How you know you're not spending enough time with your cheese balls and why you should do it NOW!!!!

School started this week and we got back on our schedule of early morning scripture reading to accommodate everyone's comings and goings.  I arranged to have it start 10 minutes earlier than last year so I could squeeze in some exercise time.

I was so proud of myself as I left my house all ready to go at 6:15 on Tuesday morning only to find the universe was conspiring against me and the gym was closed for the first week of it's 2 week annual deep clean closing.. Drat. I forgot.  (Shows you how long it has been since I went to the gym)

I was, however, UNDETERRED! Mason had decided to go play basketball at the gym while I was on the elliptical so he was with me and I asked him if he'd like to go walk around the hospital mile path with me.  He did.  He had his soccer ball with him and I listened to my ipod while he dribbled and ran and kicked within my field of vision and we got a mile in.  (He probably got 2 miles to my one)

Wednesday morning we started out again, this time determined to get in 2 miles since we wouldn't be wasting time driving to a closed gym.  He stayed right with me and i never turned my ipod on and we had a great time talking and walking.

I was feeling pretty good about spending time with my little munchkin but it obviously wasn't enough because that night he said "mom... are there any extra jobs I could do to earn special time with you?  we could play soccer or something"

Is your heart melting right now??? Mine was. Melting and a little pinched with guilt for being so darn busy.  I said "no job necessary! Lets go play soccer instead of walking tomorrow morning."

His answering grin was a sight to behold.

We had a great time.  He had me play goalie so he could practice his kicks.  I was dismal.  I am just not able to throw my whole body into the save.  I'm a little scared of twisting, breaking or pulling something but still.. I did try.  Then he practiced goalie and I tried kicking.  I did much better at offense and even scored a couple points.  It was so fun and my heart was pumping and my boy was smiling and it was a good morning.

After school he walked in the door in tears, his soccer ball in his hands with a gaping hole.  "What happened??"

He had thrown his ball to his friend as they walked home.  His friend dropped it into the street and a big truck ran over it.

I'm so glad I didn't put off the playin!.  I know he will get a new ball fairly soon as he eats, drinks and breathes soccer,  but saying yes! today made me happy and him happy and that little pinch of guilt that regularly squeezes my heart since I started school lessened just  a tiny bit.  I hope he keeps telling me what he needs and I hope keep listening.

Future Engineer?

A little while ago, before the trees began leafing....

(I'm SOOOOO behind in my posts!)

Mason called me outside to show me something INCREDIBLE.  

"you've got to come see this right now mom!  I invented something."

He was very proud of his teeter totter and his sister and next door friend thought it wasn't half bad either.  Don't worry, the cutie-pie in the dress had shorts on.  This was "untreated" wood after all.  Samantha is wearing gloves to protect her hands from splinters.

As with any invention-  there are always a few hiccups and readjustments.  Teeter tottering right off the old chair was one of theirs but they took it in stride!  A little readjustment and they were right back in the saddle going for more!

I love this kind of old-fashioned creativity with junk and free time and the great outdoors.  It makes me happy to see them doing stuff like this and not just sitting around watching TV.

Ever heard of a Shipoopi?

I hadn't until Jacob tried out for his first junior high play.

It was "The Music Man" which I had never seen before.

Jacob made his stage debut at the end of April after practicing for most of March and April.

Both of his older sisters enjoyed the drama program at the junior high and he has decided it's something he likes too.

He missed tryouts for the fall play but had lots of friends in it and they told him all the fun he was missing out on and encouraged him to tryout when it came time for the spring play.

He was excited to be cast as

"a River City teenager"

and a

"Shipoopi Dancer"

When he first told me he was a Shipoopi dancer I thought he was making it up and trying to trick me. It sounded too odd to be real but it is. I had to look it up on youtube before I would believe him...

Doesn't he look great?

It's just what the well-dressed River City teen should look like!

They supplied the knickers & suspenders but we went to a 2nd hand store and picked up the green collared shirt and lucked out to find the hat on clearance at Kmart!

His Sunday shoes and socks finished it off nicely and so we got off pretty cheap in the costuming department. I've had friends at work tell me horror stories of the $$$ they had to drop costuming their kids for plays.

He was also in the band so he got to wear this costume as well. He said it was very hot!

When we saw him afterwards his poor head was streaming sweat. yuck! I feel sorry for the next guy that has to wear that costume!

I hope he put on a double dose of his Old Spice before going on stage....

We had so much going on the weekend of his play performances that we had to split it up. Samantha got to go see it during the day on a field trip with her class.

