summer fun | birdhouse DIY

after our really fun experience with baby birds over the last couple weeks- which by the way on Sunday morning we were all sitting at the breakfast table and we happened to be in the right place at the right time because those sweet babies hopped out of the 5-gallon bucket their nest was in and took their first flight!  the mama bird was coaxing and encouraging the entire time from the patio table and it was just the coolest thing I have ever seen!  I couldn't get to my phone fast enough to snap a picture from the window.. and I wasn't about to get out on the patio to get in the middle of it all, but a fun sight for the girls to see and thats memories enough for me.  

ANYway.

Jordan has been pinning summer projects to do with the big girls since they are at the most amazing age and are the biggest helpers these days and number one on his list was a bird house.. err, houses.  I wont fool you into thinking we did this all on our own.. well, let me rephrase- JORDAN didn't do this on his own accord, but what is pinterest for, anyway?  we found these plans and they seemed easy enough, and cheap enough to build these sweet little houses for the birdies in our yard all with Parker  and Jolie's helping little hands. plus, she gleaned the plans from Ana White, and Jordan is a BIG Ana White fan.  while these wont boast to be the most beautiful and articulate, they are darn cute hanging in the trees in our backyard.  

Jordan did the handy work and cut the wood with a miter saw from cedar boards, and then used gorilla glue to hold the boards in place before using the nail gun to secure.

I was impressed at how quickly they came together and how cute they were!  remember, I am the furthest thing from a DIY'er, so my level of time expectation for these kind of things are incredibly high. he basically cut + glued+ nailed in like less than 2 hours.  

2 hours with little hands right there along the way to 'help'.

pretty good! 

Jordan stained the tops of the houses- protecting them from the weather, but also because it looked really good AND we had some left over stain from when he and his dad did the stain on our outdoor living area.  

last weekend while Jolie and I took Baker to make a grocery run, Parker went with her dad to get the supplies for these houses.  which also means she picked the colors for paint!  Jordan made sure to choose a water-based latex paint- safe for the birds and the babes.  we just painted the outside of the houses, so the inside is still raw cedar wood.  safety again for the birds and their babies!

naturally there was coral.  purple, and yellow.  Jordan kept calling it red and Parker kept correcting him that it was PINK and ya'll its really coral, if we are being picky.  purple for Jo- by far her favorite color. and yellow for baby Baker Bree.

such a FUN and easy way to DIY with your kids!  Parker + Jolie have been talking about the birds since we hung these houses in the trees.  I cant wait to watch and see how these houses are used for the rest of the season.  I know these wont be the last birdhouses we build. Jordan is already talking about the other kinds of birdhouses that we need to build to attract this bird and that bird.. 

you know what kind of bird I actually want?  

chickens.

but thats for another blog post.