Mother/son school projects

I have meant to post all year about Jacob's new school and how it's going and if it's been a good thing or a not so good thing, how it's different from his regular school, etc. and I DO need to do that but.......

this is not that post.

Our experience in ALL (Accelerated learning lab)has been such a roller coaster that I think I avoided posting about it on purpose. Now that it's coming to a close, however, I think I can summarize it.

But today-

I just want to show you some of his projects that have required us to work together. It has been stressful at times with me working and knowing I have to actually get up and get ready in the morning when we're putting the finishing touches on a project at midnight but he's fun to work with. I get frustrated with his last minute announcements of a project's due date so we're ALWAYS under the gun but he has good ideas and is able to let me know when I'm trying to do too much and when he doesn't agree with me. He's appreciative of my help and complements me when he thinks I have a good idea and overall I have really enjoyed the creativity of these projects and will miss them.

Jacob has a book report every month.

He is assigned to read a book from a specific genre and has specific project to go along with it.

Some of the reports have to be written a certain way or from a certain perspective or in a special format and some involve creativity.

Back in October he was assigned to read a book from the genre: Fantasy. He chose one of the books in the Ranger apprentice series called "The siege of Macindaw"

He was given paper in certain sizes and instructions on how to cut and past them to make this 4 sided shape. He then had to create 4 3-D scenes from the book.

This months book genre was Historical fiction. He chose a book called "Cracker!" about bomb-sniffing dogs in the Vietnam war. His assignment was to create a character from the book out of a 2 liter plastic bottle and a styrofoam ball. We decided to add the dog. Jacob actually carved the dog's head from a styrofoam ball the same size as the army guys. I was a little anxious during the carving process. First he was using a butter knife and the progress was slow. I suggested he get a sharper knife and then spent the next several minutes telling myself that was a stupid suggestion as I watched in fear he'd cut himself......

We survived. No blood.

(look at our dog tags! I actually had a couple of those little ball chain things from key chains I'd saved in the junk drawer. Sometimes it's good to be a packrat)

I was very proud of my hat. I dont' know if you can see it very well, there's a lot of shadow in these pictures but I gotta say..... It's a great army hat. With my hat making skills honed by January's Tri-corn hat experience I felt very confident. My job even helped me out as we'd been studying formulas for finding circumference and diameter in 6th grade this week. As I wondered how long I needed to cut a strip of paper to go around the outside of the hat a light bulb switched on in my brain "C=pi x d and it worked.

See Kids! You really will use math once you leave high school!

Captain's Log Star Date 4-28-10 6:39 PM

Towards the end of day 3. So far things are going GREAT. It has been easier than I have anticipated. The burping has subsided. I have decided to make a game out of this by facing my temptations head on after an experience that I had at Jakes baseball game last night. There was a guy sitting next to me eating a hot dog. Usually I'm the person eating a hot dog or four. I imagined the warm hot dog tucked away in the nice soft wheat enriched bun, topped with liquid gold, French's yellow mustard. I imagined biting into it, first feeling the soft bun crumple inside my mouth followed by that flavor that only a 25 cent hot dog that cost $1.50 can provide. I then imagined licking the mustard off of my lips followed by the sweet sensation of drinking a Dr. Pepper aka, mother's milk aka nectar of the gods. I was able to resist. Well actually I RAN over to the library. Which was very educational. I learned that letters in a certain order form a word, and that some words together form a sentence, and that many sentences form a paragraph? Is that what it is called? Anyway, back to temptations.

Today I purposely drove past IN-N-OUT, rolled down my window and yelled, "Do your best!" I think I freaked out the guy next to me who was riding his motorcycle. Guess I should have looked before I yelled. He very quickly sped off. (was that you Richard?)

Next I drove past Krispy Kreme, for the ultimate challenge! I saw the celestial sign flashing, "Hot Donuts Now". My original plan was to go inside, smell the goodness, and have the satisfaction of seeing the look on the girls face when she offers me a free donut and me saying NO. I was to much in a hurry to get to my next job so I was unable to stop. I will try again tomorrow.

The BIG FAT Cheese Speaks!

