{ Austin and Scott’s Gift to Erika and Abby }

We wanted Scott to be able to give and get a gift, but it became a bit more difficult to figure out something that he could make for someone else. As we started planning Austin’s gift for Erika, it became easy to just combine the boy’s resources and have them make a gift together for both Erika and Abby. It was a bit of a gamble to have a gift that we knew they would have to share, but as we started on it, we knew it would be no problem. It would be a gift so much more fun to play with together.

Austin and Scott made a super fairy land house for the girls, and it was AMAZING! Austin’s love for the outdoors, cutting things, and inventing stuff worked together perfectly to make this cute house. We combined stuff from craft stores, our backyard, and random stuff around the house to make this fairy dream castle. I am so proud of Austin, and was floored by this kid’s imagination. He was constantly coming up with more and more clever ideas of what to add to this.

It started out in our little workshop (AKA Me and Aaron’s bedroom) like this:

and became this:

The final fairy dream house

We used some wooden letters from the craft store to make the different levels that we glued and then screwed together.

Austin painted, and glued, and stained, and glittered wooden birdhouses for the fairies, while Scott helped to gather bark, sticks, leaves, and acorns from the backyard to attach the the big fairy house as all kinds of different things. Acorns and birthday candles became little lanterns on a fence.

A cut up log from the back yard became a spiral staircase up to the second level. Completely Austin’s idea, and one of my favorite parts of the fairy house. We used a miter saw and he cut the log into smaller pieces to stack up to make the stairs.

A fairy swing hung down from one side of the house.

Since the boys had combined their budget, they were able to have enough money to find the fairy dolls to buy. We found a pack on ebay that had Tinkerbell, Rosetta, Silvermist, Fawn, Videa, Iradessa, and Terrace.

He added flowers, a drawbridge that really worked, painted houses for each of the fairies, pixie dust falls where they could refuel on pixie dust, wooden ladders to all the levels, and lots of little pinecones and moss.

Tinkerbell’s house 

Terrance’s House by the pixie dust lake

 

Austin and Scott giving their gift Christmas morning

I thought for sure they might have peaked in my room one of the days, but they were completely surprised by their gift. They kept saying again and again, “I can’t believe you made this, Austin!” It is really amazing. I just love it because they can keep adding onto it anytime they want with all the little treasures they find. Bottles caps, buttons, any little bit of tinkery thing can make it all the more fairy like. We all had fun playing fairies the rest of the day- flying them around, making beds for them in the candy tins from Christmas, gluing fairy shoes back on, moving houses around (their was Velcro on the bottom of each so they could be moved) and having the bridge move up when Videa didn’t want anyone by her house.

Poor Erika wasn’t feeling well, and had just enough energy to stand up to give and get her gifts. By the end of the gift giving she was asleep again on the couch with her knew puppy from Santa.