Wiley moves to the twin!

Well, we finally did it!  We have officially moved Wiley to his new big boy bed!  After the practice run at the hotel, we decided we just needed to do it...especially because Van will be needing the crib soon!  He has done great with the move.  Still sleeps kind of crazy...he has fallen out a few times...but overall doing really well!

New bed!  No frame yet so he doesn't have as far to fall!

This is Wiley trying to go to bed for the third time...way to early!

Showing off in his new bed!

Still working on which way we should be laying!  Not a fan of the covers yet either!



Nap time...again the wrong way!



Art Day!

Art day is always an adventure at our house!  This was really the first time that Van got to participate in art day and I think that he loved it!  Wiley, as usual, was a complete painted mess...but he had fun!

Wiley started out with clothes...that quickly changed!

The art table..trash bagged out!

Notice both boys half dressed in this picture!

Van getting his feet stamped!

My little copy cat...stamping his feet after I told him to only stamp his hands!

Why yes...apparently stamp pads go on our face....

...so that we can look like this!

Working on a masterpiece and by that, I mean Wiley's face!

This is an artist in the making!

The final result...notice the brown on the thighs!  Yes mom...the entire chair either seran wrapped or trash bag!

This isn't how you play blocks!?

I can stack blocks on a forehead...what can you do?

                                     

Don't move Daddy!!

Van bite??

 Wiley walks around the house saying "I bite" ALL THE TIME.  Probably because he got in trouble seven times on wednesday at daycare for just this thing!  We have discussed the issue.  So today he comes and tells me "Van bite."  I asked him if Van really bit him and he said "uh huh."  Then I said show me where and he pointed to his finger.  After further investigation, I came to the conclusion that Van did actually "bite" him...only because he stuck his finger in Van's mouth.  At least he wasn't lying.

Circus! Circus! Crazy Circus!

I had been wanting to take the boys to a circus and jumped at the chance when I heard the Shrine Circus was in town.  I have good memories of going to the circus when I was a little girl and I have a funny memory of my circus birthday party!  I had this really cool circus cake.  The top of the cake had a paper circus tent over it and animals under the "big top."  I'm not exactly sure how it happened but when my mom lit the candles, the paper cake top caught on fire!  Scary at the time, but really funny now!
Anyway, back to the present.  Sometimes you do things as a mom that seem like a really good idea, but in hindsight are absolutely crazy!  Well, I did it.  I took the boys to the Shrine Circus...by myself...without a stroller...right before nap time...on a really super cold almost rainy day.  I don't regret it, but I probably won't do it again!
We actually had a good time.  Wiley really enjoyed getting to see the tigers and the elephants.  He liked getting a really cool (cheaply made) light up sword.  He liked eating popcorn, drinking a huge soda and running away from me as I tried to feed Van in the darkly lit arena!  He liked petting the snake and getting his hand buzzed by the clown.  The boys overall were really great!  The insanity was when I had to carry both boys to the truck because Wiley was exhausted and I had parked WAY to far away.  It was freezing and I was trying to keep Van covered up with the blanket.  Hear me now Justin Gulledge...you are coming next time...a little excuse like keeping people alive during surgery isn't going to be acceptable!:)

Wiley with his cool light up sword, that the batteries continue to fall out of!

The 4 year old elephant doing some tricks!

Van just chillin!

Weird picture because of the flash!

Wiley engrossed in the show!

A picture of the three of us in front of the elephants.  Now picture me speed walking 400 yards back to the truck trying to hold a blanket over Van and keep Wiley's hood up!  I was praying some stranger would offer me a ride!



Picture with the snake.  They wouldn't let Wiley hold the snake because he was too little and they wouldn't let me because I was holding Van...hence the stranger in our picture.  Also this is a picture of the picture and therefore poor quality.



Wiley with the shrine clowns!

This is what happens when you forget the pack-n-play!

While we were in Tulsa we got to stay at the Embassay Suites.  This was Van's first hotel room experience.  Ironically, Wiley was about his age when he stayed at an Embassay Suite for the first time.  Anyway...I have to admit that I sometimes forget to pack things when we go places and sometimes those things can be important...like the pack-n-play.  Because of this, We had to get a two double bed room and Wiley got to sleep in a big boy bed for the first time!  Also because of this, Van got to sleep on the floor!  Wiley did pretty good and only fell out of the bed twice!

We bought him a twin, but maybe we should have gone for the double since he sleeps like a crazy man!

Can't sleep without ducky, bear and blankets!

Poor Van!  Stuck in the corner!

He did sleep peacefully though!

My happy little guy once he made it one the bed the next morning!

Oklahoma Aquarium

We were in Tulsa for our friends wedding and were able to take the boys to the Oklahoma Aquarium.  It was pretty cool.  There was actually quite a few hands on things and we all really enjoyed it.  Here are a few of the pictures from the day.

Justin and Wiley

Touching the Starfish

Wiley was trying to touch the shrimp...after the shrimp jumped away from him he wasn't so sure about touching it!

Touching some kind of shell something!

I think these were the shoehorn crabs.

I think these were the shoehorn crabs.

Wiley and I feeding the turtles.

I know this is a little hard to read, but this guys has actually guided us striper fishing before!  How cool is that!

The boys and I under the shark tunnel.

The boys and I under the shark tunnel...you can kind of see the tail of the shark.

Lots of teeth!

Elephants Are Big!

Let me preface this post by saying that I have a really nice patient/friend that has spoiled my family twice by letting us see some really cool behind the scene zoo things. Thanks Nick! 
I took the boys to the zoo over the weekend and I headed straight back to the elephants because I hadn't been able to see the new exhibit yet.  When we walked up, there was no one there and I couldn't see the elephants either...I was thinking, "bummer!"  However, as we were walking around the boardwalk toward the chimp side of the exhibit, I saw my friend Nick getting the yard ready for the elephants to go out in. I of course, took advantage of his generous offer to show us around the inside of the elephant barn. 
It really is as awesome as everyone has said!  It is also REALLY big!  The inside, which you can also see from the boardwalk, is amazing.  When you first walk into the barn area, there is a really big room that has a sand floor and beyond that is where the smaller stalls are.  The elephants were still in their smaller stalls, so we were able to get a really up close look at them and touch them!  They are alot softer than I imagined...hairy...but pretty soft.  It was also neat to see the elephants obey commands.  They fanned their ears and said hi with their trunk!  Wiley even got to weigh himself on the elephant scale...it said he was 33 pounds!  I had a really great time getting to see this awesome exhibit from the inside and even though the boys won't remember, I know that they had a great time too! P.S.  Van was there too, but since we had to hold the boys while they were inside the barn area, I didn't get a picture of him petting the elephant!


I think this is Asha...the pregnant one!

This is in their stalls inside the barn.

Wiley with Nick petting Asha

Nick showing Wiley what to do!

Wiley inside the Elephant barn!

The Girls in the yard.



The Girls in the yard.



Wiley on the elephant scale.  They weigh the elephants here every day.  So far the pregnant elephant has only gained about 500 pounds...I laughed when Nick told me that!

Here are the pictures from the summer of 2009 when we got a behind the scene peek at the Rhino/Hippo Exhibit.

Wiley petting the rhino!



Feeding the Rhino!



Petting the Big Rhino



Justin feeding the Rhino