British Get Away

Hello friends - sorry to be delinquent on blogging but I'm on holiday with the Carlson's in England. We've only been here for 36 hours but we've seen a lot already and are having a great time. I'll give the full report when we get back but in the interim wanted to say hello and THANK YOU to my mom and dad for watching the kids down in Arizona - its keeping our whirlwind trip a whirlwind and not a hurricane! 

Amb

Bean in the Brain?

Yesterday my kids and I ran into Anthropologie to grab a pair of shoes for my sister in law for our upcoming trip to London... Since I have nearly 2000 things to do before we depart on this much needed vacation I swore I would be in and out of the store in 5 minutes so that I would have a chance to get everything else I had to do done... So, I grab the shoes and head for the checkout.. While I am paying I let my kids jump out of the stroller to stretch their legs... the next thing I know... Brooklyn is reporting to me that Boston has crammed a "bean" up his nose... Yep, you heard right...a bean! (In case you don't know the store Anthropologie very well, they have a display rack that holds all of their hardware & knobs, underneath them they have all these little beans to make it look cute and decorative..) So the Anthro sales lady and I spend the next 10 minutes locating a flashlight so we can determine whether or not he actually has shoved the "nut" as he is now calling it up his nose.. I couldn't see anything , so I called the DOC and she informed me that there was a chance he could "snort" the bean into his lungs and then we would have a much bigger problem.... You can only imagine what happened next... I got NOTHING done the rest of the day because I spent the afternoon in the Doctors office having the bean extracted from Bossy's nose... It was a little traumatic, for both of us..But i am already laughing about it... I feel like I have been inducted into the "Mommy Hall of Nightmares..."

Here are the pictures I took on my phone of the whole ordeal...

Bossy preparing for the big "extraction"

Welcome Ivy!

Little (and I mean little) Ivy made her grand (and I really do mean GRAND...check Jamie's blog for the full run-down of events) entrance last night... She is ADORABLE (as if we had any doubt she would be) and we look forward to many fun memories and milestones with little Ivy!

Ivy Sorensen
6lbs. 1 ounce
19 inches long

Happy Fathers Day!

Happy Fathers Day! I just wanted to post a little something to the love of my life, Ty... It's not very often I get to publicly proclaim my love to him and brag about what an amazing Father he is to our kids, so here it goes.... Ty, When you married me (almost 6 years ago..Wow) you told me that you would never be as good of a husband as you would be a father.... Well you have far surpassed my expectations in both categories! You are the most fun, most adventurous, most dedicated, involved, supportive, hard working dad around... The kids (and I) can't wait for 5' o clock to roll around everyday cause we just love to be around you all the time! Thanks for filling our lives with continual joy... We love you! Amb - Bix - Boss

Our INAUGURAL Camping Trip!

Last night we took the kids up to Rocky Mountain National Park for our family's first camping trip. Going into the trip we weren't too sure how it would turn out, but I'm happy to report it was a smashing success.

The kids did great - slept well in their new sleeping bags (cocoons, according to Boston), saw lots of animals (elk, fish, deer, birds... but no elephants, to Boston's chagrin), cooked/burned marshmallows on the fire, saw a couple of high alpine lakes and threw rocks in the Big Thompson River. The only hiccups of the trip were: 1) Boston throwing rocks at everything, including our car and his sister, 2) Brooklyn falling/running into everything - rocks, tables, chairs, trees, etc. - and having every other possible kind of accident - biting her lip, dropping her camera on her toe... the list goes on and on.

We slept in tents, made a campfire and cooked smores and Jiffy Pop, cooked pancakes and sausage on the campstove, but I will admit we had dinner and ice cream down in Estes Park that night - we didn't want to push it too hard on our first trip out!

Piggy Cupcakes!

The kids and I threw these together the other day for Grandma Jo! If you know Jo Ellen, you know her obsession with pigs! The kids enjoyed the project long enough to frost their own cupcake and left me doing the rest!

Summer is HERE!

Summer is HERE and we are so excited! We have endured through the long, cold Colorado winter and have been spending a lot more time outside.....

Mr. Messy eating some ice cream on Pearl street in Boulder!

Brooklyn eating her "Pink" ice cream... Also known as strawberry!

As many of you know and for those of you who don't we have been eagerly awaiting the opening of the neighborhood pool that happens to be approx. 50 feet from our front porch! We have been staring at a dusty, dirty, construction mud pit out front for about 13 months! It was supposed to be open last year but fell behind, then along came winter and so on.... So it finally opened last week and I am happy to say we have spent nearly every day there since opening and plan to spend many more there this summer! The picture above is of Ty and the kids on opening day, they were the first ones in!

Congrats Skip!

Yippie Skippy!
Skip - Sterling Carlson my youngest brother in law graduated from Legacy High School on Tuesday! We are so proud of him including all his senior accomplishments.... Best Hair, Most Attractive & Best Eyes! Wow! I am going to miss him so much in the fall when he leaves and heads over to Provo, he is so much fun to be around and one of the funniest kids I know!! We love you! Congrats Skip!

Mishap at Montessori!

So this past Thursday Brooklyn had her last day (for the school year) at Eastlake Montessori!! What?? I can' t believe my little baby girl finished her first year of pre-school! It seems like just last week we were driving our little bundle home from the hospital! Wow!

It took Brooklyn and I a couple months to get into the swing of the early morning hustle to get her out the door, the plastic bags of her pee soaked clothes when I arrived to get her (for the first month or two), the less than ideal 50 minute round trip drive to Thornton to pick her up and the impact tuition had on my shopping habits -- but in the end it was worth every minute and dollar... Nothing is more important to Tyler and I than our kids education!

Friday was the end-of-year Montessori Picnic at the Park where the kids put on a program for their parents... Much to my amusement and Ty's chagrin Brooklyn would not stand where she was supposed to stand, move her lips to form even one word, wear her flower lei, hold her drum sticks and insisted on sitting on Mrs. Walkers lap the entire time! I wonder where she picked up such adversity to public attention?? Haha! This year has been so great for Brooklyn, I am continually amazed at the things she has learned both mentally and socially! I am a HUGE proponent of the Montessori program and couldn't be more pleased with the results!

Saba, Brooklyn, Leyla, Zane and Ryan

Bix and her buddies!

Being Shy!

Leyla and Brooklyn