Grace's Gingerbread House Decoarting 4th Birthday Party

This past weekend we celebrated Grace's 4th birthday. Four?!? 

Next year she'll be an entire hand!!! How is that possible??

Anyway, I decided months...MONTHS I TELL YOU...ago that a gingerbread decorating party was going to be the theme...

for several reasons.

1. Grace LOVED decorating gingerbread houses and cookies last year. I figured she'd only find it more fun this year!

2. Who doesn't love decorating gingerbread houses...or as I like to call the activity..."eating candy"?!?

3. I came across this site...in particular her gingerbread house embroidery...and fell in love.

SO MUCH SO that I taught myself how to hand embroider and made this!

And thus a theme was born!!

Now, while I usually don't like to mix Christmas stuff with birthday stuff...I made an exception. 

I figured that Grace is too little to understand all this and that this might be the last year I could mix the two "holidays" without her understanding. It would make decorating easier as I have Christmas crap coming out the ying yang...and at this time of year?? Everyone can use something going a little bit easier...am I right?! 

So without further ado, Grace's 4th birthday party!

We invited only family to keep things small and personal. 

Even with a relatively small guest list, our "relatively small" home posed a challenge in hosting such a party. As we anticipated guests coming from out of town, we always like to include dinner, drinks - THE WORKS! - in order to make their travels worth while. 

Hosting a dinner party and providing seating - all in the shadow of our Christmas tree - doesn't allow space for much else. Sooo we transformed Grace's bedroom into the gingerbread room!

Complete with tree,

candy wreaths,

hand made decorations AND

all this!
Everything came together to get everyone in the mood to decorate gingerbread houses!

Our kitchen table was moved to Grace's room for the gingerbread house decorating and Grace's dresser became the dessert table. I hung the embroidery over the dessert table...it was the inspiration after all!

Each child got their own house to decorate made out of graham crackers. Originally, I was going to make gingerbread from scratch...but I quickly ran out of time. Then, I was going to at least make the frosting to glue all the crackers together. That proved to be too much. So I took the easy {lazy} route and hot glued them together! While the kids wouldn't be able to eat their houses - who really eats the house anyway? - it made the whole process a snap!!

I couldn't resist making a little house myself!

  

Well, I actually made it to test a theory. I didn't want to make frosting and put it in bags. Again, I wanted to take the easy route and buy store bought frosting tubes.

Everything I read online said that store bought frosting wouldn't work. It wouldn't harden and therefore the candies wouldn't stick.

FYI. Frosting out of the tube works fine!

Just fine!

Aside from frosting tubes and their own gingerbread house, each child received a little chef's hat and an apron! Just to get them into the spirt of decorating...and to save everyone's clothes!

I didn't get any great pictures of the aprons...at least the ruffle-y part...but here's an "after" picture of Charlotte's apron.

The tops of the aprons had an image of the little gingerbread house I embroidered.

Have a told you I love a theme?!?! :)

The birthday girl had a special hat made for her

as well as a special cake topper that I am certain will be treasured each and every Christmas to come!

Both were made by Patricia Minish - a gem to work with!

Total cuteness!

The gingerbread house decorating was so fun! For everyone!

It was neat to see the creativity and concentration of each child.

Charlotte wouldn't wear her hat but she was more than happy to decorate her gingerbread house...

and eat her weight in candy!!!

I'm NOT kidding!

I have 'no idea' where she gets her sweet tooth! haha

I knew that decorating gingerbread houses would be fun for the kids...but I didn't realize how fun it would be for the mothers, 

grandmothers,

and great grandmothers!! It truly was a family affair!

What were all the men folk doing you ask?

Eating, drinking and being merry of course....all while Court - bless his soul - got dinner ready!

Dinner was served at tables that I tried to make as birthday-y as possible.

AGAIN I didn't get a picture of the table! I MUST make a mental note for next time! 

But each place setting had some festive utensils and a "goodie bag" that included a sugar cookie and chocolate gingerbread men.

The kids finished dinner lickity split...their tummies full of candy no doubt! So they watched "The Grinch" while the adults finished dinner. 

Love watching these kids grow up together! Aren't they sweet?

And yes, that is Grace...fast asleep...at her birthday party!

I think asking 3,254 times earlier that day when her party would start finally took it's toll!

Not the best picture but you can kind of see the birthday skirt I made for Grace - and by accident - for Charlotte! 

Waking up Grace was pretty easy - considering we had this cake

to lure her with!

