Christmas Card

With both of us in school this year we didn't get around in ordering Christmas Cards, so this will have to do. Not really sure which picture we would have used but probably one of these would have been the family pic.

Merry Christmas & Happy New Years
Love the Bartholomew's!

Christmas Smells

I'm curious on if any of you fill your houses with Christmas smells? Since I can remember my mom always boiled cinnamon and cloves around Christmas, filling our house with holiday fragrance. I love this smell so much that I always burned the Christmas mix on my mission and have continued to do so throughout my marriage. We also always had a real tree and I LOVE the smell of fresh pine. The last few years we have gone with a fake tree and I soo miss that smell. This year we bought a wreath made from real pine that kind of filled out house with pine. I think next year we will buy two or three wreaths.

Let me know what if any Christmas smells you fill your house up with!

The Christmas Spirit

My wife informed me that my last post was too long. So this one will be short.

Remember the Christmas spirit during the Christmas season.

Turkey or Kittens?

I haven't posted anything from Turkey day, mainly cause we have been super busy with finals and we took a total of 5 pictures from a four day Idaho trip. I really can't believe we only took 5 pictures and not any good ones. I don't know if we're getting lazy or just tired of taking pictures or what?

I'm not so sure about both T and I going to school at the same time. I'm pretty sure there is a reason that you finish college as soon as you can out of high school, mainly because it's EASIER!! You don't have kids, a full time job, a mortgage or half the other crap. Needless to say, between Thanksgiving and last week not much got done around our house, the laundry and dishes were stacked to the ceiling, doing only what we needed to get by, the kids were running rampant and wild, oh wait, they do that no matter what. We only have one more semester with both of us in school and then I'll be DONE! I have two more classes and I'm done with school!!! I don't even know what I will do with myself? Not homework!

Back to turkey day. It was a good time. Went to Idaho on the ranch. The kids love it up there and with Cash loving to play outside, made it that much better. Their cat just had a litter of kittens that the kids loved to chase down and catch then lug around. It was great to watch the kids run around after the cats along with the dogs. Watched cash corner this one kitten with the help of a dog, not sure which one the kitten was more terrified of. Cash grabs the kittens tale and just pulls the cat from out under a bush, poor cat. Cash left the ranch that weekend with his hands all scratched up. The poor kittens are ranch kittens, meaning they live out side in the freezing temperatures and don't get much for food from humans. They had already lost 4 or 5 of the kittens and I'd be surprised if any are there when we go back this spring. One of the kittens was missing the fur off half it's tail.

One of my favorite things about turkey in Idaho is black Friday in Idaho. We're about two and half - three hours out of Twin Falls so we miss all the morning specials deals. But for some reason I enjoy going there for black Friday and shopping, kinda crazy I know. We actually did make it into Twin for the Fred Meyer (Smiths Market Place) sale, we loaded up on socks, shouldn't need new socks for a year. Usually we don't get out their until afternoon but for some reason we were all excited to go out Christmas shopping.

NEVER!

I honestly believe this kid is going to be the death of me. He is very unlike our daughter, who besides the recent attitude problems(mostly after playing with her cousins) listens very well and follows directions from her parents. Cash on the other hand, we ask him 4-5 times nicely to do something and he ignores us until we yell at him. I don't think that yelling is helpful and it doesn't make him any more obedient but asking nicely doesn't do anything either.

Anyways, he LOVES playing outside no matter the weather. I believe that he wouldn't come in the house if he didn't have to or if he had someone out there playing with him. He loves playing in the snow and when we get home from places he just stays out and plays. The other night it was late when we got home and asked him to come in the house. It went something like this;

Me: Cash, come in the house please
Cash: NEVER!!
Me and the wife - shut the door and laugh, how can you not laugh at that.
A little later
b: If you don't come in the house we'll give your presents away
Cash: Good!! I HATE presents!! I love Rocks!!
Me and the wife - laughing

Finally got him in the house but he brought a bat with him and started hitting things. T asked him to put the bat away and he just kept swinging it around until all poop hit the fan. We won't go into that but I'm not sure where the bat is now.

He is a sweet boy and cares about others feelings and he is hilarious. It's hard getting mad at the kid while your trying as hard as you can not to laugh. Sometimes we have to leave the room to laugh. We just wish we knew how to get him to listen. Where is the instruction manual?

