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.

Lately...

Life is busy and it is hard to keep up with this thing in the middle of Graduation Tests, EOCTs, Volleyball Tournaments every weekend, an ear infection in each of little man's ears, and the rest of life in general. To tide you over- here is a pic of Aidan in Louisville this past weekend. The girls on my team absolutely adore him and take care of him. These are some of the special sunglasses they gave him.

Elton John Style

Healing and Showers

This one is going to be pretty long since a lot has happened in the past week and a half

This has been the wonderful view of my spring break....

Last Monday I went in for surgery. The goal was to do a bone graft on the shin, but when he "got in there" he saw that my bone was in tact and there was no fracture. He saw that instead, the bone was extremely soft but all in one piece. When he cut into my shin, the area did not bleed like it was supposed to, which means that the area is not getting enough blood flow to heal the bone (which is why it is so soft). He "roughed up" the tissues around the bone (not sure exactly what that entails) and hopefully this will help the bone heal again.

It has been an interesting few weeks.....

Jo and Norman sent me some flowers with balloons and Aidan was giving them to me

Turned out to be a new favorite toy of his

Still trying to be a mommy even if I can't chase after him

Look at that precious face!

On Friday and Saturday I went to the Georgia World Congress Center to see my team play in the Big South Qualifier. I was exhausted both days from being on crutches there (not suited for that!) Sunday, Zach had to work so I wasn't able to go because I didn't have a ride (driving on painkillers not legal). But, overall I was happy I could go a few days- I had already told the girls I wouldn't be able to make it, so it was nice to surprise them.

On the way home from GWCC- we were both exhausted from a day of volleyball.

A few days ago, Zach had to go to work so I was left to watch Aidan by myself for a few hours. I was EXHAUSTED by the end of it. Zach got everything ready for us in Aidan's room. We had the door shut so he couldn't escape and we just read books, played, and looked out the sliding glass door. One thing Zach and I did not anticipate is that I would want to change outfits for my sister's baby shower that afternoon.....with a baby....on crutches. So, I put Aidan in the stroller and pushed him around the house while I got ready. It was quite a sight.....

All of my boys ready to run outside and play

Baby Shower time! Please, crowd around me because I am not moving.

Kristin, Ally, Kathy, Betty, Shannon and Aidan.

Now add Mom to the group

Flirting with the ladies

He was a mess! Running around everywhere.

By the way he is STANDING ON HIS OWN!! Ahh!

Walking with Kathy

And now exhausted...

We went to the Dr. on Monday. He is 23 pounds (75th percentile) and 31 inches (97th percentile!). Everything was perfect and boring, which I love! He has 4 top teeth coming in (which now explains his extreme crying in the middle of the night, which is not like him at all). Best part of the day though was when he did not even cry when he got his shot! I couldn't believe it. SOOO tough!

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! :-)

Baby Bumpdate and San Antonio

This past weekend, I traveled down to San Antonio with Bri, the head coach. We went to a huge tournament (smaller than a qualifier, but much bigger than a regular club tournament) called the Tour of Texas. It was in the AstroDome there. We found a lot of good talent, so the trip was quite a success!

Wish I could have gotten a view from up above to show how many courts there were. I'm not tall enough to give you that view, but many of the girls at the tournament were! I feel so short going to these things now that most girls are 6' and above!

Baby Bump Pics
22 weeks 5 days

22 weeks 5 days and no flash
I don't look so pale in this one though-
might be a new picture taking strategy, hmmm....

Well, my small shirts that I used to wear are a little TOO small now so I have had to put all my mediums in the top drawer. My belly button is about as close to an "outty" as it will probably get. Many many more changes to "look forward to".... At least each new problem gets me closer to when we can meet the baby.

No names yet, and knowing our indecisiveness we probably won't decide on one for sure until we meet our little man. We have two names that we like, but will probably hold onto them until we decide for sure.

Oh and these pics are in our new house- but you won't get to see pics of that until we can at least get some boxes out of the way! Sheesh, it's a mess right now but in due time it will look much better!

Pink Out Success!

The Pink Out was a success last Thursday night- not only did we win but we also raised $125 in profit for Breast Cancer Research.

Carnations from Flowerama on Cache Blvd.

The team in their Cameron Aggies T-Shirts

Each girl normally throws out a white ball during announcements- but we got pink ones for the occasion.

The team during a huddle- picture courtesy of Zach Darling professional photographer

SOOO... if we win on Thursday and Saturday there is still a chance that we can end up 7th or 8th in conference. There are 14 teams in conference and only 8 get to go to the tournament. So these next two games are huge! My lovely mom is coming in town for those two games and will get to see us play.

Zach has a million scrimmages coming up so wish him luck! Unfortunately that means that he won't be able to come to our last two games.

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

Abilene Zoo

This past weekend we played Angelo State and Abilene Christian. On Friday, our off day, we went to the zoo in Abilene. It was so much fun.

Spooning Lions
(apparently it was nap time because almost all of the animals were napping)

A Bison- not to be confused with the buffalo. Bison are from North America and Buffalo are from Africa. Learn something new everyday!

One of our players feeding crackers to the giraffes. When you pay for your ticket you can pay an extra $1.50 to buy crackers. You can feed the giraffes, birds, fish and turtles.

Look at those tongues.

I was amazed at these tongues

They fought over every last cracker.

One of the funniest moments at the zoo!

A busy, busy week!

So Thursday night we played Midwestern at Midwestern in Wichita Falls, TX. Our best outside hitter went down and tore her mcl, lcl, acl, and miniscus. She did a pretty good job on it- but our other outside hitter was already out with a hamstring strain, so the line-up was pretty crazy and we got beat in 4.

Friday I left for NCTC Gainesville to go recruit some JuCo kids! I left bright and early and watched volleyball all day.

