Week 4. Busy at home
After the Easter weekend, we had a further week of Easter holidays for the girls. I wanted to try and get them doing something active and out of their rooms during the morning, and then in the afternoon I still needed to get my 4hrs billed work in. We managed to work out a reasonable system with Mark getting up early to run, then me running or doing yoga at about 7.30am to then be ready to get the girls awake and up by 8am. I would do something with them for the morning, then after lunch they would choose a film to watch together so I could get on, then by about 4pm Mark would clock off and make tea and be around.
We were limited to finding activities to do around the house, but our craft room is really coming into it's own. We plan to have another work table in there eventually - so we are still on the kitchen table - but it was so nice being able to get to all the craft supplies so easily and tidy away without fuss. One of the craft projects that Bunnykins asked to do was to make a rainbow for our front window. We decided to make one onto a cardboard template and use collage. Bunnykins had a great eye for lovely patterns, colours and textures from magazines and was very patient with all the cutting out. We then finished it off with lots of stickers including some gem ones to catch the light in the front window.
On the Wednesday we decided that we should sort through all the dressing up clothes. Even before kids - Mark and I had a supply of fancy dress. I'm no cosplayer - but I love a fancy dress party - that opportunity to take on a different persona is fascinating. We had amassed lots of dressing up with the girls. The process of going through it was fun and quite a trip down memory lane. Like Woo holding up this dress and we talked about when it was a full length "princess gown" on her. Whereas now it would be an above the knee summer dress. She remembered how special it felt dressing up in it and I could picture her swishing around just as cute as a button.
There were some bits of dressing up that had stayed in a drawer and really were odd vintage things I found charity shopping but didn't want to get rid of. Bunnykins in an 80s bubble dress and Woo in 70s disco dress:
Some older dresses and skirts were proper vintage. I think they had come from a Challis family clear out long ago. This dress fitted Bunnykins perfectly and she looked like she was straight out of an EM Forster novel - she even started moving and sitting like etiquette was her prime concern - very un-Bunnykins!
Woo loved it too, but it may already be a little on the small side - crazy to think that this would have been a grown woman's gown.
Even though Mark was working each day, we have lunch together and ideally outside. The girls like playing elastics. Though straight after lunch is not my ideal time.
Woo really is the champion leaper - even beating Mark on fair terms.
On Thursday, Woo and I spent some time working on her caravan. The jobs are really fiddly and she is becoming more and more confident at tackling them on her own.
Thursday evening is my lesson with Ben, always lovely to catch up with him, we chat a lot among the playing. I really miss the sound of us playing together. At 8pm we break off and head outside to clap on our respective front doorsteps. It is a regular "Thursday evening at 8pm" thing nationally. Clap for the NHS, and for all the frontline workers. I find too though that it is so lovely to be out there with all the neighbours banging pots and cheering. Across and all around the park you can hear people. That moment of connection feels really important and uplifting.
Mark had gone up into the loft to find our older stash of dressing up (from pre-kids days) including a bridesmaid's dress from when I was a teenager (modeled by Bunnykins)...
Saturday was pretty miserable weather wise. Mark had got stuck into tidying up the study. It was a dusty but fun job. It was cathartic to be able to get rid of all my old PhD notes. There were also plenty of treasures hidden under the bed including old pictures, photos and paintings and a memory box from our wedding including all the RSVPs, the seating plan, the cards - even my stockings from the day.
The bad weather and the sorting through dressing up had given Mark an idea - to suggest that we had a lord of the rings weekend. We had watched the first film the night before. But the afternoon was scheduled for "the Two Towers". Just for something to do - we were all going to dress up. My role was Galadriel. Not sure of what to wear, and inspired by all the clearing out - I got out my wedding dress and shoes.
Bunnykins was dressed as Eowyn (holding Big Rabbit as Strider)
Woo was well equipped to be Arwen - ears included.
In the end I didn't go with the wedding dress. I was delighted that it still fitted me well - but it was not the most comfortable item for a 3hr film watching extravaganza. I don't think that I look at all like Galadriel in my Bee Gees wig 😂 but I was happy enough to get into the spirit of it all. It's just finding different ways to mark the days...and some of those days may end up being a bit crackers 😜
Mark made us some lunch including lamnass bread...not everyone was a fan
But we all settled into the experience
Sunday brought better weather. We started off slowly - Bunnykins and I finished off a painful jigsaw that had been super fiddly!
Then I managed to get the dressing up from the loft hand washed and on the line. It was such a lovely day again; I enjoyed seeing the odd collection of items fluttering in the breeze - such a mismatched but fun collection.
In the afternoon I made a start on sketching out the mural on the garage wall. I have been planning this a while. I want lots of floral details. Mark and the girls requested all their favourite Moomin characters and I tried to work out how to fit them in to one coherent picture. It will be a fair amount of work to get it complete - but I look forward to doing more.
Sunday afternoon is when the Mummies get together. As usual - a good amount of time on technical difficulties - but still lovely to see and chat to them all.
So that was the end of the Easter holidays. Monday was the start of a new term and a need to settle into a new routine. It was a pretty crazy day trying to work out some of the various IT issues that came up with getting Bunnykins working on a new Google classroom based system (and also to deal with the fact that her laptop had given up and the scanner was also not connecting with my computer). The day felt crazy trying to get the cleaning done, support Bunnykins and just keep everything going. I feel so grateful for everything we have in our home including our beautiful garden - but I don't feel like things are calm - I feel far busier than I was before. I can let the girls get on with things and they would be fine. They are very independent. But I don't want Woo to end up sitting on her phone all day or for Bunnykins to entirely retreat to some imaginary world under her bed and not talk to anyone else apart from meal times. So I feel responsible for them and I want to spend time with them. But then I also need to keep the house going and I need to keep working. And I need to keep checking in with people that I care about and I need to keep exercising and looking after myself. Anyway - I can't complain - but I just want to record properly - that this isn't about me having lots of time on my hands - it is about me trying to make the most of my time - planning is the main thing.
Monday lunchtime was beautiful - a light breeze was up and Karen's blossom tree right by our table is starting to shed. The sky was filled with confetti.
Woo was wearing my old t-shirt that I had got when Mark and I went to the Ultimate (frisbee) World Championships way back when. (Mark was playing for the Irish national team). I cant recall what I swapped - but I got this t-shirt from one of the Russian team. Woo has been learning some Russian at school and of course has been our main advocate for our CCLL volunteering. So as soon as she saw it - she bagsied it.
Woo, was having an INSET day on Monday. But she was keen to carry on with her caravan. She made a little kitchen sink all on her own - I was super impressed.
Monday evening is when we have a catch up with John. He is growing an impressive beard. The girls showed off some of their craft stuff and we just had a general chat about all sorts.
Then I go into UkuleleLand practice. We've got quite a fun project coming up. Playing together online really is quite difficult, but we are trying to put an amalgamated video together. I am so looking forward to hearing us all playing together again.
Tuesday morning - start of a new day. I will be trying to run on Mon, Wed and Friday morning. And Tues and Thursday get some yoga in. I did my practice under the apple tree - that is a real privilege. With all the busy busy feeling that my head gets into I need to remember how lucky I am to have this space and this opportunity for beauty and calm.
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