Gingerbread house making and tree decorating. The boys did the tree themselves, and they did a shockingly good job. Miss the days when they were short, and all the ornaments would be grouped at the bottom of the tree.

We went to Great Wolf and lived to tell the tale. The key is to not think about what's in that water! Great Wolf survival guide here.

It was a tough assignment but someone had to do it: we went to check out the new Arena Sports facility in Issaquah, which has an inflatables zone and 100 games in the arcade.

Here's a link to my story on ParentMap.

Letters to Santa written and dropped off at Santa's official mailbox (in Ballard, at 80th and Earl).

It was 31 degrees at drop off this morning. Photo of the confused tree in front of McClure that thinks it's spring.

Gingerbread houses at the Sheraton are BACK! This year's theme is Buzz Lightyear. Smaller display than previous years' but we're just so happy this tradition returned after a 2-year hiatus.

Paul took one look and say, "Hey, they used glue." Yup, even the pros need a little help.

The Downtown Seattle Association hosted free ice skating with free skates this weekend in Occidental Square, even a free Uber ride to get there. Their goal was to lure people to the neighborhood, and hey, it worked on me. We hadn't been to that part of the city since 2019. The rink was tiny and made of plastic! But festive and fun, with carols, twinkly lights and faux snow. It is hard seeing all the empty storefronts, but little by little, the city is coming back.

We spend 95 percent of our time in the kitchen. Here's how it looks camera-ready vs. how it actually looks most nights (an explosion of homework, groceries, dinner, dirty dishes).

I talked to architectural photographers about how to photograph your home in the best light, and their number one tip was CLEAN IT UP. Here's a link to my story in The Seattle Times.

I was very intimidated photographing a National Geographic photographer, but he turned out to be so easy-going. And of course, his kids were natural models. The film, "The Arctic: Our Last Great Wilderness," just opened at the Pacific Science Center. We watched it on the IMAX screen and it is SO GOOD. Go! It's playing through mid-February. Here's a link to my story on Seattle's Child.

We went to see the new grizzly bear cubs at Woodland Park Zoo. They're both babies, less than a year old, and 200 and 150 pounds respectively! One was found wandering motherless in Alaska; the other cub's mother was euthanized because she got too close to humans in Montana.