131 New Construction

Katie begged Daddy to buy her the Gingerbread House kit from Schnucks. We had seen it the day before, but I told her maybe another time. They had to run back to the store to get some drinks the next day, and she knows that Daddy is a sucker :) He did call to ask me if I would be able to do it with her, you know he wasn't going to be the one supervising the Gingerbread House construction! What am I going to say? Of course I said yes, but we had to make sure she understood it was not going to happen that day (which was Sunday). She still asked that night, but she took no for an answer, fairly well. We did decide to do it Monday. Mia came up after she finished her homework, but then we found out Chip was coming home so we decided to wait. By the time he made it home it was time for Mia to head home. So, we ended up doing it with just us. I like us :)

I did not realize how LONG it takes to put together a pre-fab little Gingerbread House. There is a lot of waiting for the icing to dry. There is even more of stopping your kid from eating the decorations! And, just like the activity sheet I did in 3rd grade (you know, the one where the teacher tells you to follow directions, and you go down the whole page doing all these little things, get to the last direction and it is to NOT do anything but put your name at the top) you should read ALL directions before you start. It gives you all the directions for attaching the walls, and then it tells you to make sure to put the side walls on the outside of the front and back. Of course I had not! No big deal, just icing .. but it made me a bit angry. So, you get the walls together and then you wait. You have to wait an hour before attempting to put the roof on ... and then you wait! It recommends another 4 hours to let the roof dry, and ovenight is better. I think we waited almost two hours. Katie needed to go to sleep. I was ready to be done ... It all worked out in the end. Katie helped cover the Gingerbread House in candy, only eating a few pieces. She tried to do the icing but it was a little hard for her.

All in all, I am pretty glad she talked Daddy into buying it. We had a good time, and I am glad we had something to do with just the two of us (Daddy lost interest pretty early on). I mean besides going to the dentist today :) We did get to do a little shopping and have lunch together. But, I think I will stick with fun stuff like Extreme Cookie Makeovers!!

And of course, after buying the $15 one at Schnucks, the ALDI flyer came out with a Gingerbread House Kit for $8.99. Maybe we can build a little neighborhood ...