sorry michael

my little brother is mad at me. he lives in brazil right now & we can only communicate through weekly letters... which i'm pretty great at but he also follows our blog when he can. he can't follow my facebook or instagram. so... yeah... he's mad at me.

i keep thinking things will slow down & i can marathon blog but it's not happening.
it's been a busy few months! no excuses, sorry michael.


i figure i'll post a few randoms now (mainly from instagram) to catch him up.

and just to show him how round i am :)

two-wheeler

 ellery was surprised with a two-wheeler over labor day weekend!

it's extremely out of my comfort zone to gift on non holidays but a darling girl at church, also named cosette!, had gotten a new bike & when her grandparents asked what she should do with her old bike (they knew we'd started our lookout for miss e) she thought giving it away was a great idea. she helped her grandpa clean it all up & bleach the white tires. & when sweet cosette realized that the streamers were missing, she ran & took them off of her scooter & attached them to the bike. how priceless is that?!

 jellybean biked around all weekend calling to passer-byers that she was a lucky girl & had a new bike. :)

ellery is beyond herself with excitement. 

& i was excited that she did so well her first day.

they have not stopped asking to go outside to bike.

...

 i even have to fight them to take off their 'bike hats' when we come inside. ellery fell fast asleep in hers tonight. i woke her up to write this: 

how cute is this little thank you note to her "friend cosette, didyouknowthereare2cocos"?! she usually does better lettering but look at that bike! she kept asking me how to do pedals, handlebars, her bell, etc. & i had zero answers for her. haha

she really is very very grateful for her brand new to her bicycle. :)

my girlies

but even though we miss him loads, i do enjoy having my girlie beans to myself ;)

 hahaha i'm obsessed.

work trips

austin's been on a lot of work trips lately & it's no bueno to have him away. the girls miss him tons when he's away & get into lots & lots & lots of trouble. lots.

colorado state fair

our friends the whittingtons had us join them for the colorado state fair. with 2 for 1 coupons & kids too young for tickets the whole evening ended up being crazy cheap. fun fun fun.

plus the girls got ice cream cones! which they did not know how to eat cleanly. 

fair food is always fun - i was shocked at how many things they'll fry... like fried poptarts, fried peanut butter cups, & friend captain crunch. haha awesome.

 there were a ton of friendly farm animals to check out. my turkey call really got the turkey to gobble back & forth with me. hidden talents, my friends.

 i love that austin gets in the cages with the kids. i makes me just a touch jittery. 

 the pony ride was everyone's favorite!!

 my brave cowgirls ;)

after the fair we had a very long & shady night in already sketchy pueblo when somehow my phone ended up on the street where we'd parked (i don't know how i do these things sometimes... ridic.) & we then followed the gps tracker to the parking lot of an ihop. 2 hours later, police called, & phone located in the exact vehicle; austin was extremely unwise & confronted the guy. i about had a heart attack but the guy gave us the phone no problem, though he was shocked that we found him, & we got ready for the hour + drive home. only problem? this was the state of the phone:

here's to my knight in shiny armor who thinks he's invincible!