Gingerbread Houses, WOW!!

So this year I decided that the kids were more than ready to make gingerbread houses. Of course, I could have done it in years past, however, I did not feel like having to finish two houses on my own which is exactly what would have happened when they were younger and their attention spans were nil! :)

So this year, I made the gingerbread...rolled it out....made a pattern and cut the dough...baked them (crushed life savers in the windows so that after they baked it looks like stained glass!)...and then made icing, put out bowls of candies and let the kids have at it!

They each have their own style. Ben is a 'traditionalist'. His house is iced on the roof and covered with candies like any good gingerbread house should be. Paige on the other hand took the 'realist' approach. Her roof too is iced, but it only has one row of candies near the bottom as 'Christmas lights' and a 'sculpture' on the roof, much like our house has. Please note her 'Santa in the sleigh' on her roof. She made it all by herself, out of jujubes,candy canes etc.....Mark and I both said "WOW Paige" and she looked at us with 'the look' and said "Well, that's what happens when you have a brilliant child'. Nothing like humility right? :)

So here are their homes in various stages of assemblage! :)



Bens house, all the sides 'glued' together, but not decorated. Note the 'stained glass' window above his door!







Paige icing her roof...



Ben loading up his house with candy...





Mark watching the whole process.. He said he never got to do this as a kid. I said his mom probably bought everything to do it but he ate all the candy LONG before he actually got to put them on a house! hahaha....





Paiges Santa on his sled...




I told Paige she looked like an elf in this outfit!




Bens finished product...looks quite yummy!



He's quite proud of his house as you can tell...also notice the two holes in his teeth...yes the tooth fairy has gone broke at our house...



Ben decided to add 'snow' to his house...and by the look on his face, I am not sure how long his house is going to last!



As I said, Paige is more of a 'realist' when it comes to gingerbread houses. Simplicity is her motto...note the peeps snowman in her front yard!




Here is the back of Paiges house. She put two candy canes in a heart shape to make a design...



Wouldn't you like to live in THIS neighborhood?



Hugs to all,
Jaye

First winter snow fall of 2008

Here is Mark headed out to work Thursday morning. It started snowing Wednesday night and we had a few inches by morning...of course, it was a snow day which meant kids were home all day having fun in the snow!


As soon as Ben woke up and saw that it was snowing, he had to run out (without his coat!) and try out his new winter boots!



Paige tried hers out too, and although she still had her pjs on she DID put her coat on!



Paige was going to do a 'test'....here is my finger....




And here is how deep the snow is!



Ben making a snow angel. By this time he actually had all his snow clothes on. YAY Ben!




Paige making her snow angel...





The kids headed to the top of a hill on our driveway to sled down it. Notice how Ben conserves his energy? He carries his sled on his head!




Paige thought it would be a good idea to take Morpheus for a walk in the snow. He did NOT think so! I wouldn't let her keep him out for more than a few minutes as I didn't want him to get frostbite on his little pads...




View from our front porch....




Looking down the driveway from our house...




One of the trails into the forest on our property..





Paige and I thought this was really neat the way the snow 'decorated' the bricks on our back patio!

There is a new kind of Stupid and it lives in Bremerton....

Yesterday (Saturday) we drove to Seatac airport so Sam could fly out to his dads in Calgary. His flight was canceled about 30 minutes before we arrived at the airport due to the bad weather (it is STILL snowing here!). We called his dad to let him know and he started working on rebooking Sams flight from his end. In the meantime we bundled everyone back into the car to try and beat the forcasted storm home. It was snowing lightly as we left the airport and continuously got heavier as we drove- it is about an hour and a half on a good day to get from the airport to our house. As it was getting near dinner time we decided to stop and grab a bite to eat, but wanted to get across the Tacoma Narrows Bridge before doing so, thus avoiding the traffic back ups and snarls that we knew would start at any point in time. So...about 15 minutes from home, we stopped at a McDonalds....quick food so we could get going in a short period of time. While in there eating, we saw this couple out in the parking lot jacking up their car and fiddling with the tires. I asked Mark what they were doing...he said it looked like they had a flat or something. Once they finished on one side they moved over to the other. I said 'do they have TWO flats? Bummer!'. Mark said 'it looks like...sucks to be them'. And they were really struggling....it was snowing pretty heavy and the guy kept trying to adjust his knee board (yes, he had this fancy little thing you could kneel on while you worked on your car....yuppies!) and get the job done while his wife was turning the wheel one way and then the other. They were out there the whole time we were eating. As we got to the end of our meal, Mark said he was going to go outside and ask if they needed help as it was obvious they were struggling. He went out and talked to the guy for a few minutes and came back in laughing his butt off. They didn't have two flats. No...they were putting chains on their tires. BUT THE GUY TOOK HIS TIRES OFF, PUT THE CHAINS ON, AND THEN PUT THE TIRES BACK ON HIS CAR!!!!!!

Yes people, there is a NEW kind of stupid and sadly, it lives in Bremerton! :)

Hugs to all,
Jaye

A Christmas Story by Ben

I am going to copy word for word, spelling and all, the story Ben brought home from school the other day.....

A Christmas Story, by Benjamin Jacob Greene

The reinder began to get redy for chrismis eve. meanwile the elvs were making toys. then the reinder took off the next day. Santa said "go Dancer go Francer go Doner and Blixing." they landid on roof after roof while santa gave the toys. It was a long trip. But santa used magic!


I bet you haven't heard of THOSE two reindeer have you?!

Hugs to all,
Jaye

Award Winning Recipe

So last summer, Kings Hawaiian Sweet Rolls was having a contest called "Taste of Summer". They wanted a recipe that somehow incorporated one of their products and had less than five ingredients. So I submitted a recipe that I often use at Halloween (ok ok..not SUMMERY..but hey..I won..bite me!) mainly for it's simplicity and it's ability to stay warm etc throughout the night so as the trick or treaters in my house come straggling in they can grab a warm bite to eat! I received a letter in the mail today congratulating me on my win! I won first prize (not to be confused with the GRAND prize..a trip for four to Hawaii!) which was a $200 Visa gift card! YAY for me!

So here is the winning recipe...not GRAND prize winning...but first runner up winning! Hey...a win is a win right?

1 frozen pork roast
1 package lipton onion soup mix
1/2 bottle liquid smoke
1 pkg Kings Hawaiian Sweet rolls
1 bottle bbq sauce

Put FROZEN pork roast into crock pot. Sprinkle onion soup mix and liquid smoke over roast. Let cook all day. When ready to eat, pull pork roast apart and put a bunch of it on a roll...add warmed up bbq sauce....
and that's it!

Hugs to all,
Jaye

First Snow of '08

Well, we had our first snowfall of the year! YAY! We are all pretty excited around here I can tell you! It is pretty darn cold for WA state as well..20 degrees and it's noon! The weather reports are telling us that this is just the beginning and that we are looking at the longest cold snap since 1990! We are supposed to get hit with an even larger snowfall on Wednesday (2-6 inches) and that is at SEA LEVEL! I can just imagine what we will get as we are 400 feet higher up on the mountain! I went and bought the little ones new snow boots as they'd outgrown their old ones and we are all wearing our mitts and gloves and hats whenever we go outside...it is C O L D.


One side of our front yard Sunday morning! It is so peaceful here in the forest when it snows!


Hugs to all and keep bundled up!!
Jaye