What a whole year can bring.

I can't believe that Stephen has been here a whole year. When we got the call last September we were told this was going to be a long term placement. Of course it didn't take long before we were in love with this amazing little boy. When he arrived he was pretty sick. I remember being so scared that he wouldn't sleep and that he would scream all night. That never happened. He seemed to know that we were here to comfort and love him. It took his a good month to regain his health and several more months after that (including speech therapy) before he was eating well for us. It was interesting because the more he trusted us to take care of his needs the better he ate and slept. This little guy seemed to fit in right away and now after a year we can't think of him as anything other then our son. When he got here at 7 months all he could do was sit up. We have watched him learn to crawl, walk, talk, climb, and enjoy life everyday. He loves to be outside (playing baseball or riding on a toy), he LOVES the water, and he really likes to be where ever we are. Now that he can get up and down the stairs on his own he follows Evi and Robert everywhere. I can't believe how well he keeps up with them. We take each day as it comes and hope and pray about what the future will hold for him. We want him to be a part of our family forever but we do know that ultimatly God is in control. We pray for his birth family as well. Today was a crazy day at the Babel house. First Robert peed his pants at preschool (don't worry he didn't care one bit), then Evi got a warning at Kindergarten for talking when the teacher was talking (I know big surprise.) It seemed that not a lot was going right when all of a sudden the phone rang and it was ECFA. At first I thought we were getting another placement call but it turned out to be Stephen's case worker calling to say that they were going to proceed with getting his plan changed from return home to adoption. What a great anniversary gift for us. At this stage of the game anything could still happen but we are really excited that things are moving in the right direction.

Stephen and me September 30, 2009


Stephen and me today

One year together

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Treasure Hunt

The mug says it all.

Why buy toys when they will play with cups?

I walked into the playroom this morning and found Evi playing with these cups. I think she may have seen an advertisement on TV that shows kids stacking, building, and playing with colorful cups. It's just $19.95 plus shipping and handling. I'm glad she is resourceful and figured out you get the same results with regular cups which cost something like 5 bucks at the store. Anyway, it 's got me thinking, why do we buy our kids so many expensive toys that end up broken or underplayed with? This year for Christmas I am planning on actually staying within a budget. I decided that I would buy things for the kids that they have expressed a desire for. In Evi's case this means getting her a bag of fancy rocks. I'm not kidding, every time we go to the Dollar Store she sees these colorful rocks that go in a fish tank and exclaims "I'm going to ask Santa for these!" As an adult I think wow, way to go for the big stuff kid LOL. But really, if that's what she wants why not get it and give it to her for Christmas. She will play with them and it will probably give her hours of entertainment (or her version of an hour, 20 mins.) When she was three all the wanted for Christmas was a "Meet the Robinson's" squishy ball she saw at the Disney store. It was like $3.99. I want to give my kids everything, I think many of us do. We love to see their faces light up and the joy that receiving a new toy brings. There are so many times I go to Target and want to buy them things I see that I know they would like. It's usually something little. Well, this year for the next three months I am going to buy those little things I know they'll love and wait and give it to them for Christmas. This year there may not be any big items under the tree but I'll know that everything that the unwrap is something they really wanted even if it is small and only cost a dollar.

I actually made dinner

So I have been receiving these Kraft Cooking magazines for almost 5 years now. I have quite the collection. Every now and again I will go through them and book mark recipies that I think will be easy enough to make. Usually I never get around to going to the store and buying the ingredients (I know big surprise.) For a few weeks now Jer and I have been recording things we need from the store on a little notepad that has taken up residence by the fridge. This works great because as soon as we run out of something we can right it down and remember to get it, but it's also great because most nights Jer goes to the store (not sure why) and he always asks me three seconds before leaving "do we need anything?" I always feel such pressure and can never think of what we need. Well, this time when I looked through the Kraft mag. I wrote all the ingredients for anything I thought I would cook (like for real cook) on our notepad knowing that Jer would get everything I needed. It worked and last night I made 1 of 4 new meals we are going to try.


Here it is about to go into the oven. An interesting side note is that I had the oven at 300 and it was supose to be at 350. oops.

See here I am at the stove, slaving away.... I'm pretty sure this is when I put in the whole bag of frozen corn rather then reading exactly how much I was supose to use.

Go Bears

Apple Picking

The most beautiful kids in the world.

Feeding chickens.



Getting ready to go into the orchard.

Hot peppers.

Maybe biting into the pepper wasn't a good idea.

My big boy pulling the wagon.

See the boys do share.



Grandma and Evi working together.

This boy loves the berries.

Robert can you really hold that tree up? It looks heavy to me.

I like this one mom.

Double fisted!

Picking the perfect apple.

Grandma and Robert find the perfect pumpkin.

Go Robert, go!

Do you think there is something wrong with this squash?

What a truly beautiful boy.

We went out to dinner and Robert hit a wall and was out like a light. Too much fun for one day.

Organization and Storage

I already posted about my new book storage, but I had to highlight my favorite part: displaying the books in themes. This month we are featuring Back to School and Fall/Halloween (it's never too early for Halloween books, we actually read the all year.)

I made this reusable weekly calendar for Evi. She is always asking "what are we doing tomorrow?" So now when she asks I tell her to go check the calendar. I have cards for all the kids activities that are attached to velcro. Evi can help me get ready for the week by putting on all the activities and she can also rip them off when we complete an event/activity. She really seems to like this and is always telling me what is on the agenda.

The new Art/Work area of the playroom. I am finally able to get things out of the kitchen that just didn't really belong. I can also display the kids work in an area they spend a lot of time in.

I just bought this piece off Craig's list for 20 bucks. I love how I can display a lot of the baby toys we have for easier access. Otherwise they sit in the toy box and never get played with.

More toy storage. You would be surprised at how many kinds of toys, big and small, fit in this storage unit. I labeled each bin so all the toys have a proper place. I'm sure this seems anal, but the kids do have an easier time of cleaning up the toys and finding them again when they want to play with them.

The dress up area of the playroom.

Bookshelf in the boys room.

This storage unit is in the boys room and each bin has a label with a picture so that they can put their toys away where they belong.

This is Jeremy's reaction to all my organization (can't you just hear him scream "stop the madness.")

My New Love

the Shark


I am so excited about this new vacumn because it is so easy to use and I don't have to sweep the kitchen floor 10 million times a day anymore (okay this is an exageration.) Jeremy got it for me from Costco after our other vacumn kicked the bucket. When I saw it I was disapointed because it wasn't at all what I thought he was getting me. Anyway we weren't even sure how good it would work and Jeremy did say "if it's a piece of crap we'll take it back." Well it turns out this little beauty does an okay job. I can use it all over the hardwood floors and it's so easy to push and swivel around furniture. No more sweeping up cereal, crackers, or dried rice stuck to the floor (it's so much easier to sweep once it's dried.) I can also use it on our area rugs and it does a decent job of picking up all those little pieces of food and what not the kids have dragged around the house. Thank you Jeremy for making my life easier.

Mary and Grant's shower

Mary, Megan, and Tree

Mary and Sandy

The bride and the flower girl

Kelly and Mary

Megan and Mary

Mother of the bride and The bride

Mary and Grant

Grandma Nancy and Evi

The little helpers

Mary and Mary.

Bunny, Sandy, Eddie and Mary

Tara and Evi (the flower girl)

Mary and her aunts who hosted the shower