Gingerbread... um... creations

Today was cookie decorating day. It was the easiest cookie day I've ever experienced, mainly because all I really did was take pictures and wash dishes. Yesterday, D. made the gingerbread men. He is finding it difficult to fill his time and has been extremely helpful in the baking department. Then, this morning, D. made all of the icing and TM added all the colors and together the filled the decorating bags. These two jobs, the coloring and the filling, are really not my favorite activities and I was thrilled to give them away to the boys. We had successful decorating. Everyone had fun, there were no disasters (at least during the process), and everyone helped clean up.

You can enjoy the photos while we engage in a package wrapping marathon here.

L. and K. playing a game I brought out of storage to occupy the masses while the icing was being made.

TM. and D. working on the frosting.

Ready for decorating.

G. ... waiting and waiting...

 

D.'s gingerbread Hulk

K.

P.

TM

L.

H. and L.

K.

TM

P.

TM's

G.'s

G.

L.'s

K,'s (He really liked the sprinkles... that would be a gingerbread policeman on the very left.)

He really liked the sprinkles.

H.'s

P.s (I must have forgot to turn the picture... aren't they cute?)

D.'s (Enjoy this picture... I'll tell you why at the end)

TM

Now, I mentioned the lack of disasters during the actual decorating. After lunch, TM and I went out to do a last minute bit of shopping that he needed to do. We had the cookies sitting on the kitchen counter and I made sure to tell people that they must not leave the kitchen unattended. I guess what I forgot to mention was that what I meant was do not leave the kitchen unattended even for a second. Gretel likes cookies. Gretel knows better than to try to steal cookies when anyone is around. Gretel can steal five cookies in literally seconds. Guess what happened? Yes, people left the kitchen for just a moment. Just a moment is all that Gretel needs to do her snitching. I'm really glad we had pictures of D.'s gingerbread cookies to document them. 

In other unrelated news, J. sent me an email this morning telling me that the weather in Urumqi (where Y. is) is currently 3 degrees. The weather in Guongzhou, where the consulate is is currently 64 degrees. Zhengzhou (where R. is) is somewhere in between. Yes, it's officially a packing nightmare, people.

And finally, I had another article published a few days ago. Click on it, share it, heck, you can even read it if you want. 3 Things to Consider When Adopting After Having Biological Children