Need new activities to keep kids occupied as outage hits 10th hour. They failed miserably @ "see who can be quiet the longest."

Entering 3rd hour of power outage. It's gone from: It's fun, like camping! To: We're freezing. This blows.

Seattle's first snow of the year

Seattle had its first snow of the year and really its first snow of the winter. It really didn't start sticking until late afternoon. I went to put Dylan down for a nap and would up sleeping myself for a bit. But what a nice way to spend part of a snowy Sunday: snuggled up with a warm toddler. When I put him down, the front yard had just a dusting. A half hour later, we had a couple inches of accumulation.

So we bundled up and got the kids out for some snow person-making and snowball tossing.

Jason did the heavy rolling and lifting of building the snow base.

Then he led off the snow ball tossing. Don't mess with Dad: he's got an arm like a cannon!

First snow person done (with baby carrots for a nose) and first family shot of 2012. Time for cocoa and soup.

Taste of New Orleans

After a taste of New Orleans earlier, I had a hankering for more. So I made shrimp and sausage jambalaya and my first ever hush puppies, courtesy of Patti La Belle cook book. They're passable. Jambalaya is off the hook.

Comfort food weather

Who requested the perfect-looking turkey, mushroom and spinach lasagna? It's ready.