SixSibs

While we were driving to Jefferson city we had the privilege of stopping at the Runge Nature Center to stretch our legs and look around. We stayed there for about 1 1/2 hours and were able to enjoy a special dragonfly program that they were holding that night.

Ride em’ Isaac! Git along little… Turtles?

Rachel enjoyed looking a a few of the 80 species of dragonflies that are in Missouri.

Paul and Isaac really enjoyed the puppet area!

This conservation agent is showing John and Rachel dragonfly larvae- she even let them pick some up!

We all had a very good time at the Runge, but all good things have to end some time so we all packed up and headed for our hotel so we could get a good nights rest before we went to our final stop: the Missouri State Capitol building!
(I’ll post some pictures of that soon!)
Adam

By Rachel M. Heironimus
Today I finished reading “Mustang, Wild Spirit of the West” Written by Marguerite Henry and Illustrated by Robert Loughweed. It was about a girl named Annie Bronn, and she really liked horses. But, when she was 18, men started killing the mustangs to be butchered and turned into pet food. So Annie is trying to stop them.
I liked this book very,very much and it was very good. I would award it 5 out of 5 stars.
I would highly recommend you buy it on Amazon.com or check it out at your local Library!

By Rachel M. Heironimus
Today I read “Along Came a Dog” written by Meindert Dejong and illustrated by Maurice Sendak. It was about a dog who protected a little red hen from various dangers. It was pretty good and I’d give it 3 out of 5 stars.

You can buy it on Amazon.com

By Rachel M. Heironimus
Today I finished reading “Misty of Chincoteague” written by Marguerite Henry and illustrated by Wesley Dennis. It was about two children named Paul and Maureen who want to buy a horse called “The Phantom” if it can be caught on pony penning day. Someone does succeed in catching it, but someone else buys it before Paul and Maureen!
I liked it very much and would award it 4 out of 5 stars
You can buy “Misty of Chincoteague” on Amazon.com

While we were touring the capitol building, the 5 youngest of the 6 sibs were able to have a little fun, getting “dressed up” in 1850′s style clothing!

A “period” picture (complete with sandals and tennis shoes!)

John made a great “Federal”

Luke just wanted to be a peaceful farmer.

It was Rachel though, who was really “in her element”

We all had a very good time at the capitol building and I think I’ll be able to scrape together one more post from the pictures I have left.
Until then,
Adam

By Rachel M. Heironimus
Today I Finished “B is for Betsy” written and illustrated by Carolyn Haywood
It was about a little girl named Betsy who went to school. At school they had a circus and they built farms and raised tadpoles. I liked it. I would give it 3 out of 5 stars

You can buy “B is for Betsy” on Amazon.com
(by the way most of these reviews are being posted about 4 or 5 months after they were written, so when Rachel says “Today I read…” it really means sometime in the near past she read the book she’s reviewing- she doesn’t quite read 3 or 4 150 page chapter books in one morning!)

Here are the last of our Columbia Pictures:
I hope you enjoy them!

A Hopi doll

A replica of an Inuit man in full hunting gear

As Isaac said, “you wouldn’t want to meet this guy in the dark!”

An “antenna-lope”

A Byzantine crucifix

A Byzantine statue of Mary and the baby Jesus

That pretty much exhausts my collection of interesting Columbia picture! Stay tuned for some pictures from Jefferson City!
Thanks,
Adam

By Rachel M. Heironimus
Today I read “The Last Little Cat” written by Meindert Dejong and illustrated by Jim McMullen. It was about a cat who ran away from the barn where it lived. I did not like it very much. I will only give it 2 out of 5 stars

If you really, really want to read it you can buy it at Amazon.com (just remember- I warned you!)

This is part 2 of 3 of our Columbia pictures (part 1 of our archaeology, art and anthropology pictures) I hope you enjoy seeing the pictures 1/4 as much as I enjoyed being there! (and taking them)

Plaster replica of a Roman statue from the early first millenium

An Egyptian statue of a seated scribe

I forgot the what, where and why on this one!

Lots of examples of Greek and Hellenistic art work and pottery

More Greek pottery

Even more Greek art!

I still have quite a few interesting pictures to show you, so stay tuned for part 3 of 3!

