So proud of my hubby!

I have always been proud of my husband, but after reading his blog today, I feel a new found love through thick and thin with one heck of an awesome man!!! Check it out, I've got the link on my blog! I can't believe he's the same man I married almost 8 years ago, but love him more every day that passes and can't wait to make more memories and spend many more years with the love of my life!!! I love you baby!!!!

My 3 hour commute

So, our girls have been involved in gymnastics at Jacobs Gymastics in Waukee for the last 3 years. Fabulous facility, wonderful, caring teachers and reasonable prices(my favorite in all three of those)! However, in the past 2 years my girls have either been in the same class or when their ability levels changed, were in different classes at the same time. This fall brought the new schedule with staggered classes, which for us means one goes from 5:30-6:30 and the other from 6-7. Add in drive time to drop Patrick off at Mimi and Umpa's(my in-laws) house and the almost 30 minute commute out to the middle of Waukee and back to pick up little man and get home, we're gone from 4:45-7:30 every Wednesday night. I'm done! I feel like my Wednesday nights are nothing but driving and listening to complaining children about how hungry and tired they are on the way out and back. So, I've done some research here closer to home and found a wonderful gym close by that is actually a little cheaper(happy Mommy) and has the same structure for their classes, by ability, not by age. Corner House Gymnastics is just off 72nd and Douglas in Urbandale and on a good day, 15 minutes from home, which will mean a 1 1/2 commute total which saves my time and gas!! I'm very excited to have the girls start, we'll be starting the beginning of March, had to give notice at the other gym, but looking forward to the new journey we will experience! The girls were actually not too upset about the change, hoping tonight was at the new gym! I'm thinking they're just as tired of the driving and waiting as I am, but have just never said anything. I'm going to miss the relationships we've built with the owner of the gym, the teachers and the other families, but know that this will be a very welcome change in our lives so we can spend some more time together!

Happy Valentine's Day!!!!

So, with tomorrow being Valentine's Day again, I'm reminded of our first Valentine's Day we spent together, we being Courtney and I! We were married the July before and I was 7 months preggo with our first daughter, Austyn and we had a blizzard, surprise, surprise! And to top off the blizzard happening, my parents were moving out of our current house, they rented it from my inlaws before we found out we were expecting, 4 weeks after getting married, and they offered to downsize so we could have the "big" house for our growing family! I don't remember going out to dinner at all, funds were short back then, but I do remember my first Valentine's gift from my beloved. A huge green frog(I was obsessed with frogs, being I grew up w/ the last name Hopper) holding a big red heart saying "I love you". The fun in this gift is the playful childlike spirit of my husband and soon to be "the world's greatest Daddy", was oozing from this!! Also, he had hidden it in moving boxes about a month before and I had no idea until he went to unpack every box to figure out which one it was in:-)!! Those were the days!!! Simple, to the point, goofy gifts from my baby!! In the years since, I have received lots of boxes of chocolates, special cards from my little ones and the love of my beloved for another fantastic year!! I know, sappy, but man, I appreciate every moment I'm able to spend with my Courtney and the wonderful children he and I have been so greatly blessed with! I know my husband hates the commercialized catholic holiday, but it's just another reason to remind ourselves how fortunate we are to be so loved by everyone in our lives and to be able to love them unconditionally in return! Hope everyone has a fantastic Valentine's Day with your loved ones!!

When will there ever be enough time?

I have come across a common problem with me. I'm either too busy or bored out of my mind! The last couple months have been pretty low key after losing the job cleaning the church building we meet in. My wonderful Daddy took my inexperienced secretary of a self and allowed me to help him out 6 hours a week while Patrick is in preschool, which was just the right amount of hours to feel like I'm contributing something so my family can buy groceries and still fulfill my duties here at home also. Then my eager self accepted a cleaning position with my Dad's church just a month ago, which ends up being around 2 hours once a week, which the kids have helped with quite a bit(yes, they love to clean toilets, who knew?) And if this wasn't enough, I found someone needing part time child care, which I love Patrick to have a playmate and the extra cash helps too(groceries:-))! I love being active and busy, but I always seem to be all or nothing these last couple years! I just think I have a problem finding the balance between doing something but not too much... How do I find that right amount of time? I don't even have time for a workout lately, ugh! How does one find a balance in it all??