OK. Here is the deal. I love food. Food loves me. Together we have a great relationship. It doesn't matter what kind of mood I am in, I love to eat. I eat for pleasure, I eat just to eat, and then I just eat simply because I can. It's a pretty simple equation. My biggest problem is my appetite. I simply have a hard time getting full. A couple of weeks ago I went to a Aaronic Priesthood open house at the Alpine Tabernacle. After words my counselors and I decided to go to In-and Out for some chow. I ate two Double Doubles, fries, and of course a lemonade or three. When I was done, I literally felt like I was just starting to warm up! Without exaggerating, I could have very easily ate two more with out even breaking a sweat. Really, I could have. In fact when I got home I had Rachel make me her famous "RFP" and had some snacks while I was waiting for her to finish! No I do not have a eating disorder. For me, it's mind over matter. Period. If I want it badly enough, anything is possible. I'm not going to see some quack diet doctor. I thought about getting my stomach stapled but it would take railroad ties not staples so that's out of the question.

I am 6 ft and weigh 253 pounds. My goal was to lose 40 pounds by June 16th. I was going to start March 1st. I have had two major set backs due to things beyond my control- a surgery and then some torn ligaments. It is now April 26th. There is no way I can lose 40 pounds by June 16th. I think I can lose 25. I know what y'all are thinking right now. You're thinking that I will just gain it all back. My answer to that is so what! I don't care. I just want to see if I can do it!

Now, everybody that knows me knows I can get pretty extreme at times. Well I am about to push the envelope. In order to jump start my famous "life-style lose all you can and then gain it all back change" I am going to attempt a 5-day cleansing program that is guaranteed to shrink my black hole of a stomach. That is right. No food for 5 days. Just tons of water and a total of 59 pills a day. I can't really exercise a whole lot because of my foot, but I'm going to try and walk at least 2 miles a day if I can.

I am a private person. Jamie knows that and that is why most of her blogs are just about her and the kids. She has been asked to leave me out of it for the most part. I am also a very prideful person. For this reason I chose to write this post. Now that everybody knows, my pride is on the line!

So this is my first official log entry:

Captain's log, star date 4/26/2010. Day 1. Official weight: 253 pounds. After announcing to the whole world of my totally insane plan, I have found myself at a crossroad. I now have no choice but to follow through. For breakfast I swallowed 17 pills, all at once. They tasted nasty. I am now burping. Each time I burp that nasty herbal pill taste comes into my mouth. A large pepperoni pizza sure sounds good about now. I would much rather be burping up tasty pepperoni than this wheat germ herbal stuff. If I only had a food replicator.

Tiptoe through the tulips

We went to the Tulip Festival at Thanksgiving Point a week ago when Mark's Mom and Dad came to visit. We love the gardens. They are so peaceful and beautiful in every season. It was lovely to be there with Mom/Donna who loves flowers and nature and beauty. She makes every life she touches more beautiful. We love you mom!

We loved seeing this tiny little grape hyacinth growing under the protection of the daffodils and tulips

We needed a golf cart for Mark and his gimpy foot. There was no way he was up to walking the paths for 2 hours. The kids took turns riding with him.

I had the first turn which was nice until my children whom I was sure had been here enough times to know how to behave started running around like crazy people

Right after they ran through these trees they came upon a little stream in a rocky bed bordered by tulips and pansies. I don't mind letting them run through the grassy areas. Kids need to run right? Well... they ran over the grass, through the trees and then right through a flower bed, jumped the stream and Mason didn't land well which led, of course, to lots of screaming and yelling "ooowwww!!! My kneee! My knee!! AAAGGGHHH there's blood mom! AAAHHH

b-b--b-buuuuhhhllloooodddddd!!!"

I was so proud. Yes- multiple, gawking, spectators, these are my children- My well-trained children who ran through the flowerbeds and jumped the stream and now lie screaming as if they had a toe amputated.

Showing off his sliding skills

There were angels perched around ever corner...

gorgeous color

and even a few surprises. I'd never seen an owl this close before. He/she was nesting on the waterfalls.

(Why do owls always seem male? Is it just me???)

It was cool to watch the robotic looking way he moved his neck almost completely around.

It was a beautiful day. It is so soul inspiring to witness the beauty of the earth and I'm so grateful for the creators of Thanksgiving point. We have loved having a family membership the last couple of years.

like a chicken with her head cut off....

There was LOTS of running around yesterday. LOTS! I'm hoping not to encounter another day like this for some time....

Friday:

2:15 leave work and come home to pick up a check from Mark

2:30 drive to bank to cash check and come home to pick up Carly so she can come run errands with me. She's been so busy lately with play practice, I thought it would be nice to have her along for the ride. I was right.

