Gingerbread House Choo Choo Train!

I was so excited to help Jack make a gingerbread house this year! Last year Jack was interested in making the house for about a minute before deciding that he'd rather read books and I ended up making pretty much the whole thing all by myself... I didn't even take a picture! I was so hopeful that he'd have more interest this year, so I decided that I'd let him pick out the kit we'd use for the house all by himself. I took him to Target, found the aisle and shelf with the gingerbread houses, and showed them to him.

Me: Okay Jack, which gingerbread house would you like to make?
Jack: Ummm... the Choo Choo Train!!!
Me: What? That's not what I asked! Which gingerbread house do you want to make?
Jack: I want to make the Choo Choo Train!
Me: You can't make a choo choo train! What kind of choo choo train?!
Jack: I want to make a gingerbread choo choo train!
Me (finally noticing that there was a kit for a gingerbread choo choo train one shelf below the houses that I was looking at): Oooooooh that choo choo train!

It was perfect! A gingerbread choo choo train would be much more likely to hold Jack's interest than a gingerbread house! He adores trains! Score!!!

So I called my mom and asked if she'd like to participate in the gingerbread fun, and then we called Grammy and invited her over, too! We decided that my mom's house had much better space for decorating, so we all headed over there! And, it was a Tuesday, so Baby Luke got to participate as well- when he was awake, that is!

First, I helped Jack 'glue' the pieces together while grandma took pictures...

Then my back couldn't take it anymore and grandma helped Jack.



Once the train was assembled, Jack went to town with the candy! First he was more interested in pouring all the candy from one bowl into the other bowl and back again, but then we showed him how fun it was to put the candy on the train, and he got the hang of it quickly!


Luke woke up for some Grammy cuddles...


And then decided to sit in his throne to oversee the train-making


Jack put the finishing touches on the train



Once he decided that the train was perfect, he was ready to play with the real train... the train that runs under grandma and grandpa's Christmas Tree! He had so much fun with that train!



I was so glad that we were able to make the gingerbread train rather than just a gingerbread house, and it was so much fun to make!


Of course, most of the candy ended up in the caboose, but hey, if that's how Jack thought it should be, then that's fine with me!