By Adam E. Heironimus
“The Screwtape Letters” by C.S. Lewis is a series of fictional letters sent to an inexperienced younger demon named Wormwood by his “Dear Uncle Screwtape”. In the letters Screwtape is instructing his young pupil how to keep his “patient” (a young christian) from staying on the straight and narrow path and instead tries to instruct Wormwood on ways of keeping his “patient” from church, christian fellowship and all other kinds of godly things, but Screwtape was always sure to tell Wormwood to never hurry his “patient” into anything evil, in fact he said “The safest road to Hell is the gradual one—the gentle slope, soft underfoot, without sudden turnings, without milestones, without signposts.”- That’s so true! It’s very easy to slowly, slowly slip backwards without knowing it- and the devil can wait an entire lifetime for us to complete our slide! We need to be constantly be setting “signposts” on our paths and getting other Christians to help us by gauging where we are in our spiritual lives. Another section of the book that I really liked was the part in which Screwtape was instructing his pupil on his “patient’s” involvement in the church, He said “Surely you know that if a man can’t be cured of churchgoing, the next best thing is to send him all over the neighbourhood looking for the church that ‘suits’ him until he becomes a taster or connoisseur of churches… The search for a ‘suitable’ church makes the man a critic where the Enemy wants him to be a pupil.”- It’s often much, much easier to find a church’s, person’s or family’s troubles than to find all of their many good qualities- and anyway, if you find a perfect church, don’t join because you’ll mess it up!
I was really encouraged by reading “The Screwtape Letters”, as it gave me somewhat of a better idea of how the devil often tries to tempt and trick us into sin. I would highly recommend “The Screwtape Letters” to anyone who would like to learn more about resisting temptation, and would give it 5 out of 5 stars.
“The Screwtape Letters” is available at Amazon.com and at many other physical and online bookstores worldwide.

By Rachel M. Heironimus
Today I finished “The House on Walenska Street” written by Charlotte Herman and illustrated by Susan Avashai. It was about three sisters named Leah,Esther and Rose. They lived with their mother, and their father had died so they lived in a one-room apartment. And one day soldiers came to their house. It was very good and I would give it 4 out of 5 stars.

It is available for purchase at Amazon.com

By Rachel M. Heironimus
Today I finished reading “Shadrach” written by Meindert Dejong and illustrated by Maurice Sendack. It was about a boy named Davie who got a black rabbit which he named Shadrach. But his rabbit got so skinny that it slipped through the bars of his cage. I did not like it very much. I would only give it 2 out of 5 stars.
Although I wouldn’t recommend purchasing it, if you really want a copy you can get it on Amazon.com

Like I said, I took a lot of pictures, so this is going to be the first third of the pictures that I took in Columbia

Woodcut by Fred Geary at the Ellis Library’s Art Museum

Another Fred Geary Woodcut (there were over 50 on special exhibit)

Steel plate used to print copies of George Caleb Bingham’s painting “Order No.11″ -the plate alone took over 3 years to complete!

A very nice worker at the Missouri State University archives showed us some interesting artifacts from the Civil War

A “cross-hatched” letter- the writing went both vertical and horizontal- this didn’t make for the easiest reading experience!

An 1864 Confederate $50 bill

The archives had a mind-boggling array of just about anything old that’s made of paper that you could possibly want- letters, wills, title deeds, books, newspapers and so much more! We only spent 30 inside and it almost felt like you could easily spend 30 years!
Adam

The six sibs recently had the privilege of taking a 2-day trip to Columbia and our State’s capitol: Jefferson City. We had a very good time and I took a lot of pictures (too many to fit in one post) so you’ll probably be seeing some pictures of us enjoying, learning and just having fun on our trip very soon!
Adam

An amazingly eloquent quote that we saw while on a trip to the Missouri State Capital:

As I mentioned in last night’s post, John and I were going to grill chicken for dinner, we did it and I figured I would share a few pictures of the process (Rachel was only able to take pictures of us putting the chicken on, so you’ll just have to use your imagination to make a mental picture of how delicious and wonderful it looked when we took it off!)
First I demonstrated the “proper technique” for putting chicken on the grill

Then John did all of the rest of the chicken breasts by himself!
(I had to have my tongue just right in order for it to work!)


