Whoa....It's been a while...

Geez, yes I know it has been MONTHS since I have posted anything. Sorry to the out of towners who don't get to see Aidan because of my laziness. So here's the major updates...

Jobs: Zach and I are both working at Pope High School. I am teaching Geography to freshmen (gag!) and Government to seniors throughout the day. Zach is in the special ed department there. I was a JV Volleyball coach and Varsity Asst. coach on the volleyball team at Pope this year (where we won the third straight volleyball state championship this year). Zach is a Varsity Assistant at Westminster and is still in season. I am also coaching club for Tsunami (15-1) and we are really just getting started.

La Casa: Well since about May/June we were homeless- yay! Our lease ended on the apartment that we were at and we definitely did NOT want to resign. Our goal was to buy a house, but we didn't want to rush anything, so we moved in with my mom for a few months. We went through quite a process in the home-buying department. Not awful, just lots of offers put out there. Sorry if you are trying to sell your home- me and Zach would have been the people you hated. Last time I checked, we are in a housing crisis, so yes we are going to low-ball you. If you don't want the offer, see ya later, we will find someone who will sell their house for cheaper than you.

The PERFECT house came on the market in a different neighborhood (and city) than we had been looking at. We went to look at it, and it was in our price range. An unfinished basement (at this time, we thought our price range included NO basement, so we were shocked that we could get the space and then be able to work on it in the future).

Our realator Linda Monroe is the most amazing woman ever. She was a long-time family friend of the Darlings and is INTENSE to say the least. Half the time I can't even understand what she is saying on the phone because she talks a mile a minute and has this amazing go-go-go personality. She got to the house before us and happen to see that another house was for sale across the street.- but it was a little out of our price-range and a little bigger than we had intended to buy.

She asked if we wanted to see it- and we did. It was BEAUTIFUL. This was ten time better than the house we thought "was perfect" right across the street. It was a foreclosure, but amazine news- it was on the market just long enough for the bank to come in and put brand new carpets down and brand new paint up- and A FULLY FINISHED BASEMENT. It would be MOVE-IN -READY! WHAAA??? 5 bedrooms, two and a half baths, and three walk-in closets just in the master bedroom. Linda called the bank, and that afternoon they had dropped the price 10,000 dollars from what the listing said. Oh my Lord, this was too good to be true. But it was true, and we moved in late October. We are still in the process of "decorating." What a great problem to have= we don't have enough furniture/pictures/decorations to fill the house. And great news for Zach is that we moved in at the perfect time for him to have ZERO yard work. Oh yeah, and did I mention that they left a huge hot-tub on the back screened in porch? Oh and did I also mention that they took the freakin oven racks out of the oven with them?? Who does that? (Hot tub>oven racks though)

Babay News: Oh yeah, we are having another baby! Baby D2 (I really want to call him R2D2) will be here May 29th (remember Aidan's b-day is May 28th and mine is May 30th). It is a BOY! Amen to not having to buy anything new. He is healthy and happy and moving, and I am gaining weight like there is no tomorrow. I gained 50 lbs with Aidan so my goal is to NOT have a "I am actually a few pounds away from 200" scare again...we will see.

I think that is it for now... stay tuned.

Last Home Game Eva

Long time no talk! Sorry about that. But, the most important thing happened a few nights ago that all of you need to know about.... My dad had his last home basketball game EVER!! He is retiring after 31 years in education/coaching. These are a few of the pictures from Tuesday night's big win!!

Lining up the chairs before every game... OCD

Papa and Aidan

They gave him a rocking chair with his name engraved on it.

As you can see... he didn't get those cheeks from my dad.

Ally we need to get Emily's copy of this picture- I think hers came out better.

By the way- we are going to be in the White County paper... I am going to be famous :-)

Future STAR

He moves so quickly that you can't even capture him well on camera

Will now give kisses. BEST FEELING EVER! Getting a kiss from your child who actually means to give you one!

Pre-Game pep talk

Losing at the end of the 1st quarter

Winning 27-25 at the end of the 1st half

Winning 47-31 at end of 3rd quarter

Won the game 63-45!

Post game press conference!

Post-game radio interview

I can't believe there aren't going to be any of his games next year!! It is such a part of him!

