Surprise Wii (plus snowman treats)

the tipoff

So my wonderful wife and I, like last year, agreed to go the no-christmas-gift -for-each-other route in 2008. That usually means we help the girls find a very little something or two to give Mom and Dad, and we might do something nice for eachother, but no consumerism-supporting gifts.

We’ve been talking off and on about a Wii for our house for a while. For me, it’s a strategy of sorts. I regularly loose the no-TV battle, so I figure the kids bowling and boxing in the living room is better than couch potato city. But (and that’s a big but), we decided not now. Afterall, we were already in cahoots with Santa to spoil our kids much more than normal this year (Mesa and Zo got thier bunkbed, and Santa brought Hope a new computer).

So, it was odd and curious that on Christmas morning, after the floor under hte tree was pretty much clear, Jaim seemed excited adn nervous to give the girls one last gift. She asked them and me to guess. Sure looked like a couple of DVDs to me. The girls thought so to, until Hope examined them a bit closer after tearing the paper off. They were Wii games. What the!…

jenna and hope trying it out

Jaim had been secretly stashing some cash away each month for a while to buy the bos she then handed to me. I was totally surprised–that she bought the Wii and that she kept the secret for so long. So, after a week, I can almost beat Jaimie at bowling. Knocking off my 7 or 5 year old daughters? No chance. And Zoey is the meanest, quickest boxer on the planet–just don’t plan on her going longer than one round. (Uncle Paul has some good video of Zoey knocking the crap out of someone on the Wii–maybe he’ll post it on his blog…)

UPDATE: Here’s Paul’s video on YouTube.

Snowman Treats

Kind of old news, but thought I’d show you the holiday party treats Mesa brought to Kindergarten on the lastday of school before break. She has the coolest Mom.

A Christmas Letter

The Bartmann Christmas Card 2008

Four Ladies and a Daddy

by Jaimie

Merry Christmas from the Bartmanns!..

Hope
Our sensitive, full-of-love caregiver and mother hen.
She has my personality and Joe’s passion to learn.
Currently in 2^nd grade~ reading, writing and first confession.
An author, an artist and boy magnet too.

Mesa
The gatherer, leader and center of fun.
She has my spunk and Joe’s carefree attitude to be who she is.
Kindergarten is how Mesa spends her days.
Dancing, mischief, directing and a heart of gold.
Creative, bling and glamor, a little loud and God’s gift of laughter.

Zoey
Our compassionate, determined, curly ball of love.
An almost-vegetarian, kisses, hugs and farmer girl.
Zoey has my tendency to follow and Joe’s ability to perform with confidence.
Much of Zoey’s time is spent at preschool~ coloring, art projects, programs and learning.
Singing, performing, dancing and more, the entertainer of the house.

Joe
Works for the Green Project in Sioux Falls and Rural Learning Center in Howard.
Changing the world one task at a time.
A man of many talents and passion to do what he loves and give back to the community like he learned from Grandpa Knox.
Spiritual, hikes and nature galore it’s what keeps him energized.

Jaimie
10 years of Human Resources and 7 ½ of being a mom.
No job more important nor passion of mine deeper than teaching my girls to live a life full of love and love in their life.
My calling in life~ no question……FAMILY.

I am so blessed to have the family I do and hope this letter finds each of you a moment to reflect on the important people in life.

Merry Christmas from the Bartmanns!

Our 2008 in Photos

Santas, Swimming, Singing and Such

Been sitting here in this winter’s first blizzard watching the Vikes whoop on the Cardinals this afternoon, and trying to catch up on some bartblog posting. Here’s what we’ve been up to the past week or so.

The kids have seen three different Santas in the past eight days. Guess which one Zoey says is the “real” Santa…Jaimie worked last weekend, so we went to a hotel last Saturday night and spent hours swimming and ordering overpriced food and Shirley Temples…This week was the Montrose k-12 Christmas Concert, so the girls were all fancied up. The highlight was bringing Zoey, Mom and Dad into their classrooms before the big show…Zoey hit the kids’ Christmas party at the Fitness Center on Friday morning, where she made a marshmallow snowman (I think)…We also took our second baptism in recent weeks. this time, it was Mya on Friday night. Never mind we were skipping my first-ever invite to the famed “Aloho” christmas party in Sioux Falls (put on by my new friends at Lawrence and Schiller)…And finally, we spent today cooped up in the house thanks to the blizzard outside. It was movies, football, cooking, a little reading and a really tough puzzle.

Thanks for riding along.

L.o.v.e.

A Happy Christmas wish to all from the Bartmanns.