Seriously! Just sit still!

Taking pictures of kids is like herding cats! It just can't be done without someone going crazy - usually the parents. Sorry for all the pictures but it's been a while since I've posted pics and I wanted to show you all how hard it is to get a decent picture, especially with cash, that kid doesn't sit still for 2 seconds and jet he just doesn't know what he wants. Then when you do get a decent shot the camera or picture taker screws up! It's either blurry or too dark or too bright. Seriously.

This is so cash's personality. His pre-school teachers tell us that he is the funny kid in class. Yea, didn't see that one, haha.

These are only a sample of the pictures we took. Seems like we have to take 50+ pics just to get 1 good shot. I need to get a pro account to flickr then I could post all the pics for you all to see what we have to go through. Although I imagine that most of you already know how frustrating it is. Think that's why I'd rather just take pictures while their playing.

I love when they all play together, it's so fun to watch. Jet thinks that he's just as old as they are and copies everything they do. He also loves to wrestle with cash as long as it doesn't get too rough which it always does but he gets over it pretty quick.

She sings "All I want for Christmas are my two front teeth" pretty good now. The tooth fairy at this house is horrible, it takes him weeks if not months to visit. Who can remember all these things? Seriously?

This guy might just be the heart breaker of the bunch. He looks all adorable and that but don't let that fool you, he has the temper of his mom and dad combined. WOW! This kid can get mad.

Wednesday Tunes

I know I'm a bit early, it's only Tuesday but I'm in the midst of writing papers for finals and when I write papers I like pumping music and this semester its been Timbaland. He just came out with a new cd that I got from Amazon - $4 cheaper then iTunes. Anyway, it's kinda embarrassing admitting this but one of my favorite songs is the Miley Cyrus song. Judge me how you will, but I like it and to make sure you dont get any ideas, I also like Snoop Doggs new cd.

My Life

My Wish List

I don't think much has changed since last year on my wish list, haven't had the extra funds to purchase anything. I have added a few things. So for those of you who didn't memorize what I wanted last year I thought that I would post my list for you again.

So here is my Amazon wish list, now you don't have an excuse for not buying me a present.

No, thats not me

I think that T would have knocked me out if I had twetted during our wedding. I also want to point out that as addicted as I am to technology, I'm not this addicted. There is always someone with a greater problem then me, makes me feel better.

Wednesday Tunes

califone - funeral singers from Califone on Vimeo.

Around the Corner

Black Friday is just around the corner and Christmas is fast approaching. We already have Jets present and we know what Cash and b are getting, just waiting to see if it goes on sale. Well, we think we know what we are getting b. This is the first year that she has made her own list, it is long and it is expensive. Once you get past the "I want everything" her list gets a little more specific. She wants a, dsi, ipod, digital camera, guitar and everything else girly at the toy store.

I really believe that technology is going to be key to our childrens futures and the sooner they are exposed to technology the easier it will be for them. There are also a number of studies that show computer games help develop young minds. We have no issues getting gaming systems for our kids, other then maybe the cost.


We figure that since she was asking for an ipod and a ds that maybe the itouch would be the way to go.

The ipod nano, does have a video camera, plays music, but no games or at least limited games.

The dsi looks really cool and would be fun, but the games are pretty spendy. The dsi does do a lot of cool things as well, it connects to the internet has instant messaging, plays music but a not as conveniently as the ipod/itouch. It also hooks up to the wii, not really sure what it does with that but the potential for really cool is there.

The itouch plays music, games, movies and videos. The apps and games for the itouch are inexpensive compared to the dsi. Found this website explaining the pros and cons of buying an itouch for a young child The itouch connects to the internet allowing for ease of purchasing games and music, it has parental control to prevent the kids from easily raking up the credit cards.

We are leaning towards the itouch but still kinda in the air. Her cousin has a ds and might be getting an itouch for Christmas so either one would work as far as that goes. Some of her other cousins received mp3 players last year for Christmas and b has wanted one since.

Cash wants a dsi as well, but I think that he's too young and destructive. He will be upset on Christmas morning as b is playing with her tech toy but I think this will help him take better care of whatever we get him in the future. "If you take really good care of it, you can get one for next Christmas" Maybe he'll appreciate it more then he does his other toys.

What do you all think? The dsi? The itouch? Are we going overboard for a 5 year old?