ABC, 123 !!!!

 Well, school is finally back in session! You have no idea how happy Gracie Mae is about that.  I don't think you'll ever find a kid who loves school as much as she does!

On Sunday she had fun getting everything ready to go.  She's old enough and getting more mature so that she can help me do things like this and understand that it isn't happening right now - but, tomorrow.  So as we were getting things ready she would say, " I'm gonna take my lunch?"  And because I wanna make sure she understands it's not going to happen today I'll say " Yep! Tomorrow!" So eventually, she went around the house singing " Tomorrow, tomorrow, I love you tomorrow!"  It was pretty cute!

First thing's first, though - you gotta paint your toe nails before you go back to school! Duh!

Then she helped me make some muffins for the Tears and Cheers PTA breakfast! Such a good helper!

Over the summer, Gracie turned into a "sleeper inner"!  So Monday was a little rough at 6:30a!

Eventually, though, My Happy Girl woke up and was ready to go! She ate her waffle as fast as she could!

And here she is all dressed and ready to go.  I've taken a picture of her on this fireplace for the 5th time now for the first day of school.  She used to be so little standing there and now she looks so tall and grown. Makes me sad!

She was the first to arrive and sat at the table in the cafeteria so patiently waiting for her friends to show up. 

This is her buddy, Gerardo.  While I was helping with the PTA breakfast I got to watch those two interact together.  They cracked me up.  They had to show each other their backpacks, then try them on, then trade and try them on again! So funny! They are double trouble!

This is my lunch date! Isn't he cute!? We treated ourselves to lunch at Chick fil A. He's a good shopping partner!

All in all the first day of school went great! Gracie was so excited to go and couldn't wait to go back today (Tuesday).  She had gymnastics after school Monday and so by the time she got her bath and got in bed she was plain tuckered out!

Zade and I start our new preschool Thursday - we both have butterflies! Yikes!

Here's to new adventures!

Four and Oklahoma!

This summer we went on vacation with my parents, my sister, brother in law and all the kiddos! We rented a beautiful cabin just outside of Broken Bow, Ok.  It was such a nice and relaxing vacation.  The cabin had a private stocked pond that we spent many hours fishing in.  The kids all had fun doing that! We also celebrated Zade's 4th birthday while we were there.  I know, 4...can you believe it? Where did my baby go?! Although, if you know Zade at all you know that something like his age is just a small detail.  He sure thinks he's a big boy! We had a great vacation and were sad to leave! Here's some pics!

 Zade was/is quite the fisherman! He loves it!

Mommy's not so bad herself.  Although, I don't have the patience of a fisherman so I gave up pretty quickly.  But I do love it! It was so nice and peaceful! (Until the bugs start biting you, or the snakes come out)

We took a little train ride through some of the Beavers Bend State Park.  I guess Dad and Gracie are checking out the "safety features" of the train. 



 Matt, Ashley and the kids rode bumper boats in the river. Gracie rode with Ashley.  That's Kennedy behind them. I'll always remember our adventure at the bumper boats. Gracie knocked our truck keys off from the bench onto the deck and they slipped right through the crack and into the river.  I might have spazzed out a little cause I could just see us having no way to get back home because we had no keys to our truck with us. But - between Matt, Ashely, and some nice stranger we were able to fish them out. Phew!!!!

 This is a front view of the house! It was perfect for us! There was a pool table upstairs and a hot tub outside.  We cooked every meal in the nice kitchen or out on the grill on the deck! We had so much fun! The kids brought their bikes and scooters.  The deck was big enough for them to ride around on.  Unfortunately, Gracie didn't understand the concept of the stairs.  While we were in the kitchen fixing dinner Zade came running in looking as white as a ghost and crying, saying something about Gracie and her bike. A few seconds later in comes Gracie crying saying "I fall! I fall!"  She had a bloody lip and everything.  Once we got them both calmed down Zade told us she rode her bike off the deck and down the stairs.  I later found her bike nose down on the steep stairs.  It's a wonder she didn't hurt herself worse! You gotta love Gracie - she keeps it real!  

She also jumped out of the hot tub chasing after a frog! Like I said -keepin' it real!

We forgot candles so we improvised by sticking matches in his Transformers Cake. We're so redneck sometimes! LOL!

Hope you enjoyed our pics! School starts next week for Gracie Mae so look forward to seeing pics of that grand event!!!! Have a fantastic weekend!

Sum, sum, summer time!

Here's some pics of what we've been up to this summer!

My neice and I after we scored some Mavericks NBA championship t-shirts!

That was a fun late night PJ wearing, shopping trip!

Gracie won the visitor contest at our super fun VBS this year!

She got a $25 gift card to Toys 'R Us!

Fun VBS!

It's always fun when cousins come and hang out!

Tristan spent the night with us so we went to the pool.

Zade has since taken swimming lessons and no longer needs those pesky floaties!

Now he's a fish!

