Today James woke up pretty early – it was at some point just before 6am. Thankfully, now he has the Grow Clock in his room, he’s beginning to understand when it’s not morning yet and he went back to sleep. Hopefully this new understanding will last us a while and we won’t get woken up quite so early. But being awake that early this morning meant I could book our next Ocado slot. Hurrah!
After we’d all had breakfast, I drove the kids to Grandma Lindsey and Grandad Lawrie’s for a government approved socially distant picnic play date (which is quite a mouthful!). The kids ran into the garden and were so, so happy to see their grandparents in the flesh again. They did all sorts from the sounds of it, including learning to skateboard, making apple bird feeders as part of a Beaver badge challenge, and enjoying a special picnic lunch.
This section is co-edited by Grandad Lawrie.
The old ‘Hot Wheels’ car track stored in the loft became an instant hit with both Genevieve and James, with a friendly competition between them about how far their cars could travel before stopping.
This was followed by an equally enjoyable time trying to skateboard with early, but unsuccessful attempts to emulate Uncle Chris.
After all that exercise hot chocolate was ordered, although there were two disappointed faces when it was not accompanied by marshmallows!
When the post was delivered, Grandma Lindsey was really pleased to have been sent beautifully written letters from both Genevieve and James, together with a colourful heart made from Hama beads.
Lunch was followed by creative play with magnets and the making of apple bird feeders for a Beaver badge.
Once I got home from dropping off the kids, the jobs list was tackled in earnest. I managed to sort lots of the garage, and completely tidy the living and play rooms. It’s all so much better now, and I feel so much better for it. It’s amazing how cathartic a bit of tidying can be!
Stephen went to collect the children after lunch – they’d had such a lovely time. When they got back I did some schoolwork preparation with Genevieve. Her English task for the week is to make a non-fiction book so we looked up the two animals she has selected to research – a giraffe and a narwhal. James is very keen to make is own book, too.
At 2.30pm I had a work call so I put a Lego version of Shazam on the TV and left Stephen cuddling the kids on the sofa. I headed upstairs to the office which now actually has a door. It makes such a difference! It was good to clarify what will happen this week at work and to chat to a colleague.
Once work was done, and I’d made the mini-booklets for Genevieve and James to do their schoolwork tomorrow, it was time for Genevieve to join her virtual Beavers meeting. She had been wearing a dress up until this point but swapped it for her Beaver jumper… which was fine until the Beavers all started dancing. The problem was that the quick change meant that Genevieve was only wearing knickers on her lower half. Cue a frantic rush to get shorts on to protect her modesty! We’re living the Zoom dream.
Genevieve did two dance routines, chatted to her Beaver friends, and designed a machine that fed you snacks, food and drinks whenever you wanted so you could bypass your parents when you were hungry or wanted hot chocolate. Needless to say, she had a great time.
After Beavers it was time for dinner, and I managed a quick Peloton Yoga session while they ate. Mummy multitasking at its finest!
Before bedtime we took a quick trip up the road to see the friendly neighbourhood monkey. He’d built a bridge for his smaller animal friends – super cute!
Once the kids were in calmly in their rooms (and not getting out of bed every 30 seconds, the little darlings), we were able to have our dinner and chill out. It’s been a productive but tiring day.
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