Merry Christmas!!!

Merry Christmas to all!

Here are some highlights from our Christmas! The first is Isaac
checking out the tree, followed by the boys notes and cookies for
santa, and then a few shots from Christmas morning!

Hope you all had a wonderful Christmas!

Love,
The Gearharts!

Oh Deer!

Here's a little background to this story: We live in the hicks! And I mean that in the most loving way! But everyone here in town hunts and fishes and does every other imaginable outdoorsy thing you can think of. Everyone except us... We're transplants (20+ years in town, but still new).

We've been looking at houses and last night we had to take the boys with us. The people had deer heads on the wall. Isaac (our 2 year old) was mesmerized! And to top it off... my husband asked him what it was...

Isaac says.... "a camel"!

So, yeah... I guess we need to study the local animals a little more!

Elijah too!

Elijah worked up the nerve too!

Isaac's first solo fair ride

Where the wild things are!

Since my last update, we've had an exciting week!

On Saturday we headed to the zoo! We had a great day! It was so much fun! We met Michelle and Rob and their families! Here are the interesting things we saw there:
- a little girl drinking RED BULL! She had to be like 8 tops... bet her mom regrets that choice!
- a baby tiger cub
- a one day old baby elephant
- a polar bear swimming from underneath the pool
- jelly fish (Isaac's favorite!)

I've waited too long to write this... otherwise I'd have more stuff to say. We really did have a super time!

Oh, and Isaac got his first real boo-boo... he fell right in front of me and scraped up his knee! Blood and everything!

Phew!

I'm starting to get into the grove of this "stay-at-home mom" thing! Some days are better then others, but today has been a good day! I'm actually getting stuff done!

Aside from feeding, clothing, and keeping the boys from killing each other... today I have: cleaned out the fridge, cleaned the kitchen, made 4 dozen cookies, and even managed to continue to feed my computer addiction!

Now the boys should be asleep for another hour or so.... maybe I'll have time to workout and get a shower! yeah!

Two boys with baskets on their heads

why? Don't ask me - my kids are weird!

I noticed that the majority of my posts have been about Isaac, so here's proof that I DO have two boys!

Twinkle twinkle little star

Ok, so he's a little confused on some of the words, but he's still super cute, right?

Isaac's first try at corn on the cob!

Isaac's first try at corn on the cob!

My Life - The Musical

It's such a good thing that I'm a HUGE fan of musicals! I mean, I really, really do enjoy musical theater! And I've found the answer to the question "but, who walks around like that? breaking into song? or singing conversations?"

WE DO!

Or Isaac does at least! In the last couple of weeks he's taken to singing EVERYTHING! He just walks around making up songs. He sings peoples names, or sings about whatever he hears people talking about.

It's cute, for a little while...

Potty Update

I was asked yesterday - "Has Isaac been using the potty?"

And the answer to that question is a big giant affirmative - YES! If by chance your definition of "using the potty" is sitting on the potty for HOURS while you watch TV.

But, for the rest of us who define "using the potty" as being alerted that you need to pee/poop and sitting on the pot to do such activity. Then... NO.

Seriously, he'll sit on the darn thing forever! Sometimes we have to fight him to get up. But, he's only had success a few times.

Work in progress.

How 15 Minutes Can Change Your Day

Up until just a few moments ago, my day had gone fairly well. Isn't it funny how that can all change so quickly!

I decided to make stromboli for dinner, which should only take like 3 minutes to put together. Not at my house!

It just took me a solid 20 minutes, at least, to get this all together!

It started with getting Isaac off the potty (no, he's not trained, or anywhere close, but he will sit there FOREVER!). So I convinced him to get off... and for whatever reason, thought it was a great idea to try putting underwear on him. That was a fight in and of itself! But, after two spankings and a time-out... he was wearing underwear.... I would have just given up the fight, but he does the same thing when I put a diaper on him.

Anyways, after than I started toward the kitchen to start on the stromboli. Elijah was dragging me by the hand and crying about something. Isaac was asking for pancakes and waffles. By the time I got everything out of the fridge, Isaac was hanging from my leg and Elijah was still crying.

