our gingerbread house 2014

For the first time ever, we made a gingerbread house! It’s something I’ve always wanted to do, but it wasn’t a family tradition growing up and making one from scratch just seemed kind of intimidating. So… I bought a kit on sale (last year, actually), and we spent one evening a few days before Christmas building it together.

It might not look it, but Kaya was actually pretty excited!
_MG_5847 Michael saw us struggling a little with the basic structure, so he helped out with the foundation and let Kaya and I go crazy decorating the rest of it._MG_5849 Blurry… but cute anyway. I had so much fun spending some one-on-one time with my big girl._MG_5851 Our house is far from a masterpiece, but hey, I’d say it isn’t too bad for our first try!_MG_5871 _MG_5866 Kaya kept “knocking” on the front door and pretending to eat it (except one time I’m 95% sure she actually had those pink and purple gumdrops in her mouth…)!_MG_5867 Our kind neighbors also surprised us with a handmade gingerbread house! They obviously have a lot more experience with this- she said her grandmother has been making them for years, and they always give them to people they think would enjoy it most! We definitely liked having it on display this month._MG_5877 Next year, I think we might try to do one from scratch!_MG_5879