Here’s a funny story. Earlier this week, Megan bounded downstairs enthusiastically, asking if she could buy something online as a surprise for her younger siblings. As she assured me it was only £3.95 I said yes, and promised not to ask any questions.

Last night she brought down this tin. She had ordered 100 miniature bee stickers (except they sent 106 Mum!), which she had numbered, and had planned out a treasure hunt for 99 of them. Before bedtime yesterday, Maisie and Toby ran around excitedly, sticking them all over the house, the most organised swarm there has ever been. They insisted I wake them when the little ones got up, a request absolutely unheard of, but such was their level of dedication to the cause.

So I dutifully sent the little ones up at 7 (much too scared to brave them myself!), and listened to them excitedly running around looking for bees and presenting them to Megan.

It was a very cute and creative plan and I loved watching Megan organise it all, and the younger one’s excitement at the game.

It got a little tricky when the last two couldn’t be found, some small children not able to cope with the idea of the poor little lost bees, but there was a sneaky replacing two of them to be found again and with that trick we found closure. There was also a little meltdown when one bee had to be removed from it’s position and this apparently was not ok. This resulted in a quiet time of a child hiding under a blanket in the corner of the kitchen whilst I sat on the stool calmly reading a parenting handbook giving advice on what to do when your child won’t come out from their blanket, whilst offering assurances that I was there when they were ready to emerge. Which they did, when I mentioned breakfast.

Undeterred by yesterday’s painting larks, I brought out another colour mixing activity. I was pleasantly surprised with the controlled mess levels on this one.

So we happily created three balloon pictures and then, once they were sucked in by the messy play, I sneakily switched us into other schoolwork.

Every time I do a google search for inspiration and print off worksheets someone else has produced, I am more in awe of both those who come up with the ideas, and those, like my mum, who taught and home schooled way before it was so easy to be the grateful recipient of other people’s efforts. Duplo number sheets were definitely a hit with the boys.

Liam went out today, so there was a general sense of unrest amongst the small people. They opted to empty boxes of toys all over the living room, unzip the bottom of the boxes and wear them as ‘box trolls’, until they got outside, abandoned the boxes, and ran around the garden for approximately 2 minutes before someone hurt someone with something for some reason, and they returned to tell on them. When I tell them not to tell tales, they whine indignantly, ‘it’s NOT a tale! It’s TRUE!!!’

So we tried magic painting books, which they boys committed to for somewhere around three strokes on two pages before complaining about the fact that Maddie was playing with all of the bees. Obviously she wasn’t actually playing with all 106 bees. But it still wasn’t fair.

So I took the road of shameless bribery, and promised pizza in front of the tv, which we’d literally never done until Maisie’s birthday in May, and they’ve begged to do it again ever since. With the holy grail of dinners to look forward to, we managed to make it through the afternoon without total disaster.

Today the Welsh First Minister gave our update on Coronavirus, and I felt sad again. Shops are opening, schools are opening. But I still can’t see my family or hug my friends or worship with my church. And that still hurts. And I sat with that sadness for a little while. And then I reminded myself of all I have to be grateful for. We’re closer to those things than we were at the last review, and we will get there, one step at a time, building resilience and patience and faith along the way.

When I began blogging daily at the beginning of our lockdown, I never imagined still being here 95 days later. I never imagined the kindness of all of you who’ve been reading when you can, and those of you who’ve sent encouraging messages – it’s definitely helped me feel less like I’m talking to an empty room, less like I’m alone in isolation.

We know now that lockdown isn’t just going to end. There’s no magic wand to get life back to normal, but we’re taking safe baby steps on our way.

With that in mind, I’ve decided that I will stop writing daily on day 100 of lockdown, which is next Wednesday. It feels a nice round number to my organised little brain, and as we prepare to help our children with a gentle transition back to school the following week, we take another step towards the ‘new normal’ we’re being told about. As much as it has helped me to process these days, life inevitably will shift again, – and there’s only so many pictures of our latest bakes or stories of my emotional wobbles that anyone except my parents would want to read!

It feels strange to be looking at some aspects of life re-beginning, feeling so near yet so far away from normality. Shops are reopening, but we don’t know when furlough will end for Liam. Yes, so near, yet so far. But the purpose remains the same. To try and keep each other safe. To love my neighbour as myself. To honour those who’ve sacrificed so much in these weeks.

In the book of 1 Samuel, after God has defeated the Israelites enemies, Samuel places a stone of remembrance. The ‘Ebenezer’, the stone of help, because he said, ‘Till now has the Lord helped us’.

He has helped me this far, He will help tomorrow, and tomorrow, and tomorrow.

Or as the hymn says it,

‘Come, Thou Fount of every blessing
Tune my heart to sing Thy grace
Streams of mercy, never ceasing
Call for songs of loudest praise
Teach me some melodious sonnet
Sung by flaming tongues above
Praise the mount, I’m fixed upon it
Mount of Thy redeeming love

Here I raise my Ebenezer
Here there by Thy great help I’ve come
And I hope, by Thy good pleasure
Safely to arrive at home
Jesus sought me when a stranger
Wandering from the fold of God
He, to rescue me from danger
Interposed His precious blood.’ (Come Thou Fount, Robinson/Rice)

(Duplo sheets free download from Life Over C’s website).