The One Where They Turned 18

May 14 - 17, 2020

This one starts a day early,  On Thursday.  May 14.  Because this is the day my baby girls turned 18 years old.  I cannot believe it!

While Oklahoma has started lifting some restrictions - hair salons are back open! - there are still many precautions and quarantine rules in place.  Most businesses require you to wear a face mask or covering of some sort to shop, and we are all encouraged to stay home as much as possible.  Wash your hands, don't touch your face, and stay home if you feel sick or have a fever over 100.4 degrees.  Many places even check your temperature before you enter.  Our dentist and orthodontist are back open as well, so the boys both got their teeth taken care of this week.

Emma Marie and Lara Elizabeth turned 18 years old on Thursday.  They were not together, but we all called, and Facetimes, and sent Bitmoji stickers and memes and all the fun stuff we could to celebrate this special day.

Some of Lara's friends were set to have a picnic lunch together, but before the lunch could happen, they surprised her with a Drive-By Birthday Parade!


Her Dad also made a FANTASTIC sign to hang on the house to announce her 18th birthday to the world.  She was very surprised by this!  But it made an excellent background for pictures.

Even the mailman got involved!
He saw the banner and left this note!

We also had a few birthdays presents for her to open on Thursday evening.  She got some things she will need for college, including a small Instant Pot!  We told her welcome to adulthood - where you get appliances for gifts!  In our big, family instant pot, we made her favorite Crack Chicken for dinner, and she helped make a caramel coconut chocolate cheesecake for dessert.

Friday was the last "official" day of school for both girls.  Emma was working in Newkirk at Napa with her grandpa, and Lara had been done with school or days.  But, I insisted on a last day of school picture!

And no LAST DAY OF HIGH SCHOOL would be complete without the first day of Pre-K comparison pic!  August 2006 to May 2020 - Their entire school career in one pic!

It was also supposed to be the Mulhall-Orlando High School Class of 2020 graduation ceremony.  But, it has been rescheduled for later in June.  In honor of that missed occasion, here are Emma's graduation announcement and social media post about her college choice:

front

back

Now, Saturday was a FULL DAY of celebrations and craziness.  Emma came to Stillwater with her boyfriend, Rhett, early in the afternoon to make the rounds and meet all of Emma's family.  She also had a few stops to make to see family for birthday and graduation gifts that needed to be picked up.  We all met back at our house to celebrate!

Offical 18 Picture!

Grandpa, Nana, Emma, Jake, Finn, Lara, Dad, Mom
Photo Credit to Rhett

Then, the girls and their friends headed out to the Flying H Ranch near Orlando, Oklahoma for a party with their friends.  Still, quarantine style, few guests, trying to remain socially distant.  Emma had her best friend and her boyfriend there; Lara had 2 of her best friends.  A good time was had by all!

Erika, Lara, and Nichole

Rhett, Emma, Erika, Lara, Nichole

Rhett and Emma

Emma and Abigail

First thing Sunday morning, Lara was off on an amazing adventure!  Along with her friend Kendall and their family, Erika, Karsten, and Lara were off to Port Aransas, Texas for a week at the beach!  It was a LONG drive, but they made it safely and are looking forward to a fun week!

Eighteen!  We made it girls!  So proud of you and so very excited about your future!  Keep reaching for the stars.  Your future is SO BRIGHT!  We love you.

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 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!