The One Where Everything Was Cancelled

March 27 - 29, 2020

This past week, they canceled the rest of the school year in physical buildings with in-seat learning.  The State of Oklahoma has moved to distance learning starting April 6.  Everything is canceled.  Prom, Spring sports, meetings, event, extra-curricular activities, and if you're 17 and a graduating senior in the class of 2020, LIFE.  Or at least it feels that way for them.

So, with everything (EVERYTHING) canceled, there is not a lot to blog about.  Emma has basically moved out of her father's house in Orlando and is living with her Grandpa Bruce in Ponca City.  Her father works as a pilot for Eagle Med, and her step-mother is a NICU nurse.  She is trying o limit her exposure.  (Emma and Lara got to see their dad all decked out in his flight suit and a hazmat type suit load up a potentially COVID-19 positive patient into his plane this week - they will always remember that.)  The Auto Parts store is considered "essential," so they are still open.  She is working there, hanging out with her grandpa, and doing her college classes online.  Her Meridian and Mulhall-Orlando classes move online this coming week, and in 2 weeks, respectively.  Lara has been helping hold down the front at our house in Stillwater.  Cooking, cleaning, doing homework for her college class, and being Evie BFF.  The dog thinks anytime Lara puts on shoes it is time for a WALK!

During these trying times, Netflix has had our backs!  They released a new docu-series about a roadside zoo owner in Southern Oklahoma who goes by the name Joe Exotic.  "Tiger King: Murder, Mayhem, and Madness" chronicles Joseph Maldonado-Passage (joe Exotic) and his exotic animal park just outside of Wynnewood, Oklahoma.  It is a jaw-dropping true tale of con artists, polygamy, rivalry, and revenge.  And it is ALL the internet is talking about.  Joe has an impressive blonde mullet, a flamboyant wardrobe, multiple husbands at the same time, and a raging feud with Carole Baskin (that B!tch), the owner of a big cat sanctuary.  And then it gets weirder from there.  We watched.  we cringed, we made memes.  Good way to start the next wave of our coronacation.

We watched movies (I Still believe, Pretty in Pink), practiced social distancing, Spent countless hours on social media, laughed at tiger king memes, cooked ALL THE THINGS in our Instant Pot, and played with Evie.  Finn learned a new song.  And we tried to make Evie TikTok famous. Saturday, we saw Emma from the end of the driveway as she came by to pick up some tools and other items she had left here.  Since he is living elsewhere, we felt the need to stay socially distanced.  We attended church online Sunday with our Life.Church Stillwater campus.  We are hanging in and hanging together!

We are all coming to terms with all of the cancellations and our new "temporary" normal.  The entire nation's Class of 2020 is grieving and finding new ways to celebrate.  We are still praying they get to walk across the stage this Spring.  In the meantime...

The One with the Pandemic

March 20-22, 2020

Everyone is Social Distancing.  Working from home, or self quarantined.  This was supposed to be Spring Break, but trips were canceled.  Stores are out of toilet paper, paper towels, and baby wipes.  Hospitals are out of protective masks and ventilators are in high demand.  The US economy is spiraling, and the government is working on a plan to stimulate us with checks.  Grandpa was laid off his job this week.  Oklahoma State University is now completing the semester completely online and they have shut down the Library.  Some offices on campus are still open, but they are working with skeletons crews and rotating people working from home.  This is surreal and evokes so many emotions.

But there are light moments, too.  After the girls spent most of the week in Newkirk/Ponca City with their Grandpa Bruce, Lara came home late Thursday.  Emma stayed up there as there is nothing else for her to do!  While they were up there, they worked on Lara's car and got it in good working order.  And this weekend, we ordered the humorous shirts pictured in the opening from Etsy as a reminder of this unsure time.  We don't know yet if we will go back to school on April 6.  Proms have not been rescheduled.  No word on Spring sports coming back.  And Graduation ceremonies are up in the air.

