Making the World Cuter: Three Things Thursday, Barns, Birthdays & (not) Booze

I am so glad that we decided to make our gifts this year! The kids worked really hard on them, and the genuine love and anticipation of giving their gifts to their siblings, seriously had me tearing up on Christmas morning.

It was really special, and all the weeks of hard work really paid off.

I wanted to share what Bekah and Chad got put together for Porters Christmas gift...remember those blocks she was busily working on? Well they were farm animal blocks, and she wanted a barn to have them all store inside. She and Chad spent all sorts of time drawing up plans, coming up with exactly what they wanted, cutting the wood, nailing it all together, picking out the hardware and painting it.

It turned out awesome, and the little Port guy loves opening and closing the doors and putting all of his blocks (and everything else) in it.

January is birthday month at my house!

My birthday is on Monday, Bekah's on the 12th and Chad's on the 14th!

I was always a little (a lot) irked that my birthday was 10 days after Christmas...I always felt a little cheated. I also disliked the fact that my birthday was in the winter at all, because I REALLY don't like being cold, and I was limited in the parties I could have. (I know, spoiled rotten huh?)

Still, I loved my birthday, and I still do.

My mom really did try hard to make my birthdays awesome, but being the selfish snot that I was, it was hard to see past my mountain of birthday gifts wrapped in Christmas paper.

Well now it's just a joke between my mom and I, and she sent me these e-cards the other day, they just made me laugh...thought I'd share...

Lastly, for my neighbor gifts, I bought a case of Martinelli's Sparkling Apple Cider, and spruced them up a bit. I thought I would share what I did with a little scrapbook paper and a circle sticker.

If you are going to a New Years Party tonight, these would make a fun little hostess gift, or if you are hosting your own, these could make it a little more festive. The paper is a 12x12 piece of scrapbook paper cut down to 6x12, so each paper can make 2. Then I just cut a thinner strip of paper and wrapped it around. It was all secured with tape.

I made some New Years circles for you if you want to make your own bottles.

Or you could use these for whatever you want!

Download New Years Buttons pdf.