Gingerbread Houses

Every year we make Gingerbread houses, this year we left it until Christmas Eve. The kids thought they were in candy heaven and ate so much I think they had belly aches! I made homemade frosting and Riley loved helping me this year. We usually make one house each, but since the kids can't quite do it themselves we made one family house instead. It turned out...well, interesting. Riley loved piling the candy on and piling cracker upon cracker. Lets just say she won't be designing our home if we ever build one! Lincoln was no help really :). He sat there, watching and eating a TON of candy...but, he was one happy little guy!

They thought they were in heaven!

FINAL PRODUCT!

Santa and Gingerbread Houses

!!!!BREAKING NEWS!!!!

We went to see Santa today and Riley DID NOT CRY!!! Shocking! I was so proud of her. They both did great, although I knew Lincoln would. Riley, that's a different story. She even cracked a smile...once. Many of you may recall last year's Santa disaster.

When asked what she wants for Christmas this year she sweetly replies "Milk". Ahhh...to be young again. If all we got her was milk, we'd have a lot more $$ in our bank account. Although, she probably would be happy with a big sippy of milk in her stocking. I'm so excited for this Christmas and for Riley to open all her gifts that we got her (which, is probably way too many). But, we love spoiling the kids as much as possible :). Although we love spoiling them, we also want to teach them the true meaning of Christmas...Christ's birth. Riley sings "Happy Birthday Day, Baby Jesus" all day long. I hope and pray that we don't let the festivities and presents get in the way of teaching our children about the real meaning of the celebration.

We've also continued the tradition that my mom started when we were little, making homemade gingerbread houses. Ty and I have done it since we've been married and have also done it since Riley was born. This year was Lincoln's first time, but he slept through most of it. Riley had a blast making the gingerbread houses, although I'm pretty sure that she enjoyed eating the candy more than anything. We use graham crackers and homemade frosting (a recipe given to me by my mom, who was given the same recipe from her great-grandmother) We also had licorice, m and m's, candy corn, etc. The only time she normally gets candy is when she goes potty on her potty seat, so tonight was a treat!!

Here I am, making the homemade frosting.

Riley and Daddy working on the sides of the house.

Helping her frost the house...

Stop for a family picture...


I love this picture of Lincoln, none of us were paying attention, except for him :).


Riley was concentrating so hard!!


She didn't like it when the frosting got on her hands, so she kept telling me to lick it off. She's quite the neat freak and perfectionist (I wonder who she gets that from...)???!!

The final product! (Front)


The final product (Back)!

A Family Tradition

Making Gingerbread houses is a tradition that my mom started with me and my brother and sisters...so I've been doing them for a long time. Ty and I decided to continue the tradition when we got married and when we had a family. So this is our third year doing them. It's fun to send a picture of the final product to the family and have them guess whose is whose. (Although with Ty and I it's almost impossible not to know who did which one).

We decided that maybe next year Riley could do one too but this year we put her to bed first because we thought she'd probably just make a mess of everything! :)

Anyways, here they are...

??? Whose is Whose ???

Riley the next morning posing with the Gingerbread Houses.