And the routine begins again...

It's that time again. The holidays are over. The endless winter breaks and laziness must come to an end. We're easing back into school with our workbooks and piano lessons, but will soon chart a new course in adding Science emphasis on Tuesdays, History emphasis on Thursdays, and Zoe will be starting her Life Skill courses in the afternoons. On top of these wonderful additions, I want to foster a love of and a discipline for reading. That being said, Zoe, Gideon and I now have a reading list of 60 books each. After each set of 10 books, we will get a reward. At the completion of our reading list, we get a much larger reward.

Here are our first ten books off of our reading lists:

 Tiffany’s Reading List

1.)    The Fellowship of the Ring (Lord of the Rings series) by J.R.R. Tolkien

2.)    The Silver Chair (Chronicles of Narnia series) by C.S. Lewis

3.)    7: An Experimental Mutiny Against Excess by Jen Hatmaker

4.)    The Two Towers (Lord of the Rings series) J.R.R. Tolkien

5.)    The Last Battle (Chronicles of Narnia series) by C.S. Lewis

6.)    The Return of the King (Lord of the Rings series) J.R.R. Tolkien

7.)    The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien

8.)    This Is How: Surviving What You Think You Can’t by Augusten Burroughs

9.)    In Defense of Food: An Eater’s Manifesto by Michael Pollan

10.) The Explicit Gospel by Matt Chandler

Earned Reward: Starbucks Coffee

Zoe’s Reading List

1.)    Ramona the Brave by Beverly Cleary

2.)    A Little Princess excerpt by Frances Hodgson Burnett (Stories for Girls)

3.)    Meet Josefina by Valerie Tripp

4.)    Josefina Learns a Lesson by Valerie Tripp

5.)    Josefina’s Surprise by Valerie Tripp

6.)    Happy Birthday, Josefina! By Valerie Tripp

7.)    Josefina Saves the Day by Valerie Tripp

8.)    Changes for Josefina by Valerie Tripp

9.)    The Caravan Siege by Alice Massie (Stories for Girls)

10.) Fancy Nancy at the Museum by Jane O’Connor

Reward Earned: Sonic Ice Cream

Gideon’s Reading List

1.)    The Adventure of the Speckled Band by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle

2.)    The Hand by Guy de Maupassant

3.)    Blood Upon the Altar from Lorna Doone by R.D. Blackmore

4.)    The Pursuit of Bill Sikes from Oliver Twist by Charles Dickens

5.)    The Saviors of the Train from The Railway Children by E. Nesbit

6.)    A Merry Evening with a Distant Relative from The Prisoner of Zenda by Anthony Hope

7.)    Escape from the Ape Men from The Lost World by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle

8.)    The Search for Water from Journey to the Center of the Earth by Jules Verne

9.)    A Visit to King Solomon’s Mines from King Solomon’s Mines by H. Rider Haggard

10.) Love of Life by Jack London

    Reward Earned: Sonic Ice Cream

The Secret Life of Bunnies

(All credit for the title of this post goes to the creative mind of my sister, Melanie)

Early in December we brought our bunnies, Smoky and Gothy, into the house and gave them a nice corner in the playroom with the idea that they would mate and produce baby bunnies. After one failed attempt, we were nervous. We researched and read that many times, the first time is almost a practice run. The second attempt would really be our indicator that Smoky and Gothy were a good match.

We waited anxiously, making sure they had plenty of food and water. The last week of December, we noticed Gothy scurring to "find" things, presumably for her nest. So, Rod made a nesting box for her and put her in a separate room to labor in peace. 30 days to the letter after conception, on December 31st Gothy gave birth to four baby bunnies.

Gothy has been doing a great job of mothering them and they are all strong and healthy at one week old.

For now, they are enjoying lots of sleep in their nest and occasional cuddle time with the kids.

We've learned so much in such a short amount of time about the "secret life of bunnies". Gothy stays away from her bunnies all day, as she would in the wild, and only goes to them at night to feed them and check on them. I'd say this life science experiment has been a success.