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Encouraging Heroes. You can be one too.

We baked gingerbread houses last week for a neighborhood party. I thought this would be an ideal time for a boy to have a baking lesson, so I snagged the first ten-year-old who walked by. The Mercenary was interested in the job so we got started before he could ask too many questions.

Overall it went very well, although I was surprised at how little he knew about where I keep things in the kitchen. Note to self: have more baking and cooking lessons soon.

We made a large batch of dough together, then wrapped it in plastic and set in the refrigerator to chill. The house smelled wonderful! I guess the raw dough left over tasted pretty good too, because I looked up from wiping the counter to see The Mercenary with his entire head in the bowl.

The gingerbread houses were for our neighborhood Gingerbread Challenge. It was really fun! Everyone brought some decorations to share, each family had a house to work on, and we all just went crazy with it. There were competitive categories like “Best Use of Inedible Ingredients” and “Best Use of Necco Wafers”, both won by my boys. (By the time Captain Earthquake showed up to participate his brothers were deeply involved so he grabbed an extra house on his own, hence the Necco wafers.)

Gingerbread house decorated with Necco wafers

Oh! Totally off topic…(how do ya like that segue???) My post is up over at GNMParents (now ForeverParenting), all about how I’m wily and manipulative with screen time.

Earnest Parenting: help for parents who want to build gingerbread houses.