Rachel, Mason and I went on Saturday night and Mark and Carly went on Monday night while the rest of us went to the elementary school for a program Mason and Sammy were involved in!

He had a lot of fun and I think he'll try it again next year.

In the band video, it's pretty shadowy but I think he's the one front and center.

In the other two, look for the green shirt. I tried to keep him centered but it's not such a great camera! :O

(and I'm not such a great photographer....)

There's a thing called creature: more Mason circa 2008

There’s a thing called creature, invisible to grownups but not kids

I read a book about them. Its true. They can froze you.

If I saw one, I would say, "Hey creature, wanna present?!!!!"

The creature would say "Yeah. I want my present!"

Then I will yell "STAY AWAY"

(picture Mason doing 5,000 karate chops)

" and then I will be a hero."

Mason age 5

I found an entry that I never finished or posted. I was trying to relabel some posts and found this little gem that is so dang cute I can't let it sit unposted....

My brother and I were just talking about this younger Mason who used to go on spy missions at night. His imagination is still pretty good. I miss this little guy though. He was always on one adventure or another.....

Mason 9/24/08

Mason has found an old kid's tape recorder/kareoke machine. It has become his favorite toy. To him, the microphone is very versatile.

Not only is it a microphone-

depending on his mood, it morphs into a vacuum, a bomb thrower and a machine gun.

Here is a recent conversation we had regarding the tape player:

Mason: "I can't go to school today because my concert starts at the same time as school."

He shrugs his shoulders and starts to walk away singing "a tooty tot, a tooty tot, a tooty tah tah"

Me: "Well you'll just have to change your concert."

Mason: "I can't! becuase I have to practice my art."

I became a little upset at that point and cut the cord off of the microphone. (I don't know why I went that far. He must have been refusing to get ready for school or something...)

Mason got upset... Then replied "well, I don't need batteries mom."

Me: That's an understatement"

Mason: "What's that???"

Rachel, Running & Rome

I haven't had a chance to report about Rachel's play.

We went opening night.

It was a fun play, one of the cutest I've seen there. The only one I have liked better was Nifty Fifties which was Carly's 8th grade spring play.

Rachel had several solo parts in songs and she did a great job. In my humble opinion, she had great stage presence and was about the cutest thing up on stage.

She was the Princess' maid so she was in most of the scenes. She had several speaking lines. In her past 5 plays she's only had one line, if any at all, so this was a big change for her. She missed being in the big "townspeople" song and dance numbers but having her own speaking and singing lines helped make up for it.

Most of all she LOVED her costume. It came from one of the local playhouses and she felt very pretty in it. Because she had one of the main parts for this play she got to have her hair done by one of the parent helpers who always helps the main characters. It was more elaborate every night and she loved that attention.

All in all, it was a great ending to her Junior high stage career.

She's not thinking she'll continue with drama in high school.

She has joined the jr high track team this spring and went with the cross country class instead of the drama class in her schedule for next year .

During the last few weeks of play practice she attended track practice only a handful of times as they let her keep her commitment to the play but now that it's over she's had track almost every day after school. She loves it.

She had her first track meet last week and bested her personal records in practice for the mile and the 800 by about 30 seconds each and they haven't got the scoring all in yet but she thinks she took first or second in her age group for both her events.

When she got home she was so excited, on her own little personal high. I could tell she was waiting to be asked so I said...

"How'd you do?"

and she exclaimed (and I mean EXCLAIMED!!!!!)

I Was A BEAST!!!

and went on to tell me her times. She was very happy.

She has a very quiet competitive streak in her. I remember noticing it first when she played soccer. She wanted to be on the field all the time. She didn't say much but she hated when the coach took her out and she played so hard and so well they didn't' take her out much.

She has a track meet at her school this week so I'm excited to be able to watch her in action.

In need of some fun? Get yourself a walnut wacker!

The other day, Jacob approached me with a request. He waned to use my pruning saw.

As you can see it's got a pretty gnarly serrated edge. I was not very comfortable with the idea at all and asked why on earth he needed to use a saw....

"The neighbors said we could cut off some sticks from their stick pile"

"What do you their need sticks for?"

"Weeeell...... They make really good walnut wackers!"

Well. Of course. Everyone needs a good walnut wacker.

I suggested they use the long-handled pruners.

It seemed a good idea to have their hands farther away from the blade and to not have them involved in any sawing actions near their cute little unblemished legs.

There was such joy and abandon involved in selecting and trimming and jumping on sticks I had to get my camera.

Jacob's best friend was here for the fun.

