Last week, Ellery and I went about finishing up the birdhouse that I’m helping her build. The girl loves to paint. I taped everything off and handed her a paintbrush and some acrylic paint and she did the rest. I just touched up some of the corners when she was done.
When the paint was dry, we were ready to bore a couple of holes – a big one for the door and a small one for the peg that goes below the door.
The big hole is 1-1/4″. Ellery couldn’t quite turn the brace on her own, so I bored that hole. But she did a great job on the 3/8″ peg hole – I never even had to touch the brace once we got the hole located.
I thought we would be done once we glued the peg in place, but Ellery was adamant that the birdhouse needed a bird to live in it. I couldn’t argue with that, so I grabbed a scrap of cypress and my knife and quickly carved a bird.
Then it was her job to paint the bird. She chose red – a nice choice since it will contrast so well with the teal birdhouse.
I’ve really been enjoying my time in the shop with Ellery, and I think she has too. She has been begging me to build her own birdhouse, since this one is a Christmas present for her mom. And I have another special gift in mind for Ellery as well…
South Fork Timber 
My little girl will be five in a few months and I am 100% with you on enjoying shop time with the kids! She actually spotted an egg beater drill at a yard sale and informed me that it would be hers. Well she wasn’t lying, she uses it every time she’s in there. So much so that I got tired of her drilling holes in my workbench (my mistake 🙂 that I built her her own. Great to see!
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That’s awesome! I’m putting together a toolkit for Ellery’s Christmas and hadn’t thought about an eggbeater drill. I should put that on the list.
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