Marshmallows, Goldfish, and Tissue Paper...OH MY!

Jessica (who is in 4th grade) is currently studying the Medieval Era in school.  She had an assignment this past week to create a castle which was due today.  When I first heard of this project, naturally, my delusions of grandeur brought me to thoughts of an intricately built edifice strewn with "realistic" embellishments and detail.  My competitive nature started to kick in as thoughts of "Jessica's castle has to be the BEST" started to flow through my mind.

Fortunately, my wonderful husband, Jamie saved me from myself.  A few nights ago, he said he would take the lead on the castle project (something that was hard for me to let go of) since I was so swamped preparing for the upcoming boutique next week.  So he went to the store to get the supplies.  Well, instead of coming home with shopping bags from Michael's or JoAnn's or maybe even the Home Depot...he came home with grocery bags filled with....

Marshmallows and Toothpicks

Hmmm...not quite what I had in mind but hey...I was letting go of creative control this time so he and Jessica and Brandon (who had to help!) ran with it.

Now these were the big marshmallows (not the little ones) and after an hour or two of Jamie and the two kids piercing marshmallows with toothpicks (while trying to prevent Melissa from eating them) and arranging them in a castle-like shape, the project was finally done.  Well sort of.  As Jamie left for work the next morning, he said, "Do you think you can do something with that??" as he glanced over the undistinguishable mass of bulging sugar.  I just kind of mumbled, "I'll try."

For the next couple of days, I pleaded with Jessica to at least paint it but she refused...she was just fine with the way it was.  Was this *my* daughter???

To my relief, she came home yesterday saying that she had to put a moat around her castle...yes...finally, we could add a bit of color to it!  So we took some blue tissue paper and glued it around the castle for a moat.  

Brandon had the brilliant idea of adding Goldfish crackers in the moat for a bit of "realism". They finished it off by using one of Brandon's castle flags taken from one of his knight playsets and sticking it in the center.

She was so pleased at the outcome last night that she HAD to have her neighbor friend over just to see it. 

Jessica proudly entered her school this morning beaming at all of the "that's so cool!" comments she received from her friends.

I guess she really *is* my daughter.