Project 365 2020 Week 37 – COVID 19 Lockdown Week 26

The kids are back to school and are loving seeing all their friends again and the summer holiday’s already seem like a distant memory.

I would say I have missed them being home, but in reality I have worked 40 hours this week and then ran around after them and their various after-school activities which has been exhausting. Thankfully next week is a much quieter affair.

News-wise, COVID19 has been dominating the news again, with more and more local lockdowns added to list. There has been a sharp rise in cases, which has mostly been blamed on young people enjoying a little more freedom. If I am honest, I have seen restaurants and pubs filled to the brim after offering the “eat out, to help out scheme” – what do people expect?

There is talk of either a curfew or another lockdown, but only time will tell.

Here is our week:

Sunday 6th September

Isaac went to a birthday party at Laser Quest and loved seeing his friends from his old school. I received a few snapchat photo’s from the fun and can’t believe how much like Callan, Isaac looks with his beard!!

I then headed Abbey’s house to drop Eliza and Sebby off before work. We attempted to fit Lilah’s new car seat in the car before I went, but with not much luck. Thankfully a visit to Halford’s sorted it out.

Monday 7th September

Inset day for Isaac, but Eliza and Sebby’s first day back, complete with staggered start and finish times for both of them.

It wasn’t the usual school run with new bags and lunchboxes. Instead, their lunch was in disposable bags and it was PE day for Eliza, so she got to go to school in her PE kit, as the changing rooms are not open. Eliza only realised that her trainers didn’t fit when she tried them on to go to school, so had to borrow Isaac’s for the day.

It was also my first day back at pre-school. Our routines haven’t changed much, just lots of hand-washing and we have to have our temperature taken before we enter the building. Pre-school were really late confirming my hours, so I had already agreed to work at Tesco, so literally went straight from pre-school to Tesco. Luckily Kian was at home to pick the kids up from school.

All the kids school-based after school clubs won’t be resuming this term, but Scouts / Cubs and Beavers are all back, albeit on a much reduced timetable. I totally failed to get a photo of Isaac back at Scouts, but he had a brilliant time making marshmallow towers (or eating all the marshmallows at least).

Tuesday 8th September

Isaac’s first day back and I had forgotten how bad traffic is at that time of the morning, but we made it to school and pre-school on time.

With the exception of new school shirts, the kids are all wearing last year’s uniform as it still fits and was barely worn. We did have to repair a small hole in Isaac’s blazer though.

Swimming is back to its old location now, so Sebby and Eliza hit the park whilst Isaac has his session. The timetable is much smaller now and we are only able to attend 2 sessions out of a potential 4, but he is enjoying being back in the pool.

Not sure for how much longer, as they come out still in their wet swimming gear and the evenings are getting cooler at a rapid rate.

Wednesday 9th September

We are still getting used to the 7am alarm, but our morning routine is back in place. I worked the morning at pre-school, had a brief break at home and then headed for a shift at Tesco once I had picked Isaac up from school. My husband surprised me by popping in to see me at work whilst Eliza was swimming, as we are not allowed to sit in and spectate.

It has been reported today that four of our local schools have been closed already due to Coronavirus outbreaks and they have only been back a matter of days. Luckily not ours……..yet!

My picture today is one that Abbey sent me of Lilah in her new carseat – I think she approves!

Thursday 10th September

Because of reduced numbers, my pre-school hours are only three mornings a week, so I booked some overtime at Tesco. My shift over-ran, but thankfully my husband was day off so he did the school runs.

Our neighbours have two new cats and they are both getting braver and starting to explore more and the kids are keen to befriend them. This one is Zelda.

Eliza was back at Cubs tonight and she really enjoyed it as they were making bread on campfires. Sadly, there are so many cubs in the pack, that she will only get to go once every 3 weeks.

Friday 11th September

Both the kids and I are exhausted after a week of early starts. Isaac forgot his lunchbox and Eliza got half way to school before realising she had left her reading record at home. The neighbours other cat, Max, decided to visit during school hours as the house is quieter!!

We had an exciting delivery –  the VAX Blade 4 Cordless Vacuum cleaner. We only just managed to put it together before I headed to work, but were shocked by how much it picked up out of our rug, having vacuumed it the day before.

It was Sebby’s turn to enjoy and evening out tonight and he went off to Beavers. He has some new badges coming from lockdown, so I am going to have some sewing to do!!

Saturday 12th September

Trainer shopping for Eliza and Sebastian who both announced this week that their old ones didn’t fit.

Sebby has gone up 2 sizes from a 10 to a 12 and Eliza one size, up to a 2!!

It has been so long since I have been shopping with the kids that I forgot how stressful it is. We managed Decathlon ok as they were distracted by choosing trainers, Tesco was ok as they were distracted doing scan and shop, but by the third shop to get tracksuit bottoms for PE, their tolerance level was nil and they ended up bickering / winding each other up the whole way round.

How has your week been?