The gingerbread house: or, why I am not an architect

We made a gingerbread house today.
Not from a box. That would be way too easy.
In a moment of insanity I bought a kit of gingerbread-house shaped cookie cutters. So you can make your own house pieces and assemble it.
Now I know there was a reason why it was on sale.

We used the gingerbread recipe that came with the kit.

I had help with everything.

Viggo measured out the dry ingredients.

I measured out the cup of Crisco. I tried not to think about that too much. I don't think we've consumed a cup of Crisco cumulatively over the past five years. So this amount felt a little excessive.

Other highly nutritious ingredients included dark corn syrup and brown sugar.

And a whole bunch of white sugar.

Then I warmed everything together.

I poured the hot grease and sugar mixture into the mixing bowl.

After I mixed it with a spoon I used the paddle attachment. Well, it turned everything into a sandy mixture, which really wasn't very roll-out-able.

That wasn't good. So I added lots and lots of water.

Then we painstakingly rolled it out and cut the pieces.

While the 4,000 dirty dishes from all of this were accumulating, I made frosting.

Finally, the pieces were cool and the building began.

Unfortunately they didn't bake evenly. See? Those are the roof pieces. They weren't exactly the same size . . . huh.

There might have been a smallish gap in the roof.

The kids spent a considerable amount of time decorating and then there was a catastrophe.

The gingerbread couldn't weather the storm of four busy little hands.
I considered the use of hot glue.

But then we just abandoned ship and had lunch instead.

Then Nate came home and repaired it into the sad little structure it presently is.

The end.

Church Christmas program 2010; A trip to Barnes

This morning we got all bundled up to go to church. It was a whopping 0 degrees out there.

Elin likes to wear her coat and mittens for fun so this was no biggie.

Christmas program!

Svea did well, considering she can't really ever stand still if there's an audience.

She also loved holding the microphone. She even mostly remembered her verses she had to say. Good job, Svea!

And, she only lifted her dress up a time or two. All in all, she did super!

Then Viggo came out with the big kids and things got more busy.

He spoke his part well. We were very proud of him!

When he is part of a crowd like this it is pretty crazy how blonde he really is. I have gotten so used to it, but looking at some of these photos, I realize his hair sweater and his hair . . . match.

All the kids did a great job sharing the miracle of the Christmas story. I love church programs!

Then, Viggo and I headed off to Barnes and Noble. I am always impressed with how Barnes contributes to the local community; today they had a portion of their sales going toward Viggo's school (they also did this in Delware, and we loved it there too!). I splurged at the cafe and bought Viggo a special drink made with his school colors; proceeds went back to his school.

With no thought of myself, I bought a peppermint mocha to do my part to contribute. It was for the children.

Viggo's icy vanilla drink was really, really blue.

His teeth were stained for hours.

Even more fun, there were friends at Barnes too.

Fabulous Christmas music was provided by extremely talented musicians that we know! Viggo caroled right along.

We did some Christmas shopping - Viggo used his own money to buy his sisters some gifts - and we got to hang out at the bookstore, one of Viggo and I's favorite places to go together. It was a win-win!

Getting there & snowbound

We have slowly been gearing up for Christmas. We put the tree up last week; that was a big accomplishment for us being as I'd been sick for what felt like forever, and pretty much all our Christmas stuff was in boxes. I can't say I had any motivation to do a whole lot other than constantly sanitize everything I touched.

But the tree is a welcome sight and we all love it.


Viggo made this ornament for the tree. Please don't ask me to explain it.

In unrelated news, Elin's been making big messes with yogurt.

She also likes to carry a little box of hairbows around and frequently accessorizes herself and others.

Last night I folded tons and tons of laundry while . . .

. . . we surprised Viggo and watched "The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe" together! It was so much fun sharing this movie with Viggo; he's read the books and we've just been biding our time waiting for him to be ready to watch this flick. (In case your eyes are watering, our walls are not mustard yellow - they're tan. But I took this pic at night without a flash.)

It was intense!

There was a lot of nail-biting going on. He was on the absolute edge of his seat the whole time. So fun!!

And now it's snowing. I took this photo this morning but more has accumulated. Unlike Delaware, the state has not shut down and we even got our mail on time today. I think we'll be getting about ten inches total. I am considering learning how to use the snowblower and showing Viggo that his Mom knows a thing or two about machines (he politely suggested a shovel was more my speed. What does he think I am, a complete weenie?).

With all the snow coming down and blowing in every direction, we've been snowbound today, so Viggo's been playing chess on the computer and reading.

Svea's been tagging along after the V-man. Perhaps some pestering here and there. She's quite computer-savvy and has to wait her turn for the "puter".

Elin's just been having a good time riding the horse.

I'm happy enough just looking out at the field and seeing all of this.

Now the kids have been busy making a fort.

We are just enjoying being at home in the snow.

Thanksgiving (and a poetic moment)

Well, Thanksgiving came and went.

We have so much to be thankful for. It was a really special Thanksgiving, spent unexpectedly at home.

I made the traditional Thanksgiving dinner with the turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes and gravy, etc.

But I thought it would be fun to mix it up a little and make a special dessert.

Mini pumpkin tarts.

Svea and I were hard at work lining all those mini tart forms with pie crust.

Before baking them, we first had to line each of them with foil and Mrs. Anderson's pie weights so the crusts wouldn't puff up - to make sure there was room for the pumpkin pie mixture.

Wow, you might be thinking. That looks tedious.

Yes.

They turned out just fine, outside of getting maybe a bit too dark around the edges. Whoops.

But look how cute! Totally worth the fuss. I just used a regular pumpkin pie recipe, but made them tinier. The rest of the pumpkin mixture (there was a lot left over) was poured into a pie dish and that was a crust-less pie.

Elin loved the mini pumpkin tarts.

Mostly she just had refills of whipped cream.

There was a lot of cleaning up to do. Nate and I are continually so thankful for all these little hands and faces to wipe.

* * *

In other news:

The front-loading washing machine is THE place to hang out. When I tell Elin it's time to do laundry she hustles downstairs right away; she doesn't want to miss a second of it.

Viggo bundles up for school. It was 4 degrees at the bus stop this morning, so all this gear he's decked out in is totally necessary (and self-imposed; I never have to remind him to get bundled up). He always kisses his little sisters before he heads out the door. Thoughtful guy!

And Nate has been busy. He's been making and selling cutting boards in my etsy shop. It's been really fun seeing what comes out of his shop each night.

He really loves this loon one.

Nate: "I don't know if I want to sell this one. The speckles from the birdseye maple makes the background look like sunshine sparkling on water, or stars reflecting from the sky onto a lake at night."

Me: "Wow, Nate, that was a really poetic moment you just shared with me . . . Are you okay?"

Nate: "I think so." Then he went back to his shop. He had maxed out on his poetry limit.

I have never, ever heard Nate talk like that before. Nate hadn't either. So, all that poetry and literature I've been trying to sneak into his life has been influencing him after all! Ha! It just took about a decade to sink in :)