Pete's been keen on building fires in the fireplace. We had not done this until now (our third winter in this house). It's going fine, but really does suck the heat out of the rest of our drafty house...
Henry and I can't seem to stop baking. Here we are at work on the chocolate crinkles...which I can't stop eating. Henry's job was to roll them in sugar and then powdered sugar. He was a pro.
Clara played in her high chair while we worked. Henry handed her a few of his kitchen toys, but she especially seemed to enjoy his oven mitts.
We also have been crafting. Here's Henry working on making some gift wrap.
And Franklin got in on the craziness this morning. He kept hanging out under the table while I was rolling out the gingerbread dough (so he could lick the floor). Pete took this photo of him covered in flour.
I really didn't intend to do a gingerbread house completely from scratch. But when I asked Pete to look for a "kit" at the grocery, this is what he came home with. It was a box with a couple bags of mix (one for the dough, one for the icing) and a few cookie cutters. Best to just jump in with both feet I guess!! The dough had to sit in the fridge for about several hours, so when it was time to roll it out it was quite firm. I contemplated just making some sort of gingerbread glacier rather than continuing to roll it all out....I suppose it was good exercise.
Henry consulted The Gingerbread Baby for inspiration.
Later in the day- after the baking and several hours of cooling- we had the grumpiest gingerbread-assembly session ever. Everyone was grumpy. Henry kept jiggling the table, Clara didn't want to be in her seat...and I guess Pete and I are just grumpy because we're old farts.
The assembly was messy and stressful.
But here's what we ended up with...tomorrow we get to decorate...if Pete leaves us any M&Ms, that is.
Also tomorrow Henry and Clara and I will go across the street to try our hand at some Czech cookies with Anna and Sebastien. The kids haven't left the house for about 36 hours. Today was wicked cold and windy. I left a couple times for groceries and some (last-minute?) shopping. Did I mention that I'm not sure when my house is going to get clean? It may never happen... Is this a surprise to anyone?
