This morning I was taking no chances of the 10am ‘where is our routine’ meltdown, so I had the younger three doing Andy’s Wild Workout by 9am. Maddie and Theo loved it, Micah snubbed it, I think he felt that as a Joe Wicks pro, these childish exercises were beneath him.

I was upstairs dressing Micah when Theo appeared ready for the day. Although possibly a tad overdressed for the Easter heatwave today.

The fire service had a busy start to their shift, after a few fights over who was going to be the Mickey Mouse fireman, and I’d been instructed to repair several engines doors. They take their vehicle maintenance very seriously, these young men. If only toy fire engines were built to a higher standard so that the doors didn’t fall off every time.

This is what the meltdown of two teenagers in McDonald’s withdrawal looks like. In the absence of all fast food restaurants and the school canteen, I don’t think they’ve eaten such a high level of nutrition since they were toddlers. Clearly the lack of sugar and E numbers is taking it’s toll.

Liam and I decided after yesterday that we all needed to get out for a walk today, so we headed down the river and up the hill. We’re so lucky to be in walking distance of space like this, and we’re definitely learning not to take that for granted.

Micah played hide and seek. His stealth skills need work.

It did everyone good to get out – it’s not easy to do every day due to the numbers of us trying to walk down paths and streets whilst maintaining safe social distancing, but there definitely was a sigh of relief to being out in the open and feeling a taste of freedom.

Micah’s taken to having a daily afternoon nap lying on Megan whilst the others watch a film after lunch. I think the walk wore him out today though, because he wet himself as he slept. She may have decided that signifies the end of that particular sweet ritual. All the outfit changes following that little incident meant it seemed to the kids the ideal opportunity for a water fight. It took a good 20 minutes to work through who was having which pistol and the ‘his is better than mine, no actually I want the one I originally had…he made me wet!!!’ type arguments before they settled down and actually had a lot of fun for a while, giving me opportunity to bake a Simnel cake for Easter.

No matter how much they walk up hills or run wildly around the garden, all the exercise in the world doesn’t completely extract the crazy from these kids. Dinner time was very loud and chaotic, and this evening Maisie produced a homemade mask which she’d constructed from a bandana and hair bobbles (thank you life hacks), and sat wearing it for the entire evening. I spend a lot of time teetering on the border of finding them hilarious and rocking in the corner. I fell both sides of the line on many occasions today, but overall they really do make me laugh.

When we were walking this morning we saw bluebells and lambs and heard a woodpecker, and it was so good. It’s so strange how the outside world is changing through the seasons whilst we all stay at home. But strangely reassuring too, that although the world as we know it is completely different for now, there is a stability in the way God is still faithfully turning the earth, and moving us from season to season. It reminded me of the promise God made to Noah after the flood, when He said that He would never flood the world again, and that ‘While the earth remains, seedtime and harvest, cold and heat, summer and winter, day and night, shall not cease.’ – Genesis 8:22

I love that rainbows in windows have become a symbol of hope during these strange days – the sign of the covenant that God placed in the sky when He spoke those words to Noah are brightening our streets as a reminder that we’re not alone in this, and it’s not forever. After the dark of night morning comes, after the dead of winter Spring comes, after the terror of a storm the sun shines, and the chaos, the loneliness, the fear, and the pain of this season are not the end either.

20 Our soul waits for the LORD; he is our help and our shield.
21 For our heart is glad in him, because we trust in his holy name.
22 Let your steadfast love, O LORD, be upon us, even as we hope in you. – Psalm 33:20-22