Gingerbread Houses with the Beemans and the NEVERending Snowfall!

We have an annual tradition of making gingerbread houses with our next door neighbors, the Beemans. The kids look forward to this every year. It seems like this Christmas season was shorter this year, so making this happen was a bit tricky. We're sure glad we did though. Here are some highlights from the evening.

The candy collection - for several years we were working off of hoards of OLD candy, but had to replenish our supplies this year. They used most of this too.

A little assistance is sometimes necessary in the initial stages of getting a roof on. Leslie is helping Bernadette do just that. Overall, the parents were enjoying not having to help out too much this year. We mostly sat back and watched the creations unfold. Some were quite elaborate.

Samantha had big plans for creating a horse stable this year. Quite ingenius if you ask me.

Carly's in the process of creating a "Hawaiian Hut" on the ocean. She's creating the ocean below. She made it look like waves with white caps and all. Very creative girl!

Kenzie adding a water feature to her gingerbread residence.

Aaron's goal was to have the BIGGEST abode of anyone else. There's a story behind it too. Below, he's creating a candy "trough." There ended up being three of these "troughs." Hhmmm, seems to me, the kid just wants EXTRA candy to consume when his mom's not looking!

Brianna's theme was, "Simplicity Rules ALL Things Worthwhile." She's had a head cold and wasn't feeling all too thrilled. Frankly, she's thought she was TOO big for this for a few years now. We told her to suck it up, that she wouldn't be here next year when we do this and she just needs to humor us! Moving on - that thought's making me sad...

What to do when you have red chiclet gum - Oh wait! We can glue them to our noses! Samantha, Bernadette, Carly and Kenzie doing just that.

A better look at Aaron's finished beast of a house! (notice the three troughs of candy I was talking about!) Mitchell created a basketball court on his. Pretty tricky, if you ask me.

Posing to show off their final projects. From left, Aaron, Mitchell, Carly, Samantha, Kenzie, Brianna and Bernadette:

Amy with her BEAUTIFUL "FAMILY" fold-out album that Leslie made for her (I get to add photos to it). Leslie with her book and DVD from Amy.

After the kids exchanged gifts. Brianna got earrings, Mitchell got a travel Disney Scene-it game, Aaron with his nerf gun (yeah thanks alot for that one!), Carly with her bouncy ball creation kit (it really works!), Samantha with her iCarly game, Bernadette with her jewelry collection, and Kenzie with her groovy green journal (just what she wanted!)

It was a very fun evening. We ended up not having school the next day, Wednesday, or today. Snow and ice are still around. Yesterday afternoon, it began snowing again, adding to the 6 inches we already had. Really didn't stop all night. Paul woke up this morning and decided to take the kids skiing on opening day at Stevens Pass. Took a while to get all their gear gathered and dried from previous days' ourdoor playing. But they're gone now and I'm enjoying a blissful day alone. The power's on, I'm warm, I'm blogging, I'm listening to Christmas music, I'm watching the snow fall and I'm gonna go wrap Christmas gifts when I'm done here. Could a day be better? Here are a few more snow pics - I know I gave you many last time, but these are even more special - I love it when the trees are so caked with snow that the limbs hang low. From right behind our house:

Off to the right of the above view:

Out the front, looking up the driveway. Tracks are evidence of Paul and the kids' departure to ski! Life is good!