When Keegan came over we had to make some s'mores! Yum! (messy!)

We got the whole family together and went to the Fort Worth Cats game!

It's always so much fun and worth the sweating!

Zade loves Dodger!

Our favorite thing to do in the summer is go to The Brazos Drive - In movie!

Zade playing catch with his Daddy while we wait for the movie to start!

The kids getting cozy watching Kung Fu Panda 2 and Thor!

Zade helping his Daddy direct traffic at Irving's 4th of July parade!

Gracie's had a good time going to her gymnastics class every Monday! It's been very helpful for her and a lot of fun! She likes it even more now that we found her a really cute leotard for her to wear!

Well, next post will be about Zade's 4th birthday! (I know, I'm playing catch-up -deal!)

Have a happy rest of the summer - less than 3 weeks left! Stay cool!

What A Wonderful World!

Last Day of Kindergarten!

Toothless!

Zade with Mrs. Jennifer and Mrs. Teri, his fabulous teachers!

Zade and his partner in crime, Ramsey!

(I don't know why my pics always post first - sorry!)

Wow! It has been a long time since I've posted. My excuses are as follows:
1. Matt broke my computer
2. I'm a procrastinator.
Now - moving on......
Here's the latest on the Darter family. We had a busy school year! Gracie finished her Kindergarten year with a bang! She gained alot of things and lost a lot of things in this school year. Some things she gained were new friends. She loves her Life Skills class and came home everyday telling me about what Kaylee, Gerardo, Adalia, AJ and Derek did. And yes, you read it right she TOLD me all about those things. Which brings me to the next thing she gained - a bigger vocabulary!!! She will talk your ear off now! If you've been keeping up with Gracie's progress you know what a blessing that is! We're so proud. We love to hear her talk! Her speech still needs lots of work but her vocabulary is a big one! In fact, she doesn't hardly ever STOP talking. But Matt and I refuse to complain! We just laugh! Now on to things she's lost - TEETH! Four teeth in one school year! Now her smile has totally changed but is still just as beautiful as ever! She's growing into a gorgeous little girl! Another thing Gracie has lost is her box. If you've spent anytime at all with Gracie you know what a spaz she is about her paper, markers, colors, pens, scissors, etc! Well, this was getting in the way of her education and basically everything else and her teacher had had enough and decided it would be best to eliminate this problem all together. Oh my - you would've thought she lost a limb! She was devestated!!!! And poor Ms. Belcher - she had to take the heat for it. Everyone had to know that "Belcher throw my box away!" Ms. Belcher has become famous in our family! This sounds cruel but it brings me to another thing that Gracie has gained - an imagination, concentration, focus, more to life!!!! She's done so good playing and focusing at school knowing they'll be no paper or colors! It's been the best thing for her! So kudos goes to Ms. Belcher for that brilliant idea!
Gracie and her fellow Kindergarteners put on a sweet little program at the end of the year where they sang songs about the sun, rainbows, and rain! Gracie came home singing "You Are My Sunshine" but at the end where it says " Please don't take my sunshine away" she will always add "Don't throw it in the trash". (Still a little bitter over the box incident! Ha!) But it is so nice to hear her singing songs and retaining things like that! Her class actually sang, "Raindrops Keep Fallin' on My Head". So we downloaded and have been playing it a lot. I think it's a very appropriate song for Gracie because it talks about how things just don't go our way sometimes but we can't stop the rain by complaining. I see that characteristic in my girl. She's got the sweetest smile inspite of all her difficulties. But it doesn't stop her from living life and having fun. She doesn't care that other kids aren't too crazy about playing her version of things or think she's different! She's having fun! I hope she always keeps that perspective on life!
The whole group of Kindergartners ended the program singing Louis Armstrong's "What A Wonderful World" which I also downloaded. As it was playing this morning Gracie was just singing away while she was on the floor playing. It made me stop and just start crying my eyes out. Just to hear her sing makes me stop and thank God for her and what she teaches me about life. I know she was brought to this world just for me - I'm so thankful God gave me her!


And not to be outdone - there's good ol' Zade. Zade has grown to be such a big ol' boy this year. He finished his 4th year in preschool! He had such awesome teachers that were able to love him for his rough and tumble self! You wanna talk about a talker?! Woo, Lordy! That boy'll talk your ear off! He keeps Matt and I laughing all while he makes us just as crazy. We've figured out we don't know near as much as our super smart 3 going on 30 year old! He's just like his dad - rough, a smarty pants, athletic, and cute! :) Next year, he and I will be going to a new preschool. We're both excited!


Well, this post turned out to be a lot longer than I intended. Next time I will post about our goings on this summer! Sorry there are no pics! I've lost the USB cable to my camera and it makes it really inconvenient to get pics on my computer. But next time there will definitely be pics. In fact, you can expect another post real soon of our summer fun!

Oh wait! It's your lucky day! I found a few!