THE FLU OF THE WEEK:-(

We've had the distinct privaledge of being blessed with a week of family flu fun!!!!  Courtney got the bug last Saturday night and it lasted through Sunday night, then he had his back/sciatic nerve flare up, which actually got bad enough for him to seek medical help for the first time in 9 yrs!!!  He's currently on some very low strength muscle relaxers and naproxen sodium, and with heading back to work tomorrow and an impending 63 mile race on Saturday, I hope he's able to hold up and know his limits!!  Sidebar:  Today is the 4 yr anniversary of Courtney quitting smoking and changing his life beyond belief!!!  We are so proud of him for all he's accomplished and what we have yet to see:-)!!!!  So, back onto the flu train.....Austyn came home from school on Monday afternoon w/ a tummy ache, which she claimed to have had since Thursday the week before, and started vomiting at 9pm and continued every hr/two all night long, ugh!!!  Then the next day we actually went to the doctor for Courtney and Austyn slept a lot of the day w/ Daddy while watching every tv show and netflix!!  Austyn felt really good today, but after we got home from school and a visit to the library, Abbie started complaining of a tummy ache, not wanting dinner, same ammo that Austyn had just 2 days before, and before we knew it, screaming from the bedroom of a sick tummy in the works:-(.  It was my Super Mom moment that I actually had a bowl next to her the first moment she told me of the tummy troubles, and she actually was able to hit it...win/win here!!  She went to bed early tonight and hasn't thrown up since...hoping it was just a one time thing b/c all of the kids school is going to see the Iowa Energy Basketball game tomorrow and Abbie has been so excited for it!!!!  Just hoping this doesn't spread to both Patrick and myself, although I'm guessing we won't escape it, no matter how much doctor scrubbing up we do:-)!!  Here's hoping others have had a flu/yuck free week!!!  Praying for you all who have been going through this!!  Hang in there, it's ALMOST SPRING!!!!!

Austyn and Abbies Dance

This and That....

Not much has happened in Hilton land the last week-ish to talk about, but here goes anyways:-).  Finally got over my stomach bug from a couple weeks ago and then Patrick got some upper respiratory thing, which is always made worse by his asthma, a few days after I was feeling better.  It was a few scary days for this Momma, soley because he can't control his coughing from taking over and his breathing being labored...poor little man:-(.  We pumped him full of preventative and quick responding meds and he was doing better and on the mend by this past weekend.
The kids were super excited to have a snow day last Wednesday, I wasn't b/c I had, by then, been cooped up in the house w/ a sick kid for 2 days and a semi-sick baby(our niece Emmalynn), that I about went out of my mind by Wednesdays end.  However we mustered on and came through the end of our week w/ flying colors and overall health, which makes me very happy!!!
Saturday brought the annual BRR(bike ride to Rippey) ride that Courtney went on, and the adventure of finding a new town in Iowa to pick my husband up from later that night.  Bouton is a very small town, but has a very hoppin' bar scene on a Saturday night:-)!!  We had a very nice and relaxing Sunday w/ church, potluck lunch following, a trip to Sam's to finally get me my own card, I know, it's 8 yrs in the making, a trip to Bass Pro Shop to get Daddy a new pair of work pants and then home to sledding fun, the kids and Daddy, not me, and then watching the Super Bowl w/ Courtney and Abbie!!  Great game last night by the way.  I'm not a huge football person, I enjoy watching, but don't have a favorite team and all.
Today brought us a sick Abbie, headache, tummy ache, ear ache....an all over my body and just won't go away ache I think, but we've been giving her meds and she perks up for a couple hrs to my normal Bob, so I like the time w/ her!!  She and I also got our hair cut today after taking Monkey to school....way frizzy and crazy right now, oh, okay, it's always that way, but very much so since I didn't style or product it myself, but I'm liking the new do!!!  Which leads up to me loosing my last 1.5 lbs to get my hair cut, actually I lost 2.5 this week, which thrilled me to no end!!!!  Now that I'm getting soooo close to where I was almost 5 yrs ago, I can't believe how fast it's come off, which wasn't the case early this past fall.  I've got 13 lbs to go until I'm at my next goal of the lightest I ever have been before and then I'll forge on for another 25, hopefully 40 lbs from there....we'll see where it takes me and where I feel like "me" again:-)!
Well, enough blabbering on about my boring life, just needed to get it all out of the head and on "paper"...time to go get Austyn from school and head to dance.  Our first competition for dance is this Saturday and I'm excited to see what the girls think of it!!!  Until then, have a wonderful week!!!

