Goodbye School....Hello Summer!!!!

Good news: everyone passed their grade and they are each moving up to the next one! Woo Hoo!

Laycee will be fearless 1st grader in August! She is already ready to go back to school, she really misses her bestest friend ever, Gracie West.

We couldn't have asked for a better teacher. Miss Perkins was so cute and such a sweetheart. Lace enjoyed every moment spent in Room 1.

YAY LACE!! You're such a little Miss SmartyPants!! We are so proud of our baby girl who is now our big 1st grader!!

Khayle has officially been promoted! She's out of 6th grade and is now a Sensitive 7th grader....(hopefully that's just hormonal, and soon will pass!)

She did an awesome job this year! She worked her little tail right off! She mananged to get straight A's the whole last semester! Who knew that bribing them with $5 an A was going to work? Maybe it was the threat that they would have to pay me $5 if they got an F!

Probably the highlight of this year was winning a contest and having her piece of art displayed at the Phoenix Art Museum!!


It was a dream come true! Khayle's dream was to have her art on display in a real museum, and she did...how lucky can she be? Her dream has come true at 11, what dream will she have by the time she is 21?

The 6th grade also put on a World's Fair Day. It was a ton of fun! Khayle has an obsession with Canada, so that was the country she reported on. I did help her, but sadly, I did not retain anything about the country. She did a fabulous job, as always, and got an A+ on her report and presentation! We had a great time going to her class and signing our names in the kids' passports as we went around and learned about they countries. I did learn that in Switzerland, the cows that give the better milk wear bigger cow bells! I also learned that if your dad is LDS and went on a mission outside of the USA, you had a bigger advantage...the more crap you had on display for your country, the higher the grade...we tried to bring in a Canadian, but teacher said no...

I took Khayle to get her fingers and toes painted for her big day! She was a tad nervous to be wearing shoes with such a high heel, but she looked beautiful!

There she is getting her big hug from Mrs. Barcia. She also got her certificates while she was up there!

She was very excited to get this Silver award. Talk about a SmartyPants!! Way to go, K! You totally rocked this school year!

Khayle had a nice relationship with Mrs. Hibbard the principal. I honestly think that Mrs. Hibbard is praising God that another Cardinale kid is gone from Hermosa Vista, and that there is only one left!

Khayle has made some very sweet friends...Rachel is in the blue, Jordan is in the tie, and Heather is in the red. We love that she has made such great friends that will move on over to Stapley with her.
And finally, Mrs. Barcia...we loved her so much! She has been the best teacher ever! I begged her to stay long enough to get Lace through 6th grade. She said she would...but we'll see....if she hears about Laycee's reputation, she'll retire for sure!

Almost forgot, Mr. Ashcraft! He was Andy's LD teacher, and the main reason Andy made it to Junior High in the first place. We love him, and he was always so very sweet to K. I think he took pity on her because he knows that she has to live with Andy....

GOODBYE HERMOSA VISTA!! She's outta there!

Grandpa had a little temper tantrum before graduation, so he ended up not going. But K was very excited to show him all her awards!

She also got some cool gifts...but I guess I only got a picture of this one!

K, you are so amazing and you worked so hard this year! It really paid off! You should be so proud of yourself! Keep up the hard work, and get ready to rock junior high! We love you!

I guess at the end of 8th grade, it's really no big deal...because we did not take a picture of Andy...poor baby! He did a great job, and managed to make money on his report cards...and didn't have to pay me. Thank goodness for PE, that's an A for sure! He did a great job, once he buckled down and applied himself. He's getting ready for football, and working his tail off on the field! He's moved up, and now he is a nifty 9th grader....

Andy, we totally cannot believe that you are in 9th grade...you are almost grown! WOW! We couldn't be more proud of our baby boy if we tried! We love you so much and can't wait to see the life God has planned for you!

Sadly, I now have only one kid in elementary school, and even though I have 2 at Stapley, Khayle is in junior high, but Andy will now start getting high school credit for his classes...which makes him a freshman....holy crap!

Quick Overview

Let me just remind you that I do know that I suck at blogging!

I became a great aunt in November. My niece Bethany had Baby Aubrey Shae, and I always screw up and call her Audrey. . . just another thing I suck at! Anyways, I don't get to see her often, but this was the last time I did, and these are my two favorite pictures!

