for Mr. Williams & MJ

There I was, something like six or seven months pregnant feeling pretty uncomfortable, somehow still nauseous but also always hungry, wearing questionably heavy clogs and an itchy sweater, and thinking I'd volunteered to help the elementary school's awesome lunch lady teach kids about healthy snacks.  Only when I arrived at the school, the gym teacher thought it would make more sense to have me tell a dozen rotations of classes about the school's YouTube dance channel and lead them in their favorite dances. I appreciate his confidence in me, but if we weren't in the early stages of a 12-year continuous stint at the school I might have snapped as uncomfortable pregnant women sometimes do. I ended up having fun despite my still-dreaming-of-eating-apple-slices-with Ms. Tichner-self, and was most of all extremely impressed by how every. single. teacher danced like there was no tomorrow with her equally exuberant class.

This performance by Gray from that same memorable week he hereby dedicates to his gym teacher, Mr. Williams, and in memory of the late Michael Jackson.

being kind

Grayson has been dipping his toe in producing this past year.  Here he films one of his favorite subjects, filthy from some unsupervised after school playtime at home, recounting a very memorable lesson taught in the first few days of kindergarten.
Preach, Jack!

my favorite photographer

Years ago Grayson was given a camera by his great-grandmother Lucy. (An appropriate gift if you know her!)  Ive probably posted about this before.  There have been months where it was lost or misplaced for a while, but in the long run this has been of his favorite things so far in life.  

Gray loves documenting the places, things, and especially PEOPLE in his life, but also doesn't hesitate to say, "Can you get a picture/video of me [doing whatever]?"  

Downloading the most recent photos for him tonight (the camera fills up from time to time) I'm seeing dozens of pictures of his siblings, his parents, his grandparents, his dog - with plenty of selfies sprinkled throughout - but also a shot here and there taken by a grown-up at his request. Tonight he asked me to film him making his sister laugh; earlier this month he wanted to make sure Dad took a picture of the bee sting on his neck. 

Actually, maybe he took this himself.

This was definitely by a grown-up though!

He loved documenting baby Jack, and seems to feel the same way about baby Violet. 

A new subject!

 Gray seems to have a real vision for Jack as a pirate.

If you can't get a pirate to smile...

Some of his earliest selfies - that baby face!

Selfies with cousins over the years:

This one is my favorite.

You know he loves you if he does this :)

Thank you for this special gift Grandmom! 

Things Boys Said On A Friday

It smells like field day.    ~ grayson

Tell me everything you know about the body. Start now.     ~ jack

mother's day & v's dedication

What a wonderful Mother's Day!

Daddy, Violet, Jack, and Grayson let Mama go back to bed this morning while they made her a delicious omelette filled with goat cheese and fresh spinach from our garden.  And kiwi from the grocery store.  Daddy worried that the omelette was burnt, but truly it was delicious.  The boys kept stealing bites.

Then we got ready for church, where we met lots of our family (Grandpa Mike and BB, Papa and Tia, Grammie and Poppie, Uncle Jim, and Summer and Milo, Oma and Nannie!) for a special service. We will get our family picture from that in a few days!

Falling asleep in mommy's lap just before the dedication.

 After church we all went to Tia's house for a beautiful lunch.  Lemonade and iced tea with fresh mint and lemon slices, croissants with homemade chicken salad, ham biscuits, deviled eggs, a tossed green salad and fruit salad, and for dessert a "Princess Cake"...

The tables were decorated with tiny flower pots of violets and everyone got to take one home.

This one was mine!

Wait a second. Can I take that pretty flower home, too? 

The grandmothers took turns holding a sleeping Violet. 

Check out Grammie's halo!

 Snazzy outfits on the little boys would eventually be stripped off for frolicking in the sandbox and climbing too high in the magnolia tree, but first we got a picture of Uncle Brandon with Milo, looking so handsome in matching shirts!

Uncle Jim was full of tricks! Mommy had to stop him from putting a real egg on Grayson's head.

Everyone else behaved well.

Violet had a very good nap!

One of the tree monkeys.

 Everyone looked so nice! I tried for a long time to get a picture of Uncle Jim and Aunt Summer, but someone made it extra difficult.  Here are the only two appropriate ones:

I had better luck with Daddy and Aunt Summer. 

Then Uncle Jim got the camera.

A little sun-speckled!

Mommy's wedding shoes!

 

We came home with intentions of taking a family nap. The boys decided that meant to bring their sleeping bags and books into our room and once in a while shout out things like, "Did you know centipedes are poisonous?!"

It was a glorious day!