homemaking

As far as I can recall, this year is my first experience with building a gingerbread house. My mother's opinion of gingerbread houses was always, "Way too much work for something you can't eat," so we never got around to doing one.

Never one for authenticity, I skipped straight to the "fun" part by buying a prebaked kit that included candies AND PREMADE ICING (thank you, Wally World!). I've been meaning to get off my butt and do it as a craft project with Liza, but we just haven't had enough time when we've both been in a good mood and haven't had any pressing errands or appointments.


Until this morning.


Yes, I am wearing lavender Minkie pajamas**, courtesy of my mother-in-law's Christmas gift and my firm belief in staying in my jammies as late as I legitimately can on the weekend. And my daughter is wearing (what else?) her Halloween costume.

See that? The candy isn't even open yet, and already she's gone goofy on us.

True to expected toddler behavior, Liza ate twice as many candies as she put on the house, and I had to shoo her away when she lost interest and finish the decorating myself in order to keep her from going into total sugar shock. But I did let her decorate as much as she wanted to, and I refrained from telling her where to put stuff or rearranging things after she left, so I count it as a success. Plus, the sucker hasn't fallen down yet - bonus!

Apparently, the bug-eyed aliens decided to invade Candy Land today ...
Liza was in favor of the "eat candy" part of this craft, if nothing else. I think she probably enjoys sticking foamies onto paper more than sticking candy onto frosting, but this was a nice change of pace. Plus, it was only $9 :)

**Thank you, Susie! Minkie pajamas = heaven. Dear reader, run, do not walk, to your nearest department store and buy some. So soft, so warm, and so polyester, meaning they shouldn't shrink. Plus, if we all work together and walk around on wool carpet while wearing them, we could power most of the country with the electricity we generate.