Jess in the City: January 2012

So, we finally bit the bullet and hired a professional photographer to take some pictures of our family this year. And I'm so happy we did! Whitney Hardie is a good friend of ours and worked magic with our 2 energetic (and very cranky that day!) boys. It could have been disasterous... I mean really horrible. But she managed to capture some great shots amidst the tears and tantrums. Wow, family pictures can be really stressful... who knew?!?

I was really worried we wouldn't get any shots without Gabriel red-eyed and red-faced and Noah chewing on his sleeve while making a funny face, so you can imagine how pleasantly surprised I was to see the end result! And our genius photographer had us finish off the shoot at the playground, a place that pretty much always makes them happy!

We decided to fly out to Oregon and spend Thanksgiving with Jon's family this year. It was a fun little adventure and a great way for me to get out of hosting :) We ended up taking the whole week because it just isn't worth flying all the way out there with 2 kids and that wicked time change only for a weekend. So, we made nice trip out of it and had a great time.

Nana and Grandpa were exceptional hosts as always and the kids made themselves right at home! They love all of the extra attention (and pretty much avoid us at all costs) from their grandparents and aunts and uncle. Baby Eliza is not so much a baby anymore and that was really fun to see the cousins interact with each other and get along so well (at least Noah and Eliza got along really well!) Gabriel soon realized that Eliza was taking attention away from him so playtime was closely monitored from then on!!! Noah was really sweet with Eliza and they became fast friends.

We filled our week with lots of INdoor activities, seeing as it rained pretty much everyday we were there! Not surprising, but I think I am slightly surprised everytime we visit Oregon as to how little we actually see the sun! Luckily, we have awesome relatives that found super fun indoor playspaces for the kids and we had a great time. We hit the Children's museum, did a little bowling, and we even went to an indoor water park! The rain stopped for one day -- just enough time for us to go help Nana and Grandpa cut down a Christmas tree and see the Zoo lights at the Oregon Zoo!

Noah was a little concerned about missing the few days of school before Thanksgiving (so obsessive!) so we talked to his teacher and she suggested making a travel journal of our trip as a homework project while we were gone. He's pretty much in love with his teacher and will do anything she says, so it didn't take much convincing that that was the awesomest thing to do ever! So, now we have a lovely travel log of our trip and some fun pics to boot...

Enjoy!