He and Jacob get along great. He's one of those kids you just love to have in your house and in the midst of the stick cutting and jumping about he waxed philosophical..

He got a thoughtful look on his face and explained it all to me this way:

"To most people, it's a pile of wood. To us, it's a pile of fun."

A simple truth.

Simply fun.

Who needs a Wii?

crafty like that

My Rachel is surprising me with her creative independent crafting.

Remember last month when she got busy without a word to me, got out her sewing machine and made her own "Cats" costume for her choir program?

Her play "When in Rome" opens next weekend. She is the princess' maid. This is her final Junior high play. Her biggest role. She's pretty excited. She wanted me to advertise on my blog so here's the shameless plug:

"When in Rome"

Opening Friday, April 1st at 7:30 pm. Also playing Saturday, April 2nd and Monday, April 4th at 7:30pm. $3 per person or $15 per family.

Anyway:

She found out this week at practice that she needed some Roman looking sandals for her role.

She mentioned it to me and then before I had a chance to think about doing anything about it.... She had thought about her silver flip-flops, rummaged through my sewing box of odds and ends, found some elastic, hot glued it to her flip flops and then colored it in with a silver sharpie.

I was most impressed and can blog about it in all the free time she's saved me wherein I don't have to cull the shoe bins at DI and Savers looking for appropriate sandals.

I must say I have a little teary pride in her frugal craftiness.

And besides that....

I'm somewhat envious of that hair. I wanted hair like that so desperately when I was 14.

I had a regular perm. I had a spiral perm. It never, ever looked even remotely close to that good.

Time to play

It seems all my children are destined for the stage. The only one who hasn't taken part in some type of play this year is Jacob. He may be my holdout.

Samantha was in a shakespeare 4H afterschool club last semester and they did a very abbreviated version of "A midsummer Nights dream" at the parent showcase. She was "Hermia" and seemed quite comfortable on the stage. She also took part in an activity day play last summer. She was the "wicked stepmother" in a spin on cinderella. I didn't get any pictures of Hermia and the stepmother ones are pretty grainy. My camera doesn't take pictures far away very well.

Rachel is currently in rehearsal for the spring play "When in Rome". She is excited as this is her biggest part ever. She is the princess' maid but is a little disappointed to miss out on lots of fun dance numbers. She's in the dancing scenes but just stands there looking "cool". She said "I gave up dancing for lines" and she misses it.

These are pictures from her last play, "Cinderella". She was once again a Villager but was thrilled with the dress! One of the local playhouses rented dresses for the ball gowns. She was so happy with hers and felt beautiful. As she is.

On Friday Mason was in a short play with his school class called "The enormous Turnip". It was only about 10 minutes long but he was proud to tell me "I memorized all my parts" He hammed it up and did a great job. My battery was struggling so what I recorded was in 3 parts. I'm sure you'll only want to watch if you're related! :)

He was adorable however as the grandfather farmer.

Friday night we also went to the high school to watch Carly in her One Act Play called "The Valiant" It was set in the 40's and she was a young woman going to a prison to see if a young man set to be executed that night was her long lost brother. She did a great job and had fun preparing for it.

We are proud of all of our little exhibitionists. I still can't believe MY children are so comfortable on stage. My school was so small they didn't have a drama department but I was part of a couple road-shows and I did enjoy it but was so self-conscience the whole time . I guess they all have enough Mark in them to offset the Jamie when it comes to shyness and fear.

That's a good thing.

F.Y.I.

Rachel's in the Junior High Play that opens this weekend. We're very excited that Auntie Maury is coming from Las Vegas to see her this weekend.

(That's all we could talk about at dinner Maursupial)

Shows are Friday, Saturday and Monday Night at 7:30. Price: $4 per ticket, $15 for a family pass

Rachel is the "farm-gal" with the yellow ribbon in her hair.

Hope to see y'all there.

More Sunday fun

Once again I was summoned to the boy's room to view their creative efforts in at attempt to play AND keep the Sabbath Day holy.  

And now, it came to pass that Mosiah went and did as his father had commanded him, and proclaimed unto all the people who were in the land of Zarahemla that thereby they might gather themselves together, to go up to the temple to hear the words which his father should speak unto them.

Some random Nephites.... in varying shades & sizes.  

We've got with weapons & without, monochromatic or multicolored, skeletal and fleshy.  Any Nephite you want, we got.

Mason was very proud of the temple.  He made sure I knew he made it ALL by himself.  Design, construction, everything!

