After nearly a year of remote learning (since March 2020), Anya returned to school this morning. While she went for a few hours once in December for a little team-building exercise, this is the first time they officially return to classes. Right now it's just one full day per week for middle schoolers, but they will ramp up to either multiple days or full-time, depending on how the pandemic continues to play out in our area. I am beyond thrilled for the kids and teachers - remote learning just isn't the same. Anya says she is indifferent to returning, as she likes to freedom to wear pajama bottoms and hang out at home between classes, but I think she'll get more out of in-person school than she realizes.
The school is doing an amazing job all-around in navigating everything. I know I mention it in almost every post in this blog, but we are so thankful to be at St. C.
stairs/wall are poured. Driveway going bye-bye
nearly finished garage.
Another thing happening today is that our driveway gets filled in with dirt. A few months ago we hired a contractor to finish our garage and fill in our driveway. We had the big garage door removed and replaced with a human door, then added a concrete retaining wall and stairs. The inside of the garage was leveled, insulated, and drywalled. And today they are finally putting in the dirt over what was the old (unusable) driveway. Once it's leveled out we can put down sod and gain nearly 1/3 of the yard for usable play space. We have plans to do a major landscaping overhaul for the entire yard but haven't figured out the timing yet. But the contractors are nearly done and then Chris and I take over with flooring, painting, etc., and turn the garage into a fitness room.
The final event of today is that Anya gets her new mattress delivered. That, in and of itself, isn't particularly interesting. But the reason she's getting a mattress *is* -- we are adding a puppy to the family. Anya had a loft bed that wasn't as great as she'd hoped, so we sold it and got a twin bed with a trundle. Her old mattress will be on the trundle pull-out bed where she can cuddle with the puppy at night. And also use it for sleepovers when this pandemic is over.
We weren't planning on having two dogs, but circumstances changed. Both of Anya's bearded dragons passed away suddenly with the same symptoms. There is a disease going around for bearded dragons that fits the symptoms. We aren't sure if that was the cause, if she was doing something wrong in her care, or if they are just delicate creatures. So she/we decided to stop having lizards as pets to prevent future heartbreak. And since Anya is an only child, loves animals, is somewhat isolated due to the pandemic, we decided to let her get another pet. And since we have Copper who makes everything difficult, a female puppy was the only workable option (other than a fish or turtle, which didn't interest her).
We found a puppy through an AKC breeder. Normally we are all about mixed breed rescues, but Copper kind of gave us a bum steer. I wanted to know the parents' temperaments, as well as ensure that the pup had a secure upbringing. This meant going with a breeder. Puppy was born December 27th and is the mellow one of the litter. She's a black lab, so mellow only means so much. We get to meet her this weekend (we met her via Zoom initially) and then bring her home when she's 8 weeks old. Anya gets to name her and we get veto power. Current names in the lead are Daphne, Juliet, and Juniper. I think Juniper is the current leader, as it lends itself to nicknames (Juni, June, Jujubean, etc). We can't wait to meet her.
puppy at 2 weeks
her parents