Isaac pushed Elijah every time he got near me. And this just made him scream more. I couldn't take it anymore and resorted to the Backyardigans for some peace. I set them up in the living room and went to back to the kitchen.

Less then two minutes later, I hear... "Mommy, I pooped". Well, he hadn't pooped, but he had peed. And since in all my brilliance, he was only wearing underwear... I had to clean it up!

Finally back to the stromboli... it's done, Isaac is back on the potty... he says he's staying forever... and Elijah is miserable. As I type he's literally hanging from my arm!

Maybe something really awesome will happen and change the day again! *fingers crossed*

Attention Restaurant Employees

We went out to dinner at the classiest place in town the other night (ie:Pizza Hut). Anyways, it got me thinking. From start to finish, it seemed as if the waiters/waitresses have never seen children before.

SIDE NOTE: I mean no disrespect to the hospitality industry. I was once a waitress and wouldn't want to go back to it... and they probably wouldn't want me back either!

Here are a few rules. These should be posted somewhere in every restaurant or part of training or something!

When a family with small children enters the restaurant:

1. If they require multiple highchairs, the best place to seat them is NOT a booth! More then one highchair at the end of a table just doesn't work!

2. Help them carry said multiple highchairs to the table!

3. The best place is place multiple highchairs is NOT side by side!

4. Babies under the age of 1 do not need crayons! They will only eat them or color on the table.

5. When you bring things to the table, like say, HOT PIZZA, DO NOT PLACE IT ANYWHERE IN REACH OF THE SMALL CHILDREN!

6. On second thought, it's best not to place ANYTHING food or not in reach of the children.

7. When you notice that the kids are climbing the walls and the parents are looking for a quick escape, BRING THE CHECK!

8. Do not offer the kids candy or cookies with out permission.

Okay, slight rant over... just one of my pet peeves!

Free At Last, Free At Last!

THANK GOD ALMIGHTY! I"M FREE AT LAST!!!!!

As of right this very moment, I am no longer employed!

Yes, I'm celebrating! This is a GOOD thing!

Back by popular demand!

So much for my goal to update this blog at least once a week! I promise I'll get better after this weekend (and my diet starts Monday, too)! haha

Lots of things that I should have been talking about on here though!

Let's start with Isaac... he DID give up his pacifier! He's asked for a handful of times in the last few weeks. We've just told him, "sorry, you threw it away" and he seems to accept that! YEAH! Bedtime hasn't been quite as easy, but it's getting better each day! It was almost like it really took a couple weeks for it to set in. He started fighting bedtime and crying... Andrew said it was the fight we should have had two weeks before that. But, he's getting better, the last couple of nights have been perfect!

Potty training isn't going quite as well. He sits on the silly thing, but so far hasn't had much luck! Hopefully once I'm off work we can really work on it a little more!

Friday is my last day!!!!!! I'm so excited! I've got a few other things up my sleeve to bring in a little extra cash too!

So there's a little window in to our world! I really do intend to post more often now that I should have a little more time. You know, in between diaper changes, feedings, breaking up fights, laundry, and cleaning!

So, Could this really work?

I THINK Isaac gave up his pacifier today!

He found one in the car this morning and as usual I was playing with him by telling him that he should get rid of that yucky thing! I told him we should throw it away. He laughed and told me it was "yucky" and "dirty". We've had this conversation before, so I didn't think much of it.

But, when we got back in the house, I told Andrew that Isaac said that he wanted to throw it away. Isaac perked up, and said "yeah, in the garbage!".

Then, and here's the best part, he took it to the garbage and threw it in! We kept saying, "are you sure, this means no more paci?". And in it went!

For nap time, he didn't even notice that he didn't have it! At bed time, he asked about it, but we told him he threw it away and he accepted it. He went to sleep without a tear!

Could it really be this easy?

What was I thinking?

For some reason I thought it would be a cool idea to take both the boys on a shopping trip! Must have been another of my momentary brain lapses. But, feeling very confident I put the boys in the car and drove to the mall.