Who ordered this new snow?!?!

Okay, as far as I'm concerned, enough is enough already!!! I'll surrender! Uncle!!! We have got to start spring sometime this year, right??? I think I'm so fed up with all this snow and ice and yuck! I have 3 little kids that are officially driving each other nuts with their stircraziness, a Mom and Dad who are about to throw the kids out in the snow to camp out there and a car that appreciates the initiation into winter, being it's first and all, but golly molly! I'm hoping to find some things in the following "ending" weeks of winter to help curb our stir crazy family. Any thoughts on the matter?? I'm open to any and all ideas, although free ones are always terrific! My mother in law suggested going to Open Gym night at the YMCA, which I have to check the schedule on, but beyond that, I think I'm out of ideas right about now. I feel like the other parents we see at the mall play place are about to become our new best friends if we don't find other outlets for creative loud play here soon! What fun things do you currently do or did when you were growing up to pass the winter blues away??? I look forward to any and all ideas to come!

Valentines is just around the corner!

You know when any holiday is about to make an appearance in the Hilton household. Little ones start to mill away about how things will be and how they will be planning and what they will be wearing for it. It's all about Valentines right now, and has been strongly the whole last 2 weeks! Abbie took her box to school last week and got to decorate it on Friday with her Tiger Pal(6th grade buddy). Austyn and Daddy decorated hers today in only a way that a fun creative Dad can do:-) and Patrick keeps talking about how he is going to be decorating his bag at school for his Valenpines(3 yr old speak). We took out the cards that I got last year on clearance, Crayola color your own w/ a stale lollipop and have started coloring and writing names on them! The craziness that ensues in this house around a holiday is incredibly exhausting! Then there's what to wear!!! Now any of you out there with little girls, or fashionable little boys, know where I'm coming from here! The girls and Patrick are already deciding how they are going to color coordinate with each other and how exactly they will pull it off! Each year they're grandparents, Mimi and Umpa, always get them new shirts/outfits to make the day even more special!! I love this year because all my kids are now old enough to understand what this whole Valentine's Day is all about. Now, I'm talking beyond the cards and candy here! They are beginning to see how it's a special day to spend with those you love and care for in your family/life. It's so neat to see all of this instilled in them at such a young age and see those little eyes and faces light up when they realize how important they are to someone and how much someone care about them!! That's why I love this holiday. It may be utter craziness here almost 24/7, but when it all comes down to it, it's about spending time with the people who care about you the most, FAMILY!!

The beginning of the Hilton Blog!

So, I've started a blog! I've decided that without a whole lot of adult interaction, this would be the perfect time to start this up! To start things out, I'm a psuedo-stay at home mom, I work part time, 6 hrs a week for my Dad, as his receptionist at the church, and 2 hours a week, cleaning said church, and occasionally do part time drop in child care too. Sounds crazy, but all is going good with trying to provide for my family what I can and still fulfilling my duties as mother, wife and home manager! A little about me, for those of you who don't know! I am married to the most wonderful, caring beautiful man in the world, Courtney!! He and I have been married for 8 years in early July. We've been through so much together and I still get butterflies every time I see him and can't wait to see what the Lord has next for our lives together!!! On the Mom end of things, I'm an almost 30 year old mom of 3 wonderful and active kiddos!! My oldest is Austyn, she will be 7 on March 16, ugh! My middle beauty is Abbie, who will be 5 1/2 at the end of February and my baby, Patrick, who will be 4 in early May. They are all the highlight of my life and everything I could have ever imagined for my life!!! Well, that's a little about me, tomorrow onto the craziness that is the Hiltons!!!