Today Genevieve and I managed to get up and out of the house on time, so we actually managed to walk to school with one of her friends. We literally walked right past her front door and they were coming out. It was so nice not to be stressed!
Stephen drove James to Grandma Margaret and Grandad Stephen’s house so that I didn’t have to when I got home from school. That meant I managed to finish some more training before I had my Zoom call with the students I run on a Thursday morning.
Grandma Margaret provided a record of James’s antics during the day.
James walked with my friend Anne in the morning and played Snakes and Ladders in the afternoon.
There was some cheating, but I’ve been told he’s be taught that by his sister.
We had jam sandwiches for lunch, and then played a game on the iPad.
Once my Zoom chat was done, it was time to head out as I had an antibody test booked. I know that they don’t know what having antibodies means yet, but I really want to know if I had it when Stephen was sick.
As you can’t get them on the NHS I went for a private appointment. The waiting room was deserted and I was seen very quickly. But the nurse who did the test is clearly not used to small veins. I’ve got a corker of a bruise coming up on my arm!
After the test I ventured to Marks and Spencer to do some food shopping and spend some loyalty vouchers we got via the credit card. It was my first trip since lockdown and I was so happy about being able to buy dirty fries (if you haven’t tried them then make sure you do – they are so good!), and their delicious gala pie (a real naughty treat of mine).
As there was no queue, I also wandered into the clothing shop next door to look for more school trousers for James. They have been a nightmare to get hold of and even more so now as they are on offer. Hopefully what I’ve got:
a. is the right colour
b. fits around James’s tiny waist
Then it was time to head home and have lunch, and to show Stephen the various treats I had bought for us to enjoy over the next few days. Yum!
No sooner had I’d finished lunch, it was time to head out and collect Genevieve again. Thankfully the heavy showers I’d been listening to whilst eating lunch paused just long enough for me to walk to school and get home without getting soaked. Lucky!
Genevieve and I had lots of bubble fun when she was in the bath. It was nice to enjoy the time and not be pressured by having to be somewhere to be or something else to do, and I’m pretty sure she loved every second too.
Once I’d collected James, both children opened their reward gifts for being well behaved/dry knickers. Genevieve managed two weeks with no accidents which was so good! I’m just relieved that the bribery seems to be working.
There was time for a swift wander up to see the friendly neighbourhood monkey before dinner. Now I understand that the monkey is a maverick, but he was having breakfast at 5.30pm!
Dinner this evening was salad with prawns and crab sticks (if you’re James), and salami and avocado (if you’re Genevieve). But the best bit was that I barely did any prep. I put the ingredients in bowls and gave them plates, chopping boards and (child-safe) knives, and they cut it all for themselves. Easy. I don’t know why I haven’t done it before!
Inspired by the kids’ dinner, Stephen had found an avocado head filter on his phone. This amused the children (and Stephen) greatly as they ate, but not as much as his next trick. He soon progressed on to swapping the children’s faces – this was far too much fun!
After dinner, we started getting the kids ready for bed but were rudely interrupted when Stephen noticed a giant, sky-spanning double rainbow. The mere mention of a rainbow had the kids glued to the window within seconds.
To be fair, it was a stunning rainbow!
With the excitement over, there was still just enough time for a bedtime story before we ushered the kids to bed.
No idea how the evening will pan out. It’s currently 7.50pm and I’ve got Genevieve crying on the bed next to me saying she is scared of imaginary snakes and James sat next to her saying he “needs to read this book right now”. Help. Send wine!
This is a quick update from Stephen later in the evening.
I ended up having to sit in Genevieve’s room for over an hour as she was in such hysterics about the imaginary snakes. It transpired that she thought they’d be coming out of the toilet. Apparently she’d watched a documentary at school and this was one of the “snake facts” they’d been told about. It’s amazing how such a small detail managed to freak her out so much!
With both children finally asleep I moved downstairs to eat dinner with Megan. But then I had my own drama – some charming person had decided to try cloning my Instagram account and then messaging all my friends. I manged to swiftly nip the issue in the bud, but not before I’d fielded multiple messages from concerned friends who thought I’d been hacked. Very much a modern day problem to deal with!
The whole thing was made slightly more bearable when I discovered what the cloned account had been messaging to my friends. It was a long, rambling message about God along with the offer of financial support ($50,000) if you signed up to some church related scheme (no doubt a con of some sort). It’s so far removed from anything I’d ever write to be entirely comical. Brilliant!
The Smiths Family Blog 
Where do i sign for the scheme!!!
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I’ll put you in touch Stephen – they were very keen for new members!
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