We missed our installment of Reed and Mom day last week due to Thanksgiving, so I decided that yesterday we would do something special together. A few weeks ago, my mom bought me a gingerbread house kit and I thought that would be the perfect activity for us. Reed got all pumped up about it, so we opened the box ready to do some serious building and as I got the instructions out of the box, my eye caught the section about "drying time". Great. So I had to explain that we could build the house but we had to let it dry so there would be no decorating - for a few hours. Groaning ensued and I'm thinking we're off to a fantastic start.
I had to put up the first to walls and let them dry for a bit. I had to make sure they were square - if not, the whole thing won't go together correctly and might very well come tumbling down in a cookie catastrophe. What I really needed was a third hand, but I made do with the assistance of crushed pineapple cans and a spastic four year old. We got the four walls up (with enough icing to make a dentist cringe, mind you) and we began the waiting game. 
I put Hudson in seclusion (his high chair) for security reasons. I tossed him a cracker every few minutes and oddly enough he didn't seem to mind.
Two hours later I proceeded to attach the roof panels. After they went on you had to hold them in place for "several minutes". I don't know what that meant exactly, so I held them for about 30 seconds and then put the infamous pineapple cans underneath. Then we had to let dry "for 2 to 3 hours before proceeding". Bummer.
Fast forward to this morning. I decided not to go to the gym because I woke up not feeling so hot. I've had a sore throat the last couple of days and I just don't feel 100%. There's also SO much I have to do at the house...I am hosting bunco in a week and nothing is clean. NOTHING. I figure if I spend the next week deep cleaning (barring that I don't get sick) I can do a quick clean up Tuesday morning and the house will look just great. Anyway, I digress. Reed and I proceeded to decorate. The next half hour was filled with Reed sticking candies on the house with all his might - evidently, the harder you push, the more icing that oozes out from behind said candy and gets on your fingers. Then, of course, you have to lick it off. Or so I was told.
Hudson was again placed in prison - this time it was his playpen. He enjoyed making faces up against the side of the Pack n Play and I must admit, it was pretty humorous!
So 17 hours after we started and a big mess later, here's the final product:
I think it turned out cute and during the decorating phase Reed said "This is fun!" And that makes it all worth it!
4 comments:
Okay, so last Christmas my mom made me put together one of those houses, and I enlisted the help of my younger cousins (mistake #1). We did not fully read the directions (mistake #2) and consequently did not leave enough time for it to dry before continuing with the following steps (mistake #s 3-6). We were not brilliant enough to enlist the help of inanimate objects to assist in holding together the catastrophic building (mistake #7) and thus used our hands (mistake #8) which resulted in more icing being consumed than used on the house. Needless to say, your house rocks my freakin face off. But my favorite part are the pictures of Hud smooshing his face against the playpen. Classic.
wow, So proud of you mom. One, to take on a project like that. I have always wanted to do one... now that I am an adult and know what a pain it would be... not so much. Two, being the control freak I am I would not get much joy out of watching Caleb (in my eyes) ruin the whole thing because he put the redhots in the wrong place. :)
Good job mom. Reed will remember this.
I forgot to add.... it turned out really cute!
Wow, I can't believe Mrs. I-can-make-a-cake-into-anything used a gingerbread house that came in a box! That made me feel better...until I saw how yours turned out. You truly have superior food decorating abilities, and I think you are passing it on to your children. Good for you!
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