My tennis friend gave me the suggestion to make gingerbread houses with them.  It was a project that I'd never had the courage or even desire to really attempt, but she highly recommended it so I thought we'd give it a try.

The children divided themselves into two teams. Kassie and Kaden....

...and Kelsey and Karter.

Because this may be my first gingerbread house rodeo, but I do know that 4 siblings could not peaceably work on one single house together. 

While the boys did the more tedious construction work on the house, the girls decorated the trees...

...and gingerbread men.

They worked pretty diligently...and ate a few cheekfulls of Skittles along the way.

Kelsey may be young, but she is not to be shown up by anyone.

Anyone who knows their personalities could predict that Kaden and Kassie finished first and were not nearly as detail-oriented or meticulous as Karter and Kelsey.

Had I not helped and encouraged, their house would have had neither windows or a door.

But I was pleasantly surprised at how cute they turned out and relatively easy to do.  Edible?  Yes.  Would I want to eat them?  Uh...no...not after witnessing their construction and decoration.  We had fun and that was the whole point. A keeper idea for another year!n

Sleepover at the cabin always includes bath in Gramaw's copper tub.

Never too old for that!

Kaden opted for the regular tub...and had fun playing with my measuring cups.

The kids' favorite for breakfast...waffles.  And they gladly followed Gramaw's waffle rule (ask my adult children...I have a rule for nearly everything!):  Syrup in every hole, plus a little on the side. 

Making memories that I cherish and I hope the grandchildren will too.

Pre-Christmas sleepover.