2:45 head to Wal-mart because I have to pick up a birthday present for Jacob who is going to a birthday party right after school. Rush around Wal-mart, find basketball, elastic for pioneer clothes for girls, and 2 brightly colored tanks for Carly to wear under that little white sweater she bought when she went shopping with you Maury. Rush to less than 20 checkout, think about candy bar, decide to be good, no candy bar. Check watch. We're going to make carpool! yea

3:27 Pull up to Jacob's school. We made it and we're even 3 minutes early. Help Carly finish wrapping basketball. It is not very easy to wrap a basketball in a sort of box and make it look nice. Carly comments, "I'm sure glad this is a present for a 10 yr old boy. He'll never notice how bad it looks!" Watch for Jacob. Listen to Carly tell me about tall, mysterious boy she's been flirting with at school... She likes them quiet and interesting. (Oh Crap! I kind of liked it when she didn't like them at all.....) Jump out of car, tell Carly to hold that thought, see Jacob's face light up when he sees that I managed to get a present here.

***disclaimer: the reason we're running around crazy is because Jacob lost the invitation given to him Monday, told me about it Wed., was told I needed official information like where, parent's info, etc, he brought home Thursday a note written by the birthday boy stating where it was going to be (space center in Lehi) but no parents info so Friday in order to go Jacob had to call me from school with the parent's number so I could call and confirm he was actually invited. Calls were made, invite confirmed which brings us to the rushing like crazy...

I tell Jacob I've spoken to Nick's parents, they will drive him to the party but did he remember to turn in his missing assignments and bring me proof? He proudly hands me a paper which reads

"Jacob has turned in his missing ass.

sighned___(teacher's signature)

I walk with him to Nick's car, meet Nick's dad, tell him goodbye. Run back to my car, show Carly his note. Carly and I giggle. I make a mental note "self: teach Jacob about proper abbreviations and how to spell the word signed"

3:40 Drop off carpool kids and head with Carly to Grocery store. Shop. Freak out for a second at how much it costs to feed a family of 7 and I'm shopping the sales! okay. Breathe.

5:00 Head home. Eat a banana and tortilla chips in car with Carly. Greatful again I stopped for Carly. She's good company. Hear the rest of story about mysterious, tall boy.

5:15 Stop at dollar store for sunflower seeds for my salad and to Kmart because Carly wants to check out shoes on sale. Shoes look weird. Head for home again

5:30 Arrive home. sigh. put away groceries and visit with some friends who stop by.

6:00 Drive Carly to High school for her play tonight

6:40 Back in car with Rachel, stop to pick up her friend Andrea and off to High school again to take them to Carly's play (Mark and I went last night) Come home, fold clothes. I hope I sat down for a bit at this point but I'm not really sure. I think I fed the kids

7:55 Leave to pick up Jacob from birthday party. visit with the mom a bit, watch boys happily running around yelling. Head home. Jacob's sweaty and happy and a little stinky. "did you remember to put on deodorant today?" "ooops, I forgot"

8:30 Rachel calls to say she's ready to be picked up. I look at Mark and plead "Please...." He went. I sat in HIS recliner and ate chips and salsa for dinner. yum.

9:00 Mark arrives home with the Rachel and Andrea. They've decided Andrea is going to sleep over and they are going to watch an edited copy of final destination 2. Not my kind of flick. I think about walking Samantha over to her friend Jenny's for a birthday late-night party since it's right around the corner but I decide I'm too tired and drive her over.

9:30 come home and lay in Samantha's room and watch "What the deaf man heard" a hallmark movie I love.

11:30 Mark announces he's going to bed, the girls decide they're going to make cookies and I am exhausted but stay up since I need to pick up Carly at midnight at her friend Lisa's. (At least she's not out with a tall, mysterious boy)

12:00 pickup Carly

12:30 go to bed.

so we've been busy. Wanna see?

Our Spring Break included:

A rolled ankle and torn ligaments. Isn't that pretty? This happened Wednesday of Spring break which meant Mark was home in his chair for the rest of our time off of school. I got really sick at the end of the week with a bad head cold and spent lots of time on the couch next to him. Mark's being home meant Carly and I did not get to watch lots of British movies left here by Auntie Maury. Drat! There was however lots of tv movies like predator (yuck) I was thanking my lucky stars I had been to the library on Tuesday and had checked out lots of interesting YA lit. so I read several books. I liked them.

