Roe Rambles: God at Work: Conquering the Slide, a Dance Recital, Noodle Catching, Strawberries, and the Beach June 14-21, 2015

Helen practiced her basketball skills and clapping in the living room on Sunday afternoon. She's growing even more fun to interact with together.

Later, Micah got a typing tutorial with Daddy while the other two slept. He practiced finding and typing the letters of his name.

It was nice they had the time together because Daddy headed out that day for his annual exam grading meeting in Las Vegas. However, it wasn't as bad to say good-bye this business trip, since we had just experienced a memorable family vacation with him.

And when Daddy's gone, Mommy does things like serving a dinner of just cheese, crackers, and our homemade guacamole (Daddy says it isn't a meal without meat... but Daddy isn't here... and Mommy was feeling lazy...).

After dinner, the boys agreed to clean up the living room (it took them nearly an hour) in order to earn a "dance party" (one can't dance on a floor littered with toys, naturally).

We rocked it out in costumes to our favorite VBS songs. We found this year's songs on Youtube. So when we attend the Vacation Bible School ("summer camp") later this month, we'll be able to sing along.

Daddy was definitely missed though, if nothing else than by Mommy who didn't have a great sleep that first night. Helen was up for a while at 2am. At 4:30am Micah came into Mommy's bedroom upset over a bad dream (brought on by watching "Frozen" perhaps?). Mommy took him back into his own room at 5am. Henry came into Mommy's room at 7:15am. He snuggled with her for a bit, then she fell back asleep and woke when her phone rang (Daddy calling from Vegas) at 8:25am. Henry was no longer there. Mommy found him down in the basement (Yikes!).

The afternoon was 77 degrees and rain. So Mommy let the boys play out in the rain before nap time.

This has been something they have been asking to do every time it rains for a while, so they were thrilled that the weather was warm enough to realize this dream.

They ran with their shovels for a while, though there were no dragonflies out to "catch." Then they brought out the bikes.

And the scooters.

Later, the boys played trains, inspired by our train ride last week on Huckleberry Railroad. Micah said his train was going to Alaska ("but not staying overnight, so you don't need a suitcase"). While Henry said his train was "the train with Daddy."

We hung outside in the evening as well (love this warmer weather and all the daylight!).

Helen was intrigued by the leaves from the lilac bush. She's definitely curious about the world around her. And starting to explore more - she is cruising along the furniture quite well now.

At bedtime that night, Mommy asked the boys if there was any ways that they saw God at work today. She didn't have any expectations, since she had never asked them this question before and wasn't sure if they would get it. Immediately, Micah responded, "He changed my attitude!" And Mommy was reminded of how he had been rather grumpy and bickering with Henry in the kitchen in the morning. She had banished him out of the kitchen and told him to go ask Jesus to change his attitude since we didn't want him to be with us if he was going to act like that. He was gone about 10 min (he laid down on the couch). And it was true that when he joined us again, he was no longer out of sorts. Mommy was impressed that he could so easily recall this - and credit God for being the one who softened his attitude!

On Tuesday, we headed out to the park in Milford for a fun activity with Mrs. Schonsheck, who runs a preschool and goes to our church.

We started with a song about shapes.

Cousins Calla and Albert also joined us for the activities.

"Who is holding a square?"

Then we made our own masterpieces with shapes.

After our craft activity, we headed over to the playground. At first, Henry did his own thing while the two older kids played together.

But soon Henry wanted to join them in going down the slide. He had never gone on such a big slide by himself before. Usually, he enjoys climbing up and down the steps, but never would go down the slide itself. But Calla coached him through it - and he did it! The smile on his face when he came down was incredible. Then they did it over and over again. Each time Henry was ready to go again, he made sure to look for Calla to do it with him.

Henry's little cheerleader, encouraging him as he came down.

As we were doing bedtime prayers and talking about the day that night, we talked about how Calla had been so encouraging to Henry. It provided a great opportunity to discuss the concept of encouraging one another - just as Calla had set the example for them that day. At the end of our little talk, Henry declared, "We need to tell Calla thank you!"

Later that day, while the two younger ones slept, Micah used play dough to create his own little putting green.

A hole in one!

And later that evening, we put up our masterpiece - a welcome home sign for Daddy.

Wednesday evening we watched Calla's recital dress rehearsal. The boys were already planning the day before how they would have their own version of a dance recital in our living room, after they would learn all about it by watching Calla. So they watched intently.

Even Helen's attention was captured, for a little while (also, it helped that Mommy brought Helen's snacks).

