Woodworking

We are very blessed to have two experienced woodworkers in the family, my father and of course, Daddy! We have always taken the boys to the free clinics at Home Depot or Lowes since they were fairly young, but now that they are older, they are wanting to work more with "grown up" tools. So earlier in the year, Jacob had expressed to my dad that he wanted to build something with him in his workshop. He narrowed down his list of projects to a bird house. My dad made sure that it would happen (and he also said that Jacob was quite the chatterbox during their special time together!) It turned out beautifully and he was sooo proud of it. It is a bluebird house and while it remains vacant this year, we are hoping it will be occupied next spring. He even picked out where he would hang it in the yard.

Parker and Blake also participated in a building project with my dad. They made this gorgeous planter out of cedar. I am thinking it needs a matching planter (hint, hint).

Both Blake and Jacob collect mini football helmets and they both needed display shelves for them. Blake came up with this design and worked on it with Daddy. He also decided on painting it red (one of the colors of his favorite team).

Jacob and Poppa worked on his. He is still deciding on the finish, but I have a feeling it will also be red.

The more involved the boys have become in the making of things, the more pride they have taken in the final product. It is such a gift to create something with your own two hands, something that can last for generations to come, something that has a story behind it. And it is such a great lesson to teach them that instead of running out to the store to buy, they can make it themselves! There is already another long list of projects to make and I can't wait to see what they produce.