The chicken tasted great and everyone (at least said they) enjoyed it!
Have a good week!
Adam

This Sunday John and I worked on blessing the family with sausages, John put all but one of the sausages on the grill and did everything else by himself (under the watchful eye of his older brother) I wasn’t grilling until I was almost 13, and here’s my younger brother who gets to start before he turns 8! Pretty soon I’ll be out of a job if I don’t watch out!
Brotherly advice:

Taking a sausage off:

To the plate!

Who said grilling can’t be fun!

Good bye for now, John and I need to grill some chicken for our dinner!

Last Saturday I sent my family off on a treasure hunt for a couple of hours so I could transform our kitchen into a “Diner” (my mom and dad knew what I was up to) I made French-fries, Hamburgers and Banana splits! Everyone enjoyed it, including me! It was a lot of work, since I kept the whole thing secret until I had everyone sit down to eat, so I had a somewhat limited time frame to work on making everything while they were away working on figuring out the treasure hunt. (I made the chocolate sauce,Ice cream, and whipped cream from scratch).
Mom enjoyed the food!

Waiting for burgers and working an activity sheet.

Banana Splits!

The master waiter in action!

Have a good day!

By Rachel M. Heironimus
Today I finished “Viking Adventure” written by Clyde Robert Bulla and illustrated by Douglas Gorsline. It was about a viking boy named Sigurd. His father taught him to swim and fight and do all the other things he needed to know. One day he went on a ship headed to Wineland, a land that only one person had ever seen before. It was very exciting and I liked it very much. I would give it 4 out of 5 stars.
It is available for purchase a Amazon.com

By Rachel M. Heironimus
Today I read “The Question of Yams” by Gloria Repp.
It is about a boy named Kuri whose father plants his yams without praying to the evil spirits.
It is a very good book and I liked it a lot. I would give it 4 out of 5 stars.
It is available for purchase a Amazon.com

By Rachel M. Heironimus
Today I read “The Secret Valley” written by Clyde Robert Bulla and illustrated by Grace Paull
It was about a family that went to California from Missouri to search for gold. They learn about a secret valley that can make them rich.
It is good. I would give it 3 out of 5 stars.

“The Secret Valley” is available at Amazon.com and at many other physical and online bookstores worldwide.

By Rachel M. Heironimus
Today I read “Riding the Pony Express” by Clyde Robert Bulla, and illustrated by Grace Paull.
It was about a boy named Dick Park, who’s father was a rider on the Pony Express. One night some bad Indians came and burned down their cabin and wounded Dick’s father so he had to take the mail.
It is a good reader and I liked it. I would give it 3 out of 5 stars.

“Riding the Pony Express” is available at Amazon.com and at many other physical and online bookstores worldwide.

As you all probably know, I (Adam) have written all of the SixSibs book reviews so far, but I am now pleased to announce that my dear sister Rachel will be joining the ranks of the elite squadron of book reviewers that we keep on staff here at SixSibs! She has been writing book reviews since February 25, so I’ll have a LOT of book reviews to publish!
So keep reading and enjoy some of the book reviews (and some of the books we’ve reviewed)!
Thanks,
Adam

Yesterday night, right after we had finished eating Luke told everyone to come out and see what the dogs had discovered: a 3 1/2 foot long black snake! I was able to distract it momentarily with a stick and grab it behind it’s head (I’ve always wanted to do that!) I carried it around for about 5 minutes and we then put it in an old 5 gallon bucket, where it stayed for about 15 minutes until it got bored, climbed out and climbed a nearby tree! (I didn’t know snakes could climb so well!)
The snake charmer:

Would you call these people “snake charmed”?

Bye,bye snake!

Have a good day and keep waiting for more eloquent, amazing and stupendous blog posts!

Yesterday afternoon we were all getting kind of bored so someone suggested that we make the entire alphabet with nothing but our bodies! Rachel, John and Isaac were the ones who did the actual letter forming and I (the camera guy) took their pictures and served as their “birds eye view”- telling them where to move and how to lay. It took us 40 minutes but we finally got it done!
P.S. If you weren’t able to figure it out, the 7 pictures are supposed to spell “SIXSIBS” (all of the letters we did were capitals)