Gingerbread House Decorating Day!!

So those of you who are facebook friends know this past Sunday was our annual Graham Cracker Gingerbread House decorating day.  This is such a fun tradition with the grandkids - I look forward to it every year.  So here's the table set with fun decorating stuff -

and of course the houses :) If you want to see how we made the little houses - there are pictures and directions HERE.

Let the decorating begin - 

Makai, Heidi, Zavian and Prince

Prince, Jenee and Zamarah

Kamili and Paisley

And here are the proud creators and their final creations -

PAISLEY

PRINCE

ZAMARAH

KAMILI

MAKAI

ZAVIAN

And my girls also had to get in on the action -

JENEE

HEIDI

Then each year we take a picture of the kids with Gramma - we snapped about 15 pictures - which all ended up being craziness - here are just a couple of them -

Crazy smiles on some of those kids and I wasn't expecting the rabbit ears!!

More crazy looks - if I could photoshop I could probably come up with one great picture - but this definitely shows personalities!!

The rest of the day was great - spent some time doing Wii dance while the Turkey Dumpling 

Soup finished - then all sat down to a great lunch!  The kids especially love the dumplings - which were my Mom's (GRAMMA O's) recipe and one of my favorites.  So easy I'll share here - first make your soup - chicken stock, turkey, carrots, celery, peas, potatoes - whatever veggies you want, season with pepper.  Cook till all veggies are tender. In a bowl mix 1/2 stick melted butter with 1 cup flour and 1 egg, pinch of salt, 1/2 t black pepper. Stir till mixed will lose it's stickiness. (You can double or triple this if you want more dumplings)  Bring soup to a boil, break off walnut sized pieces and drop into boiling soup - cook at least 10 minutes - I like to cook mine longer - about 1/2 hour so they really get the flavor of the stock.  TIP - if you soup is already salty - leave the salt out of the dumplings - it will pick up enough from the soup. Stop back soon - and leave a comment on a favorite Holiday Tradition you have!! ~Maureen

Annual Fall Fun

Decorating graham cracker gingerbread houses has become a wonderful annual event with my grandkids.  This year was no different.  Here is the village ready for the arrival of the decorators. Then pictures of all the little ones and their creations.

Village of Graham Cracker houses.

Kamili

Makai

 

Prince

 

Paisley

 

Zamarah

 

Zavian

 

 

Aren't they cute - they all had such fun and loved their creations.  Zamarah and Zavian did have a bit of a struggle waiting to finish decorating theirs.  As you can see below - they both had a nibble way before being done :)

Yum

And more Yum!

Hope this is a memory they will always cherish - I know I will!!  Thanks for stopping by ~Maureen

New Kitchen Counters

After 13 years in our home we've decided to upgrade a bit from the tile counter tops we had in the kitchen. So after they demolished the tile counter top this is how my counters looked - we lived with this a week or so. But then - here's our new stove top -the back splash will come soon :) Our new sink - Our Island with the new granite - my daughter Heidi is an interior designer and was able to help us pick up the perfect stone - it is soooo beautiful. Full of character and movement. and here's the new overhang where we'll be able to push up some stools for counter seating.
I love it - what a change it made in our kitchen.

Gingerbread houses and a tutorial

Last weekend we did our annual gingerbread house making day. It's become a tradition with the grandkids and I hope we continue for many years as I love it! and I think they do to. We actually make mini-gingerbread houses out of graham crackers. I prepare the houses before the kiddos come, and then they decorate. So I thought I'd share how I make the houses. Step 1 - I melt about 1 cup of granulated sugar in a heavy duty frying pan. Stir gently till completely melted over medium high heat - will be dark brown and liquid. Turn down to low heat. Step 2 - take 1 square of graham cracker and dip in the melted sugar and immediately adhere to another square as in picture. NOTE: be careful with dripping sugar as it is very, very hot - I have a scar on the top of my hand where some dripped last year. You only have to hold the peices for a second or two and the sugar cools, and they are set.Step 3 - repeat with another square and place as in picture below.

Step 4 - Dip the two open ends of the structure above, in the sugar, and attach to another square to form the base of the house as shown below. Step 5 - Using a serrated knife, cut one of the squares of graham cracker on the diagnal to form two triangles.Step 6 - Dip the bottoms of the triangles in the sugar and attach them as shown below.Step 7 - Dip one side of the triangles (by picking up the entire base you've made so far, and attach a square of cracker to one side of the roof. Then dip again as show below and attach a square to that side.Step 8 - here are the finished little houses. I hope that was clear enough directions for you to do them. So here's a picture of the table as we were starting - there are tubs of frosting, plastic knives and a ton of candy. Here are Paisley, Jenee, and Prince with their finished creations!Kamili, Heidi and Makai with their little houses! And Gramma with her six little kiddos at the end of a gingerbread house making day!! What fun!! Can't wait till next year when Zamarah and Zavian will get to do one - maybe :)