And it came to pass that when they came up to the temple, they pitched their tents round about, every man according to his family, 

   And they pitched their tents round about the temple, every man having his tent with the door thereof towards the temple, that thereby they might remain in their tents and hear the words which king Benjamin should speak unto them;

I hope my boys remember the doctrine as well as the layout of the tents and towers. 

I hope they will be  steadfast and immovable, always abounding in good works as King Benjamin hoped for his people.  I find myself in a stage of life where everything seems to be moving much faster than a few years ago.  My children are growing up soo fast now it makes my head spin. I'm grateful for moments like this when they simply play and enjoy each other and want me to enjoy it too.  

The Fiddler has fiddled, The curtain has closed, my girls are home....

Gorgeous Golde:  She had lots of lines in lots of scenes and parts in 4 songs.  She was very nervous to have such a big role but she did great.  This is her 4th and final play at the junior high.  It's been a good thing for her.  She's grown a lot.  We don't know what the future will hold at the high school next year.  She would like to continue doing plays.  We'll have to wait and see what's in store for her.

Beautiful Bielke.  She only had one line "we're going on a train and a boat and a..." but she made the most of it.  She was in a lot of scenes with the family as the youngest daughter.  Every time she came on stage, Mark would look at me , squeeze my hand and say "I can't get over how cute Baby Rachel is up there!"  (That's what he calls her all the time)  She just sparkled up there, smiling and making the most of her moments on stage.  

My girls.

Grandma Donna was in town for the wonderfully timed blessing of our newest niece, adorable little Callie Marie, there in her dad's arms.  That's Matt, Mark's brother.  Kei was still here so we had quite the Bocanegra party at opening night.  We took a whole center row at the junior high.  Matt has 6 kids.  They all came and all of ours were there too, except Jacob who had seen it that morning on a field trip with his class.  He opted to go play with a friend instead of going again.    Samantha Grace sat next to me.  OY VAY! you've never heard such chair squeaking, such wiggling, such talking throughout! 

I love this picture of cute little Kei laughing with her 2 uncles after the play.  Abby, my sis-in-law, noticed and we just had to get a picture.  It just made us both happy to see it.  Isn't being with family the best!?!!

Carly with her Tevye.  During the scene where they sang "Do you love me?" they end by walking around and sitting on a bench together with their backs to the audience.  She lays her head on his shoulder and he puts his arm around her.  I guess Mark was a little uncomfortable with all the "do you love me" talk and the arm around the shoulder because at that point, he shouts from the audience "Hey! That's my daughter! Get your hands off her!"   He got his own laughs from several rows in front and behind us.  

This was the first play for the boy who played Tevye.  He had a huge part and he did it really well.  He was on stage almost every scene.   Told you about the beard.... 

My Mom was able to come up from Southern Utah for closing night.  She drove up while we were all in school and surprised the girls.  They were so excited.  Mark and I were able to find a wonderful friend to watch our youngest 3 and we went with her.  When Samantha Grace found out we were going again she said earnestly "I'll be glad to go again.."  I smiled and said "nope! just dad and I and grandma!" 

 It's amazing the things I missed the first time with all the distraction provided by my darling daughter, Samantha.  I loved going again for closing night.  They did even better than they did Friday night.  It was wonderful.  The theater was packed.   On Closing night, the cast received a standing ovation and their drama teacher/play director told them it was the first standing ovation she's had at their junior high in 20 years.  They were pretty proud of that.  

So... life is getting back to normal at our house.  The girls will be home more.  Right now they are wistful about the end of the play.  It's hard to let it go.  

I stand corrected

Okay...

The performance dates for Fiddler On The Roof are

March 27, 28, 30

I believe the show begins at 7pm each night

Tickets $3 at the door.  I believe there is a family deal for $15 but I'm not certain about that.

Put it on your calendars!

we'll see you there.

Carly goes Maternal yet again

The Cast list has been posted for the Spring play at our local Junior High....

Happy Day at our house as there were Two Boca's on the list.

Carly is Golde: The mother. When she went to the original tryouts she was worried she would be cast as Golde because of her past experience as the mother in Hansel and Gretyl. The part she really wanted was the oldest daughter who marries the tailor; "Tzeitel". She came home from the first reading HOPING for Golde. She said after doing some read throughs she loved the character and hoped, hoped, hoped she would be cast as the mother and when she saw her name second from the top next to "Golde" she was overjoyed.

Rachel has been cast as Tevye and Golde's youngest daughter so she isn't one of the three that get married but she'll be on stage alot with the family and she is very pleased. She really didn't want a bigger part than that. She and Carly think it's SO funny they are mother and daughter. I'm glad they are able to have these opportunities to create memories together.