The Long Road Home

We loaded up the SUV and headed for PA on Tuesday after Charlie's Christmas program at preschool.
I was already expecting this road trip to be a pain and wanting to strangle my children after 18 hours in the car.
Gotta say though, it really wasn't that bad!
Everyone behaved themselves!

Our Elf on the Shelf even graced us with his presence....
The boys LOVED that!


James brought these camo neck pillows home from Bass Pro.
The boys wore them the whole trip.
They wouldn't share with their mom :(

We drove for 10 hours straight on Tuesday and ended up getting a hotel room in Louisville, KY.
They had a decent continental breakfast and we were back on the road by 7:30am.
Arrived at Nonna's house at 3:30 that afternoon.
It snowed most of the way from Cincinnati to Pa.
But the roads were clear and it was a pretty sight!

Wednesday morning Chelsea, and her boys, Carter and Elliot came over to play.
I thought it would be a fun idea to let them decorate a gingerbread house.
I've never done this myself, so I was interested in trying it.
How hard can it be right?

Very hard, when the piping bag full of icing bursts open all over the house.

Or when the walls won't stay "glued" together and keep collapsing in.

Disastrous.
Where is my pastry chef, Steph, when I need her?

Of course, 3 sets of eyes were on us as we were trying to get the basics covered...

ok, this is progress!

Looking like a gingerbread house!

The boys got to decorating right away.

Serious faces!

Half of the candies got eaten.

"No More!" was not understood, but ignored as two mothers were yelling to their boys.

That's my two hands holding the roof up as the boys decorate.

It would not stay up!

Then I read the instructions that say, "Allow gingerbread house to dry for 2-3 hours before decorating."

oh, well, that's just not going to happen today.

Charlie looking devious as always...

Carter analyzing the shoddy construction of this house.

[and chomping on candy]

getting there!

[my fingers are still holding it up]

ok, done!

I stepped away and two seconds later...

collapse.

we decided that the gingerbread house was just going to be a candy land.

We failed.

We also threw it away after the boys left the room.

Maybe next year I'll read the instructions BEFORE construction starts...

Merry Christmas!