I love the way that my brother, who is now Grandpa GaryLee, and Little Missy are looking at each other. It's just too sweet!

Does she not have the roundest little head ever? And those big round eyes! And even her little mouth is round! She is perfect!

Spring Break happened in March. We wanted to go to Kartchner Caverns, but we didn't buy our tickets early enough. We went to Colossal Cave and Tombstone instead.

Here's my most vivid memory of the whole trip: using the toilet! My God, I wanted to die! I almost puked, was actually dry heaving! When ya got to pee, ya got to pee though! It was a "green" toilet. You know, one of those kinds that collects all the crap and doesn't flush? I still have flashbacks! My favorite sayings (that I could hear between gagging) were: "There's something green way down there" and "Well there was something green AND some red in mine!" I truly was thinking that if God could strike me dead, it would have been OK. I know that Hell is going to be full of these "green" toilets! It was also really great when Lace told Shell about the colors in her toilet ever so loudly in the museum! I am not a nature person, and to quote my favorite detective Monk, "Nature is bad!"

(Map of the Cave)

(It's always 70 degrees in the cave, all year round. But it's humid, so thank God for deodorant!)

(People have destroyed a lot of the beauty of the cave. . . but it was still incredibly magnificent! God must have had a great time making this!)

(I think they call this the living room. I guess the people who put the stairs in the cave used to sit here when they had lunch.)

Boothill was the first stop in Tombstone. It was OK. I took a lot of pictures of the graves, because I'm morbid like that, but I will not post them all.

(Really? By mistake? At least they owned up to it.)

(I stalked this little boy through the graveyard...he was adorable!)

(I took several pictures of him trying to get a good one...his parents were probably very nervous!)

(You just don't see many little boys dressed up like this...Andy would've loved this outfit when he was little, plus I have a soft spot for little blonde cowboys...it's just so American!)

The last stop of the day was the Tombstone we all think of...the OK Corral and such. It probably is quite amazing. They are still old-fashioned, and everything closed at 5. So, we were very rushed, since we didn't arrive until about 4ish.

(One of the most exciting pictures. . .who knew balls were so talented?)

The kids loved the noose...I will admit, I have thought of stringing them up over the years, but never imagined they'd be so excited about it!

(Andy likes to close his eyes while he hangs himself.)

( K, however, likes to have her eyes open and tongue out when hanging herself and posing for the picture!)

(Layceebug wasn't tall enough to hang herself, and I think that K looks WAY too happy to help her out!)

PS: TAKE NOTE OF LACE'S HAIR BOWS. . .I MADE THEM!! AWESOME!

Next we saw the jail. Jail hasn't made a lot of changes over the years, they still like using the bar technique today!

(Shell in jail...kinda has a ring to it, huh?)

(Six in jail, now it just sounds like a Dr. Suess book.)

After getting out of jail, we went to check out the petting zoo. Again, nature is really not my thing, but the animal poo smell was still better than the 'green' bathroom! They gave all the animals funny little names, and that was really the best part.

This is Calamity Jane, a pissed off, one eyed, largest chicken in the world. I don't know if the largest or chicken part are true, but the pissed off and one eyed part are! I don't really like animals, so I didn't bother to take pictures of the others.

We had to walk quickly to get in to the OK Corral before it closed.

I have never been so shocked or disappointed in my life. The gunfight did NOT even happen in the Corral, but outside in a lot beside it! AND...the biggest shock of all? Wyatt Earp, Doc Holliday, and the others were the BAD guys! Holy crap! I always thought that they were the good guys.

I had to try very hard to convince my kids that this man worked there as Wyatt Earp. They were worried that maybe he just dressed up to come visit. Do you think that the scowl present on Khayle's face is ever going to go away? I still see it several times a day!

And finally, the second best picture of the day:

Sometimes, there are just no words!

It Was the Best of Times and the Worst of Times!

Andy is now 14 years old. It has been a LONG 14 years. They have been 14 of the best years of my life. They have been a fun 14 years. So it just seems fitting to list 14 fun facts about my baby boy.

This is what you end up with when he can't make up his mind about what kind of birthday cake or cupcakes he wants...Tony got the job of finishing up the frosting...not the prettiest thing ever.

