Decorating Gingerbread Houses with Grams & Paul

I love gingerbread house day! This is Grams' day with the {great} grand-kiddos and I think it is a wonderful tradition. In past years, it was a day that Keith and I could do a little shopping while the kids were having fun but we are way past the years of needing a break from the kids. So, this year I went along and got to decorate {and eat candy} too.

And now that Grams' is a Hoffman, she has more grandchildren to join in on the fun. Paul's grandchildren came {and Paul's two daughters Kim and Stephanie}, so she had a full house of kiddos, with Emma being the oldest down to Presley as the youngest gingerbread house decorator. Of course, Ryder and Brooks were there too, but were not at the table, in the frosting, eating candy.

Grams' gets the kits and assembles the houses ahead of time. This year, Paul assembled the houses the day before and they were all ready for us when we got there.

Emma and I left Justin at home since he had been nursing a cold for the past few days and he didn't want the little ones to get sick. Admirable. Of course, that just meant more candy for Emma and me! {that probably isn't so admirable}

Gingerbread man {in plastic}.

There were a few extra kits, so Emma, Grams, and Paul put one more together. Grams' had also bought some Gingerbread tree kits which looked fun {and yummy}. Lots of frosting.

And I love gingerbread and frosting.

Ok, let's be real. I love anything with frosting.

Tiffany was a trooper and came {even though she has valley fever} to decorate the houses with her girls. Their house had a little roof problem early in the decorating that was easily fixed with a gob frosting. Don't you wish that the rest of life's troubles could be fixed with a big gob of frosting? Can you see diabeties in my future?

I love that Presley smiled for the camera. She posed perfectly. What a big girl she is becoming! Tiffany - you are going to have to do something to stop that.

Brandy was also there with Tyler and Chase {who was sitting by me when this picture was taken}.

Presley really worked very hard, decorating the little gingerbread man. Can't you see the determination in her face as she places those little tiny round candies? Very cute.

I'll tell you that those tiny round candies are not easy to put where you want. I was constantly dropping them, thankfully they didn't roll off onto the floor {'cuz they are round, ya know}. So, I would pick one up out of the package, drop it on the table, pick it up again, and put it on the house or tree. So, Presley's determination is quite admirable. She was probably more successful at getting those round little candies to their destination than I was. Its those little fingers {or at least that is my story and I'm sticking with it}

London just being a cutie.

Tyler with her creation. I loved the way she had decorated her tree so I copied her. Kind of like scraplifting but with {yummy} frosting and the fabulous designer is a 4 1/2 year old.

So, London's house had a slight roof problem early in the day, but Tyler's house completely collapsed shortly after I took this picture. Completely collapsed. All four walls laying flat on the table. But if you'll remember, this is a world where big gobs of frosting fix all woes so her house was back into pre-collapse shape before you know it {so quickly, even, that there was no time for tears}.

Emma and I had fun. Its not easy to decorate with frosting. It wants to back out of the bag instead of coming out of the decorator tip and it took me a while to figure out that I needed to twist the bag to stop that. But, even with that, it is hard. My hands were tired {hence the sloppy window frosting on the front of house} and covered with frosting {and so was my camera}.

But, it was fun to eat the 'extra' candy, which is easy to determine which candy was 'extra' because it is whatever you want to eat. Chase was coming over and eating our 'extra' candy, until I put one piece of candy in each hand. This seemed to be a good thing for him.

So, my favorite candies were the red gummies {the candy on the corner of the window}. They felt like they were stale, hard candies but they were yummy, chewie gummies. I think I ate more of those than what I put on the house. Chase liked them too.

Emma with our house. It looked like this for, oh, maybe 3 hours or so. Just long enough for us to come home, eat a little dinner, and then start tearing it apart and eating it. Yum!

Thanks, Grams & Paul for a fun afternoon!

Grandmas are moms with lots of frosting.
~ Anonymous