It happened like always, the sun rose again today. Angus’s face is only centimetres from mine, I’m barely awake and not a morning person. “Come on mum, I want to show you the pretty sky.” It’s not the first time in his few short years he has said this, but this morning the relevance is not lost on me.

The kids are in no hurry for breakfast, they are happy in their pjs. I seize the opportunity to have two lazy coffees in my pjs. I pick up my phone to send a snap chat to Jodi, we’ve been best friends for forty or so years, she too has always been a safe place for me to fall of cliffs, yesterday was no exception and I want to check in to let her know I’m okay. In that very instant she has beaten me to snap chat and there is her smiling face distorted by a filter, she knows those things make me laugh. The kids are now ready for breakfast.

I’m getting Zara sorted with getting dressed when Clancy comes to show me his list of jobs for his “farm”, it’s all pictures so I encourage him to add words. Angus follow suit and makes a picture list too, he can’t be out done by the big brother after all. Zara is dressed and shoots outside, headed for the chook pen, there is comfort and happiness for her in her own routines.

I wander through the kitchen and notice the one leftover sausage from last night that I had forgotten when I fed Ebby. I grab it and open the back door. There she is waiting for breakfast, no surprise there, Labradors are always waiting for food. I sit scratching her ears whilst watching Zara. I have always found happiness in the company of dogs from a very young age.

I grab the garbage and walk it over to the shed, oh the joys of no kerb side collections. On the way back I head in Zara’s direction. My eye is caught by the tiniest detail hanging from a Kurrajong tree. A live caterpillar is hanging from a single strand of web. He is battling not only to get free but to escape from a red ant trying to eat him. The battle is amazing. I try to capture it on my camera but they are tiny and swinging in the breeze so my attempts are fruitless.

I decided earlier that today I’m not going to open the school packs, if I’m honest my care factor for them is less than ten percent today. I’ve trusted the school teachers and aides to date and have made some amazing friends because of it, I have no reason not to trust they are planning for all levels of progress, or no progress, when this is finished. This does not mean that I haven’t thought about things we can do today.

“Pizza is fun, educational, and yummy for lunch!” I declare to the kids. I know there won’t be any arguments with that, they love making pizza. So I ask “what’s the first step in making pizza?”. Angus jumps in with “put sauce on”, “no” I reply, “make dough” says Clancy, “nope, we wipe the bench” I answer handing Clancy a wet cloth. The boys are excited and are now arguing over who’s turn it is, I wish I could figure out how to get that response with tidying their room.

This is fun, we cover fractions with the measuring cups, teamwork, following instructions, and then I launch into my favourite bit, the science of yeast. I have done this before, so I quiz them. I explain that this dry yeast is like a bear, it’s hibernating and it wants to wake up. When it does it will be hungry for warm sugary drinks, it will eat so much it will get a belly ache, fart and make our dough rise. The kids are watching and giggling at our farting bear yeast, it’s a welcome sound. They finish the pizza production and I request Clancy to draw a diagram of who’s pizza is where on the tray so they don’t get mixed up. Full bellies and it’s time for a decent size break, and coffee.

Onto my next activity. I pull out some painters tape, cardboard tubes, ping pong balls, straws, and a box. I set about putting tape on the floor, it peaks interest and questions on what I’m doing. I ask them to guess, this is purely for my amusement. Clancy thinks I’m making a ninja track, Angus thinks we are painting after I tell him it’s painters tape, and Zara is inspecting the balls.

I tell them it’s a race track. You are not allowed to touch the ball, you have to blow it along with the straw, extra points if you can put the ball through the tubes. All is going great, we are laughing, then we discover the balls don’t fit in the tubes, never mind the game continues. It was such fun the boys want to do it again. I don’t know how educational it is and I don’t care to analyse it, it was fun and that’s what counts.

Angus heads off with Mal, there are sheep to move again today. Clancy tells me he’s bored. I ask him would he like to read his book to me. We have been reading the fabulously funny “Bad guys” by Aaron Blabey, he agrees so we sit and read and laugh together.

I’m calling today a resounding success. Not because we achieved things that resembled anything educational, but because we smiled, we laughed, and nobody had to hide under blankets.

May the sun shine for you tomorrow and may you find joy in simple things.

Larissa x

“Keep your face to the sun and you will never see the shadows.”

Helen Keller