It's for the birds

Marley and I did a quick little craft project today after she brought home some bird food from school. (She had a field trip last week to Chesterton Feed & Garden and they gave each kid a bag of bird food).

First, you need some used toilet paper rolls, peanut butter, bird food, something to spread peanut butter with, and something to lay the bird food out on.

I spread the peanut butter on the t.p. rolls first. I did it pretty thick for a few reasons, one- because I wanted the bird food to stick good, and two- I knew I wouldn't be using this jar of p.b. again so I figured I wouldn't waste it.

Next, I passed the roll off to Marley and she rolled it all over in the bird food. Making sure to smoosh it down good so the food sticks. 

That's it! Then we just bundled up and went outside and slid them over tree branches. We put them where we could see them from inside so Marley could watch them if a bird does come.

It took us about 10 minutes from start to finish and was free since I already had p.b. and t.p. rolls. 

28-31 weeks old

Wax on, Wax off part 2

So now that I had my jar all clean it was time to make a "new" candle. (See how to clean your jar here)

First, I boiled some water. Once it was boiling, I just carefully set my old jars in the water and waited for them to melt.

I took my clean jar and my new wick and rigged up this little system to hold my wick in the middle and straight up while pouring the hot melted wax in.

After I poured the hot wax in, I placed it in the refrigerator so it would harden and started over with melting another candle.

I did this process for each old candle I had. My new candle has a nice stripey pattern to it and the house smelled really good from all the melted candles.

But now, I have a bunch of empty glass jars and I don't really know what to do with them. Does anyone have any ideas? Or should I just scour pinterest like I do for hours every night?

He's watching you...

Yesterday we picked up our Elf on the Shelf. Marley said she didn't want one because they're creepy and she doesn't like stuff that rhymes. She said she wanted a bunny on the shelf. She wouldn't even carry the box in the store because she was afraid that he was going to come out of the box.

When we got him home I put the bag and his box on the counter and just went about our day. Marley fell asleep on the couch (which never happens) so I used this as an opportunity for our elf to escape from his box.  When she woke up he was sitting on the mantel. She saw him immediately and again said 'okay he's creepy'  She asked me why I put him there and I told her that while she was sleeping I was in my room playing with Mason so I don't know how he got there. I think she was a little freaked out.  At bed time we read the book and picked out a name for our elf. (His magic doesn't work until he has a name)  She came downstairs once to check on him to see if he went to the North Pole for the night.

So without further ado... Here's Jack, our Elf.

I'll be back with weekly updates to show what little Jack has been up to and how well Marley's handling the whole santa/elf thing. (She freaked out a while ago about getting an elf because she didn't want it to tell Santa that she's bad) This could be interesting.

See all our elf adventures here