Grays SOOO EARLY!!!!

So, at the ripe old age of 30, I seem to have more gray hairs than brown, and they take over more every day!!!!  Getting ready today I have finally decided to give into my sister and color my hair, when I loose another 5 lbs....I'm doing a 5 lb challenge through WW.  You set a goal, non food related, for every 5 lbs you loose.  I have 1.5 more lbs to go before I get to my first 5 lb goal, I started this 2 weeks ago, which will be a haircut, much needed and I've decided to set my 2nd goal to be a color job, haven't colored my hair since I was 19.....now all I need to figure out is stay the same color as my currently brown hairs:-) or to go lighter????  I look forward to any thoughts on the subject, I stink at making decisions like this!!!

Gymnastic Pictures

Gymnastics Meet #2!!!!

The girls had their 2nd meet today at their home gym, Corner House Gymnastics, and knocked the socks off of themselves:-)!!  Abbie finished 1st place overall in the Level 2, 6 year olds and Austyn finished 5th place overall in Level 2, 7 year olds.  Abbie moved up one spot and Austyn moved up 2 spots from last meet, so we are just so overjoyed and proud of our girls!!!  Austyn is learning to slow down her moves and take the time to achieve perfection and Abbie is swinging her way on up the charts!!!!  Such proud parents we are!!!!!!  Pics will come soon once Courtney downloads and shares for the world to see!
On a second note, we have Emmalynn's dedication at my parents/sister's church in the morning and we are so excited to go!  Courtney isn't gonna make it because he's having to play manager of everyone tomorrow unfortunately, but Emmie's godfather will be there in thoughts and prayers!  It's such a neat time to spend with family and friends and we can't wait to see some old familiar faces coming to celebrate the joy of a child being committed to the Lord and the awesome responsibility that we have for raising her in the ways of the Lord as well!!!  Makes us so happy and honored to named Emmie's godparents and be apart of this awesome journey she is on!!!  So, that wraps it up for me...gotta get the tail end of the stomach flu I have gone so we can celebrate with family and friends tomorrow morning!

So proud of my girls!

So, as you've seen, the girls had an awesome first competition at their meet this morning!!  Both did such a great job and only Austyn was a little nervous.  I was up half the night worried about if they would be nervous at all, which made for lots of lack of sleep for this Momma and a very long day for all of us.  We had to get up earlier than normal and get across town by 8am, and saw our lovely ladies knock it out of the park with their first time out!  We've got another meet on the 29th, so hoping they are more comfortable and knowledgeable about how it all works and what to do when.  Austyn got 7th place for the 7 yr old Level 2 category and Abbie got 2nd, YES 2ND place, GO BOB GO, for the 6 yr old Level 2 category.  They each had their own strengths and we have talked to Austyn about how she can improve and bust her way through to the top 3 so we can advance to Level 3....I know, I have high hopes already, but I think they've found something they are super great at and want them to excel at one thing so we can put all our focus on just one thing instead of Mommy driving here and there and everywhere....:-)!!!
After leaving the competition, we made our way to The Cumming Tap to watch about 50 people snow shoe and ski a fun course, including grown men and women running through obstacles and going down slides....great time had by all!!  Tons of fun for those racing and cold fun time taking pics.  It was amazing how right before the race started, it was snowing!!  It was perfect for picture taking and awesome to see people doing what they love with the perfect conditions(snowing)!!  I can't wait to try out snowshoes with Courtney some afternoon we don't have kids...looks like an awesome fun time!!  So until next time....have a great one all and talk to you soon!!!