Issue an Amber Alert...

My baby is missing! Yes, my happy, smiley, well behaved baby has been missing for about two weeks. My baby who contently lays in his bed when he wakes up and waits until I have Luke on the bus to finally get some attention. My baby who sits in his bouncy seat all day, if I let him, without so much as a whimper. My baby who loves to swing in the swing and falls asleep in about two minutes after the swinging begins. My baby who lays under the lights and sound toy and babbles and coos while I get ready for they day. My baby who sleeps in his own little bed and only wakes to eat at 6:00 or 7:00 am. My baby who takes long naps alone in his crib. My baby who makes me think I could have 10 more little babies! My baby is missing!

Please let me know if you know of his whereabouts. He is approximately 24 inches tall, weighs about 16 pounds, has a little bit of light brown hair, blue eyes, and answers (with a smile and laugh) to the name Eil.

Tagged

I was tagged a couple of days ago, and I have been racking my brain for 6 things that are actually interesting about me! This is what I came up with.

1. I love to read (that isn't very interesting is it). I like to read just about any kind of book, but especially if it includes a love story. Some of my favorites include The Work and the Glory, anything by Jane Austen, Harry Potter, and Sweet Valley High (well at least they were my favorites in middle school).

2. I have control issues (according to Rick, but accepted and acknowledged by me). I think that they way I do things is the best way, and I want everyone to do it the same way. I have definite ideas of what I like, and I don't really want it any other way. For example, I have a right way of doing the dishes and a wrong way, and when other people mess up my process I don't like it one little bit!!!!!!

3. I hate cleaning bathrooms (but who doesn't?). I have an agreement with Rick that I will clean the rest of the entire house as long as he does the bathrooms.

4. I totally have middle child syndrome (poor poor pitty me).

5. I don't have a very good memory (I think). I never knew this was a problem until I get together with my siblings and they start talking about things that happened when we were kids and I find myself saying, "Was I even there?"

6. I am a very emotional person. I am known for crying at three legged dogs and T.V. commercials. Just last week I was telling my dad (with tears rolling down my cheeks) that I could almost talk myself into being a vegetarian because when the boys took the calves to the sale, the mom cows mooed and mooed in distress at their babies being taken away. It was so sad! (I am actually crying right now as I remember it! Seriously I am !!!!!)

Happy Birthday, Noah!

Wow, where does time go? My little black haired baby just turned 3 years old. Instead of having a big birthday party for him, we celebrated at Chuck E. Cheese's on Friday night. So for his actual birthday on Monday we just had a little get together with our favorite "girls", and even Grandpa Bisel, to open presents and eat cake. Noah got more truck, diggers and tools then a little boy could ever need, and he was in 7th heaven! Thanks to everyone for celebrating with us.

Noah was so gracious when opening presents and kept saying, "Oh, my favorite!"

All decked out in his light-up Halloween shirt and shop safety goggles (Norm Abram would be so proud.)

I made a little pumpkin cake for my fall birthday boy. The recipe was a knock-off of the Nothing Bundt Cake chocolate chocolate chip cake, and it was DELICIOUS!

Warning!
Do NOT keep reading if you are squeamish or think bodily fluids are not appropriate to blog about.

I made Noah's favorite dinner special for his birthday; meatballs, rice, and green beans. Even though he is a picky eater, he would eat a can of green beans if you let him. At dinner he insisted on having Rick's big plate and loaded it up with meatballs and green beans. He just went to town on his food and was really "hoarking it down". We were just letting him eat as much as he wanted, because some night we can't even get him to take one bite of food! After consuming large amounts of his special dinner he looked at me and said, "Mom, my tummy hurts." I suggested he stop eating and Rick had him take a drink of milk. One swallow into the milk he started to gag... I quickly grabbed the lid to a pan and slipped it under his face just as he lost his "special" birthday dinner. It just goes to show that sometimes you really can have too much of a good thing.

"Mom, my tummy hurts."

The result of eating 3 huge meatballs, rice, and forkful after forkful of green beans.

Adventures in dogsitting...

Have you met me? If you have, you probably know that I am not what you would call a dog person. In fact I'm not really much of an animal person at all. I know what you are thinking, How can you not like dogs, or cats, or ANIMALS in general? What kind of person are you? I don't know! I know it wasn't always this way. I have seen a cute picture of me and my little brother when I was about 3 years old, and I was holding a dog on my lap hugging it! I can remember getting kittens when I was around 7 years old and taking care of them like they were our babies. I grew up around all kinds of animals on a farm... I had my own calf that I would feed from a bottle for heaven sake. But as the years have passed I have grown increasingly less fond of animals and now I really quite dislike them. It might be the hair, the smell, or the fact that dogs are always either jumping up on you or sticking their nose in you bottom! Whatever the reason, I don't like dogs. So when my mom and dad left on vacation and needed someone to get their dog (actually their granddog) from the vet I was the most unlikely candidate, but the lot fell to me anyway because I was pretty much the only one available.

