Run, Run, as Fast as You Can...You Can't Catch Me I'm the Gingerbread Man

These picture are OLD, OLD, OLD...like three weeks old...but are still fun and something that I wanted to post but kind of forgot about.  We always make gingerbread houses at home each year.  In the past we've made the big fancy kind that comes in a kit, we've made the typical graham cracker kind, and in the future we hope to bake our own gingerbread pieces to create a house from scratch.  This year we opted for the graham cracker version.  They turned out cute and the kids always look forward to this!

We found this cute gingerbread family complete with a dad, mom, boy, and girl...perfect for our family.  The kids ate lots of these little cookies but also used them to decorate their houses.

A pretty clean table...organized and ready to go...in the end frosting and crumbs covered the table along with little candy pieces scattered everywhere.  It's so worth the smile on Ava and Isaiah's face as they are creating their own houses.

We used a variety of hard candy, peppermints, candy canes, etc.

Isaiah frosting a "wall" of his house

No milk cartons here...we build from scratch!

Isaiah wanted to build a peppermint sidewalk.

Ava and Daddy working together

Ava working hard with Daddy to put the walls up

After lots of frosting...it's finally in place.

A quick picture of Isaiah's house as he continued to add more candy.

Not finished yet...

Someone likes detail...Daddy told  her to use this kabob stick to make the frosting look like dangling icicles...she was all about that!

It's so funny how different the kid's styles are.  Ava's candy was more symmetrical and color coordinated...while Isaiah's was just random pieces of candy put where ever he was thinking at the time.  I love how their little creative minds think.

This was Isaiah's house.  Our friends Lindsey and Donald gave us some Christmas goodies along with their card and Isaiah insisted on using the chocolate covered pretzels as a fence.  We ran out and had to use some of our own.  You can also see a sugar cookie tree on the right that he thought was needed on the side of the house (another Lindsey and Donald treat). 

Another view of Isaiah's house.  After constructing the walls and roof of the house that kid did all the decorating by himself.  He was so proud!

Ava's house...she wasn't interested in the fence idea but instead created a colorful sidewalk of Fruit Loops.

Each year it's so fun to see how much better the kids become at making their houses.  This is such a fun little project we can do together.  Unfortunately these houses didn't last for long.  We put them on the stove to "dry" so they would stay together.  Typically we put them on top of the refrigerator as a decoration.  When we got home the next day, we were greeted by one empty plate and a partially eaten house.  Jackson was apparently craving sweets that day and managed to get himself high enough to reach these houses on the stove.  Ava's house was completely gone...candy and all...and Isaiah's roof was eaten off.  Jackson never got sick...he must have a strong stomach.  The kids were okay with it.  I guess we've learned from this experience to put the houses up high the moment they are done. 

 My Three Happy's:

1) Making a trip to Target and Hobby Lobby today to catch a few good deals.  The kids spent some of their Christmas money at Target and picked out a few new toys.  I found some Christmas ribbon for three trees in our house for next year, lots of wrapping paper, Mickey Mouse Christmas glasses, and a few random decorations for our "formal" tree to use next year.  At Hobby Lobby I bought a bunch of new peppermint and gingerbread decorations to add to our gingerbread/candy themed tree. 

2) Having an AMAZING day with the kids.  No one was grumpy,  irritable, or argumentative.  They got along so well, listened, and were smiling all day! 

3) Eating dinner at Hickory Park..enough said!