Field Trip to Gingerbread Land

Long time, no blog. These last couple of weeks have been NUTS. Take many Keeks and Brie shows, add one part class room mother, two parts Christmas shopping and decorating and a million basketball practices and what you get is one crazy over extended lady!

Our local arboretum hosts an annual gingerbread making contest and it's quite the hot spot to visit this time of year! Ms. C and her Daisy troop went last Thursday and they loved it. There are rules to enter. I don't know what they are but they vary by category - I think everything has to be edible. There are several categories: individual, family, special needs, school/troops etc etc. Ms. C's troop leader said they will enter one next year - can't wait to see that :)

We only had to remind the girls "no touching" about 267 times. I also figured out the secret of how to get a cute and normal looking picture of my C. Candid shots!! If she knows you're taking the photo - it's all over!!



Here is a great example of why you do not say "smile"

Check out some of our favorites - there sure are some creative people in NJ!! Here are some of the "individual" exhibits.

If C could have stuffed this one in her pocket and walked out undetected, she would have. This was her favorite and got her vote. She kept commenting how adorable the dog was that was drinking his mother's milk - wasn't touching that topic at the Daisy event with a 10 ft pole.

I liked this one a lot - here is the backside of the diner....




Here is the flip side with Santas serving up the reindeer! Very cute!




Here is what I suspect will be the winner - this entire thing is edible. There were noodles and cookie dough parts and hours upon hours of awesome crafty work! I honestly thought it was decoration and not an exhibit.

This is last year's winner with Cinderella's castle

Here are some Family Entries we liked

Candy Land!

as Froot Loop lovers - this one was appreciated

This one behind C (again I prompted her to say cheese) is a dog and dog house made entirely of doggie treatsWe like Santa climbing up the side on this one plus the dollhouse like furnishings complete with a ceiling fan

Last but not least some clever girl scout troop entries......

brownie vest complete with badges! This one sparked a great conversation that went something like "why doesn't my vest have any patches" and my response "because your mother with a sewing business has been too busy to sew any on but promises to do so soon"

this is a friendship garden done by a 6th grade troop

this one was my favorite! Done by a kindergarten daisy troop, each girl decorated their own gingerbread girl and they are roasting mini marshmallows on pretzel sticks!

Hope you enjoyed the tour :) xo, Brie