Monday, December 22, 2008

Spongebob: We Have A Problem!

A few weeks go I bought what I thought would be a fun project to do with the kids--a twist on the traditional gingerbread house--it was Spongebob's Pineapple House!

The kids were all very excited to do the project, and since it was -7 degrees (that's NEGATIVE SEVEN!) this morning, I decided it would be a good day to hunker down inside and make a gingerbread pineapple.

Just a quick question--has anyone out out there ever actually had fun assembling a gingerbread house? Anyone? Because I'm pretty sure that I never had--and this was no exception.

First I made the frosting--which is always a wild goose chase of how much water to add or not add to get the proper consistency. The directions said five tablespoons--it was still in powder form. Then it says to add more water by quarter teaspoon...Ten million trips back and forth between mixer and sink, the frosting was ready.

Now onto the assembly of the pineapple. It seemed simple enough--you were supposed to stack the gingerbread discs (which were supposed to be numbered 1-10) in numerical order with frosting in between.

So, but, we had two each of one, two and seven and then a few random numbers. It made no sense at all!

Not to mention the very conspicuous absence of the cookie part that makes up the leafy portion of the pineapple.

So far, Spongebob' s house was an uneven topless blob.

As we figured out how to best stack the cookies to resemble the shape of a pineapple, it became obvious that this was going to be a tiny little house--not like the tall shapely pineapple pictured on the box:

See how the Spongebob in the picture looks relatively small compared to his house? In our scenario, the Spongebob decoration looked like a giant looming over his puny pineapple.

While I was figuring out how to make the house taller and how to fabricate some greenery for the top, Pickle decided to fill her Hello Kitty boots with a whole box worth of Kleenex...

Ultimately, the kids abandoned the project and I was alone in the kitchen making a gingerbread pineapple. I beefed up the frosting between the cookies to give the house a little more height and used pretzel sticks drizzled with green frosting for the pineapple leaves.

Ta da!!Gooser and Teddy eventually wandered back into the kitchen and added some candies, but this was basically a solo project.

The next time I think it's a good idea to make a gingerbread house...remind me not to!!

Photobucket

27 comments:

Anonymous said...

Really, -7.... Now figure out why i live in Rio Jennifer?

LOL

AV
http://netherregionoftheearthii.blogspot.com/
http://tomusarcanum.blogspot.com/

Ronda's Rants said...

OMG -7 degrees!!!
I can't even imagine...it is 50 degrees here and I am freezing!
Spongebob has an "interesting" house there!
You are a good Mommy...

Kristin said...

I hate false advertising. Write a nasty letter. -7 is bad. Want to come live in Florida with us? You can bring the pineapple.

Debbie said...

It turned out very cute, actually. I learned from many mistakes that the only way those houses are a success is to wait until the kids are much older, then let each child do their own. Mine have had fun like that. But, they really should not put a Martha Stewart done photo on the box. Very misleading.

Erin said...

LOL- I feel the same way about most of my kitchen crafts this season!!

Allison said...

Don't ya just hate when the projects turn out nothing like the picture! So dissapointing! Well, I'm off to Christmas vacation tomorrow, so I'll catch up on blogs when I return! Merry Christmas!

Jen said...

you did an awesome job. I am impressed. I was thinking about doing a gingerbread house with them kids but I think that I will wait about of years.

Becky said...

gingerbread houses always look fun, but I know better!


Honestly yours turned our way better than I was expecting with the way your story was leading.

Way to Go MOM!

Rebecca Jo said...

I've never seen that type of Gingerbread "house"... that's crazy how the numbers were all messed up. Did the box have the warning "Objects may appear smaller in person"

Pickles boots cracked me up too!!!

Farnnay said...

haha. ur kids are so mean. it looks nice.

how did it taste?!

Shannon said...

So much for "truth in advertising", huh?

I've never made a gingerbread house from scratch... have always used the pre-made kits. With the pre-made icing.

Anonymous said...

Its 19 degrees here now...with a windchill of 11....so we're tropical compared to you!!! :)

Well, the pineapple ended up turning out pretty good....but yeah, I've never ventured into gingerbreak house making territory....glad to know that I probably shouldn't either!

Aleta said...

Yeah... I've never tried a gingerbread house. I wouldn't be that brave. So, Kudos to you for doing so and after reading your blog, you remind me that it's a good idea not to try it. Lol. Wishing you and your family a Merry Christmas!

Anonymous said...

It's actually very cute. I buy the gingerbread houses from Costco, they are so easy and nice. Stay warm!

Jo-Jo said...

Thanks for talking me out of it before I tried it! I go by those things in Walmart all the time and think I should...not I know I shouldn't!

CaraBee said...

No gingerbread houses, or pineapples, for us. Heck, I'm afraid to make gingerbread cookies. What is it with kids and tissue? I made the mistake of leaving Sophie alone in the bathroom for about .7 seconds yesterday and came back to find her in a waist deep pile of toilet paper. Good times.

mrsmouthy said...

That's hilarious--and it actually looks pretty good. Hey, the next time you want to do kids' crafts sans kids, you should give me a call. We could get a babysitter, then cut out some snowflakes together...

Temple said...

It is beautiful!!! And looks pretty tasty too!

Susie said...

It looks great but it's too bad it had to be such a pain in the butt! Merry Christmas:-)

Jenni said...

well it came out cute. But yeah, those craft projects are NEVER as fun as we want them to be and we NEVER learn our lesson...

The boots cracked me up!

Anonymous said...

It looks really cute though!

Anonymous said...

We're making our first Gingerbread house this week and as I have no creative genes whatsoever (I don't think I passed any onto my girls either!), it's going to be a miracle if it doesn't end up looking like a crack house that's been hit by a tornado. Seriously.

Oh and I'll take your -7 and raise you to a -18! I am SO OVER WINTER! Oh and we now have three feet of snow on the ground. All of which were accumulated over 48 hours. Drat!

Anonymous said...

Just reading those comments on temps makes me shiver and think of a NZ winter. I escaped about 16 years ago, and now enjoy 100+ºF in the summer, although at the moment we are averaging 75-80ºF. Good beer drinking weather.

(AV checks his watch - nearly beer o'clock!)

AV
http://netherregionoftheearthii.blogspot.com/
http://tomusarcanum.blogspot.com/
http://thingsthatfizz.blogspot.com/

Ashley said...

That looks very difficult but you pulled it together well.

Merry Christmas and Feliz Navidad from Colombia!

Brooks said...

I think its beautiful!

Anonymous said...

I've tried gingerbread houses from a kit and they still aren't easy, AT ALL. They are a complete hoax. One wall is up, the other falls down, the kids get frustrated, you get frustrated....etc etc etc.

Jen said...

I think it turned out great for what you had to work with!
Hannah made our ginger bread house this year... it was great letting her do it, too! I didn't miss putting it together at all! ;)