For the rest of this season: They had a coin flip with North Hall for 2nd/3rd and they ended up winning it. So, now they play thursday and if they win they go to STATE!! WOOHOO!

Savannah Labor Day!

Over Labor Day weekend, Heritage played in a tournament in Savannah at Armstrong Atlantic. Since all of the girls' parents were coming down anyway, we saved money on a bus and let the girls ride down with their parents. This meant I could ride down with Zach and Aidan and we could spend the rest of the weekend with Hannah and Jake! here are some cute pics of Aidan that weekend!

This picure cracks me up!

Sorry I haven't been posting often- I am about to die from being pulled in so many directions!!! Between volleyball, school, mommying, and masters classes I might just combust. But I get a week-long break coming up pretty soon! can't wait!!!

Zach officially started bball at Dunwoody on Sunday night. They had their first official open gym so here goes the whole family getting pulled in different directions!! Here we go!

Also, Aidan had a 3 month well-check. He was 14 lbs and 9 oz and was 26 inches long. He was in 75th percentile for weight and 75-90 percentile in height. He was also 75th percentile for head size- so he might be big, but at least he is proportional! :-)

Kickin' it at LHS Senior Night

Last night was senior night at Lawton High School and apparently Baby Darling was either really angry about it or really happy 'cause he was kicking up a storm- there is a video of it below but unless you are me or Zach you probably won't think it's that interesting~

Zach is out in the middle presenting roses to the moms

Zach had a JV game that was supposed to start at 4:30. We had a recruit in from Corpus Christi but I had a little break from about 4-6 (she went to hang out with the team before we took her to dinner) so I was excited that I would get to see his game. WRONG! They were really far behind and it didn't start until 5:20 or so. I got to see almost all of the first half though. Unfortunately they lost... the other team was pretty good and rather large- not a good combination unless you are them~

Senior Night was done really well. I wish they would have announced more about each player instead of just their name and parents. At Woodward they announced important stats, where they are going to school, if they are playing in college, etc.

All of the seniors started- and I think all of them scored too

At about halftime I had to leave- I felt so bad! I was exhausted. I had the early 6am shift two days in a row, a big test yesterday afternoon, and lots of shmoozing with the recruit in town (it takes a lot out of you!). So I ended up heading home to get in bed at 9:30 and passed out! They lost to Broken Arrow that night.

This is a video of Baby Darling kicking me. There is a little flutter at 20 seconds and then he starts up a little stronger at 40 seconds. It's all on the right side of my stomach. It was the first time I saw him kick me through my clothes. (This is apparently what keeps me entertained during warmups- video taping my stomach!)

Disclaimer::: This is probably really boring to most everyone out there- sorry! But it's probably the strangest and coolest feeling in the world to be kicked by something inside of you - And I think its cool and I do the posts, so get over it! Big picture: I'm making a human in there and every little thing that happens along the way is pretty cool for Zach and me!

Throw Back Night and Berry/Reinhardt

On Tuesday my dad had a big game against Gilmer Co. They decided to do a throw-back night. They had the SHORT shorts, sweat bands, tube socks and everything. Dad- I think you could have found some shorter shorts- I've seen pictures of you playing and they were much shorter!

As a coach, you always hope that these things don't backfire on you and you end up losing because the kids are totally unfocused. But, good news- they ended up winning 61-41, and drew a big crowd too!


I cannot even muster up the words for how funny this is! I love it! I totally wish I was there to see it!





Now...

if only I could have witnessed these boys in some throw-back outfits! That would have officially made my life!

Zach and Jake at Berry

Jake and Zach vs. Aaron and Adam (Berry vs. Reinhardt)
The Darling Boys

February Madness?

Well, the end has come for Zach's freshman team (at least as of now). They finished their last game on Thursday against Eisenhower (the locals call it Ike) and ended up winning by quite a few. He only lost three games with his 9th grade team- because he is the best coach in the whole world! They had two games canceled because of the ice storm and the water "crisis" (it was announced that all of Lawton was "out" of water- enough panic ensued to create fighting in Walmart over bottles and gallons of water. Turned out nothing really happened. They fixed the generator and we moved on like nothing really happened.) One team in Oklahoma City said they do not want to reschedule but they are trying to reschedule with MacArthur- doubt it will happen since they aren't even practicing anymore.