We sang Happy Birthday...


and then it was showtime!

"Prez-nets!!" as Grace says.

Grace was one lucky birthday girl!

Princesses and Barbies and stickers and Gracie dolls...

...a fish from Mommy and Daddy...

The fish was a big hit...now we just need to keep him alive!

Soon, the festivities began to wind down and soon it was time for our guests to leave.

The kids carried their gingerbread houses home in little gable boxes I decorated to look like the inspirational embroidery! 

One last surprise for the kids!

 I made an ornament for all the kids....

 each personalized with his or her name! 

So, so, so MUCH fun! It was a fun party to pull together and a fun party to watch the kids enjoy!

If December was a less hectic month, I think I would host a gingerbread decorating party every year!

A big thank you to our family members for attending Grace's birthday party. Family, school and work commitments add up quickly this time of year. Thank you for prioritizing Grace's big day. It does not go unnoticed and it certainly does not go unappreciated.

Catch Up

I think I set a personal-fewest-amount-of-posts-in-a-month record this November.

What can I say? It's the happiest busiest time of the year!

Let's play catch up, shall we?

I took a photography class last month. FINALLY! I'm still working on new techniques...but I am trying. Bare with me as I fine tune this new skill!

With the help of Court and my in-laws I was able to get away for a few days! Mind you, I was at a law conference (B-I-G yawn!) but it might as well been an all expense (read: all shopping expenses) paid trip to Paris!! It was the first time I'd been away from home without either a child or a husband in OVER FOUR YEARS!!! I had dinner with girlfriends, snuck out of the conference early to do a little Seattle shopping and was able to visit all those little boutiques that the double stroller can never manage! It was pure heaven....for about the first 40 hours. Then I started missing my little fam and high tailed it home! Mission accomplished! Thank you again Court, Priscilla and Dave!

Snow came a bit early this year for us...November 10.

Luckily, it didn't stick around too long.

These farm girls are opposed to shoes, socks, jackets, hats and gloves - even in the snow!

Oh to be young, right?!

If you are asking yourself if Charlotte's hair really looks green or if that is just bad lighting, the answer is it's most definitely green! 

She decided to paint her hair with the paint from our art easel. And though washable, it definitely left behind some evidence of her "escape from nap time into the playroom without mommy knowing" escapade.

Grace wore her princess dress for a solid week. She even slept in it!

I did manage to get her out of it when we went into public, but the second we were home....on it went!

She is gonna LOVE Cinderella!

That just might be under the tree from Santa on Christmas morning!

Princesses aside, we can really see a flourish in Grace's imagination. Be it the conversations she has with her Barbies to creating Seattle's skyline with her blocks - cannon included of course....Seattle just isn't Seattle without a cannon - she is at a REALLY fun age. It is exciting to hear the new things she thinks of everyday. 

With that splurge in imagination has come the question - why.

I knew it was coming. I thought it would be sooner.

But it is now here and I do my very best - most of the time -to exhaust her curiosities. 

Other times...well you know...other times are other times.

In other news, I have spent an INSANE amount of time picking up leaves, sweeping up leaves, bribing Grace with pennies for her piggy back to pick up leaves.... 

  I just don't understand how we have so many leaves in our house this time of year! ;)

 And then there is Miss Charlotte. I forget she is just two. She keeps up with Grace step for step.

She's so physically tough but just a stern look can send her into cataclysmic tears. 

Don't even tell her - or Grace for that matter - that Mommy is gonna cry because...(insert they won't give me a hug, get dressed, overall cooperate) and it will send them into cataclysmic tears to infinite plus one!

It's unreal!

 Uncle Johnny-roo stopped by for some ball - throwing, leaf - hopping action!

And then it was Thanksgiving!

Grace wore her special Thanksgiving outfit to school before the school break started. 

She was not about taking pictures that morning or smiling or holding still.

These are the best pics I snapped and that is saying A LOT!

Regardless, I am glad I have a picture of the skirt I made her for our big family feast!

Charlotte has one too...not sure if I got a picture of hers...

Grace and I made special treats for her teachers.

A little cinnamon muffin mix just to say thank you and maybe ease the breakfast duties if they had lots of family in town!

Not sure how many pictures I got of our Thanksgiving festivities! I spent most of my day in the kitchen but I will upload them soon and hopefully get at least one post together before 2013!

Northpole breakfast is on deck, a 34th birthday in the hole and a fabulous 4th birthday less than two weeks away!

Did I mention I was busy?!