Gingerbread House Gifts & Fun! (2015)

I haven't had a chance to post about all of the AWESOME things our elves on the shelf did for us.  I think the SAME thing happened last year and I just decided to eliminate those posts.  I hate it, but geez, with kids the blog back log just piles up!!!! I hope to document all of this year's encounters with the elves though.  One of the first major things our elves did was bake gingerbread houses and cookies AND leave the kids their very own gingerbread townhouse kits.  ONE PER KID!

Every morning, the kids ran throughout the house, looking for where the elves hid.

We couldn't BELIEVE IT, but this particular morning, there was evidence that our elves had a major BAKE off, the night before.

They made gingerbread men!

AND gingerbread houses.

It was a MERRY and BRIGHT morning.

By the way, the mini gingerbread houses and men came from the Dollar Tree.  #myfavoritestore. I wanted to save them, but Sadie eventually found them and ate them.  LOL!

I think Ariel was REALLLLLY proud of her gingerbread house. She had a death grip on it.

Jax and Lilah were STUNNED when they found the elves.

They were also really excited to see what the wrapped gifts were

The kids received their very own gingerbread kits. This is a Christmas tradition at the Bolling house, but usually mommy and daddy provide them.  This year, the elves provided them.

They also received a ton of fun, wilton decorative embellishments.

One day after school, I set up the kitchen island, making it REALLLLLY enticing and the kids wasted NO time getting to "work".  Jax's is below.

Then Liley's!

Then Tyson's.

These kits are incredible.  For $7.97, you received the house, a bag of frosting, a small bag of green fondant, and a ton of candy embellishments.  

In hopes that the kids would keep the frosting and candy out of their mouths, I bought them a special lollipop to enjoy during this tradition.

Look at those crazy goofballs.

They were really concentrating HARD!

My poor kids are so much like Darren and I that at one point, each of my kids were putting their work down and almost ready to call it quits.  It's really tough when you see one of your greatest and worst qualities come out in your kids! You see the struggle and you feel their pain.

These are the "completed" houses.  They spent a good 2 hours on them, but they really take time to fully complete. Eventually, one thing led to another, led to another, and December 25th was here.  SO...what you see is all they did.  Lilah's house included her initials L.B.

Jax's house had a big fat J!

I love all of their special creations.  Each of them had their own personal touches. 

Tyson's house was the most completed.   

I love his Christmas lights window and peppermint sidewalk.  

These traditions mean the world to me and I know when they are older they will mean MORE to kids than they do now.

Enjoy a small video clip of the elves with their gingerbread men and houses.