Once I had reluctantly agreed to get Bella from the vet I immediately started wondering HOW I was going to get her. My dad suggested that she could just ride in the back of my Tahoe. MY Tahoe? I don't think so. My thoughts went to all the other vehicles around here... I could take my dad's little truck, but with the baling twine and pepsi cans I didn't think there would be enough room in the cab for me and my three boys. I could take my Explorer; sure it had been in a crash last winter and you could no longer open the doors on the driver's side, the windows are broken out, and it is highly illegal to drive a car in it's shape, but it was an option. I could take my dad's car, but I thought the people at the vet's office would not think it wasn't too humane to put the dog in the trunk for a 25 minute ride home. I was stuck, I HAD to take the Tahoe. I figured that as long as I put her in the pet porter at least she wouldn't get hair all over. So I loaded up the boys and the pet porter and headed to Heber.

When I walked into the vet's office I noticed all the "Please keep your dog on a lease." signs. Oh great, I didn't bring a leash. Does that mean I have to hold her by the collar? That would mean that I actually had to touch her! Thankfully when the assistant brought her out they had one of their leashes on her. Okay, I can do this. I can act like I am not the worst dog hater in the world. The assistant handed me the leash and said, "She might be a little groggy from the medicine." YOU THINK? She was leaning against the wall and wouldn't even walk. I lightly pulled on the leash and in my sweetest voice said, "Come on Bella, come on girl." Then I clicked my tongue. What an idiot! You click your tongue to make a horse go, not a dog! I was sure the assistant wondered what on earth I doing. Needless to say, the sweet voice and tongue clicking did not make Bella move. I continued to tug on her leash (with increasing force) and begged her to come. She didn't move. To get her to the door I had to pull while the assistant pushed her. Thank heaven that the floor was tile so she could slide on her bottom! Once we got her to the door the fresh air put a little life in her and I actually got her to walk to the car.

I knew it would be difficult for Bella to get up into her porter in the back in the Tahoe because on a good day Bella is what would could call lazy, she is a lab after all. So I just decided to take one for team McNeil and lift her front paws up onto the bumper and let her jump the rest of the way. Good plan, but Bella was not having anything to do with it. I was able to get her front paws on the bumper, but she was too out of it to realize she had to help with the rest. I knew I wasn't going to be able to get her into the porter because she weighs about 70 pounds, and I didn't even know where I could hold her without hurting her incisions. I reconciled myself to the fact that I was going to have to walk back into the vet's office and ask for help. How humiliating. Just as I was turning toward the office I saw that the assistant was coming out to help. Had she been watching me the whole time? Great. Again she must think I am a total idiot. With two grown women to do the work, we were able to get Bella into the porter in the back of my Tahoe. She was seriously out of it. She didn't even bend her legs or lower her head to actually fit through the opening! I had to do it for her. The ride home was very uneventful, Bella wasn't really even moving.

I knew that once I got her home there was no way I was going to be able to get her OUT of the pet porter. I also knew that I wasn't strong enough to lift the porter out of the car with her in it, so I opened the back hatch and let her stay! Rick could deal with this when he got home. To tell you the truth, I don't hate Bella. I actually felt sorry for her in her drugged induced state leaning against the wall, unable to even move. I'm just not sure I like her enough give her the love she deserved after her little operation. I have to reconcile myself to the fact that I am sure I will own a dog someday. With three boys and a husband who like dogs, I am sure it will happen. For now, I will just be happy when I am finished dogsitting!

Bella in the pet porter in the back of the Tahoe, unable to get out on her own!

Meet Mr. Snowman and his dog

We got a winter preview this weekend, and the boys were in 7th heaven! Saturday morning, big heavy snowflakes covered the ground and the boys hurried right outside to play in it. With Rick's help they made this great snowman and his dog. They had to use all of the snow in the entire yard to finish their creations. They had a great time, but I am thankful that it was just a preview and that winter is not here to stay. I think we have a few more weeks before the snow will fall and stick around for good.

Summer work project on our future home site

A couple of weekends ago, I finally convinced Rick to head up to the dry farm and work on our future home site. Last summer's project was to plant three apple trees, and this summer I wanted to cut out all of the dead oak trees to allow the ones that are alive go grow bigger and more full. Rick was less than excited for my little project, but I keep telling him that in 10 years when we finally build a house there, we will be so happy that we put the work in now to make our yard beautiful! The first thing we saw when we got up there were three dead apple trees! I AM SO MAD AT MYSELF! We didn't water our trees all summer, mostly because we didn't think about it, but also because I just thought they were established enough that I didn't need to keep watering them. Boy was I wrong. One tree was totally dead, the other two were very, VERY near death. We watered them anyway in hopes that we could revive them.

Rick got going right away with the chainsaw and worked for an hour straight cutting down dead trees and cutting dead branches out of living trees. It was a lot of work because about half of the trees there are dead! The boys and I were in charge of piling up all of the dead wood to be cut for firewood. Luke worked really hard finding all of branches he could and making a huge pile. Noah was pretty scared of the loud chainsaw so he tried to stay away from it. He also took a spill and cut his hand on a stick, so he wasn't too much help on our family work project. I felt like we did a lot of cutting and piling, but there is still a lot to do. We aren't finished with all that needs to be done, but I guess we have a few more years to work on it!

Of course I forgot to take my camera so these pictures were taken with Rick's phone, thus the less than stellar quality.My attempt to revive the apple trees by hauling buckets of water from the creek.

Noah helping water the dead apple trees.

Luke working on his big pile of branches.

Rick showing off his chainsaw skills.