Trucks or Fish

This year in December Max will be turning three and I've been thinking about his party for a few months now. Like I mentioned on Monday he is crazy about trucks. Garbage trucks, construction trucks, monster trucks, he loves them all. So I figured a truck party was an absolute no-brainer.

Apparently not. I was talking to Max about his party the other day and he all of a sudden told me he wanted a fish party.

I was completely thrown. So I videoed our conversation (like any good blogger would!).



He'd just woken up, so he was still a little fuzzy and cuddly :)

Which leaves me with a decision to make. Do I throw him a truck party or a fish party?  I really want to start getting things organised because at the time of his birthday I will have a two week old newborn. Better to be prepared early for this one I think!

I have some great ideas pinned for both (all images are from these two pinboards, or you can click the link below each photo to go straight to the source).

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I really like both themes, so I'd be happy to do either party. I think what I'll do is show Max these pictures, ask him again which party he wants and then stick with the one he chooses. Who knows if that will actually work (toddlers are so fickle!), but fingers crossed it does. Wish me luck!

Toddler Tuesday - Number Matching Board

This weeks Toddler Tuesday activity was inspired by this little peg board that I pinned the other day.

At 2 and a half I thought that colour matching was a little bit too simple for Max, so I decided to switch it up and do a numbers board instead.

To make the board I used:
 - Cheap dollar store canvas board
 - little black gems (also from the dollar store)
 - wooden pegs
 - coloured card
 - stick on numbers (from my craft stash)

Max really liked it, especially the pegs and numbers. He was really good with the numbers 1 through to 5, but did find the higher numbers a little more challenging.

After three or four days of playing with it he's getting better and better. The key thing for him is that he likes to do the pegging on his own. "No helping Mumma!' he told me multiple times :) So I help him count out the gems, help him pick the right number and then he pegs it on by himself.

Have you done any fun toddler projects lately?

Northside Fun Fair

Here in Brisbane we've just had Ekka week, it's a basically a really big carnival. I would love to take Max there one year, but I'm just not ready to face the huge crowds yet. Instead, on the weekend Sean and I took him and his cousin Ava to our local fair.

As far as they were concerned it was every bit as fun as the Ekka! (And it was definitely just as expensive, has anyone else ever been charged $15 for two buckets of chips and a dagwood dog!?).

As well as having seriously pricey food, sideshows and showbags it did have some really cool free activities that we made the most of. We started our night by going to the circus. Seating was really limited so once I found a seat I tried to convince both of them to sit on my lap. Ava didn't mind, but Max was seriously unimpressed!

Once I let them go and stand next to the ring with a bunch of other kids they were so much happier. Max would run back over to me every few minutes to tell me all of the exciting things that he was seeing, it was so adorable!

After the circus we met up with Sean (he came straight from work). We played some sideshow games, ate junk food, helped Ava choose a show-bag and wandered around watching the rides. Max and Ava both played the fish for a duck game as well as the one where you put balls in the clowns mouth. Both games came with a guaranteed prize, so both walked away happy :).

Next up we went to check out the major reason we'd decided to go... the MONSTER TRUCK! Max is 100% obsessed with trucks at the moment. So much so that I had actually considered buying tickets to a monster truck show so that we could take him. Trucks really aren't Sean or my thing though, so when we saw that this one was free we were all over it.

Max thought it was the best thing ever. Ava and I ducked off to go on a pony ride and when we came back Max was up on Sean's shoulders yelling, cheering and clapping with the rest of the crowd. It was so gorgeous! His little eyes were all lit up, and he was just so excited.

After that we grabbed some ice-cream and took a very happy Ava and Max back home. We all had so much fun, I think we'll definitely do it again next year!

I hope you all had an awesome weekend too!

Facebook - I finally got myself a page

As the title of this post suggests I finally went and made myself a facebook page. I put it off for so long because I've been bored with facebook for over a year now. The funny thing is now that I have a page and have found other pages that I like, I'm all of a sudden loving it again!

It's going to be the place that I post updates for my esty store, link to other great blogs I've found and share some of my favourite posts, pins and photos.

I would really love it if you would come over and like my page - www.facebook.com/maxandmehome. You will have my eternal gratitude (because that's all I can afford to give away right now!!).

Please leave me a comment (here or there) telling me about your facebook page too. Like I said I'm loving that my newsfeed is now filled with new and interesting things (not that my friends are boring or anything!).

PS - I always use brackets & exclamation marks way too much, but I seem to have outdone myself in this post!

Thanks and see you on facebook!!

Max's Wardrobe Make-Over

This week I ticked one of the things off my long to-do list for Max's big boy room. I added shelving and storage boxes to Max's wardrobe. It's one of those DIYs that probably doesn't look like much, but it makes me seriously happy! There is nothing like a well organised space to make you smile :)

I made the shelving from scratch and like I often do I just winged it. I asked Sean for advice, but he kind of said 'just do whatever you want'. So rather than googling or youtubing for tips on making shelving I went in blind.

It took me a bit of trial and error to get it right and because I was concentrating so hard on not hammering un-neccesary holes into the wall I didn't take as many photos as I would have liked, and some of the ones I did take were just on my phone.

