Gingerbread Party, 8.0

Yesterday was the 8th Christmas in a row that Brian and I (with significant help from Brian's mom) threw a gingerbread party. Here are some pictures from the past years that I posted last year. This year I was tempted to call it off on account of first trimester utter exhaustion, but I just couldn't quite give it up. It's such a cool tradition for us and for a lot of other families now. The first two or three years there were no kids at the party because no one had them. Yesterday I think there were 22 kids, all covered in candy and frosting. Here are the pictures from yesterday's bash. A lot of pictures.

Nick, Cal, and Clark decorate their gingerbread man and gingerbread robots.



Robot A gets his candy

Can we eat them now?!!

He lasted for maybe two minutes.



Kids dig in

The boys show Alex how to eat gingerrobots.

Christian and Luke do the whirlwind party tour, gingerbread in hand.

"No, Mom, that is NOT the design I had in mind."

Careful Katie works on the chimney.

I love the Twizzler hair ribbons!

Brought to us by Melissa, Chelsea, and Natalie!

Cal took advantage of limited parental supervision and ate more candy than
he should have. Fortunately Uncle A swooped in with some mac 'n cheese
amidst the M&Ms and Mike and Ike's.

Uncle John sets the scene for this year's masterpiece.

Christian and Luke share a brother hug.
I'm pretty partial to brother hugs.

Seasoned gingerbread party veterans confer.

This year Kendra and Charissa went for the big gingerbread man.
I see a house next year!



Maureen and Katie- new guests this year!

Lisa, Kyle, and Ella weren't quite able to salvage this...
but it will still taste good!

The Clarkes also had some structural difficulties, but a good first year of
 gingerbreading!

Philip and Susan's man with a marshmallow shirt

Aaron and Kierra created each other. So romantic.

Finley directs decoration and construction.

The Korin's annual house!

Since Jessica the Elf didn't show up, Alex filled in for our traditional
picture pose.

The Cupolos did it again! 4th year in a row

Jackson's first gingerbread party!  

Meanwhile, Aunt Julie is hard at work decorating BOTH
sides of their flag football players.

Somehow, expert holders Gammy and Aunt Kristi manage to keep theirs standing.

No hands!

Proud of their creation!

Jim and Vania build yet another masterpiece.

Flag football game referee

Line of scrimage

Second year of an amazing masterpiece- Julie and John

Goal posts

This year I decided to not make anything...
but after the dust settled I decided I'd try to use up some gingerbread pieces...hard to tell,
but it's a boathouse, dock, and fisherman being surrounded by giant shark fins in the water.