Calla on stage! (Last one on the right.)

After a while, Henry decided the view would be better on Uncle Andy's lap.

Mainly because it would put him closer to his little buddy, Baby Bennett.

We watched the whole recital run through! They started all over again and we stayed long enough just to see Calla's performance again. Afterward, we got some photos with Calla in the lobby.

The red kids!

So that night, after the boys got their jammies on, they put on their performance.

Perhaps a career in showbiz for these boys??

On Thursday our friend Nami came over and we did nagashisomen. Usually, we have done this with our noodle slide (made of PVC and rain gutters), but this time we employed the motorized noodle river (picture a lazy river that's not so lazy).

Micah helped put the somen noodles (like very thin spaghetti) into the water.

Special thanks to our friend Nami, who made the somen and helped us figure it all out.

And we're thankful for our friend Yumiko Matsuzaki, who gave us the nagashisomen machine when she moved back to Japan.

Then it was time try to catch the noodles with our chopsticks!

The boys did better than Mom expected. Even Henry was able to fill up his bowl using the special training chopsticks.

And they loved eating them!

Here's video evidence of their noodle catching. They loved it!

And here's evidence of how much they loved it... noodles were EVERYWHERE (after a while, it resembled a bit of a food fight, punctuated by lots of giggling).

Later that evening, Mommy and Micah planted our patio container garden, while Daddy and the other two went to the store. Mommy had expected Daddy to help out with filling all the big pots and carrying them up all the steps to the patio as he had done in previous years. However, hadn't happened and this was the window she had to get the plants potted (they really needed it!). So she decided to fill a few pots and see how it would go. This involved digging shovels full of dirt from the woods, loading the now-heavy pots into the wagon and pulling them up the hill to the front steps, where they then had to be carried up the steps one by one so the plants could be planted and arranged on the patio. It was tiring work. And the mosquitoes in the woods were wretched. But Micah was a real trooper. He used his small shovel to help Mommy dig the dirt around the tree roots as best he could. He helped plant and water the plants. And he was a big encourager, reminding Mom, "Do not fear for God is with you" (one of our memory verses) when she expressed concern about the mosquitoes. Though the work was laborious, the team actually got it all done - all the pots were filled. And, Mommy valued the sweet time together with her oldest child and seeing how God had used him to minister to her!

Our agricultural experiences continued on Friday as we went strawberry picking at Spicer's Orchard with Grandma and Poppa Moldy. Helen hung out in the stroller for a while, though she wasn't especially thrilled with that, especially when Mommy's picking took her farther down the row (and farther away from the stroller). Eventually, Mommy tried picking with Helen in the Bjorn carrier. It wasn't ideal, but we did get some strawberries. The boys had never been strawberry picking either but Henry had no problem picking (and EATING) nearly every strawberry he found (regardless of how ripe). Just picture Little Sal from "Blueberries for Sal." Mommy did feel relieved, at least, that she picked the right color shirt for Henry to wear that day!

At four years old, Micah was actually a somewhat productive member of the picking team. By the way, we never would have attempted this if not for the fact that Grandma and Poppa were both going with us; it was useful to have a 1:1 adult to child ratio (and it was nice that Poppa was the one who took Micah to the port-a-potty).

On the wagon ride back to the parking area after our picking (or eating, as Henry's red face reveals).

Finally, Helen fell asleep after all the fresh air.

When Mommy was a kid, Grandma always rewarded her strawberry picking crew with ice cream. So we kept that tradition alive!

And after ice cream, it was a short trip to the playground (useful for burning off the sugar high from the ice cream).

Henry loved the train.

Meanwhile, Micah loved the "pirate ship."

Later that day, when we were home in the afternoon, Henry developed an elaborate biography for his lamb "Komoko."

Apparently, she was born in Japan and enjoys eating Japanese food, like oatmeal.

Henry didn't want to repeat the whole biography for the video, but Mommy was able to capture some of it...

Continuing with our Japanese theme, Micah took a break from helping make dinner to practice his chopstick skills with kitchen utensils.

Sunday evening, we headed out to the beach at Island Lake State Recreation Park, where Mommy got her favorite photo of Daddy and his little girl.

Helen was intrigued by the sand.

The sand captured her attention for most of the duration of our trip to the beach, affording Mommy a long opportunity to capture the moments with her camera.

No one can say Baby #3 isn't getting any baby photos!

Meanwhile, the boys were busy with projects of their own. They discovered a mini pool and river, created by a previous beach-goer, and the boys set to work filling it up with water.