Gingerbread Houses

In the past week our girls have had 2 opportunities to make Gingerbread Houses. This is something we've only tried one other time {without much success} and this time we figured out how to do it right and they loved it. I think it may become a yearly tradition!

The first time was at a friend's Christmas party and we just did the easy way and used graham crackers and had the kids 'glue' them to boxes in order to hold the shape of the house ...

Here is Hope with her creation - I have no idea why she had a sticker on her forehead, just being silly with her friends I guess!
And here is Joy with hers - not looking at the camera I guess!

Then my friend Julie brought the girls some REAL gingerbread - she baked them with some special stoneware and the pieces come out imprinted to look like the sides and roof of the house! SO cool! She brought the girls the house pieces, some frosting and some candy and they had fun putting designs together!
Hope took these pictures, here is her house ...

And here is Joy's house...

And I finally learned how to make frosting that actually works and holds things together. The key is using meringue powder! Using that made the perfect frosting that held things together and hardened rather quickly. They turned out great and the girls had a blast making them.

PS. This is a great way to get rid of some leftover Halloween candy! ;)