Adjusting to our new, temporary normal, looks a lot like this:

But things are starting to ramp up again next week.  College is back in session for the girls, online.  Public schools are still closed through at least April 6, and they are not allowed to send any instruction at this time.  There are suggestions out there, but I am allowing my kids to rest, reflect, and recoup.  This is an emotional roller coaster, and they deserve time to process.  Plus, I am on my own emotional roller coaster, so I am in no place to help them learn right now.  We are also grieving.  All the loss...

A Facebook post

Text with Lara

Senior pics part 2

Bound to be Pokes

A fun craft I set up for Finn and Jake with shaving cream as an art surface on our bar turned into an epic shaving cream fight.  Lara had a message for all her friends.  All 5 of us ended up changing clothes.  3 showers and a load of laundry...  But the memories!

This was a mild one...

Do it. Lara says so.

Everything in this situation is changing so quickly!  We don't know what next month, next week or even tomorrow hold for us now.  We are staying home to stay safe, and waiting for our next direction.  Not at all how we imagined the last few weeks of Senior Year.

The One Before Spring Break

March 13 - 15, 2020

I think this entry would have been a bit different if it had been written closer to March 15.  But the past 2 weeks have brought about a lot of change and challenges.  And looking back to create this entry, my world has been colored in ways that couldn't even be imagined on March 13th.

So many things happened for the last time this weekend, but we didn't know it at the time.  So I will review the things Emma and Lara did and didn't know it was the last time...

For Lara, it was SMAC Week, and time to pack for her trip to Alabama. Emma was starting spring sports and looking forward to working with her Grandpa for Spring Break.  But this was the week where the threat of the COVID-19 Coronavirus started to change everything in our lives.

It was SMAC week for Stillwater High School.  "Stillwater Makes A Change" is a student-led fundraising effort with all kinds of events.  This year's benefactor was Habitat for Humanity.  The group raised almost $190,000 this year.  Lara and her friend Erika chaired the Hat Day event.  Each day of the week, a different school in our district allowed students to spot hats if they donated a dollar to the event.  Friday was Finn's elementary, middle school, and high school.  Lara had gone to other schools early in the morning previously in the week, but Friday she got to go to Finn's school and see all her old teachers.  

SMAC Hat Day

Co-Head Hat Lady (other co-Erika)

Meanwhile, Emma and her welding friends had a huge undertaking they were working on as well.  Stillwater was to host the MidSough Gravel Bike race this weekend.  To help commemorate it, the design, welding, and metal fab classes designed and constructed a 12.5 foot tall bicycle to put erected on top of a downtown business.  They later put led timed lights on it and made a light show for all the bicyclers and visitors.  It was quite a sight!

In the meantime, this is when the COVID-19 crisis really started to hit home.  Lara's much-anticipated Spring Break trip to Alabama was canceled.  University classes were moved online for at least 2 weeks following Spring Break.  Stillwater Public School declared school was out until at least April 6.  Professional and college sports team canceled the rest of their seasons and all spring sports.  The grand opening of OSU's new Baseball Complex, O'Brate Stadium, is postponed for an entire year.  Proms are postponed.  Graduation is up in the air.  It has been a TOUGH time, and we are all learning to live in a new, temporary, normal.

There were a couple of bright spots, of course. For one, we found a rent house and were able to move in immediately.  We spent Friday night unloading the U-Haul and some of the weekend putting furniture in the house.  We didn't stay there until mid-week, but it was good to know we weren't homeless anymore.

And on Sunday, our favorite photographer met us on The OSU campus for a quick "Cap and Gown" photoshoot.  Emma and Lara each got to pick out a new OSU T-shirt as their reveal shirt, and we had fun even though it was cloudy and had just stopped raining.  Here are some of our favorites.

Class of 2020

Emma chose a simple OK State shirt, Lara chose the 2020 OSU BAseball O'Brate Stadium commemorative T.

