Awesomeness

Moving from Houston to Ohio was a blessing in many ways; the biggest being Gabe will be growing up with his cousins and grandparents close by.  On the flip side we left the land of sun and our new house.  Our new house with beautiful bathrooms.  Sounds trivial, I know but the bathroom at our house in Ohio was really, well, gross.  I mean, prior to moving out it was clean but the tiles that were on ALL the walls were stained and some broken, the tub was stained, walls were peeling... it was gross.  I used more elbow grease then I knew I had to clean it but the stains remained.  Add to the fact that we had 3 guys in their 20's renting our house while we lived in Ohio and the bathroom was just a hot mess. 

 

Then Matt stepped in.  With the help of our brothers, he completely renovated our bathroom.  Took out the disgusting tub, ripped out the plaster walls and the dated tile that covered each wall.  Matt worked from early morning to late at night when we came to Ohio in early December and then when we officially moved back he had a few more long days of work.  But the result?  Well.. suffice it to say that the bathroom is now my favorite room in the house!

 

Our  bathroom:

new tub

new toilet

new vanity

insulated walls

new window

fresh paint

refinished wood floors

beautiful tile surrounding our tub

 

It's a brand new bathroom in a 100 year old house.  I love it! 

 

A little peak into our beautiful bathroom.

 

One of my favorite scriptures hanging about the towel rack.

 

Beautiful tile laid by Matt lines our shower .  The tile around the tub and the hand sanded and stained wooden floors are my favorite parts of the bathroom.  The company that redid our wood floors upstairs said the wood was to weak for their equipment, so my darling husband, knowing my love for wood floors and my desire to have the bathroom look in my mind, classic spent extra time sanding and staining them.  He's a great guy, I tell you!

 

 

And the awesomeness... the crème de la crème of the bathroom...

 

Our Harry Potter decal on the toilet.  It reads "This way to the Ministry of Magic"  and makes me smile every single time I walk into the bathroom.  Every.  Single.  Time.  I tell you.

We're back!

At the beginning, my break from our blog was unintentional.  Moving back to Ohio, getting back into the swing of things and lets be honest, the grief of losing our referral left me to exhausted to think about writing.  Then as one week turned to two and two to three, I would come here and just sit.  I didn't want this to be a place of sadness but every time I'd sit down to type, I'd be overwhelmed with the reality that I wanted to be sharing about preparing to bring home our son while in reality we are still a family of three.

But life moves on and it's almost Spring.  I can't wait for Spring with sunshine, trips to the zoo and a lot of time to spend outside. 

It's still cold and snowy (sometimes a bitter cold and rainy mix - my least favorite thing for the weather to do), so we're spending a lot of time inside having fun.  Or in the car going to therapy or play dates!  Both are fun because at this age, despite the hard work Gabe still considers therapy to be fun and asks to go play with Shannon, Jenny, Danielle or Sarah every day. 

A pictorial review of what we've been up too!

A visit to Chick-fil-A and their play place.

Gabe helped Matt build a bookshelf for the playroom.

Nothings better than playing with dry beans except for beans down your back!

Gabe loves to eat at his new table in the play room. 

Gabe being a "basketball Jones" and stuffing it!

Matt and I went with our friends, Sondra and Carl to see Potted Potter.  If you're any type of a Harry Potter fan you will see this when it comes to your town.  It was amazing.  And hysterical!

The Hogwarts Express on the set of Potted Potter! Yes, it is that awesome!

 Visiting (and wrestling) with all his cousins at his Nonny and Papo's house.

 Lots and lots of block play.  Gabe's favorite?  Playing dominoes with them.

Early morning wake ups, mean finishing the night in bed with Mommy and Daddy. 

Les Miserable came to Play House Square and Sondra and I were off to the theater once again!  Les Mis was wonderful; the actors did great, their voices were phenomenal.  And like always, the story of love and redemption brought this girl to tears.

 Gabe doing what he does and doing it well.  Gabe has been practicing with a walker at therapy and at home.  For more practice we brought it to Staples with us.  Watching Gabe walk through Staples?  Chock it up to being another amazing moment in the life of Gabe. 

 

And that's what we've been up too!  What about you?

What to Give Wednesday (Part 6)

Better Life Bags

After moving (purposefully) with her family to a low income area in Detroit, Rebecca began her business from the desire to create a diaper bag for her new son.  What resulted was a local company hiring 1st generation immigrant women to sew bags designed by Rebecca but personalized by the women buying them. 

