Party Progress

What fun this week has been already! And lots of work. (Though I made one a few years ago for a friend, I forgot how much effort goes into making a gingerbread house from scratch!) Kardelen's party is my main focus this week, and I'm pretty happy with how well we're coming along.

Monday
My plan was to make gingerbread dough and bake the pieces, using the recipe from my favorite cookie cookbook. I started stirring together ingredients during the girls' naptime, and soon realized that I should have put "make grocery list for the week" on my to-do list before "make gingerbread dough," because I was short on two ingredients! My neighbor Julie came to the rescue when I needed vegetable oil, but we were both out of molasses. Her husband picked up jars of molasses for both of us on his way home, so that night after the girls went to bed, I finished making the dough and baked half of the pieces.

I also had a small flashback from four years ago when I made the other gingerbread house: wax paper is not a substitute for parchment paper. Unless you want to spend five minutes peeling it from the back of each cookie after it's baked. Parchment paper goes on the grocery list.

Monday evening we realized that Sofia had an eye infection, so we set up a doctor appointment for the morning. Poor little girl.

Tuesday
I woke up early and got two house pieces cut out baked by breakfast time. Then Bia saw the doctor with Daddy, while Kardelen and I volunteered at the preschool where I used to teach.

In the afternoon, I called all over town looking for pasteurized eggs, since the royal icing that holds the house together uses raw egg whites. I called every store. No one has them, but one store could get them by Friday. Hmm. . .time to think of another plan. Jacob found me this recipe to use instead. It's from The Joy of Cooking and calls for microwaving the egg-sugar mixture till it reaches a safe temperature. Super-husband!

Kardelen and Bia paint little trucks for the goody bag of a machine-lover who is coming to the party. (We bought the unfinished vehicles from Wal-Mart for 88 cents apiece.) They loved this activity! Kardelen kept painting and painting. We'll definitely do this again!

When the girls went to bed, I finished baking the gingerbread house pieces and added stained glass windows using a method in another recipe from the same cookbook.

Wednesday
I called the chocolate shop downtown and learned that they sell Necco wafers. (We'd been looking in stores for the past week, but couldn't find them. I really wanted to use them to "shingle" the roof of the gingerbread house.) Jacob will pick them up on the way to school today.

Kardelen and Sofia decorated the goody bags with the children's names and stickers, and stuffed them with a few small gifts. Each child's bag is a little different, but they include stickers, trucks, hair bows, and beaded bracelets. (We began making bracelets for the girls last week, and still have one to finish. I also need to find another gift for a little animal-lover.)

During the girls' naptime, I put together the frame of the house (except the roof). I'm thankful for the excellent instructions in Baggett's book--she really gives me every little detail I need to know to construct the house. Now I'm glad we have a guest room to hide the gingerbread house so Kardelen won't see it!

Since the construction went much more quickly than I'd expected, I started looking through pictures to make Kardelen's 3-year video. We started this tradition on her first birthday; Jacob and I worked together to make her a slideshow of pictures and videos from her first year set to music. (We use Windows Movie Maker--it's quite simple.) I'm not sure if we'll have time to finish it before the party, but I'm hoping to. Kardelen woke up while I was working on this, and loved looking at the pictures and videos of when she was younger.

After the girls were tucked in for the night, I put the roof on the gingerbread house.

Now it has to sit at least 8 hours before decorating--ach! I'm so excited to shingle the roof with Necco wafers, I wish I could start right now! Since I can't, I amuse myself laying out the wafers on the roof pattern piece to see if we have enough to cover the roof of the gingerbread house. Looks like Jacob will make another stop at the chocolate shop tomorrow! (Hmmm. . .maybe he'll buy me more almond bear claws like he did today! He spoils me.)

Also tonight, Jacob and I planned the goodies we'll serve at Kardelen's party. Jacob loves to cook, and he's excellent at it, so I can't wait to taste what he'll make!

Now I'm deciding whether to tackle the kitchen, or go to bed and save it for the morning. I've been doing so much mixing, baking, and other party prep these last few days that the dishes seem to be continually piled up. (I decided to go to bed.)

Tomorrow I'm hoping to begin house-cleaning and try to think through the party again to make sure there's nothing I'm forgetting. And decorate the gingerbread house!