"GINGERBREAD" HOUSES

Our day started out pretty rotten. Originally we had a day packed with plans for fun with friends.  But due to sickness those plans fell through and we were left with tears and disappointment.  After a bit we dusted ourselves off and came up with new plans.  It was time to make gingerbread houses!  Thankfully, yesterday I had printed out plans and had asked Dave to pick up supplies for us.  I believe Someone knew we would need them today!  

 Our supplies + a very excited boy

 Cutting up a cereal box to put our house on.

 And covering it with foil.

 Instead of baking gingerbread or buying a kit we used a box for our form and covered it.

 She was memorizing all the flavors.

 The basic form of the house.

 These two enjoyed some breakfast while Boo and I worked on the houses.

 Boo's house.

 Time for Mama to have a waffle break!

 Next we covered our houses with graham crackers. 
 Cheaper than buying a kit and easier than baking gingerbread.  =)

 Mine is all done!

 Boo is finishing up hers too.

 Now for the fun part!  Decorating!

 Boo and Princess teamed up to decorate one house.

 And Bugsy and I teamed up to decorate the other house.

 We made our own bags to pipe the frosting.  It got a little messy but it was fun.  

 Our sick one, Elvis, came down to decorate for a few minutes.  Then he wanted to go back to rest and read.  We are going to do another later when he is feeling 100% again.

 Our final masterpiece!  This is the front of our house.

 Side view.

 The back.  (We were getting tired by then and running out of frosting.  Lol!)

 The front of Boo and Princess's house.

 The side view.

 The other side.

And the back.

These took a lot more time than I thought they would but I haven't made one with this process before.  Next time I will definitely not tell the kids until we are done constructing the houses.  Thankfully, they were entertained with waffles and a game which made the waiting easier.  From start to finish it took us about 3 hours.  It was lots of fun and this might very well become a tradition.  =)

ALL ROLLED INTO ONE

Today we did a little Astronomy. After we finished our reading & written work it was time for some hands-on learning.  Somehow that flowed into a Christmas craft. The kids were very happy with both. =) 

Enjoying some hands-on fun.

Making craters to simulate how they are made on Mercury's surface.

Craters

Next I made some salt dough & the boys made their own models of Mercury.

Here he is making the craters on the surface.  After they were finished we put them aside to dry.

Since we had already made a mess making the dough for the models I thought it would be a good time to make our salt dough ornaments.  I found our recipe and got to work.

They made a snowman together.

Getting down to work on their ornaments.

After he made his cut-out ornaments he started making a snowman for his shelf.

My big girl does it all by herself.

Ready for the oven!

We filled up 2 cookie sheets.

All finished!

Now they are baking in the oven.  We'll paint them either tomorrow or maybe Saturday.