I genuinely can’t believe that half term is over already. Once again I find myself asking how teachers do it! The prospect of another 6 weeks of home schooling is pretty daunting, and we only have one child to try and educate rather than a whole class. We will hopefully find out tomorrow what the roadmap out of lockdown looks like and therefore how far away the light at the end of the tunnel is.
This week has been very much about E’s big birthday – when you are 6 apparently every birthday is a big one! And Grandpa has been bubbling with us so having an extra pair of hands has come in very handy. It certainly hasn’t been a holiday for him especially this afternoon when I set off the smoke alarm after flambéing our roast beef. He thought I was running a weekly fire drill before realising there was smoke everywhere!
I’m pressing on with the top 5 as I need to get some sleep and gird my loins for a busy week ahead:
1. Our number 1 must be E’s Birthday. She gave us a list of 10 things she wanted to do and we managed to get 9 squeezed in with the last one (painting) ticked off the following day when Grandpa arrived. We had more balloons than we knew what to do with, pancakes for breakfast, lots of cards and presents, a huge afternoon tea, a Zoom call with friends and family including a Disney quiz (which she won), a huge chocolate birthday cake, an afternoon movie with popcorn, and fish and chips for tea. She tells us she loved the whole day and preferred it to Disneyland Paris so I’m chalking that up as a win! My personal highlight was the fact we managed to play some party games even though it was just the 4 of us. We let the kids smash up the piñata, and also made sure E was able to rip off the last layer of the pass the parcel. But when it came to musical bumps and musical statues I was in my element. And I don’t care what you say, kids need to learn how to lose some time and shouldn’t get upset about it. Fair enough I maybe shouldn’t have celebrated right in their faces but it was a comprehensive victory for Daddy. You gotta love a party game!!! 
2. Even though there has been no school work we’ve tried really hard to keep the routines going and now that she’s a “big girl” this has included trying to get E ready by herself each morning. One day she appeared downstairs completed dressed and ready to go for the day whilst the rest of us were still in our pyjamas. I told her how impressed I was and she then made herself her own breakfast and drink and even when I tried to help she told me she could do it herself. Far too grown up for my liking so I told her that the way things were going it wouldn’t be long before she is moving out! She shook her head and explained she needed a <pointed at me> first. I asked what she meant and she said she needed to find a husband. I asked where she was planning on finding one of them and she told me in the Amazon rainforest. I think we need to stop describing M as a monkey!! 
3. After Sunday dinner we spent a bit of quality time around the table. As usual M was desperate to do a jigsaw so he brought through his favourite dinosaur one, wooden blocks with letters on one side and numbers on the other. The speed at which he put it together surprised me until I was told he had been doing it a hundred times each day with Grandpa! He put it together with the numbers and then deconstructed and reconstructed with the letters. On his third build I asked E if she knew why the numbers only went up to 26. She gave me a cracking answer to which I had no real reply: “Is it because that is the day after Christmas?” 
4. A weekend without rugby had the potential to be a bit dull but I shouldn’t have feared. My swimming club was hosting a fundraising night on Saturday which turned out to be a huge success and I was really pleased to be able to play a small part. I was one number away from winning the Bingo and enjoyed running the grand raffle draw. We raised some much needed funds for the club and had a lot of fun in the process. The highlight had to be the “guess the number of sweets in the jar” competition which I offered to enter the kids into. E decided there were 32 and was not for changing her mind. There were clearly hundreds in there so she eventually compromised to 432! M didn’t really understand so we ended up picking 369 just because of the sequence. Well lo and behold the right number was 367 so the kids woke up to the news that there was a huge jar heading their way… I’m just glad there’s no chocolate in there as I’ve given that up for lent!! 
5. The step challenge is really ramping up now as we hit the three quarter mark. The improvement in the weather and the temperature has been a key factor but the competitive spirit is really coming to the fore. I’ve been back out running again and boy have I needed it as Steph’s walking routes around the house have meant she has really increased her total. Grandpa has been a bit perplexed as to why we keep just walking around in circles. Even E has announced that she doesn’t like the walking challenge as she’s been dragged out on walks every single day! It is great motivation however and we are definitely moving around more than normal. I think it was a step too far going out for a 10k this morning to try and clear my hangover just so I could rack up 10,000 steps before breakfast. Never trying that again!! 
LawyerLow Diaries 