Gingerbread houses.....fun.....and love Everywhere

Princess adding decorations to her roof, the only trouble was that the wall were not yet dry. Luckily I had filled the interior with big fat marshmallows so the roof wouldn't cave far

Since I hadn't planned for Asenath she and Andrei used one kit with house parts and the scrapes to put their houses together

Kyle was doing so well but ultimately this roof became flat because the frosting wasn't dry and hard. The sides bowed out so I put a ribbon around the walls (which were around the marshmallows and he went home with a flat roof (much heavier than the present scene. I was able to take the ribbon off after the frosting dried - so at least it all stayed together.

This is in the beginning stage of Andrei's creation and like the rest of the children, he did not want to wait for the frosting to dry. He went on to cover his entire roof with candy and stick lollipops through the side and top of the roof which caused a collapse onto the marshmallows and hardened into something resembling a house............if you are from the Philippines which have all kinds of patch jobs on their homes.

Though I told the kids there were some other things to play with they all wanted to finish their houses - or maybe my communication was really off

After the houses were completed (the candy was almost gone) they went on to the other toys

I gave the boys lego cars to assemble, here is Kyle beginning his

The children were all given toys to play with (supposedly while their gingerbread houses dried and harden) the boys were given lego cars and the girls were given pens, journal and Frozen dolls. I needed to finish the 'cinch' bags to sew in the the ribbon to cinch them up. Then we were going to do another project - Banana cake for Christy's birthday.

When I was two bags away from being done the parents called to say they were done. What?!! I hadn't even started the banana cake for Christy's birthday. I asked Jeffrey to go pick the parents up from the Annex while I finished sewing and the children wrapped up their mom's birthday gift.

Wrapping as a group used up a lot of strapping tape

With wrapping paper, tape, frosting splatters and candy wrappers and toys all over the room, Ernesto, Christy and Joycelyn walked in to greet the children. We gave Christy her birthday present. Kyle had mysteriously wrapped a second present. It took her a few tries to unwrap the present as it was covered with strapping tape.

Christy has to use scissors to open her present, a handbag

Kyle's gift was a fun prank of empty boxes, her new handbag is on her arm

Jeffrey took the kids to McDonalds because the last time we took the family for dinner the kids did not like a fancy meal. They loved McDonald's.  I found out in the course of talking with the family that Joycelyn's birthday was on December 26th. So on the way out the door, I picked up an envelope and my wallet.

There was a light drizzle as is pretty typical at this time of the year, but it wasn't a long walk. Interestingly Christy pulled out an umbrella from her purse.

McDonald's has what children want

I wrote Happy Birthday, put money in a yellow envelope and then stuck it under Joycelyn's tray.  The kids thought it was pretty funny and made motions of picking up their trays. Joycelyn didn't get it and we all talked until Kyle pulled up her tray and she found it. Lots of fun everywhere.
Half of the family took a cab to the train station and I got to take the boys and Christy to drop them off at the station.  I was very happy that the roads were lighter than normal but it is still scary when the big busses come barreling down the road and I had to get out to open the door on the passenger side because it is stuck (or maybe has a child safety switch).
Christy and I can't talk a lot to each other, but the heart speaks loudly. I love her so much and she expresses the same feelings.
It was one of those really great days.