When I was a kid of maybe 7-8 years old my parents built an extension onto our house. A lot (but luckily not all) of the work was done by my father. I have vivid memories of stacking piles of bricks during the day to be ready and waiting for him when he got home. He'd build late into the night by lamp-light, with us sometimes carrying bricks, or washing them, or mixing cement...
The only part I really didn't like (aside from not being allowed to play on the sand-pile) was when bricks were delivered and we'd have to cart them off to safety from their delivery spot on the curb before nightfall (and the inevitable theft).
Good luck Faerie. Calloused hands will be long forgotten once it's done.