May I recommend:

Briar Rose by Jane Yolen

(an interesting twist on fairy tales and holocoust survivors)

Belle by Cameron Dokey

(a fun retelling of Beauty and the beast. too short though, it left me wanting more of the story.)

Water Song by Suzanne Weyn

(an interesting retelling of the princess and the frog)

Rousing games of Phase 10: I get so happy when all 5 are playing happily together. It's getting to be a rare occurrence.

A stick is a boy's best friend. Jacob is never happier than when the neighbors are pruning!

(how many do you think he's got tucked in his pants? I count at least 6 but chances are good that I'm missing 7 or 8 )

And a good cloak?

Well, A good cloak is downright indispensable!

puzzles for the cold snowy days at the beginning of the week....

and finally!

sunshine, blessed sunshine

Carly reveled in the fact that she could read what SHE WANTED and not what was assigned. She read the same ones I did plus Outsiders by S.E. Hinton, one of her favorite books. Samantha has discovered Gail Carson Levine and has read Ella Enchanted, The 2 princess of Bamarre, The fairy's mistake and a few others in recent weeks.

We don't have our Egg hunt on Easter Sunday, trying to reserve that special day for more spiritual things. We usually do it on the Saturday before but this year due to lack of preparation we had it the Monday after which was rainy, windy and cold so we had to do it in the house. Jacob found the stuffed bunny for the 4th year in a row. (we hide one little stuffed bunny for whomever finds it and that kid finds it every year. The other kids are very annoyed!)

checking out the loot!

Snuggling through conference on Easter Sunday

What your hands look like after coloring through conference

Easter dinner involved a dutch oven....

A turkey covered with pesto and bacon

Glazed carrots

Hollow Easter rolls

and dutch oven banana split cake to round it all out.

We had a wonderful week of British movies, yummy cake, antique shopping, and laughing when my sister Maury came to town the week before Easter. She was able to see Rachel's play "Oklahoma" which made Rachel happy.

And we had a quick visit from these two party animals during spring break right before all the coughing, congestion and torn ligaments hit the fan

Thanks David and Jena for a great day. We love you and this picture is old! Jena is blond w/short hair! We need to get the camera out next time you come.

please

I didn't really want to make my blog private but I do have concerns about privacy when I have my kids pictures and names on it.

In an effort to keep some level of privacy I made my blog settings so that it was not going to come up in google searches.

I just discovered that our names do come up however on other peoples blogs when you link my blog and title it "Mark and Jamie Bocanegra"

So I am sending out a little plea.....

If you have my blog linked on your blog....

please link it as "everythings better with cheese" which is my blog title instead of our names.

I would really appreciate it.

Thank you.

love is.....

Mason got a love note from a friend yesterday.

It was covered in hearts and said "Mason, I love you"

He was trying to act cool and nonchalant about it as we passed it around and read it but when I made eye contact with him, he couldn't help his little face breaking into a proud grin . He said "I told her I will try and marry her when we get big"

As I was cleaning out my documents folder today I came across some reflections on "LOVE" I'd jotted down 2 years ago near Valentines day. I'd asked the kids some questions, those are underlined, and typed up their responses. (My unsolicited observations are in parentheses)

Love is......

to be nice and share when we have preschool. we can share toys and cars and the legos and the colorbooks and the books.

will you ever have a girlfriend?

nah... dat’s silly. what about when you get big? um maybe when I get big... her name will be Carly. She will look like the Carly we have right now who babysits me and be’s my mommy. She will say “Hi” I will say “I wuv her”

Someone who loves me, will be nice to me and tuck me into bed.

will you get married someday? yeah. where will you get married? in the temple. why? because I want to. what do you think they will say to you when you’re getting married? be quiet and listen...

Love is good because.... why? just because......

opinions of Mason, age 4

Love is.....

....you care about other people. You help people. and that’s what love means.

What do you do with a boyfriend/girlfriend?

.... you kiss him. you love him. you smooch him. you think he’s hot. And that’s what boyfriend means. I’ll have my first boyfriend in high school. His name will be Octovius I think. He’ll be hot... what does hot look like? It looks like a really cute boy. his hair will be combed and sometimes he’ll lick his hand to put his hair back. He’ll say to me “will you marry me?” and “can I take you on a date?” and “can I take you out with dinner?”

what will you say to him? “I want to kiss you” and “I don’t love you, I wanna break up and I won’t marry you” (she is a bit of a player I think....)

