Today was Genevieve’s first full day back at school. She was mega excited, especially after her two half-day taster sessions last week. She very nearly pulled my arm off as we approached the school gates. Bless! She’s going to be tired later though.
James had a fun start to the day while I was taking Genevieve to school. Stephen had set him up a Hot Wheels track to play with – he was a very happy little boy!
When I got home Stephen had to do some work calls so I tagged in with James. Today was Stephen’s first day back at work on a phased return. His team and company have been amazingly supportive throughout the whole COVID saga and Stephen is actually quite excited to be going back to work, albeit in a much reduced capacity to start with. We’ve both learned from last week (when he initially tried to go back to work) when he spectacularly crashed and burned on Wednesday afternoon, and thankfully his team are ensuring that he’s not pushing it too much. Slowly, slowly, catchy monkey.
At 10.30am, James and I dialled into a friend’s kid class based on the Michael Rosen book “We’re Going On A Bear Hunt”. James was very excited and enthusiastically acted out the story with his own copy of the book and Brown Bear in tow.
He and I then started a joint creation of a rainbow bear version of Brown Bear. James knew what he wanted but was in more of a direction mood than “do it yourself” mood, so I ended up doing most of the work. Not very productive for me in terms of getting my own work done.
After lunch I had to go and collect Genevieve so left Stephen in charge. Despite trying to take things slowly, he had been on calls all morning whilst trying to catch up with two months’ worth of work. Needless to say, upon my return home, he immediately needed to go and have a rest. Perfect timing for me needing to bathe Genevieve whilst also keep an eye on James. This is a daily structure we will not be repeating.
While Stephen slept, the rest of the afternoon was spent finishing Genevieve’s rainmaker and practising her skipping skills with a skipping rope for her Beaver challenges this week.
James and Genevieve had their daily chat time with Grandma Lindsey, and then Stephen thankfully woke up just in time for the Beaver Zoom call. This week the Beavers were making chocolate chip mug cakes. James wanted to join in so we needed all hands on deck!
Having clearly understood the importance of food hygiene, James did an excellent (and vocal) job of washing his hands before we started cooking.
The cakes involved a lot of steps. First there was lots of measuring. I’d estimate that a good 20% ended up on the floor or the table. Oh well.
Then there was mixing. Both children started with enthusiasm (spilling and splatting mixture as they went), but then quickly tired. Stephen’s still so weak/atrophied that he wasn’t much use mixing either, so muggins here had to mix both batches of cake.
While the cakes were cooking there was just enough time for spoon licking. Stephen and I both have fond childhood memories of licking spoons while baking. It’s probably terribly unhealthy, but the joy it brings surely outweighs any downsides. And the kids didn’t notice that, while they got the mostly-scraped wooden spoons, I was enjoying the heavily coated spatula. There have to be some perks to being a parent!
The cakes were a huge success and tasted amazing! I definitely didn’t tuck in to the leftovers once the kids had gone to bed. To be fair, the cakes were enormous – one lot of the mix would have been enough for us all (excluding Stephen who doesn’t do cakes). In fact, they were so big that I couldn’t even finish the leftovers.
After the excitement of Beavers, it was time for dinner, stories and then bed. While Stephen made sure the kids remained calm, I popped to Tesco to get some storage boxes and more reading books for Genevieve. This division of labour worked well as Stephen also cooked a delicious dinner of fish and chips with green beans.
Dinner was handed to me as I got in the door, and then Stephen and I collapsed on the sofa to watch TV. I was both knackered and thankful. Working and looking after a four-year-old, as well as juggling the school run along with Stephen’s work and naps was a real challenge today. You won’t be surprised to hear that I slept well.
The Smiths Family Blog 
Cakes without dried fruit? – no way
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