The One Where Sanctions Were Eased

May 1 - 3, 2020

As of Friday, May 1, 2020, Oklahoma Governor Kevin Stitt has relaxed some of the restrictions on Oklahoma businesses as Phase 1 of the state reopening.  Stillwater Mayor Will Joyce was trying to be more conservative about the reopening, and it backfired.  Masks were required for stores, and workers trying to enforce this rule were met with threats, including firearms, and were not backed up by local law enforcement.  So, Stillwater Oklahoma, Mayor Will Joyce and City Manager Norman McNickle ended up on the national news.  Not the look we were going for.  This pandemic has brought out the worst in some people.  And the best in others.  We had a bright moment this week when we got to see the Oklahoma Air National Guard fly over the Stillwater Mecial center in 4 planes ina tight formation as a thank you to our healthcare workers and first responders.  Too bad that was Thursday, and Friday turned into a mess!  But, more stores are open, and as this Phase 1 reopening occurs, we are watching for when Phase 2 will be.

Lara had a better weekend than she has been having.  With the Phase 1 reopening, we have allowed her to see some of her friends as they practice social distancing.  She took Jake to a snow cone stand, and they went to Chris' University Spirit to pick up her Senior Blanket.  SO, a little test of normal as she wraps up her college concurrent classes this week.  She still has one more week after that of high school classwork.

There was no Baseball Senior Night, but we got the blanket!

Emma is still in Kay county, living with her Grandpa Bruce and working at Napa in Newkirk while finishing up her concurrent classes and high school work.

They are both looking forward tho their 18th birthday coming up soon!

The One With The Last Dance

April 17 - 19, 2020

So many lasts - happening in a new, FIRST kind of way.  Like the Social Distancing Prom trend on social media.  Emma found this to be interesting, and intriguing.  And in true Emma fashion, she MADE IT HAPPEN!  She came back to Orlando from her home in Ponca City on Saturday to get dressed up on her prom dress.  She called her oldest and best guy friend, Brock, and talked him into it well.  Got her step-mom, and Brock's mom to take some pictures.  And it was EPIC!  Thes photos speak for themselves!

These two best friends forever went to their first school dance together in 6th grade and just couldn’t fathom not getting to have the last one so they made their own. This is just another in a long line of memories these two share!

Lara also had the last of something this weekend, too.  Her last (sort-of) "Senior Night."  The baseball season was basically non-existent.  She has no pictures from this very short season.  But this week, the baseball coaches highlighted one of the 9 seniors and their trainer on social media.  Each day was dedicated to a senior and their memories.  Saturday was Lara's day!  Her final senior sports season came to a new, FIRST kind of end.  And we are so proud of her!

A little more than 3 weeks until they turn 18 and their Senior Year comes to a dramatic, early "official" end.  Still not 100% sure what graduation will look like... *sigh*  This is not at all what I had imagined...

The One with More Quarantine

April 10 - 12, 2020

This week seemed just like the last.  And the one before that.  Same 4 walls.  Same 5 people.  Same food.  Same quiet chaos.  We've been just like this for over a month now.  Technically, the kids and Britt started this before I joined in.  I was at work until March Wednesday, March 25.  The kids started being home all day on March 16.  There is no end in sight.  School ends on May 15th now.  One day after the Twisters became adults. Adults in a crazy, uncertain world.  It seems appropriately ironic that Spotify is playing Louis Armstrong "What a Wonderful World" right now for me...

Nothing really to report.  Sunday was Easter.  The Easter Bunny brought treats to those some-bunnies on Greystone STreet.  We watched church from our grey sectional couch on the big LG tv.  And we had our annual egg smash.  Finn won and got the golden bunny to eat.  There were dog walks, lots of TV, maybe a little homeschool.  Netflix. Fortnite, memes, and lots of food.  Our coping mechanisms are Netflix, blankets, and snacks.  LOL!

Easter Baskets

Kids before the Easter Smash contest

The incredible shrinking Lara

There was this Facebook thing...

And, as is customary for me during the Coronacation, I have to leave you with a meme that made me laugh this week.  Here we go!

The One That Should Have Had a Prom

April 3 - 5, 2020

What a weird time we are living in.  We have marked everything on our calendar for the month of April as "CANCELLED."  It's sad.  But, it's also nice for a break.  Less rush.  More family time.  More people out walking the neighborhood.  More people checking in on each other.  More kindness.  More love.  I hope it stays that way when things go back to "normal."

I am cherishing this "extra" time with my kids and family.  I get all these extra hours with my Lara Beth before she goes off to college.  Emma has basically moved out of her dad's house and is finishing her semester in Newkirk working for her grandpa and doing her online schooling.  They both have had their last day of school rescheduled for May 15.  ONE DAY after they turn 18.

But there was no Prom on Saturday, April 4.  No make-up appointments.  No hair appointments.  No pictures.  No glam and glitz.  Emma's prom was supposed to be here in Stillwater at the Community Center.  Lara's was to be in the Student Union Ballroom on the OSU campus.  Lara was supposed to take the ACT one last time this day.  And Emma was going to attend Greek discovery day on campus.  None of this happened.  We did get to celebrate Nana's birthday with a drive-by greeting though!

We also got to participate in a fun community social media video challenge.  Our elementary school, Westwood, was challenging folks to make a video of themselves singing the school song.  Lara was nominated by her babysitting client, Gabe (she is his summer Nanny).  He nominated Lara, and his big brother Luke.  Lara and Luke were in the same second-grade class at Westwood 10 years ago (with Mrs. Fox, same teacher Jake had and Finn currently has).  This was her challenge.  She challenged Mrs. Fox and her brothers!


(peep the shirt!!!) 
We spent some time working on graduation announcements this weekend, too.  We got mailing lists together, chose the pictures to put on them, designed them, and now we wait.  Do we wait to see if there is a date for this?  Do we send them now to be ahead of the curve?  What do we do?!?  More on that in a later installment...

Tomorrow, Monday, April 6, we "go back to school."  Distance Learning.  Packets.  Zoom meetings.  Each kid doing different things at different times.  We'll see how it goes!

We had an idea over the weekend to honor the Stillwater High School Class of 2020 and leave a legacy from them for the high school.  Stay tuned for updates next week...

In the meantime:

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