3 Strikes and your out!

This was strike one for Kya. She got into my favorite tube of lipstick and painted a thick coating all over herself. She was making herself "pretty". She also wiped it all over our hardwood floor in our bedroom and stained the sheets with it. Kade and I looked away a lot so she wouldn't see us laughing at how she looked. The following picture was taken without her knowing because we didn't want to give her any positive attention for what she had done. When I told her to go get into the tub she did and proceeded to wipe her hands and body on every part of the bathroom, especially the tub - as you can see. This is a pretty normal 2-year-old thing and was a bit comical, although quite messy.
So, the lipstick was strike one. Lotion was strike two. If you remember the show "Double Dare" and their messy challenges, you would think that the lotion spread all over both bathrooms including mirrors, floors, etc. was straight from that show. Small hair rubber bands were also involved in this mess, which are difficult to pick up while coated with lotion everywhere.
Strike three is by far the worst and most horrific. It is December 23rd and we need to go to the Church distribution center to finish the Christmas shopping because it will be closed on the 24th and 25th. The place is packed. All 50 waiting numbers were taken and all the people are packed into the tiny space of the Church distribution center. There is a cute wooden ball shoot that my two older daughters are playing with while we are waiting and I am wrestling Kiera as Kade orders what we need from the counter. I smell poop and wonder if Kiera needs a diaper change. Kya is potty training and wearing "big girls panties". When I realize that Kiera is not the source of the smell, I look over at Kya. Kya is smearing poop all over into the Church distribution center carpet!!!!! It turns out Kya's unders weren't quite covering one cheek all the way and so she just went instead of telling us she needed to go to the bathroom. I'm not sure if she thought it would disappear if she stomped and rubbed it into the carpet, but she did. I promptly took her to the car and had Kade take the other two and our stuff to the car while I went back, blocked off the area and was horrifically embarrassed at the mess and smell as 50 people watched me scrub the carpet in the tiny room. After that - the third strike - I needed a big 'time out'. I'm sure in the future this will be hilarious to look back on, but today I'm just grateful the day and messes are over. We will see what tomorrow holds.

Merry Christmas from us to you!

We hope you all have a wonderful Christmas and this new year brings you all much health and happiness! Love, The Cheesmans (Kade, Kelli, Kari, Kya, Kiera, & our surprise in early June)
Kids make taking pictures a very comical experience - aren't digital cameras great! Those are our pomegranate bushes all beautiful with yellow leaves in the background. This is our first year to get any fruit from them.
We loved having FHE at the Temple Grounds to see the beautiful lights and the Nativity. Kya has been singing "Happy Birthday to Jesus" ever since then. "Silent Night" is the next most sung and then "Jingle Bells". We love singing, especially Christmas songs.

Ready or not, here comes another SURPRISE!

Wow! We are having baby #4! SURPRISE!!! I have lost about 45 pounds and can’t seem to not get pregnant. We have had two pregnancies, both ending in miscarriages on the pill since May. After the second miscarriage I told Kade I couldn’t handle anymore miscarriages so we decided to stick to our plan to have our last baby in another year. So, we doubled up on birth control and I was pregnant two weeks later. It has been a risky pregnancy and I have been in denial about it for the first three months because I was afraid we would have another miscarriage, but things are looking good now and I am allowing myself to get excited.
I am 15 weeks along and we have heard the baby’s heart beat twice now. The baby should be here in the last week of May or first week of June – at least school will be over. When our last baby comes Kari will be 5, Kya will be 3 and Kiera will be 18 ½ months. It should be pretty crazy, but one thing is for sure in life – you can’t plan everything! I am a planner person and tried to plan it out, but our last two have been surprises and we are greatly blessed. The doctor said because all my children’s births have been C-sections that we need to be finished, so this is the last one we will be bringing down. We feel very blessed and Kari and Kya are ecstatic about the new baby coming. Kari was telling people a month before we told her that we were having a baby. Kade and I are a good team and it definitely takes both of us to raise our girls. We are grateful for our family and that the Lord provides a way for us to accomplish all the things we need to do! So, coming this June is baby Cheesman #4!

