This is for the Birds (PICS)

<– More pics that-a-way!

Chuck is really good at thinking up fun projects to do with the kids, especially when we have them for extended periods like spring break and summer vacation.  Our subdivision is fairly new, and our house was actually the last built in the neighborhood, about four years ago.  As a result, we’ve only begun seeing wildlife in the area in the last year or so.  Last summer, we started seeing and hearing a variety of birds in the neighborhood, and we’ve begun hanging feeders around the house to attract more.

Before the girls arrived for spring break, Chuck spent a couple of days searching the net for plans to build bird houses.  He gathered up all the materials he needed, and he stopped by the local craft shop for paint and brushes.  One sunny morning, the girls helped him mark the pieces he needed to cut, and they assembled them together.  They made four cedar houses that we later hung along the side fence and on the cedar tree in front of our shed, and they made three houses out of white painted timbers. 

The next morning, Chuck covered our dining room table in freezer paper (which, by the way, is great for arts and crafts), and cut the bottoms out of plastic soda bottles for paint trays.  I spent the next couple of hours with the girls, decorating the three remaining bird houses and snapping away with my camera — I was lucky to have some really good light coming in from the bay window.  We hung the finished products along the railing of the deck.  And believe it or not, we all got to watch birds nesting in the new houses just a couple of days later.

Here are some of the best photos from that day of painting.  Enjoy!

Ryan getting ready to paint.

Delaney cheesing for the camera… and showing off her new braces.

Yeah, she’s focused.

Ryan wanted stripes on the front of hers, so I helped her draw them out first.

She hasn’t decided yet if she wants to be a righty or a lefty.  She constantly switches back and forth.  But from her handwriting, I honestly think she’s going to be ambidextrous.

Delaney spent hours working on hers. She’s very detail oriented.

Stripes on top, too!

She ended up having checkerboard on one side and argyle on the other.

Chuck hanging our handy work on the back deck.

So much more awesome than a drawing hanging on the refrigerator door!

Ryan and daddy showing off her bird house.

And Delaney and daddy showing off hers.

Ryan’s finished house.  You can’s see it from this angle, but I painted her name on the top.

Delaney’s finished house.  Love the argyle.  She’s so funny.

And this is mine.  I painted ‘The Hurley’s’ along the top.  Chuck gave me so much shit for getting so into this project.  He called me Bob (as in Ross) all day.

More to come.  Stay tuned!

Cheers!
Felina