An Update for the Family

Most of my posts seem to be about all of our critters, with a few scattered here and there, of my 3 kidlets. I started this blog (and my original blog) over 5 years ago mostly for keeping a journal and for sharing updates with friends and family from out of state. I’m pretty sure the critter posts are not as well received by my Dad and Stepmom as are the posts that contain photos and updates of Jax, Jem and Jen.
So, since it’s been a while, here’s a post for the Grandparents so they can have a little peek into what we’ve been up to.
(Note: If looking at lots of photos of someone else’s kids is not your cup of tea, then you’ll probably want to stop reading……..now.) 
Jax and Jem had one of their best bud’s Chad over for an awesome fun sleep-over to celebrate his birthday and then went over to Chad’s house for a big co-ed birthday party.
(I told them to act silly, but instead it looks like they all have to go to the bathroom)

We all went Letterboxing one afternoon, after picking up Ranchman John at the airport and found 4 Letterboxes around Albuquerque. We had a great time hiking and just hanging out together. It was fun to visit Tingley Beach again. Hard to believe we used to live right across the road from these little lakes, at The Beach Apartments, over 19 years ago. Where has the time gone?
(And how is that I can buy pants that fit my sons and then just a month later they are already looking too short? Jax and Jem are already over 6’ tall and tower over me and won’t be 15yrs old until February. Quit growing already, ok?!)

I took the kidlets ice skating recently with our homeschool group. Jen was too afraid of the slippery ice (I don’t blame her) but the boys both had a great time, although it sure is cold in the ice skating rink.
 

Since we were there during the week, our group basically had the entire huge place to ourselves.

I was almost wishing I had donned some skates myself, but my knee still isn’t always reliable and sometimes gives out on me. But Jax and Jem skated for about 2 hours with some of their friends.

It’s a pretty neat Ice Skating Rink nestled into the foothills of the Sandia Mountains, right below the Tram. There’s two separate ice rinks connected by two tunnels. And they’ve got several Ice Hockey Club Teams that practice and compete there, and while we were there we got to watch several figure skaters practicing. They were really good! I like the fun decor, too.



While Jen and I sipped hot cocoa, Jax and Jem seemed to have a good time out there on the ice.
 

Jen is still very active in her Girl Scout Troop. In fact she participated in our Troop’s Bridging Ceremony last month and is now an official Brownie. (Sorry no photos. I forgot my camera, but I’m hoping some other Moms will share the ones they took with with me)
And Jax and Jem are active in their Boy Scout Troop and are quickly moving up in rank advancement. They have been busy studying and attending classes to complete several of the Eagle Scout Merit Badges. Their Troop’s Court of Honor is next week and they are very excited and I am very proud of them. (I’ll try to remember to take some photos)
Jen, Jem and I went with our homeschool group last week to play some indoor miniature golf. The owner was homeschooled and was so happy to have us there that she gave us all pizza and drinks for free. She also let us play golf in the dark, which was really cool!
(Ice Hockey on Hole #11)

Jax stayed home because he was feeling a little under the weather. I think he was concerned that we’d be playing outside, but he needn’t of worried because, although it was only 25F degrees and snowy at home, down in Albuquerque it was in the 40F’s and completely snow-less. Besides we were playing indoors anyway.
It was too bad, because one of his best friends, Bri was there, and the place had WII. Bri had to settle for Twin B to hang out with this time.
 

Jen watched some Kung Fu Panda after we finished our 18 Holes.
 

And we had a great time playing miniature golf together. Jen kept asking me to take lots of photos, which was quite challenging to do in the dark room.
But here’s a few (or more) to share:

Jem is always so good with Jen. They are very close.

Such a nice lion to give rides to visitors.



New Mexico Golf Sharks are very dangerous.


Jen really liked this race track obstacle.


This was my favorite hole for it’s creativity.

Another safe rattlesnake to visit with.

A lot of thought went into making each obstacle.

The castle and dragon in the moat was very cute and fun.

That windmill spins and is difficult to get the ball inside the doorway. But Jen did it! Jem had to go around. lol!

I thought this picture was cool with how it picked up the spinning of the windmill and made it look solid.

You make the 18th Hole and a little train went around a track among a village of cute houses. Choo Choo!

This is going to be a very busy week!
This week Jen has her Girl Scout Christmas Party/Cookie Baking Party. That same night, Jax and Jem have their Boy Scout Meeting. Later this week we’re all going to the Albuquerque Bio Park’s River of Lights display at the Botanic Gardens with friends. Jen has her Music Class and I’ll be attending my Homeschool Mom’s Christmas Luncheon at the end of the week and the boys have their Patrol Leader Training over the weekend. And then there’s the Boy Scout Court of Honor this weekend, too.
Thankfully the following week, the week before Christmas, will be much quieter and less scheduled. This week promises to be the storm before the calm.
And speaking of storms, we’ve got another one coming on Tuesday with predictions of it dumping another 5”-10” of snow on top of all the snow we still have on the ground from last week’s previous snow storms that left us with 15” of the white stuff. Oh Joy!
And to add insult to injury, our roof is leaking in two places and more snow is just going to make it worse. The boys and I are going to try and patch it up tomorrow, but there is a lot of ice up there to deal with. And something else with bad timing……the washing machine. I’ve been without one for two weeks now after ours died one day. Not fun. And with Ranchman John working in Phoenix for 7-14 days at a time, all this stuff can be very overwhelming.
One positive thing is that the kidlets and I did manage to get the Christmas Tree and decorations up on Sunday.

The sparkling colorful lights, although beautifully festive, don’t help get my mind off of the fact that I’ve not gotten any Christmas shopping done yet. Sigh.