DIY Bookshelves

Ever since I finished Lincoln's nursery I have been working away on finishing Max's big boy room. I'm not quite there yet, but it's getting very, very close! I get so much satisfaction from working on Max's room because he loves seeing the little changes and gets genuinely excited that I'm making his room into something special for him.

One of the projects I've recently ticked off his list are these DIY bookshelves. For ages now I've been in love with the idea of using Ikea Ribba Ledges as bookshelves. I've seen so many gorgeous shots on Instagram showing how people have styled them into their kids rooms. The only problem I had was that the ledges came in two lengths, neither of which were perfect for the space I wanted to fill. So I bit the bullet and built some. They were super simple to make, and worked out really cost effective. The only drama I had was the time it took me to make, prep and paint them. Buying the Ikea ones would have cost about the same and been much quicker, but you do what you have to do!

As soon as I realised I was going to need to make them I searched Pinterest for some inspiration and came across this tutorial. I'm not going to rehash the details of how I made them because I pretty much followed Cindy's instructions exactly. I got them finished a couple of days before Elliot was born and then Sean installed them for me a few weeks later.

Max loves them and so do I!! Next up I'll be adding a few finishing touches to his room and then it will be all done. Can't wait to share more!

Max's Dinosaur Party

This part of the year is such a busy time for us with Lincoln and Max's birthdays only two weeks apart. So when it comes to their parties I generally start planning months in advance, which means when they'e all over I get such a great feeling of satisfaction!

For Max's dinosaur party we packed everything we needed into our little car and drove three hours up the coast to Sean's parents place. Max's big request this year was to have his party at his Nona's place. A lot of our friends (and their kids) live up in Hervey Bay so it made sense to us and we granted his sweet little wish :).

Way back when I first started planning his party I came across these dinosaur cookie cutters and fell in love. I suggested a dino party to Max and was so excited when he said yes! I saved all my inspiration and ideas on Pinterest and am so happy with how it all ended up coming together. Shortly after we had everything set up and ready to go it started to rain so we had a quick relocation from the garden to the house, it was still perfect though. A fun day was had by all, especially Max who absolutely loved being the centre of attention for the day!

*** Sources ***

Invitations and Printables - Three Little Monkeys Studio on Etsy
Pom Pom Garland - Made by me
Dino Cookie Cutters - Little Bento Shop
Fossil Moulds - ebay
Wooden Boxes - Typo
Straws - Little Big Company
Wooden Spoons - Wheel and Barrow
Cake Stand - Maxwell and Williams
Party Bags - DIY details coming
Photos - My very patient and clever husband :)

Everything else I already owned or picked up from the dollar store.

Baking with Grandma

This weekend just gone my Mum came up to visit. We had such a great weekend, shopping, cooking, eating and celebrating a late Mother's Day as well as both her and my birthday. The absolute highlight of the weekend was Max and his cousin Emmy helping mum make a cake. It was beyond adorable watching the three of them working together, cracking eggs, blending up the limes, mixing it all together. Emmy and Max both took their jobs very seriously and mum managed the whole process with the patience of a saint!

Mum is an amazing baker and the cake was delicious. Perfect parts tangy and sweet. I will definitely be making this one again.

Here's what you need if you want to make it yourself.

375g of Limes (13 ounces)
6 Large Eggs
225g of White Sugar (8 ounces)
250g of Almond Meal (9 ounces)
1 teaspoon gf baking powder

1. Grease and line a 20cm (8inch) spring form tin. Preheat the oven to 190c (375f).

2. Place the limes in a pot of water and boil for 2 hours. Drain, and when cool cut in half and remove the seeds. Blend up the limes, skin and all, in a food processor.

3. In a separate bowl beat the eggs and then add the sugar, almond meal and baking powder, mixing well. Add in the blended limes and mix again.

4. Pour mix into your tin and bake for one hour (you may need to cover with foil after 40 minutes to stop the top from burning).

5. Allow to cool slightly before removing from the tin, then serve warm with fresh cream.

(Adapted from this Nigella recipe)

 

Nigella says that the cake tastes even better the next day, but ours didn't last that long so I have no idea if it's true or not!!

xx Tamsyn

PS My mum is just about to start her own blog!! I'll let you know when she starts writing posts :)

Max and Emmy Being way too Adorable

Last week I mentioned that I spent the weekend on the Gold Coast for my Dad's wedding, and showed a couple of photos of Max and Emmy being adorable. And now I'm excited to say that I have something ever cuter to share... a video of them walking down the aisle holding hands :)

Probably completely boring if you're not family and I thought about not sharing it, but it really is so gorgeous!!

Feel free to skip to 2minutes 15seconds to see the real stars of the show (sorry Dad and Cathy!).