My parents were also heading that direction and since my mom thinks I'm crazy was feeling helpful, she offered to sit in the parking lot with the boys so I didn't have to drag them into Staples. Had I known how well dinner would go later, I not only would have agreed to this, but also begged her to come to dinner to. But, anyways, with her help I quickly run through Staples to find what I needed. Isaac screamed and cried when my mom left. Elijah just giggled like he was high.

My thought was that going someplace other then fast food would be easier. You know where they bring the food to me and clean up after us. Getting inside was tough... Elijah was feeling independent and screamed if I didn't let him walk. So holding each of their hands we headed in. I thought they were going to pull my arms off! Half way to the restaurant Isaac started crying and doesn't want to go in. The only thing that got him moving again was the promise of pancakes and cookies.Eat-N-Park serves breakfast all day and gives kids giant smiley face cookies.

Once inside, it seemed like there was a wait. After the helpful greeter ignored us and sat two table ahead of us realized we were there, she took us back to a long skinny booth. Isaac cried the whole way. He calmed down as we reached the table. The greeter looked very confused when I said the two babies would need highchairs. She took the placemats and silverware off the table and walked away to find us a table. I only assumed we were supposed to follow, so we head back out to the front of the restaurant. Again, Isaac cried the whole way. I let Isaac smear his face and finger all over the pie case while we waited (hey, he was quiet).

The finally seated us in the back room and we ordered our drinks. The waiter, who seemed like he'd never seen children before, came to take our food orders. Isaac took one drink of milk and coughed it all over the table!

Anyways, the food finally came. Isaac cried when I gave him the pancake he had insisted on. The only thing he'd eat was my mashed potatoes. Elijah didn't eat anything. He just tried to color on his pancakes.

We got our check, quickly paid and head out the door. I really wanted to take a strawberry pie home, but I just couldn't figure out how I'd get it to the car!

Getting Closer

June 30 is getting closer! It finally feels like the end is in sight!

I got my new camera last week!!!!!! It's so, so, so, so nice! We've looked at a couple house too. We'd like to find something that we could set up a studio in eventually. The first one we looked at was really disappointing. They're asking way too much and there's way too much to be done to it. The latest one we saw could really have potential. It's old and priced lower, but could be fixed up really, really nice. It's got lots of room and a huge back yard! I hate house hunting... well, maybe hate is a strong word. I really like looking at houses actually. It's fun! But I really hate making the decision and the offer. There's such pressure! And I really don't want the mess that we had last time. I want to try to get most of the big work done (and done by someone else) before we move in. Our house in Punxsy was so beautiful, but we never would have got everything done.

Anyways.. we're having a strange day here... Isaac is super sleepy! I hope he's not getting sick. He's been sleeping for over 3 1/2 hours now. And he just wanted to sit with me this morning when he got up. Just not like him at all!

So, I'm going to go check on sleeping beauty! Hopefully we'll get out and about today. And keep trying out my new camera!

Blah

So, I'm sick today... even canceled a visit this afternoon. I hate being sick.

No astonishing revelations today, no milestones, no funny stories to tell... just same old stuff different day.

Oh, except Elijah did something funny tonight... he climbed under the table, but then proceeded to climb back out under the chair. Except he didn't really fit! He started to cry when he thought he was stuck, but then realized that he could push the chair up and get out. It was funny watching him get stuck.  And no I didn't help him get out, Isaac and I laughed and took pictures as he worked it out.

Oh what a night!

How is it possible that all in the same night one kid pees on the floor and the other kid poops on the floor!?!?

Once again it was like watching an episode of "This Is Your Life". The announcer says "You spent your evening watching two toddlers smear pizza sauce in their ears and cleaning bodily functions off the floor. Vikki Gearhart - this is your life."

We all giggle and look around for this "Vikki Gearhart" person.

I stopped giggling when I realized I was "Vikki Gearhart" and also the person responsible for cleaning up the messes.

T.G.I.F.

So, It's Friday morning.  I dragged myself to work this morning even though I didn't want to.  Isaac must have been starving this morning because he asked for pancakes 15 times while we were getting him dressed.  Being the attentive mother that I am, I sent him off to my mothers with out any pancakes.  No, seriously, I felt really bad. I just wanted to call off work and stay home and feed him pancakes all day.

