Elise and I went to Michael's last week when we went to Issaquah to Target. She almost sat in the car and waited for me, but then once she was inside, I had a hard time getting her out of there. She said this was not what she thought Michael's was, this wonderland of cute stickers and beads and Christmas stuff. Unfortunately, it was jam-packed with people on a Friday morning on the first day of December. You have to start early for those crafty gifts.
Among other things, I decided we would do a gingerbread house for the girls. This is the simplest one I could find there, and believe me, there were bigger and grander ones than this "cabin."
Yesterday might not have been the ideal day to start a project like this. Emily was so sick she could hardly stand up without getting dizzy, so she stayed home and slept most of the day. The other 3 of us were a little better but still fighting cough sand runny nose and earaches for Kate.
Emily and I got the pieces out while Kate was napping and Graysen was playing somewhere else. Once their busy little hands got into the icing, we knew there would be no more reading instructions. And there were no instructions except for getting the icing into a decorating bag, so we were on our own.
Luckily, the house base comes already assembled. I was afraid of having to make those little gingerbread pieces stand up correctly and putting on the roof straight.
Emily managed to sit on a stool and roll out the fondant and cut the doors and windows. She and I were quickly arguing about sizes and shapes and had to remind ourselves we were going to turn this over to the children.
The door was the only thing we had much input into. I made a circle of white on the front, and Graysen made the wreath and pretty much did all the decorating after that. Kate was content to eat a candy cane and grab the icing bag when she could.
I'll just post a bunch of pictures I took after it was finished. My hands were too messy to do anything while we worked.
I think she's almost ready to start making her own birthday cakes. She did really well with the icing bag.
Graysen and I loved the holly leaf and berry sprinkles, but they were hard to hold onto, and a lot of them ended up on the floor - and in Graysen's mouth.
It looks like there was a messy snowball fight in the back yard.
It was totally worth the mess and confusion to see the pride the girls had. They actually wanted to eat it as soon as we finished. I guess the gingerbread part is edible.
By the time we got through, it was dark, and Kate said, "It's time for you to go home, Mimi." I saw a look of panic in Emily's eyes, but I took the girls up and put them in the bathtub while she cleaned the kitchen. It was a good time in spite of everyone being sick.
I'm going back to Michael's today for some things I forgot and am thinking about getting Emily and me another one to make ourselves. Just kidding. That will never happen.
I am going back for more of these cute holly stickers for some reindeer I'm making for Graysen's class. They are so much fun to do - except when you forgot the put the back on, and then they're basically reindeer bookmarks.
Elise picked this bag of "jewels" out at Michael's. I'm going to get her to cut out some green felt trees today that the girls can decorate after school - if she will part with any of them.
I tried them on a barrette cover. Fun!
The weather is - interesting this week - cold but kind of crisp and NOT rainy. No one is talking about snow for awhile, but it would be nice to have a white Christmas - kind of.
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