This is the space I started with. It's a lot wider than it looks in the photos - 1.7m wide to be exact. This room used to be our home office / craft room so the wardrobe was a bit banged up with lots of marks on the inside of it. I didn't worry too much about them though, you can't see them once the wardrobe is full.

We have a new Masters that has opened up just near home so I picked up all of my supplies from there. They offer a free cutting service so I got my boards and support timber cut to size before I loaded it all into my little corolla. It all worked out really cheaply too. I got the materials for under $45, the ten cloth storage boxes for $4.98 each and the 5 larger woven baskets for $12 each.

Once I got the boards home I primed and painted the shelves - I painted them the same colour as the walls in Max's new room (canvas cloth by Bristol Paints).

To instal the shelves I ran two rails (for the two shelves) around the walls of the wardrobe. I didn't get a better photo or a shot of the railing running the whole way round... You'll just have to picture it.

Then all I did is put the painted shelves on top of the rails. I didn't even need to screw the shelves to the railing, they're wedged in there so tight that they're not going anywhere.

I put Max's clothes and toy baskets back in and that was that. All done!!

It makes such a difference having a perfectly organised space. I seriously can't wipe the smile off my face each time I open the wardrobe doors.

(Max doing a random pose in his big boy undies - I swear he doesn't get it from me!)

 

I'm so glad to have that part of his room finished. Next up I'm going to spray paint some frames for his art wall and install some open shelving on one of the walls. Can't wait to share it with you!

Queensland Winters

Here in Queensland we are so lucky to have really gorgeous weather in winter. It does sometimes get cold (4 degrees Celsius the other morning), but mostly we have beautifully mild and sunny days right through June, July and August.

These last two weekends we've made the most of it and taken Max out to enjoy it.

This weekend just gone we went out to the Redcliffe, a 20 minute drive from our place. We had breakfast at a little cafe on the Esplanade (Oasis, great food and really great prices - go visit them!). After eating way too much we took a walk on the pier and soaked up the sunshine.

Such a relaxing way to spend the morning.


The weekend before last we joined up with my sister and her girls and went into the city for the annual picnic in the park fundraiser. We decided as an extra special treat for Max to catch the train in.  He loved it so much!!

Every morning Max and I drop Sean off at the train station and then pick him up in the afternoon. Max loves watching the trains come and go and gets especially excited at night when Sean's train arrives. I took this little video of him waiting for his Daddy's train the other day on my phone.



When we told him we would be going on that same train he was so happy!

My niece Emmy

Max & his cousin Ava

Once we got into the city we all sat down and had a picnic lunch and then went around and checked out all the stalls. The hands down favourite with all three of them was the petting zoo. I think they would have stayed in there all day if we let them :)

Tell me. What are the winters like where you live? Are they sunny and cool, or freezing and snowy?

Max's Big Boy Room

I've been planning Max's new bedroom in my head (and on pinterest of course) for quite a while now. I've pictured it with a mix of dark timber, white furniture & navy blue stripes. I want to keep some of the elements of Max's nursery, but also show that he's not a little baby anymore. (Click here for a photo of Max's nursery, it's down at the end.)

The time has finally come to get started on this room and I am so excited! When I first got pregnant and started planning Max's room I debated over whether or not to move him to a new room or re-do his existing room. I read that it's not a good idea to displace a toddler when a new baby comes along, but I really wanted to work with a room that hadn't been painted baby blue. In the end I decided to ask Max what he wanted. The room belonged to his cousin Ava (who he idolizes) for the 6 months that my sister lived with me. So when I asked him if he would like to move into Ava's room he was ridiculously excited about it. Win!!

I was still a bit worried about the whole 'kicking him out for the baby' thing, so Sean and I decided to do the switch well before this baby is born.

We started potty training yesterday (after months of half-hearted attempts) and Max did so well that I decided to reward him with his new big boy room. I've moved the main pieces of furniture into the room and Max slept in there for the first time last night.

When Sean got home from work last night, Max took his hand and dragged him straight down to the room. It was so adorable watching him point out all the things in the room. He is so proud to have a big boy room!

I haven't started to decorate it though, so I'm not going to share photos until it's done (or I at least have some decent progress).

Here's some of the images that are inspiring me (all can be found on my pinboard):

I like the combination of dark timber and white (no giraffe though)

Nailhead trim on an upholstered headboard

Navy and white inspiration for the bedding.

I might have hanging globes instead of a map

White teepee and dark furniture

Large frame filled with photos of Max's art

I love this display shelf.

And here's my to do list:

• Make a headboard and add furniture legs to Max's bed
• Make bedding, pillow covers and cushions - navy blue stripe
• Upholster bench seat cushions
• Turn ugly fake timber blinds into a custom roman blind
• Instal ceiling fan
• Refinish antique desk (made for my Mum by her Dad and used by me when I was little)
• Refinish toy box and add safety hinges
• Add shelving above toy box (ikea lack floating shelves?)
• Make display shelf
• Buy and hang globes or map
• Make floor cushions for teepee
• Print and frame collage of Max's art
• Create a gallery wall of empty frames for displaying more of Max's art
• Add shelving into wardrobe

Phew, the list seems huge when I write it out like that!! Hopefully I will have some of it done this month and can start to share. I've been so busy working on getting my etsy shop going (soon!) that I haven't done a lot of DIY projects lately. I can't wait to get started!