Gingerbread Homes

In the years past, I have never made gingerbread houses with the boys during the holidays. I guess I never thought to. But this year, we had the opportunity to make these houses three times. The first time was at Freedom Elementary with Cooper. We were allowed to bring our little ones, so Clayton came along to see what the excitement was all about!

They used little milk cartons for their base and they worked perfectly. I helped get Cooper started with the frosting and then he took off and did a great job. He made the front door out of pretzels. He made a chimney out of some soft red licorice. Clayton had a fun time decorating the ice cream cone like a christmas tree. I put on the icing and he put on the candy. They had so many different types of candy for the kids to decorate their houses. Clayton didn't eat any of it until the very end. I was so proud of him! It was fun to sit back and watch them be creative.The second time with made the houses was at Grandma Douglas' house. Cooper and Clayton got to spend time with their cousin, Hunter. After about 10 minutes, Cooper and Hunter were done making their houses, but Clayton worked on his for another 30 minutes. He had such a great time using the icing and putting peppermint candies on like a brick patio. After the patio was finished, he started stacking candy on top of the candy. This little project kept him busy and happy for a long time. I will have to do these every year or maybe a few times a year to keep Clayton happy. He loves to use his hands and he is very meticulous and OCD about how things should be done! Nothing like his mother!The last time we did houses was on Christmas Eve. Clayton was asleep, so me and Cooper headed to Jacqui's to do gingerbread houses with Reese, Jaxon, and Landon.....and let's don't forget Jared! He made a gingerbread race car