We started out fairly motivated today-not for PE, that was a definite struggle. But the work was flying along. I saw this idea of using our little wooden Grapat pieces to do sweet shop maths, so thought we’d give it a go. It was a great success! Theo loved it, Micah gave it a good go, and we upped the maths level for Maddie. One activity fits all! Except for my oversight – I wasn’t aware that the purple pieces were actually Theo’s dragon eggs, and therefore he was extremely reluctant to allow them to be a part of the game. Once he’d had his go they were smuggled back into his Backpack of Important Special Objects and no doubt they will be never be seen again.

I invested in some pretty educational posters from an independent artist called Wonder and Rah. They are primarily to help me and Liam. Our brains are a bit tired with all this learning we’re doing.

Maddie and Theo had big news today. Lots of babies were being grown and delivered. Maddie was overheard explaining to Theo that ‘the babies will come out and then they’ll sew my belly back up.’ Clearly too posh to push.

It was a fairly uneventful Friday-not that there’s many big events to happen these days! I had some good catch ups with family and friends, including a FaceTime with mum where we couldn’t see her face. Micah was fed up this afternoon, so I offered him to talk to Grandma, at which he buried his face in his hands and said ‘not in the phone! At her house!’ Missing people is hard. Especially when you’re three and have absolutely no idea why we can’t go to Grandma’s house and why gymnastics is STILL closed. He had a bit of a meltdown in the afternoon, so he and Liam went for a walk and sent me a picture. I’m think it did them both good.

One of the things that is really brightening this whole isolation thing for me is seeing people from all walks of life using their talents and skills and sharing them with the world online. People all isolated but coming together as a worldwide community. The fact that we could have a whole day’s timetable of educational programmes from PE to maths with Carol Vorderman. Come to think of it, why haven’t we just sat them in front of the TV and flicked between these people?! Perhaps a plan for after the holidays…

Today I absolutely loved watching the entire Phantom of the Opera’s orchestral performance alongside Andrew Lloyd Webber playing the piano. All playing from their own homes, but so beautiful. I probably watched it five times. And nearly cried every time.

And then there was the sheer excitement when I heard Universal are playing a full length musical every Friday! We were there, the entire family ready for Joseph. The younger one’s musical theatre education about to start, which is really the only education they need, isn’t it?

There were a few issues with the on duty firefighter who insisted on standing right in front of the tv and blocking two of his sister’s views. He insisted he was ‘on a mission’, and could not be moved.

Maddie told me at bedtime that she wants to be three things when she grows up, a teacher, a horse rider, and an actor in a show. She’s going to ride horses on Saturdays, act in the shows on Sundays, and teach for the rest of the week. I wish I was so confident in what I’ll do when I grow up.

As challenging as these long days are, I’m finding we are settling into it somehow. And in a way I’m grateful for this cocooning time. Yes the kids miss normality and friends and activities, but they are (mostly) enjoying each other’s company in a way maybe we don’t get to see often. Now they have only each other for entertainment, they are (sometimes) appreciating each other more. For the more socially anxious ones, it’s a relief to be in their safe place without the exhaustion of school. For the older two girls, it feels like a special and unexpected chance to hang out with them in early teenage days, and they have no choice but to hang out with us! Don’t get me wrong, there are a high number of arguments and irritations. Tonight it’s mostly me, by 10 o clock I couldn’t bear being crowded or nagged any more. They’ve never had such an efficient good night. Which of course, was Toby’s prime opportunity to come out with some completely obscure scientific wondering. ‘If we can see water but not air, can fish only see air and not water?’ What?! Do they have a book of The Most Ridiculous Questions to Ask Your Parents at Bedtime, with a sequel of Even More Ridiculous Questions to Ask When Your Parents Look Really Tired and Are Trying to Get out of Your Bedroom as Quickly as Possible?

Today Liam and Toby finished the Morrison shelter project. Liam is keen on setting off an air raid siren in the middle of the night and getting him to sleep in it for the rest of the night. Personally I fear that may screw him up so much that Liam will have to sleep in his bedroom for the next five years to undo the damage, but I’m leaving that decision up to him. I’ll keep you posted on how that one pans out.

There were a few things playing on my mind today – how will the Easter holidays look without school work? The days already feel long, how will we fill those days? We have some little medical niggles cropping up with one of the kids and it’s a strange time to know what to do about those, isn’t it? No one wants to bother the already stretched health service. I’m fairly decisive when it comes to the obvious emergency situations, but the ones that are just not quite right are harder to triage in my mind in these days. So they niggle at me. But I read Psalm 16 this morning, and this little verse stuck with me all day –

I have set the LORD always before me; because he is at my right hand, I shall not be shaken. – Psalm 16:8

It’s short, but it calmed my soul. It doesn’t directly answer my questions, but it reminds me that God is with me. The One who knew me before I existed, who loved me enough to send His Son for me, is walking with me through the big things and the small things. I’ve experienced that in the good and the really hard, and so I hold onto it now. For the big things and the small things, because He is with me, I don’t need to be shaken.

But I do need to go to bed, so I’ll leave you there. Have a safe Saturday. Xx