thankful for my village

I've raised my daughter with my village from day one.  many of our friends do not have children of their own, and the way they have loved everly like she was theirs, literally melts my heart every time. I've worked full time since everly was four months old - a transition that was one of the greatest challenges of my life.  however, as time passes, I have clarity on a situation that seemed so unfair and gloomy at the time.  I wanted to be there for my daughter every second of every day.  and I couldn't be.  at first, my village was small, mostly my husband and myself.  and then my village grew, bit my bit, month by month, the pieces just fell into place.  everly's nona is a driving force in her life, and me being a working mom has developed this relationship in a way that is unique and special beyond words.  because her nona is more than a great-grandma, she's a part of everly's everyday village.

I'm thankful for those who are building everly into the person that she is going to become one day. I'm thankful that everly gets to live just blocks away from two very important family matriarchs. I'm thankful for every water balloon fight, fort building, tag playing game that our friends play with everly, because having only one kid in a giant group of adults is not always easy to manage. but these little games, the focus they give her to play and just be a kid, means the world to me.

this summer we took everly camping for the first time. these little moments reminded me of how lucky I am to have the support I do when it comes to raising my daughter.
salt point ca 2017 from Lyndsay Lewis on Vimeo.

wide open walls [sacramento]

today ends another stretch of Wide Open Walls here in Sacramento.  murals have been completed all around our city, and last night we took some time to see the finishing touches being placed on a few of the pieces.  even though it is still august, we are starting to feel hints of fall, cool breezes are making our mornings and evenings just perfect, and midtown was no exception last night.

one our our first stops was the tao center for healing

@caratoes was just finishing her piece

and the breeze going through her particular alley was perfection

taking advantage of the postings on the Wide Open Walls instagram account helped us navigate our walk.  we did run into an older group out on the same adventure, with their pre-printed maps of the mural locations - we all figured it out somehow! 

we chose to walk the midtown section and grabbed some dinner at the Iron Horse Tavern.  celebrating the end of our first full week of school was worth a night out as a family!  two IB meetings, one PTO meeting, one IB booster club meeting, back to school night for ev, one department meeting, and five days of teaching meant I was ready just to enjoy some art and good food!

ev found this heart leaf after dinner. 

after three bathroom stops on our way back to the car - everly and lemonade and walking do not mix, we decided to drive to the last mural we wanted to check out. 

our last stop was humani pilates by @hightech_lowlife

looking forward to finding the rest of these gems in the weeks to come.

first days of school, for two of us

this year everly started transitional kindergarten.   due to her november birthday, she cannot start kinder officially until next year, but TK is an option we have in our state for kids her age.  having everly in my school district is exciting because our calendars are now perfectly aligned.  however, that comes with some new challenges for this working teacher mom...my first day of teaching is her first day of school. and that means I have a lot to wrap my head around!photos from daddy - thankful for text updates during the day!

thankfully, we had our meet the teacher the day before school officially started, and this allowed me to get that first day experience.  this year, even though I had amazing teachers willing to take my classes on the first day so I could go to everly's school, I just didn't feel like I needed it.  this year, everly is at a school that she will only be at for the year of TK, so maybe I will feel different next year when she officially starts at her 'real' elementary school.  thankfully, when I got home from my first day, everly was still completely dressed [I think re-dressed] from her first day, backpack included.  this way, we were able to make her 'first day' of school sign, and grab some photos, since this had totally slipped my mind this year.  again, her starting pre-school in september made some of those little details easier to remember, but we fake it pretty well.

everly did amazing, and because she is used to her daddy being on school duty with her, she didn't bat an eye about anything.  in so many ways, she is exactly my daughter.  when it comes to going to school, she is much more the mr.  leaving us doesn't bother her.  she loves school, and even though she tells me every day there is a little girl in her class that is crying because she misses her mommy, she just states it very matter of factly.  she is really just excited that this year, every day I go to school, she gets to go to school too!  win win for everyone here. and of course, we celebrated our first days, her first, and my eleventh, with pinkberry.  we are both very serious about our pinkberry as you can see.

below are photos from her meet the teacher morning - and this 'in progress' mural at her school was pretty perfect.  later, we are checking out the Wide Open Walls project here in Sacramento - so I'm sure many more mural photos are in the future here!

 

here's to another amazing school year, for two of us!