I can't believe I'm really only seeing this now, after it's been in the laundry room for 3 weeks. It's so very beautiful. With our family's chemical sensitivities, & a four year-old who's every-other-sentence goes something like, "thank you! for letting sneek a piece of..." this thing has been the source of so very much agitation. And I feel like such a jerk now looking at how lovely it is.
I love gingerbread houses. I don't have chemical sensitivities!! I want to jump up & down, "It's not me! It's not me!" I sometimes just want us to be normal, to not be so strict about such things, to let everyone eat whatever they want. But it really is true - I almost died twice because of this stuff + the way these kids react to it. The standard white sugar. The food colorings, particularly. The wheat. The mystery man-made ingredients. All of it they can eat sometimes. All of it they have been de-allergized to, so technically, it's "okay." But all of it has the potential to be a big problem. Mainly we see the subtle changes in them from just a small amount - moodiness, worry, neediness, & just a lower energy all the way around. A big difference from our singing, dancing, cooking crew.
And D & I can't stand saying no to them. Can't stand it. Especially when they act obsessed.
I like to think we're flexible. True's (8) entire homeschooling curriculum revolves around candy-making, candy factories, candy sampling + written reviews, candy science. Okay. Now that I'm writing that, making I'm making them obsessed with it. But it's a real passion of his, & I think he's met his path, maybe. We have lots of candy-making to post, actually.
AND, a 3-week, 3-voice request to sample something made 100% out of ingredients we don't stock at our home brings out the worst in me as a parent. Next time I have to make sure it stays with their grandparents 2 hours away. Then they can sample it in bits when they're there. The laundry room was an out-of-site, out-of-mind attempt.
But now I'm really seeing the work that was done & I'm wanting to get us a beautiful glass display case. I'm loving the placement of every little gum drop, the little flower boxes under the window sills, the scalloped roof. Maybe we'll feed it to the birds tomorrow with our New Year's blessings, & I'll just go ahead & frame these pictures to be enjoyed for forever during the holidays. And next year we'll start from scratch with ingredients we do eat. I love them, I swear I have books on the subject, but just haven't gotten round to the scratch thing...
Look at these historically accurate ones from our friends at Homeschooling in the Kitchen. Now Susan is one patient mom. And hilarious. Love her.
Recent Comments