5 Year Anniversary

Wow, we had a super fun time downtown Kansas City for our anniversary! We stayed at the Intercontinental Hotel on the 11th concierge floor where we enjoyed food and beverages at our leisure throughout the stay. We ate at Tomfooleries and LOVED our dinner. It was casual and delicious. The Country Club Plaza provides much shopping and entertainment that we stayed out till late partaking in activities we otherwise would not do with little ones. The following morning was beautiful as we strolled the Rose Gardens of Loose Park and observed nature. To wrap up our celebration of being married five years, we collected Emily and Storm from the babysitter and spent hours at a local park where my baby girl took her first step on her own. What can I say? I am very happy with the family I've been blessed with. So very happy . . ..

Home Made Baby Gate

My home has 5 split levels and none of the stairs are traditional with spaced railings. None of the stair landings have a way to use a traditional gate using tension or bolts to drywall so this forced my husband and I to make our own baby gate.

Ironically, if I had a baby gate this whole project would have been a lot faster, but, little by little this week the project came together in the evenings.

First step was drawing up plans which was primarily Adam's task. We decided on a free standing gate with five panels connected with hinges and a door. This gate from Dynamic Accents was the design inspiration:  http://www.dynamicaccents.com/products/highlander-walk-through-gate


Home Depot was our one stop shopping where our total came to $84.00. We bought the following:

23  2x2x36 inch dowels
5    packages of hinges (2 per pack)
1    bottle of original purpose Gorilla Glue
1    bottle of black glossy spray paint
1    package of 32 ct 2 1/2" wood screws
1    set of drill bits with a 7/8" included
1    package of 17' brown rubber door sealer strip
9    1/2" 9' electrical conduit pipes

First step was to  have the Home Depot personnel cut down our dowels to the desired height of the gate, and subsequent different measurements to form the walk through gate portion.
Here are those dowels having sweet fellowship on the garage floor before being assembled.

Next we measured and marked the spacing of spindles. After it was marked we used our drill spade bit to create our indentations. If you have a drill press machine you would know that equipment is superior, but we didn't feel like buying at $120 machine for this one project. I'm sure you understand.

 Next we used a simple hand saw to cut our pvc pipes to our measured lengths.

 At the end of my 9 foot poles I have a precious puppy. You may or may not have this option.

A baby could saw through these poles. I didn't verify using Emily, but I think that's a fair statement.

Next we followed the instructions of the Gorilla Glue and secured the pvc poles into their new homes. Emily is kindly pointing out the glue she was not allowed to play with.

After the glue dried about 2 hours later we secured our end wood pieces to our panels using wood screws.

The next day we tackled the spray paint being applied to all the panel pieces. Remember with spray paint that light even coats are better than instant total coverage especially on the pvc poles.

Now for the hinges. One major tip for the screws and hinges are to be absolutely in the center of dowels to avoid any splintering or cracking.

Last but not least the bolt was added to the walk through gate.

Now for our home, we have mostly wood floors and so we had one more product to apply to the bottom of each of our five panels. We used a rubber weather seal that is typically used around doorways, but it was the perfect solution to add resistance to the gate being pushed on, and also protection on our wood floors.

THE END.  If you need additional answers on any part of this process, just ask! Here's a picture of the final project. 

Giant Tree Branch

As I was walking my two girls, Emily and Storm, I came across this rather large branch that had fallen off the path in the shade. My dear husband agreed to pick it up for me later that afternoon in the truck.

My inspiration came from my irritation that fake flowers are so expensive. My inspiration also came from Pinterest where a wedding used paper blossoms on branches to create a beautiful scene.
This website: http://zakkalife.blogspot.com/2009/06/how-to-tiny-delicate-tissue-flowers.html has a straight forward tutorial on a type of paper blossom if you have never made them before.

Here is the result so far. I am in search of the perfect umbrella stand or urn or slender vase to be able to hold the tree up. Right now it just leans on my armchair. As to what that folding chair is doing behind there . . . I have no idea. I blame Storm for those sort of things.

The Beginning of Our Family

I am so blessed to have been married to my childhood sweetheart on August 4, 2007. We have lived in Champaign, IL, Tucson, AZ, Cincinnati, OH, and now Kansas City, MO. Adam took a job with Ford Motor Company after completing an Industrial Engineer undergraduate degree and a masters in Business Administration as well as a masters of Industrial Engineer at the University of Illinois.

During the years of Adam finishing his education our dog, Storm, joined our family. A litter of 9 was born on October 14, 2009 in Greenville, IL and Storm was the most precious of them all. The real story is that Storm chose me that day and anyone who has stayed at my home knows I cannot resist her. She is a faithful companion to us and a sure source of daily laughter.

The next milestone in our marriage was on December, 6, 2010 when we discovered I was pregnant. We were so excited, but waited till the 12 week marker to share the news with our extended families. To say that they were elated is an extreme understatement seeing as how this was the first grandchild for either of our families. Then on April 1 we found out it was a girl and promptly named her Allison, Lily or Emily for a few weeks till one name stuck out.

I had an amazing journey through pregnancy as does every woman and I will share my story of her delivery on a later post. The most important thing is that she was born a healthy 6 lbs. 14 oz and 19.5 inches long. Her lips were rose red immediately entering the world and the nurses and doctor couldn't help but admire that she was a beautiful newborn.

Now the real fun begins, right? Sleepless nights and baby brain days will now describe my future, and I will love every minute.