Day 1 here at Redwood City

Sergio, Kevin, Cailean and I had to make a choice as to which kit we were going to use.  Kevin and I chose the simple A frame.  Sergio and Cailean went for the more traditional four wall affair.  Cailean and Sergio's came with frosting, but Kevin and I had to make our own. Sergio's and Cailean's kits came with a tree, chimney, and two gingerbread people.  Kevin and I got sugar people/dog and a tree with ours.

In case, your gingerbread house needs more frosting - here is a link to the recipe, we used:  

http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/alton-brown/royal-icing-recipe/index.html

Onto the important part, decoration.  Here I think a picture is worth a thousand words.  Here is Cailean's first day's progress.  

Here is Sergio's first day's progress.

Here is my first day's "progress"

And putting us all to shame, here is Kevin's gingerbread house.

Challenge's Day 1:

1. Cailean and Sergio both struggled with their icing and some cracks that came with from holding the roof on.
2. I had icing everywhere - hair, clothes, fingers, but this seemed to a personal problem.
3. From the loss of materials due to shrinkage (Kevin!), we are going to need to get more materials and make more frosting.