I'm so excited to see the professional photos and video now :)


xx Tamsyn 

ps the baby screaming in the background is Lincoln, he must have been feeling left out

pps I've gone from having one gorgeous and thin sister to having three of them, too bad they're all too nice to hate ;)

Happy Birthday Sonic

This morning Max came running up to me and said 'mumma we forgot, we forgot that today is my birthday'. I told Max that it wasn't his birthday and he went on to say 'I'm not Max, I'm Sonic and today is my birthday'. How can you argue with that!? So I threw him a little impromptu party :)

 
Toddlers really are the cutest!

A Tale of Two Thefts

Seems I've been a little absent-minded of late...

The other night as I started to cook dinner I couldn't find the bacon. As I was checking the fridge I realised that I didn't remember unpacking it, so I checked the receipt and sure enough it wasn't on there. I figured it must have fallen out of my trolley and made dinner without it.

Late the next day when I picked up my bag to go to the grocery store again (because I'm ridiculously disorganised and tend to shop for dinner one day at a time...) it felt kind of heavy. I fished around in there to see what was weighing it down and I found one kilo of bacon. Whoops! I must have put it straight into my handbag when the lady at the deli handed it to me. I felt even worse when I realised that after almost 24 hours in my handbag it would have to go in the bin.

I went grocery shopping again today (seriously I go every day, I need to do something about that), as I wheeled the pram back to the car I noticed two things. One, Max had fallen asleep in the pram and two, he still had a kinder egg in his hot little hand.

I'd given it to him as we started shopping and said he could hold onto it until we got to the check-out. I was even high fiving myself for coming up with a plan that kept him from asking for every second thing he saw. Turns out he may have been so quiet because he was asleep...

Anyway in that moment I knew what I had to do, I turned the pram around, went back into the shop and paid for the $2 egg. Once is an honest mistake, but two times would have practically made me a career criminal!

Tell me, have you (or your kids) ever inadvertantly stolen something? Did you fess up?

It's That Time Again

Any of you that have been reading for a while will know that my all time favourite 'blog thing' is the Pinterest Challenge. I look forward to it so much! It's the perfect kick in the pants every three months or so to actually get started on those big projects that I tend to put off.

Max's bed is one of those projects I've been putting off. At the moment it's just a plain ensemble, I can't wait to show you how I make it over next Wednesday!

I have big plans for Max's room (huge plans!!), but all I've done so far is make him a tee-pee (which is shown in his old nursery in the photo), and built shelving in his wardrobe.

So much that still needs to be done!!

If you want to see some of the things that are inspiring you can have a look at pinboard here.

I hope you all have a great weekend!!

7/52

On the weekend Sean set Lincoln's cot up in our bedroom and he slept in there for the first time on Sunday night. Seems like it was the perfect time to move him into it, because just last night he started rolling over. Neither of us has seen him do it yet, but we would find him on his tummy sound asleep. Smartie pants!!

Last week was also the week that I finally got a double pram. I've been wanting one since before Link was born, but could not convince Sean to spend over $700 on one. I got this one from a school friend for an absolute bargain, plus it's in incredible condition because they barely ever used it. Max absolutely loves it and will happily sit up the front. Makes shopping, posting off orders and going for walks so much easier!

Over the weekend I also headed down the coast to visit my Mum. She normally comes up to my place so it's been ages since I last went down there. The boys were on their best behaviour and we had such a good time. Mum and I bought some fabric and recovered her dining room chairs while I was there. I loved the fabric she chose so much that I bought some for myself in a blue/grey. My sister and I are planning on swapping dining room tables and I want to recover the chairs before I give it to her. I'm hoping I'll have enough fabric left over to cover a few boxes as well. I'll keep you posted on how that goes :)

I hope you're all having a great week!
 

6/52

"A portrait of my boys, once a week, every week, in 2013"

Max is so full of character and energy and imagination. This is him giving me his 'angry bird face'. Love him!

Lincoln is absolutely loving this play mat. We pulled it out last week and he loves to bat at the toys and kick his legs in the air. Such a joy to watch him learn and grow :).

(Linking up with Che & Fidel).

5/52 + Our Weekend Away

Last week I misplaced my camera battery charger so I really didn't get any great snaps of my boys during the week. I did of course get plenty of them on my iPhone. Better than nothing right!?

Max - This weekend a friend of mine and I took our kids down to my Dad's place for the weekend. Max loved playing with his little friend Chloe, they had their moments, but were generally very sweet to each other.

Lincoln - Not a great photo, but I love his little smush-face sleeping on Dad's shoulder. He slept right through the night while we were on the Gold Coast, and I couldn't be prouder!

******************

 

A weekend on the Coast was just what I needed, I actually felt like I'd had a holiday! We swam, had a barbeque, relaxed out by the water and had some quality family time. Bliss :)

Dad, his Fiance Cathy and my beautiful, chubby little baby

Dad and Cathy's new place on the Gold Coast

Max's first ride on a Jetski. I made Dad keep his speed to 6 knots, but I still found it completely terrifying

 

The view from the deck

Max and Chloe once they ran out of patience at Church on Sunday morning

 I hope you all had a gorgeous weekend too!