From their website:
"We hire women, who otherwise cannot get jobs, to work for BLB. We rent them a sewing machine and tools while teaching them a skill set that allows them to become a primary or secondary provider in their families. Most of these women are first generation immigrants from countries such as Iraq, Lebanon, Jordan, and Yemen, so we are also able to provide them with much needed fellowship and friendship as we visit their homes to deliver fabric and pick up orders."

However, Better Life Bags is not just helping women in their local community, they are helping women all over the world through Kiva.org.  10% of every sale is donated to Kiva.org and given to a low income entrepreneur in a developing country. 

E-Reader Case

Super Cute!

Saving up for this one!  Love it!

Lego's

I thought this one was really fun.  As a family we are trying to buy more items local, fair trade or that help others so when I googled fair trade toys I was surprised to see Lego's come up!  Lego's is part of the United Nations Global Compact and there are many different regulations they must adhere too. 

From their website:
"As the first in the toy industry to join Secretary General of the United Nations Kofi Annan's Global Compact initiative in 2003, the LEGO Group was taking a natural next step in the process of social commitment that is so deeply rooted in the company. Adoption of the Global Compact also reflected an urge to behave decently and to assume a share of the responsibility for helping to solve the major issues facing the world in such areas as human rights, labour standards, the environment and the fight against corruption." 

So, go out.... buy Lego's...support a Fair Trade company and indulge a child's creativity.

Lots of Harry Potter options in Lego's too!

Vacation Part 2

Tuesday September 20, 2011 the Murnan's and the LaGorga's traveled southwest to Olando. The destination being Universal Studios Island of Adventure. Or more accurate The Wizarding World of Harry Potter. Yes, just 2 short months after the culmination of a long lasting love affair with Harry Potter, I was surrounded by all things Harry Potter.

Sondra and I on our way to Orlando

I felt like singing "now I've got a golden ticket" but I refrained. You're welcome!

Our first glimpse of Hogwarts! I'm not embarassed to admit that there was some girlie shrieking, sweaty palms and racing hearts. It was just that exciting. I have to wonder though how I'd be able to contain my excitement if I ever had the opprotunity to meet Daniel, Emma or Rupert or go to London and see Platform 9 3/4. I'd probably need a sedative, a strong one [smile].

Another view of Hogwarts

But first, Suess Landing

Gabe was not having the carousel ride this time.

The Cat in the Hat, Matt and Gabe

And the real fun begins...

Hogwarts Express

Flourish and Blotts (with books by Gilderoy Lockhart and his moving photo's)

Beauxbotons and Drumstrang

and the Hogwarts chorus, complete with croaking bull frogs

Pumpkin juice - much better than expected!

Butterbeer!!! Absolutely fabulous! A touch of cream soda, a taste of root beer and a whole lot of frothy goodness. It's no wonder that J. K. Rowling approved it! Even Gabe liked it, although it had a bit of an elfin effect on him [smile].

And now into Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.

Mandrakes (check out the little eyes peering above the soil)

flower in Professor Sprouts greenhouse

the phoenix that allows you to enter Dumbledore's office

the sorting hat

the pensieve

Back outside of Hogwarts. It's called Hogsmeade but it's a complimation of the village of Hogsmeade and Diagon Alley.

Gringott's ATM. Super fun!

Olivander's Wand Shop. You actually get to choose your wand here, or better yet the wand chooses you. There was always a ton of people waiting in line so we never made it in. One of the coolest details of Olivanders is that the upstairs window is piled to the top with wand boxes.

Chocolate Frogs complete with wizarding cards. Mine had Salazar Slytherin

Cauldron Cakes and other yummies

and finally some Fizzing Whizbees!

The Wizarding World of Harry Potter was absolutely amazing. The whole visit I felt like I was using an insane amount of superalitives to describe what I was seeing but there was no way to just use nouns! From the snow topped roofs, detail orientated shops to the very character-ish workers, it seemed as though every detail was thoroughly thought out.

Lunch in the Three Broomsticks was a plethora of English cuisine and the Hogs Head was right next door. We didn't go in, because well, it'd just be weird to have a baby in a bar but looking in, it was picturesque to how it's described in Harry Potter and the Order of Phoenix.

The only ride we went on was Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey (which was orginally supposed to be called Harry Potter and the Flight of the Pheonix - not important but just a fact!). It was a tour of Hogwarts and again it was utterly fabulous. There were dragons, dementors and you followed Harry, Ron and Hermione the whole time. We all loved it and then browsing in Filch's Emporium afterwards was superb as well.

Everything about the Wizarding World of Harry Potter was memorable.

September 20, 2011 was definately a day I'll remember. Besides spending a week at the beach with Matt, Gabe and my lovelies; our day at the Wizarding World of Harry Potter tops my list of vacation memories.