Gingerbread House Day!

One of favorite traditions is Gingerbread House Day! The boys knew that the activity card would show up in their Advent pocket at some time, they just didn't know when! So when they pulled it out, they were ready to get going on it right away! But- we had to wait til after school because I knew the set I bought was going to take some time. (Note to self: only buy the pre-assembled sets from now on!) They came home form school, put on their Christmas jammies, turned Pandora on, and got busy!

Gingerbread House!

Because we just have to do one every year!!

 

1st Grade Gingerbread Day

It's a tradition at Grant's school that the first graders have a gingerbread house making day on December 1st. I knew I couldn't miss this, so Wyatt got to spend the night at Mimi's the night before so I could devote three whole hours to this special event! I so love being up at school, in Grant's class, as often as I can! Someday I don't think he will appreciate it, so I have to get my time in while I still can!

 Their houses were displayed throughout the library for the month of December for the whole school to see!

 Here is Grant's masterpiece! Here is the front...

 ...and here is the back! No detail overlooked!

What a special tradition!! And guess who brought it home on December 18th and has eaten the majority of the candy off it?!?

Gingerbread House Making

Shed gave us a friendly reminder to get to work on our gingerbread house one morning. I was totally expecting to work on it after school, or later in the day, but no- they wanted to do it right then and there! So at 7:07, we were decorating our gingerbread house! The boys each took one side of the roof and got busy! They worked together on the front and backs and the little extra cookies it came with!

 This is Grant's side- he used his licorice sticks for a chimney!

 And this was Wyatt's side- kind of a mish mash of everything! But he used all his pieces!

 They did a great job on the front! Of course, Grant was controlling the choices so it was all very symmetrical! I love that about him! Wyatt liked the wreath in the middle! They said, "It looks like a real gingerbread house!" 

 I love this little tradition! Whether they're homemade ingredients, or store bought sets, Christmas just isn't Christmas without decorating a gingerbread house!!

Gingerbread Party!!!

One of our favorite traditions- well, we've done it the past two years- is to make a Gingerbread house! In 2011, we did it from a kit. Last year, we made houses from graham crackers. But this year, our wonderful friends asked us to come over for a Gingerbread House Party! It just so happened to fall on the date that I put our "Make A Gingerbread House" activity card in our Christmas pocket! The boys looked forward to it all day, because I only told them that morning because I knew they would incessantly ask me all week when it was time to go! They were practically bouncing off the car windows the whole way there!!

Once we got there, the kids played for a bit before getting busy!! They were so cute when they saw all the goodies Lori had prepared for us! Each of the 4 kids really got into it in their own way! There was lots of cheerful chatter and sneaking snacks and smiles galore!

 Wyatt enjoyed spreading his frosting and liked using the peanut M&M's and Sixlets the best!

 Grant really got into it and used a variety of candy! He even made a chimney with his licorice! He's such a symmetrical builder that you could pick his house out pretty easy if you had to!

 Luke really just like eating the candy he decorated his tree with! By the end of the afternoon, I think his house was empty! :)

 Gracie worked so hard covering every square cm of her house with frosting! She made a wreath with cherry balls!

 Aren't they so cute?! Such festive fun!!!

 Wyatt's gingerbread house!

 Grant's house!

The Gingerbread neighborhood!

The icing on the cake...er, gingerbread house....was that I had to go to a meeting and the boys got to stay there for what they call a "no parents night." I'm pretty sure they smiled for the ENTIRE afternoon! These four friends just adore each other! And I adore their friendship!! They are the sweetest friends with the sweetest mommy! Needless to say, it was a joyous and festive activity for all of us and we are so happy we got to partake in one of our favorite traditions with some of our favorite people!!! :)

Semi-Homemade Gingerbread Houses

Last year, Grant and I embarked on making a little Gingerbread Tree, from a kit. I have to say, it was pretty boring. Grant lost interest immediately, and I wound up doing all the work! This year, we decided to make them from scratch. Well, sort of. We used graham crackers, because- well, I just didn't want to bake gingerbread! We first headed to the candy store at the mall to find lots of different goodies to decorate our tree with! And after some tricky engineering of the house (and a shed built by Levi), and a little naptime, it was time to decorate. 

Wyatt decorated the shed and Grant decorated the house. It was pretty tricky to get some of the pieces to stick since they were kind of heavy and our icing was a little runny, but it all worked out! The boys really enjoyed decorating their houses! And they look alot more festive than the kit we did last year. 

I think we may have started a new tradition!!!

Gingerbread Tree

This was a total spur of the moment activity, but one I had planned to do at some point this month. The boys and I had gone to Michael's to pick up a few things for a project I am going to work on. Grant saw all the gingerbread kits and asked if we could get one. I knew the house would just be a pain in the rear, so I opted for the Christmas tree which looked oh-so-simple...and it was! We mixed the frosting, stacked the cookies, and decorated! TA-DA!! Grant was only interested in licking the frosting from the beaters and eating the little candies out of the bowl. Wyatt just wanted me to hold him and leave the gingerbread tree alone. So what started off as 100% Grant's idea, turns out I did 99% of the work and 100% of the cleanup!! As with most things in life!