Gingerbread Houses

We had our annual gingerbread house Christmas party this year, and as always it was lots of fun. I helped Mark & Evan glue their houses before we went to my mom's house so that when we got there they could just dive right in & get to work decorating.

The pictures are out of order a little & I couldn't get them to move, so this is how they will stay. This picture is of Eric & me at dinner at the Olive Garden. The adults leave the kids at grandma's & we get to enjoy ourselves for an evening out. We usually have a gift exchange after dinner, but we decided that since we all have so much we'd give to someone who really needs it this year. So after dinner we went to Walmart & bought gifts for children with cancer. Nature's Sunshine is collecting gifts for these children, so we were able to buy something for a child in need this year. It was more fun than we had anticipated, plus I was able to finish off my shopping since I didn't have any of my kids in tow. It was a win-win situation for all!
Here is Mark with his finished house. It is nice now that my kids are getting older & they can decorate their houses all by themselves. He didn't have any help from anyone & I think it turned out great!

Evan also decorated his house by himself. He informed me that the crushed up candy in front of the house was from a snowman who threw up on the front yard. Oh, the mind of a boy!

Here's Evan gathering "sticks" for his house.

The only assistance Mark needed was to keep his bag from gushing frosting out the back end.

This was Hollie's first year joining us for our annual house decorating. We're glad she could be a part of the fun!

Here is Mark with his house before we left to grandma's. He could hardly wait to get going!

Here's a close-up of Evan's house. He was very creative and made a sleigh on the roof out of candy canes & Necco's.

And here's a final close-up of Mark with his house. Great job!