Graham Cracker Houses and Barney (again)

Christmas is one of my favorite times. I have a lot of memories, particularly with my Aunt Loretta and Grandma Velma, that I recall each year. Cookie Day was the biggest, but there was also Mass with my Mom, sisters, Auntley (as we called Aunt Loretta), and Grandma. I loved going to church when it was all decorated for the season. I know Gracie and Luke would never survive the hour and a half services that are common this year, so we haven't gone to Mass. This makes me sadder than I thought it would.

In looking to establish traditions of our own, I have been paying attention to things others do to see if they might be exciting to Gracie and Luke. One of my Twin Momma friends, Caryn, made Gingerbread Houses (actually, they were graham cracker houses) with her kids the other day. When she blogged about it, all of her kids were totally into it. Even her husband, Bryan, got into the act.

So, even though I am sick, I dragged the crew to the store to buy some supplies, came home and whipped up some of the frosting "cement" Caryn wrote about. Gracie and Luke enjoyed licking the frosting off of the beaters! Papa was focused on making cookies, so he locked Gracie, Lukie and I into the living room so that we could make our houses. At first, Gracie and Luke were more excited about eating the candy I put into the bowls, but when they saw the house I was building, they wanted one too.

We managed to have 2 nicely constructed graham cracker homes until Lukie's was the victim of a karate chop from the sky. So, I built a third home and he adopted that one as his own until a second karate chop devastated his second piece of real estate. After that, I quickly came to the conclusion that Lukie should only rent for the rest of his life.

Gracie and her house.

Our supplies

The aftermath of Lukie and the Frosting

(frosting in his hair, on his face, on his clothes)

Some video during our activity:

In the end, I realized I forgot to give them something to spread with, so it only took us about 10 minutes to create our houses. Our activity quickly became a candy eating frenzy, punctuated by Lukie and his love of spreading frosting all over his head, hands and anyone he could touch. We had fun and next year I will definitely remember the spreaders for Gracie and Luke.

After a bath, we cuddled on the couch and watched Barney Night Before Christmas DVD (for the 100 millionth time).

Suffering from sugar overload.

Ah, Barney and the train ride through Santa's Workshop. Please, may I watch you 50,000 times more? Please?