The Only Half Birthday Worth Celebrating

Emma and Lara.  Twins.  Sisters.  Twisters.  My first born babies.  The babies that made me a Momma.  Seems like a very short time ago when they were infants and I was begging them to sleep and to hold their own bottles.  And this week, they turned that magical age of Fifteen, AND A HALF!

In Oklahoma, it is a rite of passage at 15.5 years old to get your Oklahoma Driver’s Permit.  Both my girls took Driver’s Education this past summer (right after they turned 15) at their respective schools, so we didn’t have to take any tests or do any driving.  But the joy is in the journey, and we had fun and made memories along the way.

Emma came to Stillwater from Orlando Monday night and spent the night with us.  We got up a little extra early, because rumor had it the lines and wait can be VERY long at the Stillwater DMV!  Plus, Emma had a basketball game that night and to be eligible to play we had to get her to school as soon as possible.  A school 25 miles away.  We were in line on a chilly, drizzly, cloudy May 14.  We were about the 10-12^th people in line, but based on observations we thought we were probably the 5^th or 6^th actual customer.  We were very excited when the door opened at 8am and we got out of the elements, but we knew that was not the end of our wait.

Lara was “L03” and Emma was “L04”, but there were other people with other letters and numbers in front of us.  Lara was finally called back to an agent about 8:25.  She did her thing with all the paperwork we brought, checked her vision, take a picture taken, made her finger print and answered her 8 questions, and she was done in less than 10 minutes.  It was back out to the lobby until Emma was called in at 8:36. Back to the SAME AGENT!  Emma’s took a little longer.  For a dozen reasons – Emma just does things a little slower, plus she talks and asks lots of questions – but the MAIN reason was because the agent grew up in Orlando, Oklahoma!  So, they had old home week.  LOL!  Once Emma was finished with all her DMV steps, it was back in the car and off to the tag agency.

We arrived at the Stillwater Tag Agency at a few minutes before 9:00am.  We considered ourselves LUCKY because the place was basically empty.  Emma and Lara went in ahead of me because I was looking for my checkbook in the car.  By the time I got in the building, they were both filling out the “blue form” with an agent who was working them both at the same time.  She was so nice!  Congratulated them on this milestone, asked them fun questions, and when she took the pictures for their licenses, she let them see the images before the printed the cards!  So nice!  She also let me write just ONE check for the both of them.  WINNING! We were out the door by 9:05am!

Very different than when they were babies!

Time to get these Twisters to school.  Lara drove us from the tag agency to Stillwater high school.  3 miles in town with lots of stop lights, lane changes, traffic and stress.  Oh, did I mention it was lightly raining at this point?  But she got there safety by about 9:20 – only missed the first few minutes of her first class!

Emma and I enjoying Lara's driving!

Now it was Emma’s turn.  She drove from Stillwater High School to Mulhall-Orlando High School.  24 miles, mostly highway, very little traffic, high speeds.  Very different experience (Which is so typical of my opposite twins!).  She got to school about 10:05 – (after a quick stop at her house to drop off her overnight bag) and had missed 2 classes already! But she was there in time to be able to play basketball that evening with her Lady Panthers.

I am glad that is over for another 6 months! LOL!  While I am excited for them to expand their driving abilities and I am thankful for a couple of cute re-headed chauffer’s for the next few months, it will be a whole new world when they can drive off on their own… *sigh* 

The One After School Started

August 18 - 21, 2017
The first day of school was Thursday.  Emma started her Sophomore Year at Mulhall-Orlando, and Lara started hers at Stillwater High School.  Lucky for me, it was “my” weekend, and we were able to all be together for most of it.  Emma came to town Friday night, but due to timing and transportation, she ended up at Nana and Grandpa’s house while the boys and I went to Pioneer Stadium to watch Lara do her trainer thing at the first Pioneer scrimmage of the night.  It was HOT (and since it hasn’t been hot, that was no fun), but it was a fun night and the Varsity Pioneers put on quite a show.

Everything the light touches is our kingdom.

After we got home from that, we got Emma to our house and for the first time in a long time all my chicks were in the same nest.  But it was short lived…

Saturday morning, the Weavers all had to get up early to get to Jake’s Red Dirt Baseball tryouts, but the Horinek girls got to SLEEP IN!  Well, Emma slept in.  Lara is like me – she tries to sleep in, but ends up getting up and getting things done instead.  We had a nice lunch all together after tryouts, then had a pretty lazy afternoon.  Lara had not gotten the chance to go School Supply shopping, so she and I did that while Emma napped.  LOL.

Then, it was PARTY TIME!  Our friend Sarah was celebrating her 15^th birthday as well as going back to school.  So we all headed out to the Hatfield’s for a fun time of slider sandwiches, cake, chips, cookie cake, candy and all things 15 year old girls love!  There were balloons and games and puppies and toddlers!  SO MANY TEENAGE GIRLS!  A couple of teenage boys and my 2 little boys.  A handful of adults stayed as well, so it was a good time for everybody!  We ALL had a great time! Fun to have all 4 of my kids in the same place doing the same things and having a good time.

And at the end of the night, there were balloons that no longer needed their helium….

So I mentioned how not all my chicks were back in my nest, right?  Finn had asked back in July is he could have a sleepover with Sarah’s brother, Clay.  Their mom said “someday!”  So Friday night at the scrimmage, Finn asked if he could stay after the party. She said yes.  I’m not sure WHEN, exactly, Clay found out about his overnight guest, but he made the most of it!  He’s such a great guy and I am so glad Finn had a great time!  This group of teenagers is something special and we are so glad to be a small part of it as a family.

Sunday morning, we got up and went to church at 11:30.  Jake has a new friend that attends that service, so we’ve been going in the morning to be able to see them.  Britt invited that family to have lunch with us after church as well.  We found out Emma and Jody (the mom) know a lot of the same Mulhall people and they had a GREAT conversation!  It’s fun to meet new people!  Later in the afternoon it was time to get Emma back to Orlando.  Lara was along for the ride, but we decided she needed some driving practice since Driver’s Ed ended 6 weeks ago and she hasn’t really driven any since then.  Look who drove us back to Stillwater:

And look what showed up in the yard while we were gone:

Later in the evening, Lara went up to the school to shoot hoops with Dad and Jake (our hoop took a tumble in the storms earlier this week; jury is still out on the condition of the equipment) and Dad let her drive home from the school when they were done.  She is doing a really good job!  But I’m glad we have several months of practice still!  Three more months till permit time!

Things just keep getting busier and busier as high school gets going!  I can't wait for what next weekend holds!