How does someone show you they love you?

... they do an act of kindness like make my bed, feed me, help me with some troubles.

opinions of Samantha Grace, age 6

Love is.....

....(silly face).... okay. actually ... part of life. you care for someone. you respect them. You do services for them... like? ummm... like offer them something... Like? .. like a ride home from their work or something or give them something they have wanted for a long time... like? like a type of book or movie or a board game.

what do you say to someone you love? “i love you” “do you really love me?”

what would she say to you? “yes” “I love you”

When do you think you’ll have a girlfriend? When I am 22. What will she be like? long hair, always happy, black hair, blue eyes, a good laugh.

what will you do on dates? just spend time together and talk, go out to a restaurant sometimes like chuck o rama or Mimi’s cafe.

How would you know someone cared for you? if they were kind, generous, always trying to find ways to help me, especially if I’m down in the dumps, help me with stuff i’m confused about.

Opinions on love by Jacob, age 8

Love is......

when you love someone really dearly and it’s usually someone in your family and you love them so much you want to be able to give service to them. Also, when you love someone you love them so much you would be willing to do anything for that person.

like? like your parents, if you love them the least you can do is obey them and do what they say.

when do you feel most loved by someone? when I’m sick my parents are willing to sit by me and actually like hold the bowl when I throw up which I think is pretty disgusting because I can’t stand seeing Carly or Jacob throw up or even myself, the look of it, the sound of it, the smell of it, all of it is just sickening. At school I can tell when a guy likes me because they try to impress me and follow me around and try to sit by me when we sit in circle time and try to talk to me. what do they do to impress you? for example, the other day, when student council was making a big poster we were cutting out hearts for a project and had lots of scrap paper in a recycling bin and it was heavy and he put it on his head and balanced it for a good amount of time right in front of me and said “hey Rachel look at this” and I just kind of say to myself .... “yeah... whatever” and one boy acts normal around other people but acts like a perfect gentleman around me. For three years he always wants to sit by me and be my partner and talk to me, I’m kind of getting tired of it. gimme a break. (she’s gonna regret that someday, this kid is A-DOOR-A-BLE!!! and he IS so sweet around her)

A perfect boyfriend would be.....

hot and adorable. describe hot and adorable... blond, curly hair....a member of the church, not that touchy( not getting mad easy). He would listen to me and understand and care a lot about me. He would play the guitar, be a good singer. we would be in the same band. He would pay for all the dates that we had. and I would pay maybe a little bit. We would both go to BYU. We would go to every BYU football game.

If he acted like he was tired of me I would know he didnt’ really care.

When I love someone I usually keep it a secret if it’s out of my family.....

If it’s in my family I show them how much I love them by giving them notes, doing whatever they ask me to do.

opinions on love... Rachel Patricia, age 11

Love is....

seeing the inner beauty in someone like loving them for their personality, their inner self, not their popularity and looks and being able to tell them that. Love is caring for someone...

when do you feel most loved by someone? When i can talk to them and tell them how I feel and they understand me and help me and maybe just hugs out of the blue. When they tell me what a wonderful person I am. When they encourage me to do stuff or whatever.

The perfect guy is....

physically....hmmm.. taller than me, dark brown/black hair, blue eyes, not buff but they got muscles. (what was that she said about the inner self?????) strong enough where I feel like he can protect me. ADorable, hot, cute.....etc, etc... don’t need drop-dead gorgeous, don’t really want drop dead gorgeous. why? #1 haven’t ever met one #2 want to focus more on other stuff. I think a drop dead gorgeous guy might be focused on the fact that he’s drop dead gorgeous. I want someone Pleasing to look at basically.. make sense?

nonphysically: He honors his parents, respects them basically. He loves the gospel, he wants to live it, he wants to do the best he can. He’s been on a mission. Righteous. He loves me for me. He wants to have a large family. Kind of patient.... not totally patient cuz I think I’d go insane cuz i’m not that patient. He wants to get married in the temple. He would do things like special stuff on holidays for me.

How do you show love right now w/ family, friends? I tell them I love them. give them advice when they need it. I try to listen to them when they have problems and need to get it out. Hugs, kisses. RE: parents, try to listen to them. When they give me stuff I tell them I’m grateful.

opinions on love..... Carly Dawn, age 13