Bird Watching

Well folks, we have an avid bird watcher in our family.  He has sharp eye sight, great attention to detail, has mastered matching the birds in our yard to those in his bird book, and he's three years old.

Our Mannchen LOVES birds.

With that in mind, and our winter theme, this week we have been learning more about birds and what they do during the winter.  Some change colors/feathers, other migrate south, and many of those around us are in greater need of food sources.  We have made suet cakes, cranberry rings, and popcorn heart bird feeders.  All are on display outside of our large dining room window and we enjoy watching our feathered friends enjoy their treats during our meal and craft times.  It's quite entertaining and I'm overjoyed that my little ones find nature (even the nature in our own backyard) so wildly fascinating!

Cranberry rings and the homemade suet cake in the feeder. The popcorn hearts weren't made when I took the pictures...oops.

Our daily rhythms are continuing to become more second nature and we all are benefiting from the ease found in that.

On the flip side, we have made a major change this week. Both kids are sharing a room again...at least for now. The heat pump that heats our downstairs has been faulty for awhile. Over the weekend it went out...for good. We moved Töchterchen's mattress onto the floor in Mannchen's room to make sure she wouldn't get too cold at night. They have been doing MUCH better than our first attempt at moving them into the same room last summer. I've found it made a huge difference once I removed every single possible source of light. When it's pitch black in the room, a lot of the excitement is gone. Are they perfect angels that settle right down and fall asleep as quickly as they do when in separate rooms? Heck no. But they aren't running around, screaming and laughing either. Progress is good.  We are giving it a solid week or two before we decide to move Töchterchen's entire bed upstairs.  If bedtime gets crazy again, it's back downstairs for the little miss.

Enjoying our ice lanterns over the weekend.

 

 Experimenting with Töchterchen's growing hair!  I love having a girl.

Today, while I was making lunch, things got quiet.  Very quiet.  And every mom knows quiet isn't always good.  I peeked around the corner, expecting the worst, but instead found my precious, sweet, lovable babies playing games together.  Here they are setting up the "Sneaky, Snacky Squirrel" game.  I had to snap a picture before the moment was gone - but thankfully it carried on for about 20 minutes, allowing me to pull lunch together in peace.  These precious children we were blessed with constantly amaze me.  They are so sweet, so imaginative, and so all around AWESOME!

Making Beeswax Candles

Here's a quick tutorial on how to make beeswax candles. I wasn't sure what to expect, but it turned out to be far easier than I imagined and I'm really excited to make them again with the kids.

 Get your hands on a pound (or two or three...) of pure beeswax.  Don't get cheap here.  Get the real stuff.  Buy local if you can - it won't cost you anymore!  Pure beeswax smells heavenly, burns clean, and even purifies your air.  Great stuff.

I was only making five tealight candles and two floating candles - this was plenty of beeswax for that.  Each block was about 2.5" square and roughly half an inch thick.  Cut or break the wax into pieces small enough to fit into your double broiler.

Ok, so I don't have a double broiler, so this is what I used (and I'm saving the can to make it my official candlemaking can).  I only cut the pieces enough to get them in the can.  I knew from grading beeswax when making lotion that it can be a pain to get off of things - use a knife you don't mind getting it stuck on and a can or pot that you won't mind using only for this purpose.  In fact, I even stirred the wax with a small wooden dowel to completely avoid having to clean it off of things.

Wax in the can, water in the pot.  Turn onto medium to medium low heat.  Stir occasionally - not sure you even need to do that, but I can't resist. 

 While the wax is melting, get your wicks ready.  I'm cheap (or ghetto or thrifty or smart - call it what you like), I reused the metal holders from the tealights that I already used.  Twelve of those little suckers costs $3.  That could add up quickly!  Thread the wick through the clip and clamp with needlenose pliers to secure it.

Like this.  I forgot to get a picture of this part, but once some of the wax has melted, dip the wick in the wax to make it stiffer, allowing you to make it stand up straight.  Also, dip the bottom of the clip in the wax and secure it to the bottom of your mold.  Probably should have taken a picture of that step also, sorry.

Once your wax has melted, pour it into the mold.  Silicone molds/baking pans work great for creating candles.  Once the candles cooled, they popped right out.  I did have to prop up the wicks right after I poured the wax in - the hot wax melted the wax already on the wick, but after 2-3 minutes they were good to go on their own.

Finished tealight candles!  I didn't have the same problem with the wicks dropping over in these.  I think it was because they were so small and cooled so quickly.

Next time, we're going to refill old votive holders!  I've also seen where people used various sizes of canning jars.  I think I'll try that to create larger candles that will last longer.  The tealight candles only lasted through dinner, breakfast, and half of lunch today. 

You can also make dipped taper candles using beeswax, but that's an experiment for another day!

Enjoy!

{this moment}

{this moment} - A Friday ritual. A single photo - no words - capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember. Inspired by Soule Mama.