1. Andy has the BEST dimples in the world. They were the first thing I saw on him when they showed him to me. They are still amazing to this day!

I am too lazy to scan his baby pictures...so this was the first day of junior high...I love those dimples!

2. Andy refused to turn upside down to come out. They even tried to turn him, and he would not cooperate. (Should have seen that as a sign...) He also wouldn't uncross his legs to show us if he was a boy or a girl, so we were surprised. Tony was so excited that Andy was a boy, he cried!

I'm pretty sure that my little man is going to grow up into a wonderful man like his daddy. He sure will look like him anyways!

3. Stubborn, obstinate, and strong willed are some good ways to describe Andy. You have NO idea how many books I have read on how to deal with him.

I may or may not have wanted to do string him up like this before...perhaps I may have even threatened it!

4. Andy still loves to watch Walker, Texas Ranger. He would sing along with the song every time it came on. He always wanted us to take him to Texas to meet Walker. Guess I should have named him Walker.


5. Andy is the 6th grandchild on the Kish side and the oldest grandchild on the Cardinale side.

I just love these two guys so much!

6. Andy is an amazing athlete. He could excel at any sport he put his mind to. He really prefers soccer, and is hoping to be playing soccer for Mt. View next year. He is also going to play football for Stapley Junior High in the fall. Who knew that I was going to raise a football player? Remember how cool we thought the football players were? WOW! Can't believe I have my own!

7. Andy is a VERY hard worker for my parents and sister. Grandpa calls him his 'Mexican' because Andy will work in the yard from sun up to sun down. He has got mowing the lawn down to a science. He can trim trees and bushes. He can pull weeds, but hates to. He has laid over 100 bricks to make Grandma a nice patio in her back yard. He has also pulled bushes and trees and all sorts of stuff for my sister.

A boy can have his dreams, right?

8. Andy is a wonderful son! He helps me around the house by hanging up my pictures, fixing up things that need repaired, and most importantly, in my opinion, he is my scorpion killer! He also takes great care of our dogs. He is getting more responsible every single day! I think he may be somewhat of a 'Mama's Boy'.

9. There is an awesome fish tank in Andy's room. He got a new 29 gallon tank for his birthday, and he has it set up beautifully.

10. Andy is a good big brother. It's not his favorite thing, but he is good at it. I know he loves those girls. Why else would he annoying the living snot out of them on a daily basis? When it gets right down to it, he is good with Laycee and picks her up and flings her around. With Khayle they go out back in my parents backyard and play together for hours sometimes.

A rare moment where the kids aren't screaming and hating each other...and those dang dimples are just so awesome!

11. Andy is my only child who wants to get married and have kids someday. The girls are not real sure about it. I am OK with that.

12. Andy especially loves his Grandma, Grandpa, and his Aunt Nancy. He also loved his Nana and when he goes to visit her grave he usually takes cleaning supplies to clean off the headstone. He has a very sweet and tender heart.

He was very proud when he became taller than Aunt Nancy...I think she's a whole 5 ft tall!

13. Andy weighed 7 lbs 1 oz when he was born. Now he weighs 115 lbs!

14. He has accepted Jesus as his Risen Lord and Savior and knows he will be living eternally in Heaven someday! That is the best decision Andy ever could make.

Andy was so nervous to have to say the word 'yes' in front of the whole church...and I have never been prouder in my life!

We've had some rough roads to travel with Andy. I swear that he had ear infections since conception. He had like 3 sets of tubes, had to have his tonsils out, and had to have one ear drum rebuilt. Yes, he got his ears from me...just not as bad thank goodness! He had to have his appendix out and spend a week in the hospital because it was gangrenous and necrotic, but at least it didn't rupture.

As you can see, having his appendix was very traumatizing for him...here he's taking a break from the PS2 to play Battleship.

He has had a terrible time at school until his learning disabilities were diagnosed, but last year won an award at school for 'Most Outstanding Academic Improvement' and this year is in all mainstream classes with LD support. He has a congenital defect in his lower back known as spina bifida occulta, but praise God, it is a very mild form, and we have a fantastic doctor who is helping with the pain and helping Andy to get his bulging disc back in the right spot. And he is still going to be able to play sports!

There just aren't words to describe how special Andy is. I love him too much! He is just as perfect now as the day he was born on March 20, 1995! God has blessed me so much with my son.