.  This was Lara's first foray out of town in her car with friends.  Seems all went well.

As is typical, Emma was all over North Central Oklahoma over the weekend!  She spent some time on Lake Carl Blackwell with her friend Emmie and her family.  She also did a bunch of other things, but she is incredibly hard to keep up with!

Here are a couple pictures from Saturday at Nan's house and out and about (we went shopping for jeans for Lara) in town:

Let's Go Shopping

Cousin Kayleigh is here!

Back to School got real when it was time to make the girls' back to school signs.  Add to that, all next week is enrolment verification and schedule pick up at all the district schools, so we had to make sure we had all our bases covered.  Mom and Dad are Pioneer Booster Club Presidents with year, so we had to man tables at various school sies all week!  We also worked on getting Emma and Lara signed up for the October 26 national ACT test!  WHEW!  THEY ARE GOING TO START SENIOR YEAR VERY SOON!  Like it or not...

And a throwback to when Emma and Lara were 5 and Kayleigh and Jake were newborns:

All of Nana's Grandbabies in one place:

2 weeks (Give or take - Emma has several dates to work with) until school starts!  Let's Go!