(author's note: this is his JV team- just to clear up any false advertising about how big his 9th graders are)

Zach's 9th grade team is kind of his pride and joy. He had the most control over how he could discipline and run the team since they just played 9th grade for him. Only one of his freshman plays JV and Varsity too. They were a very good team- they listened to him, they ran what he wanted, and almost all of them loved playing for him (can't speak for everyone, but I have received many compliments on Zach's behalf from the parents)



His JV season is still going strong though. He has only lost two games with this team- both to Eisenhower- well he might have lost one at the beginning of the season, but they were playing a Varsity team so I'm not going to count it. This team is mostly lower level Varsity kids who need more experience and then some other Juniors and Sophomores. This team has some great talent on it. Zach always says that if some of these kids put in the extra time that he and his brothers did on their shooting that they could be AMAZING.

Weekend of Coaching and MJ

The past week hasn't been too hectic. I ended up having Friday night off and went to Zach's 9th grade and JV game. He won his 9th grade game by 15 and everyone got to play! woohoo! Then his JV team played Wichita Falls Varsity team and was actually winning at the half 34-32. In the last two minutes though they made like 4 turnovers in a row (Zach was super happy) and ended up losing by 5 or 6. They did well for playing against a bunch of juniors and seniors.

I worked it out so that I could have Monday night off and go see his 9th grade team play and they were up by about 20 or so and then in order to get everybody in he had to start subbing at 4 min left in the 4th quarter so they ended up only winning by about ten or so.

He is much calmer than I thought he would be. He never really talks to the refs (the occasional "seriously" look is about it). He prefers to keep reminding his players that they can always take a seat next to him when they are walking, don't have hands up, being lazy in general, etc. He does a great job and loves what he does!

I had a great picture of Zach during a full time out- but considering the fact that there was no memory card in the camera- no one will ever see it. So make due with the awesomeness that is MJ.

The life of luxury
By the way mom- he opened your present that was under the tree! haha! (and then he ate my shoe...grrr)

Pink Out and Clinics!

This past weekend while I was on my road trip Zach went to a coaching clinic in Stillwater at Oklahoma State. He really enjoyed it and I think they had a great time. Good news- my car got all the way there and back without any problems- a success in itself. One of his favorite stories was from one of the speakers who discussed the saying "never be a sometimes player." Zach really liked this and I have a feeling that it will be used a lot in his coaching philosophy. Also, it wouldn't be Zach if he didn't come back with some great food story! He ate at this one place (I will have to ask him what it was called again and update it later) but he got almost a whole chicken on his plate with a massive bowl of nachos- the head coach got a side of okra instead of nachos and it was like a serving bowl full of fried okra. He said it was some of the best he has ever tasted. *News to any restaurant trying to please my husband- intense portion sizes will be extremely impressive in his eyes!*

Because we were both out of town we had to board MJ. He was soooo NOT happy about this. Because of my schedule I had to pick him up at 8:30 AM on monday. They always give the dogs a bath on the day that they leave, but since I picked him up so early- he got a bath but was still wet. He was angry at us for many reasons! 1. He was left alone all weekend 2. He had to get his boardatella up his nose to keep him up to date on his shots 3. He was soaking wet and it was freezing outside 4. He is a big fat baby and hates being boarded. He cried, barked, and whimpered in the waiting room when I picked him up- so embarrassing! He has since recovered from his episode of being a brat.

Tonight is our huge Breast Cancer Awareness Night at the volleyball game. We have put a lot of time into planning everything. We got cute shirts for the girls. They are hot pink and say Cameron Aggies on them- but the "A" in aggies is the breast cancer ribbon. We are selling pink carnations and all of the profits go to breast cancer research. The girls have pink shoe laces that they got at the beginning of the month and will have pink ribbons for their hair. We have put up signs everywhere encouraging people to come wearing their pink- we are calling it a "pink out." Unfortunately we will be competing with the Halloween party thrown by student activities- so hopefully we will still have a good turnout. I will put a post up tomorrow with an update and hopefully some pictures. Oh and anyone who reads this today- text or call Zach to tell him to wear pink tonight. I think I am fighting a losing battle on that one! Maybe you all can help! Picture courtesy of goaggies.cameron.edu