GingerBread Houses with Brian

So, my cousin Brian or Uncle BJ at our house is now a trucker. He works 3-6 weeks straight so when he does get time off it is around a week off. His time is precious and this visit he made plans for specific activities. Not only did ne bring us some homemade Cheeseballs to eat. He also wanted to do an activity with the kids. So, be bought the makings for gingerbread houses. AND to make it even more fun, he individually made one with Gideon, Blake and Hanna. He set up shop in his room to make the gingerbread creations. So, when they were all done all the adults had to guess who made what. I must admit I didn't have much faith in Brians gingerbread making abilities...let alone his creativity (sorry Brian), BUT I was  very impressed with the results. Hannah made hers look like Grandma Smiths house, Blake made our house and Gideon made Grandpa Lainharts house. They were so personalized and constructed so well. The kids got to eat them for a treat on FHE. Brian also bought a real Gingerbread kit for janel to make. The other ones were made with Graham Crackers!

 Here is Blake's concoction of our house here in Idaho with the HUGE pine tree up front, driveway and big grass area.

 Here is Hannah's creation of Grandma Smith's house. The huge pine trees in the back yard. The big wood pile in the back and the straws along the corners of the house for gutters.

 Gideon's creation of Grandpa Lainhart's house. My favorite part is the horses in the pen on the right.

 3 proud little builders!

Here is Janel's Gingerbready house. It is cute, but not as creative as the kids since all since they were all premade pieces.

Also, on Brian's agenda was playing Hand Knee and Foot, Piarates dice and an adult night out to diner and bowling. All I had to do was find a babysitter. We ate at a local Mexican restaurant which was really good. Janel and I ordered Shirley Temples in memory of good ol Macayo's in Vegas. Janel kept trying to speak spanish to the waiter....which wasn't very good, but hey she tried. Bowling was a little but if a bummer because we could only play one round due to a special event that started at 9. It was Lainhart's Vs. Smiths. Kyle and I lost by 10 crappy points Brian picked up in phase 10. So we had to buy drinks......the drinks we didn't have time to order since we had to leave.....SO, we bought ice cream at Sundae's. We ordered this huge 9 scoop Sundae to share! Then we played some more hand Knee and Foot and The "Smith's" womped on us again. Oh, well...we may have lost all day, but at least I had a warm body to sleep with that night to lessen the blow! LOL

 The Victorious Smith Team!