Run! Run! As fast as you can! You can't catch me-CHOMP!

This Zany tall tale starts back in 2010!  I know, such a long time ago!  Actually it was only a few weeks ago, it's just something that's too good not to share.

The Zany family has started a tradition of making Gingerbread houses around Christmas time.  Last year Wacky Zacky and Zany Janie did a good job of sharing the Gingerbread house, but with them being a year older (3 1/2 and 4) and fighting like cats and dogs most of the time, we thought we'd be smart and get a Gingerbread Mini Village Kit so they could have their own house to decorate. 

The night before we were going to make the house I pulled out the directions to scan them, just to make sure it was similar to the one I've done in the past.  I put the directions back in the box and noticed a few minutes later Zany Janie carrying them around the house.  I asked her to put them back in the box for the next day.

The following day I started to get all the parts out of the box and wouldn't you know the directions were no where to be seen!  We searched the house and came up with nothing.  Zany Janie still promises she put them back in the box and it was someone else that lost them...Hmmm....

Papa Z decided to check the computer for directions, but unfortunately didn't find anything but a bunch of negative reviews on Wilton's Gingerbread Mini Village.  They basically complained that the houses were impossible to put together, the icing wouldn't hold the parts in place, and the houses were too tiny to work with.  Not the news I was hoping to hear as I looked at the 50+ pieces laying in front of me with no directions to guide me.  I did what any crazy mom would do to avoid having to go back out into the Christmas shopping madness to buy a new kit-I started putting the little pieces together like a puzzle.  All I can say is thank goodness my Dad is an engineer, I have somehow inherited a small portion of his analytical thinking and was easily able to put those little shacks together.

Once the houses were ready we each picked one and began the fun but serious business of decorating them. 

Wacky Zacky even decided to decorate himself!

Once they were finished we felt a sense of accomplishment.  Each one was special and unique in it's own way.

Papa Z, who is typically not so artsy, got into the spirit and really got crafty using green sprinkles as grass around his house-(For those of you who are puzzled, he grew up in California and has never had a white Christmas).

I don't want to toot my own horn, but I think I should have won the prize for the best house!

The whole family had so much fun decorating the houses and we proudly displayed our village on the table for all to see and adore. 

The following day there was a tragic mishap...Papa Z went upstairs to get something and when he returned five minutes later the gingerbread village was gone!  Avalanche?  No.  Tsunami?  No.  Kids?  No.  Big black dog with a full belly?  Ding Ding you are right!  Scoozoo had devoured our whole village in five minutes flat.  He had even licked the bases clean! 

I guess the old saying isn't true-Run!  Run!  As fast as you can!  You can't catch me I'm the Gingerbread man!