Candles

We had an advent wreath in December and the boys really enjoyed lighting and blowing out the candles each night.  For Christmas Johan got me some candle sticks and we have been enjoying candle-light dinners at the table.  Many nights we just eat dinner at the counter in the kitchen, but I have realized that it really changes the flow of the conversation when we are all lined up, looking one direction, versus sitting around the table.  So I am trying to make more time for eating at the dinner table.  Plus it has also made us more aware of some poor table manners; slouching, dive bombing, and holding the fork upside down.  But I digress, this post was actually supposed to be about this:

Yes Miss A is in her pajamas and the boys are in the bottom half of theirs... judge away...  Dinner was late, so everybody had showered/bathed before dinner.  And lately the boys like to sleep without the top half of their PJs on, I can live with that....

Johan and I were cracking up because Miss A was so incredibly enthusiastic about blowing out the candles.  Each attempt took her a minimum of 10 or 12 blows to get the candle extinguished.  The boys of course were happy to relight the candles (playing with matches...I know).  All the candle blowing out started because C and K wanted to try to put the candle out with their fingers like Johan.  They were pretty funny too, they would lick their fingers and then hoover nervously over the flame for almost a minute before starting over re-wetting their fingers.  Finally C pulled it off, then not to be outdone K gathered some courage and...burnt his fingers.  He recovered though, and after many near tries got the candle out.  I always admire the boys tenacity.  They do not like to give up, especially if one or the other has already succeeded.

There was of course plenty of wax to clean up.  C helped with that chore, and the next night he was a lot more careful with the wax.