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!