Kari's Christmas Dance Recital-the most hilarious thing ever!

Kari is in tap/ballet combo class again this year and their dance is “Frosty the Snow Man”. I take her to dance so I know what the dance is, but I have asked her to teach it to me at home so she will practice and because if you can teach something to someone else then you really know it. So, we put on the music and she shows me how to do the dance. I follow her and do the steps. She occasionally stops to help me improve a movement and we do it again. At one point she watched me while I performed for her. As I performed she would cue me on making my hand actions bigger and where to make sure I sang parts of the song. She praised me at the end telling me what a great job I have done. I love her being such a cute little teacher. It is so fun to see how she mimics the actions, directions, and praises that her dance teacher gives her.

Thanks to Grandma Creta for helping us steam Kari’s tutu and to Grandma Beth, Grandma Creta and Grandpa Brian for coming to the dance recital. The dance costumes remind me of the osterages dancing ballet in “Fantasia 2000”. I love how fun Kari’s recital was, we are so proud of her!

Kya is also in dance this year and she loves to dance, but she really does not like to dance in front of other people so we pulled her from the show and she is much happier to wear some dress-up make-up and sit in the audience and watch others perform. She does do her "hipopotimus" dance so cute with just us at home.

Kari's number was toward the end of the show and all her class went out to start their number. Kari did her first tap shuffle and her shoe went flying behind her. We all looked to see what she would do. She was definitely shocked and looked back at her shoe, not sure weather to stop and get the shoe or keep dancing. She decided to keep dancing and she didn't miss a beat! She would occasionally look behind her to see if the shoe was still there, but she kept on going! You could tell it was a bit awkward for her every time she would tap with that foot and there was no shoe there. The little girl next to her was sooo distracted by the fact that Kari didn't have a shoe. She would point down at Kari's shoeless foot. At the very end of the dance she gave a nano-second bow and ran back to get her shoe before all the group shuffled off the stage. We were all laughing so hard during the performance that we were crying. As Kari went off stage we did extra loud cheers and shouts! As I greeted her off stage and hugged her, I told her what an awesome job she did. She said, "Ya, I did pretty good, except I lost my shoe - but I got it back now."After the number Kari asked if she could finally get her flowers. I was so happy to give them to her. She smelled them and held onto them like she had just won the Miss America Pagent. While we were walking out to the car Kari said to me, "Thanks for growing these plants for me!" Kade and I were laughing so hard! We have a garden and we do grow roses in the front yard, I guess she just figured they were from home instead of the store. It is amazing how much joy and humor these girls bring into our lives.

Even though it was late, we did take everyone out to get an ice cream treat at Dairy Queen. Consequently, we are purchasing a copy of the recital DVD, we just have to since Kari lost her shoe and handled it so incredibly. We still just start laughing when we think of it. I'm sure we will show clips of her preformance at her wedding reception in the far future.

Kade's Karz: Pontiac Firebird

This is Kade's lastest project, a Pontiac Firebird.
This is after he has done some body work and painted it.

This was before Kade painted the car, but you can see where he has done some bodywork on it from the gray bondo spots.

Snow Day!

Kari is a ruthless snowball fighter, and a winter/snow loving girl. She enjoyed the snow the most out of all of us!
Kya was the most bundled up and was finished being in the snow after one snow ball hit her, although it did not come close to penetrating through the layers of coats.
Kiera wasn’t sure what to think of it at first, but she liked to eat it so it was pretty fun.
Kade and I had lots of fun. Kade and Kari made a snow man that turned out looking more like E.T. than Frosty, but it was sooo much fun!





