An Inpromptu Candle Making Session

Yesterday afternoon we had no plans and everyone started to get a bit irritable, so we wrapped up warmly and hit the garden for a hour or two. While we were out there I planned on making some hot chocolate to warm us up when we went back in, then allowing the boys a half hour of TV while I made dinner. 

But instead, by some complete fluke, we ended up making candles. I had taken my candle basket out earlier in the day, meaning to root out some scented candles to brighten the place up now that the days are so dull. It was still on the kithen table when we came in and, boys being boys, they had to poke about in it and see if there was anything interesting in there. 

To my amazement, they found two sheets of beeswax in a bag with a length of wick and some plastic bees. We bought them at an agricultural show last year and hadn't used them all up. "Can we make candles again Mammy?" they chorused. It was on the tip of my tongue to say no, but then I thought, yeah, why not. So we made candles. Just like that. I even let them have my phone and take their own photos.

If you've ever used beeswax sheets, you'll know what a quick and easy craft it is. There is absolutely no mess and from the age of three upwards children can make their own candles with very little instruction or help. 

 The boys designed their own candles after I explained briefly how they should roll the wax to get different types of candle. Number One chose to make tall, narrow candles but regretted it once he saw Number Two's tapered candles. 

If you want to try this out at home, here is what you need:

Rectangular sheets of beeswax (available from craft shops and farmers' markets)

A length of wick

A sharp knife

Decorative plastic bees (optional)

To make your candle, simply lay a length of wick along the short end of the sheet of beeswax. Press the wick gently onto the wax to hold it in place. Then roll the wax as you would a swiss roll. Depending on the size of the sheet and the thickness of candle you want, you may want to cut the sheet in half. Then you can make two thinner candles. 

To make a tapered candle, cut the sheet of wax in half diagonally. Lay the wick along the shorter straight side and roll up. This makes a prettier candle but bear in mind it will burn quite quickly. 

 We have made beeswax candles using this method as Christmas presents for the grandparents a couple of times. I find them a really good choice for homemade gifts for the following reasons:
 - there is no mess or fuss in making them
 - the lucky recipient gets something made specially for them
 - they don't clutter up anyone's house 
 - there is no pressure on the recipient to keep the gift on display for the child to see every time they visit. In fact, the child is quite happy to see the candle be lit and to watch it burn. 

  

Days Like This

There are days when you think to yourself "Was that today? It feels like ages ago!". Today was one of those days in a good way. When I think back to this morning, it seems like it should be about two days ago, I have packed so much into today. Yet it wasn't a busy day. It was an easy day. Relaxed. If every day was like this, life would be a doddle.

08:00 My volunteer hour at the local primary school went really well. A couple of the children had made great progress in reading and in behaviour since last week and it was brilliant to see that they were happy to see me again. 

09:00 Just as I left the school I got a text from a friend to ask if I want to call over for coffee, straight away. So I popped home, picked up Number Three from The Bavarian, packaged up a pretty parcel of walnuts from the garden with twine and rosehips and hit the road again.

10:00 Number Three and my friend's little fella played brilliantly together while T and I caught up over coffee in her playroom.

12:00 Picked up Number Two from Kindergarten. Put on a wash. Mixed up a yeast dough for wheat and rye bread. Swept the kitchen floor.

13:00 Made an big omlette and ate lunch with The Bavarian, Number Two and Number Three. Swept the kitchen floor.

14:00 Painted the first coat of a blackboard on the kitchen wall. Taught Number Two how to write the letter "a". Texted a neighbour to arrange to call in and say hi later in the afternoon.

15:00 Emptied and filled the dishwasher. Swept the kitchen floor. Got the children ready for going for a cycle. Went to the bank. Cycled to my neighbour with The Bavarian, Number Three and Number Two. 

16:00 Parted company with Number Two and The Bavarian to have coffee and cake with my lovely neighbour and let Number Three play with her little daughter.

17:00 Cycled home to find The Bavarian, Number Two, Number Three and a couple of his school friends gathering up walnuts in the garden. Took a stew out of the freezer for dinner. Hung up the wash.

18:00 Bathed the kids, filthy from helping in the garden while The Bavarian heated the stew and cooked potatoes. Dried the kids and got them into their PJs. Had dinner with the family and made plans for tomorrow. 

19:00 Cooked a batch of green tomato relish with Number Two and Number One while The Bavarian put Number Three to bed.  