ANd this fun, sassy, and personality capturing pic the girls took from the car after we were done with pictures:

Twins.  Sisters.  Twisters

As we face these unprecedented, scary, and sad times, the world of social media has allowed up to cry together, laugh together, and come together.  I found this post, and copied it for my kids:

Time is still marching on.  We are weeks away from these 2 amazing red-heads celebrating their eighteenth birthday!  It's different now.  This is a generation-defining moment for these kids.  And the internet is reminding us daily.  Here are some pictures and memes from this week that try to sum up the way we are feeling.

Emma - Age 6

Lara - age 6

The One That Felt Like Spring

March 6 - 8, 2020

It seems like Spring has sprung!  Baseball is happening.  Days are getting a little warmer, but when the sun goes down it is still cold.  Lara spent a lot of time at Couch Park with the Pioneer Baseball family, and Emma started softball practice this week.  Looking forward to some days in the sun.

Lara fought the flu this week and had to rearrange some final exams, but by the end of the week, she was feeling much better and getting things done.  There was lots of pre-season baseball to be played, and Spring Break to look forward too.

As a family, we had a little drama to deal with, which involved packing up our home in less than 48 hours and moving in with Nana and Grandpa in Perkins for a few days.  Not our brightest moment, but Lara showed true grace and leadership during this trying time.

Living at Nana's house leads to finding treasure.  Like Mom's Senior prom dress from 1993.  Which, of course, had to be tried on...

So thankful for helpful kids who took on the attic at our house like a BOSS and made this emergency move a little more bearable:

And the whole family showed Jake a lot of support as he participated in a chicken wing eating contest to raise money for his summer camp tuition.  Emma showed up after this picture was taken.

This was definitely a weird weekend.  But grateful to spend some time with my Seniors!  The race towards graduation is in the final laps.  We have caps and gowns now, too.  So we will be taking those pics in the near future!  We leave you with a meme that reflects the time we are in:

The One Where They Leaped

February 28 - March 1, 2020

This weekend had a whole extra day.  That's still mind-boggling to me.  We have to add a day every 4 years to keep the calendar right?  OK...  I spent the day doing all the things I love with all the people I love.  I didn't waste a second!

But, I think the most impactful thing for this Momma and her tender heart was that the girl's picked up their caps and gowns for high school graduation this week.  CAPS.  and.  GOWNS!  And TASSELS!  Oh my!  They both sent a sneak peek pic for me:

I am so proud of them both, and can't wait to see what their next chapter looks like, but high school flew by!  Lara also sent this cute picture of her and Erika:

Friday night, Emma came to join us in Stillwater, while Lara was with SHS Baseball in Ponca City for some pre-season action. Everybody went to bed "early" because we had a full, crazy, busy Saturday (LEAP DAY) for the whole family coming up!

Saturday, February 29, 2020

That was the line up for the day!  INSANE!  Glad we had several vehicles, several drivers, and lots of flexibility.  Lara and Emma both came to Finn's early basketball game, then Lara left at halftime for baseball.  Emma went home after Finn's game to do homework.  She also took Evie on a LONG run to try to wear her out a bit!  She came to the Colvin for some of Jake's games, then we all met up for the Willy Wonka Jr performance.

Jake Weaver Fan Club

Mr. Salt and his gifts

After the musical, Nana and Grandpa took Emma, Lara, and Finn out to dinner while Jake, Mom, and Dad headed back to the Covin Center for more hoops.  Lara joined us again after dinner since some of her friends were working the games.  It was a FULL and a very FUN day!

On Sunday, we had to RECOVER from Saturday!  Jake had another performance, and while mom and dad went to that, the girls hung out with Finn, took Evie on a run, and Emma led Lara in a workout.  Finn rode his bike and played with them as well.  All the sun and outside time was good for ALL of them!  Emma and Evie even met the neighbor boy and another neighbor who had water ready for Evie when they came back around.  That dog makes friends easily!

While it was nice to have Emma home again for another weekend, it's always a bit more crazy with an extra kid in the house!  I sure will miss these crazy, busy weekends.  2 months 10 days till Emma graduates.  2 months 17 days till Lara graduates.  it's coming whether I like it or not.