School was canceled on Thursday December 18^th due to lots of snow here in sunny St. George. The last time I remember a snow day where they canceled school was during my senior year in high school in 1997. None of our kids are in school, but I am so I was thrilled to just hang-out with my family and play in the snow!

Lights and stomach flu

Here is part of our cute home in St. George with our pretty Christmas lights up and twinkling. They helped us feel better as we had the stomach flu this weekend. Kade was the only one who didn't get it so he was cleaning up after the girls while I was in the bathroom. I think I had it the worst of any of us. But, it was very nice to look at the lights while we cuddled together.
This is our Christmas tree. It leans a bit because Kiera pulls on it, but it adds more character. Kari and Kya did most all of the ornament decorating, except for the ones dad helped with on the top. It is awesome because some branches on the side have eight ornaments on them. The girls are so proud of their work. I think they should get to put on the ornaments every year! Christmas with kids is the best!

We be knitting fools

We like to make our kids something homemade for Christmas and this year I learned how to knit. I use a loom and it is sooooo easy. I even learned how to make a scarf on a loom as well. With the super bright hats we let the girls pick out their own yarn for my first hats. They are really bright, but they love them. I made the cute fuzzy hats below them for their Christmas presents, they are now wrapped up under the tree. It is hard to see in the picture, but there are black fuzzy hats too for ladies and a manly hat in the back of the picture. I did make a hat to go with the scarf, but I left it at grandma Beth's house.
Kade decided to try out making some hats and here is the proof. He makes good manly hats. He is more creative than I was with his cool stripes. It looks even better when he wears it, but everything looks good when he wears it.
Kade was caught in the act. He noticed I was snaping the picture and threw the loom to the side, but he didn't take the hook out of his mouth in time. Oh, his eyes are doing much better and he can see nearly as well as he did before, he can only tell how bad his vision is when he puts on his glasses. His left eye should be all the way healed in about 5 months. We are very happy with the progress. He also has finally been able to get down in the 100's with his blood sugar, but not consistantly yet. It is amazing how stress on the body will affect blood sugar.
Yes, I did sneek in a picture. My husband is so multitalented!

Getting ready for Christmas

This was at our ward Christmas party last night, it was called "A Night in Bethlehem". It was sooo much fun! We dressed up in our robes and towels and pillow cases. We 'paid our taxes' of canned goods and received some 'gold' (gold pained lima beans) to purchase our food from. We went around to all the little shops and bought fruit and veggies, pita bread, cheese, shredded beef, and 'wine'. There was a bakery of cookies and a gift shop where we could buy frankensence, gold and myhr. The kids could make wooden bead necklaces and we all ate on blankets on the floor. The culteral hall was decorated so well and the primary children put on a Nativity scene and sang many Christmas songs. It was wonderful! We had a great time!
The girls were helping Grandma Beth decorate her Christmas tree. Kari is the only one that wanted to be in the picture.
Kiera is helping grandma sort out her gold bling-bling beads to put on the tree.
Kiera loves the bling-bling beads. We will see if they really end up on the tree, or only on Kiera.

Cheesman Cousins

Here are all the older Cheesman cousins (missing is Halie, Kiera, Karlee and Cloee). Starting in the front and going around are: Kari, Kambree, Daycee, Kaylee, Haylee, Kylee, Kya and Ben.
Here are Kambree and Kya, they love apples.
Kade is holding Kiera and Berke is holding Karlee. These lucky dads are surrounded by girls all the time!

Making Chocolates

Kade's family has this great tradition of dipping chocolates with just the adult girls while people are still around on Thanksgiving weekend. The adult guys go shooting. Dipping chocolates is a yummy way to start all the Christmas festivities.
Pitcture: Grandma Pat is holding Cloee (Brittany's new baby), Shelly, Kelli, Brittany and Creta






This year we enjoyed every kind of chocolate covered nut, dipped pretzels, dipped homemade carmels, fondant chocolates of mapel and mint, dipped marshmellos and cookies.