Starting off the trip and then coming home with a gorgeous sunset in the foreground. It is so awesome to drive on these open roads and see how pretty everything is!

On my way there I hit the Pioneer Festival Parade setup in Henrietta, TX. Everyone was starting to line the streets for the parade. Makes you wish you lived in a small town like that. You can celebrate everything!

After work, Zach came down and met me so we could go eat at Babes! Lot's of fried chicken, green beans, mashed potatoes, and corn! I felt sick afterwards :(

Best food ever!

Zach stayed down in Dallas to go meet up with Chris Webb so that they could leave early the next morning for the Georgia Arkansas game in Fayetteville, AR.

By the way- when did UGA get so fat?


Zach and Chris at the Game

Back at home, Dad got in that night at Midnight for the weekend. The next day he got to watch us play Oklahoma City University and Arkansas Fort Smith. We split on the day, but we play Arkansas Fort Smith on Tuesday for some revenge.

This is Aggie Gym- where we play all of our home games!

Zach got home on Sunday from an awesome trip to watch Arkansas get beat!! Dad left this morning to go back to Georgia- sad to see him go :(

And the week starts all over again!~

No More False Advertising in Omaha

Last Time I was in Omaha with Ally

Ok, so the last time I was in Omaha it was -27 degree windchill at Convention last December. Awful. At convention they had this awesome booklet- however, it had pictures of a green Omaha which equals false advertising. Well apparently, it does not snow in Omaha year round- thank God. I prefer warmer weather- hence why I live in Oklahoma now. Can't imagine what I would have done if I took the job in South Dakota! AH!

Anyways, the girls went 3-1 in Omaha this weekend against Minnesota State Moorhead, Southern Indiana, Drury, and Missouri S&T. They played awesome even though we had some crazy line up changes due to injuries. Currently we are 10-2 and start conference this week on Thursday against Midwestern. If you want to read more about the weekend then you can click here.

See Ally- Omaha is Green!

We were gone from Thursday to Sunday, so I am glad to be back at home for the next week or so. Zach and I are going down Friday to Texas to recruit (I am tagging him along- but he will only be happy if we go eat at Babe's!)

Abilene Christian University Weekend

This week was relatively busy, while still uneventful. Mondays and Tuesdays I work from six in the morning until nine at night, and then on Wednesdays I have a late class- on top of my full time job from eight till five (which I don't really get paid for!). I would much rather be at home hanging out with my awesome husband, but I know I will later appreciate the hard word at my masters and the hard work for some extra cash!

The team left on Thursday at 2:00 to travel to Abilene Christian for a tournament. We played and won two matches on Friday and then split the two matches on Saturday. We were about five points away from being eight and 0- but I think seven and one is not so bad either. The girls played kind of spotty (good then terrible then great then decent then back to great). They were all over the place but the still did very well. To read the story you can go here. One of the coolest things that I saw while we were at ACU was their chapel service on Friday afternoon. The entire student body was packed into the gym (which is a pretty awesome gym by the way!) and worshipped together for about an hour. It was while our girls were in the training room and getting ready that it took place. It was so awesome to hear all of the voices together worshipping Christ, singing songs of praise and listening to a message. It was so powerful to hear.

The best part of the weekend was that Zach came down on Saturday. He road with Bri's (the head coach) boyfriend, Steve, down from Lawton to Abilene, which is about a three and a half hour drive. Bri's family lives in Abilene, so she and Steve were going to stay for the remainder of Labor Day weekend- which meant that I had to drive the bus back- ahhh! It really helped having Zach there to help me maneuver the big thing since he's a CDL driver. It was definitely not as bad as I thought it would be, but I hate driving at night even in my little Civic! I just feel exhausted from concentrating so hard when I drive at night.

All in all, the weekend was great. Zach and I went to church this morning (no Sunday school since we didn't get home until about 1:00 AM) and listened to a message on the covenant of marriage. Now I am at work putting off my list of things to do for school. Oh and I hope all of you enjoy your labor day! Unfortunately I will be laboring on labor day- which I think should be illegal!!

Next weekend we play in Omaha, NE so that should be an exciting trip! And maybe next time I will take some pictures so you will have something to look at on the blog instead of just reading!

Blog Fever

Ok, ok. I have finally caught the blogging fever and I am now afraid that I might become addicted within the near future! Zach and I have decided to start one so that the people we love back home will be able to keep up with all of the crazy stuff that is going on in our lives right now.

This past weekend Cameron Volleyball had its first tournament. The girls went 4-0 and are ecstatic about their success. It was so awesome to watch them pull through numerous difficult moments on the court. They were down in a few sets and always came back and persevered. If you want to see the news article on the weekend- here is the link. http://goaggies.cameron.edu/volleyball/volleyballmain/volleyball-news-8/29/09. This is an awesome team with a great group of girls and I am so blessed to be able to be a part of it. We play again this coming weekend at Abilene Christian University in a tournament.

Zach is FINALLY busy with school starting up, and he already has a few kids in his classroom. Hearing some of the things that he has to do at his school makes me admire him even more. For instance, he has to "frisk" his students before they go to the bathroom to help decrease gang violence! Crazy! Maybe my private school education really increased my naivety but I cannot imagine! He will tell me stories about the students that he deals with and I really see how much he loves being there. This is his passion in life and he has already developed connected relationships with some of his players- even in just a few weeks. I am so proud of what he is doing.

We think we have finally found our "home" in a church that is about ten minutes away. It is First Baptist East of Lawton and we are going to try out the Sunday School class next week to make sure this is the fit. The past few Sundays that we have been it seems like the pastor knows exactly what each of us is struggling with and has talked about it. God is speaking through this minister straight to us and it has been awesome!