Domestic Bliss...

I love being a stay at home mom because it gives me time to do things like this.  It gives me an opportunity to provide experiences for my family that are fun and help my children learn and grow. Domestic bliss doesn't happen often for me but it did this day (and I slept really well last night too).

 I put all the candy out on the table and the icing (I was going to make Royal Icing but I ran out of energy since I needed to finish canning the 12 pints of chicken stock I made and 10 pints of chicken breast).  So I opened 4 cans of white vanilla icing from Betty Crocker and filled a few decorating bags and we went to work. 

All of the left over candies are going in eggs in their Easter baskets.  They'll never know.

Here is a photo of the sugar cookie houses without their decorations.  I drew the pattern on the back of a cereal box and then cut it out.  Then I used a pizza cutter to cut out the dough.  I used a lid from a spice jar for the circle - cut it in half and made the front step for the house.

Jelly Beans - pretty much the only Easter candy I can eat.

Daddy helped him decorate his Easter house.

Me and all my freckles. And Christopher - I didn't retouch my photo one bit. Does my neck look weird? I always worry about lumps and bumps in my neck.

I love my daughter's rock garden.  She took inspiration from our own yard.  I don't help them with their houses.  I provide the tools, the candy, and the houses but she did all the rest on her own.  In all this fun is a way to teach them to be creative and independent a little step at a time. 

Haunted Halloween Houses 2011

It's been a while since I posted the images on how to glue the gingerbread pieces together with melted brown sugar. But we did finally decorate them.  Some of the candy came in the box with the house such as the pointed spires.  Some of the candy Grandma purchased and the cute little leaves came from Wilton too but in a bottle instead of the box.  I wish I had not put as much of the recommended water in the icing - it was a little runny - that was fine for the green grass but not on the vertical pieces of the house.  I did buy extra color paste - in brown, orange, green, and black.  

 This pumpkin patch is my favorite along with the path to the house.  I added green icing to the tops of the pumpkins to get the leaves to stick.  Fun!

I  hope you had a wonderful and safe Halloween!