I've got a bad case of "I Quit-itis". I put in my official resignation yesterday.  Now I've just got to find a way to make myself care about coming to work for the next 60 days.  That's right, I said 60 days... I thought I was going to be done in two weeks, but, in their aways infinite wisdom, the powers that be have decided to extend my programs end date to the end of June.  Big Fun!

What happens at Grandma's stays at Grandma's ...

Unless your mom posts it on the internet.

You Know You're A Mom When....

Have you ever driven somewhere and realized when you got there that you don't know how you got there? Like the car must have been on autopilot because you don't remember passing familiar landmarks or towns. Sometimes that's how I feel about my journey into motherhood too.

A few nights ago, as I sat at Red Lobster with Andrew, his parents, and of course the boys, I had one of these moments. Now, Red Lobster might not be a ritzy sort of restaurant to some people, but it's the closest thing that our little podunk town has to a fancy place to eat in a 50 mile radius. Our little table of 4 adults and 2 small children sat in the busy restaurant singing (relatively loudly) favorites like Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star, and the ABC's.

It was like someone had hit the fast-forward button on my life. It was kind of surreal. How did I end up singing kids songs in a place where we had spent many date nights and I had many margaritas with girlfriends?

Life Gets In The Way

Well, holly cow! I wish I could say that I haven't posted because I've been busy potty training Isaac, but alas, it seems that the potty thing was just a fluke. He has been much more agreeable to sitting on the darn thing, but we haven't made any more progress. :( I can't wait until I'm home this summer. I think it will just take some time to focus on it.

So, is it too late to blog about Easter? Even if it is, I'm gonna do it anyways. The day before we had an Easter egg hunt at my aunts. It was mad craziness! We got about 4 inches of snow the night before. This made for one of the most bizarre egg hunts I've ever attended. Add to that the fact that the oldest kid hunting was only 4! Aunt Pat hid at least 110 billion eggs in the snow.

Of course, the 4 and under crowd bored of hunting for eggs in the snow after about 5 eggs each. The did have fun though!
After he bored of the egg hunt, Isaac discovered the snow covered slide. He insisted on cleaning the slide off. Even though he was FREEZING at the end of it, we still had to fight him to get inside.
All in all it was a really good holiday. The next day I was in charge of the nursery at the early service at church. We attempted to leave the kids in the nursery during the second service but I ended up back in the nursery because Elijah was a beast! So after two rounds of nursery, we all headed home for a nap. We had dinner at my mom's and called it a day!

Hope everyone had a nice holiday too!

Easter PA Style- Strike that... Potty Time!

I had started an incredibly funny and witty post about our day. Right in the middle of it, I was interrupted. I promise that I will write about our crazy snow filled Easter Egg hunt later, but I have better news!

Isaac pooped in the potty!

I can't believe that this is the excitement in my life, but it is... and I'm excited! He's almost 2 1/2, so it's time.

I'm not sure that is will stick, but hopefully! This is the first success we've had. He's usually afraid to even sit on the potty. Anybody with some tips, please let me know!


Here's a pic from our egg hunt! I'll tell you all about it soon!

The Countdown Begins

60 days!

In just two months, I get to transform from "home visitor", aka traveling preschool teacher, to "SUPERMOM", aka stay at home mom. This will be our second attempt at this transformation. When I had our first son at the end of 2005, we thought I'd be able to stay home with him. It didn't work out so great. Admittedly, I not sure I tried my hardest at it. Live and learn.

So, two years later, we've made a lot of changes. We had another baby boy in 2006, sold our cars (and made nothing), sold our house (and also made nothing), and moved back to the small town I grew up in. We're learning to live more frugally. Some days it's working better then others. But, it's working well enough that we're going to give single income another try.

It appears that the rumor mill at work has found out that I don't plan to return in the fall. I guess that makes it official. Yeah!

Day #1

This is the start of my blog. I promise there will be more content and stuff by the end of the week. I plan to use this space as a place to talk about all sorts of things, but mostly family, parenting, marriage, the funny things kids do, and general things along those lines.