20:00 Put the boys to bed then did a spot of online shopping before applying the second layer of blackboard paint. 

21:00 Made a cup of tea and sat down with the TV and the laptop and wondered what kind of a day tomorrow will be.

P.S. The Bavarian being on paternity leave at the moment may possibly have contributed to the day. 

A Family Camping Holiday in Frankonia, Germany

We recently returned from our second family camping holiday. It was our first with all three of the boys and it was a great success.

The Bavarian was responsible for the choice of location since 

a) we were going camping with Bavarian friends in Bavaria, and 

b) he wanted to do some fishing while we were there.

In the end he chose See* Camping Langlau, a campsite directly on the Small Brombach Lake in the Frankonian Lake District, not too far from Nuremberg, approximately a 2 hour drive from Munich and 3 hours from Karlsruhe.

*See is the German word for lake.

On Friday afternoon as soon as school finished up, we headed off, having loaded up the car in the morning. Thankfully traffic was reasonably good and the children too excited about the prospect of sleeping in a tent to argue much. We stopped for  a break after a couple of hours, the heat having got to us all a bit. 

Everything but the kitchen sink, as they say.

Our view as we devoured chips and stretched our legs before continuing our journey.

After a stop at the local fishing shop to top up on tackle and find out what works best when for which fish (or if you are me, after a 35-minute aimless wander round a fishing shop trying to entertain three children and keep them from breaking expensive sunglasses and binoculars), we finally reached the campsite, checked in and began to set up camp. This is when we realised that a canoe makes an excellent playpen.

We are by no means seasoned campers. Our tent has only had three outings, the first of which was in our garden. But we have good intentions and our levels of skill and organisation have increased from trip to trip. This time round, we had the tent up quite quickly. As the Bavarian and our friend set it up, the boys and I got to work unloading the roll-table, the fold-up chairs, the rucksacks and cool boxes.

I had put quite a bit of thought into the food for the weekend. With camping I am torn between cooking food outdoors and bringing food that just needs heating up or can be eaten cold. Both have their ups and downs. In the end we opted for a combination. We brought ready cooked pulled pork for Friday night and we had a barbecue on Saturday night (buying the meat locally on Saturday, the fishing expedition having proved unsuccessful in terms of catching). I made a couple of cakes (a banana-chocolate chip tray bake and an iced lemon loaf) that would do us just as well for breakfast as they would for with a coffee later in the day for a snack for the children. Both the cakes and the pulled pork went down a treat. The campsite shop sold fresh bread rolls in the mornings and we made coffee on our one-ring electric cooker (a bit of a cheat but the fishing shop had run out of gas canisters for the gas cooker).

Banana chocolate chip tray bake,squeezed into a lunch box.

My slow cooked pork joint, reheating in the marinade, ready for pulling and scoffing.

After we had set up camp and eaten our fill of pulled pork, salad and rolls, we set off at the onset of twilight to explore the lake shore. On booking we had requested tent spots near the lake and the ones we got were prefect. In less than a minute's walk we were at the small sandy beach of the lake. The four older children headed straight for the water and busied themselves with building a dam. The silouette of their playing was magical to watch and certainly put me in a holiday mood.

Our walk over, we put the children to bed. Within minutes all five were sound asleep. My concerns about Number Three not settling vanished when I saw how comfy he was in my sleeping bag with this brothers in theirs on either side of him. The adults returned to the camping chairs and made plans the following morning - fishing (the men) and beach (women and children).

A quick bit of exploring in the tent before falling sound asleep.

The rest of the weekend was an incredibly enjoyable, relaxed affair with plenty of sun, splashing, fresh air, good food, and a fair bit of fishing. We didn't have to leave the campsite all weekend and barely used the fantasic playground, so busy were we with the beach, the canoe and the fishing.

Sailboats on the lake on Saturday morning.

Suncream on the lens created this dreamy look of my boys playing on the beach.

For our two-night stay, each family paid approx. €60. That covered the two nights' tent spot, the car, two adults and two children over 3 each.  The campsite was clean and quiet, the washrooms regularly serviced with no need to queue for showers or toilets and the shop sold everything we needed. In addition to the playground, there is a surf-school and a reasonably-priced Italian restaurant on site. We ate at the restaurant on Sunday afternoon before heading for home and were quite impressed with the food. 

By the end of the weekend, I was left with a feeling of "why don't we do this more often?" and I have a feeling that now we will.