Goodness!  Every time I sit down to do this, I can’t believe another month has come and gone.  July was the busiest yet!  We took cousin Faith Ryder to Conner Prairie Settlement, an outdoor history museum reenacting the 1800’s (located here in Indianapolis).  The girls had a great time--they even danced with Lenape Native Americans.

We spent a little over a week with lots of extended family at Jawacdah farm in southern Indiana.  It is always enjoyable to get to know better so many relatives (people it would be otherwise hard to spend time with).   It is a blessing for us and for our children to make memories and relationships generation after generation, not to mention the great activities for the kids.  Emma had her first solo horsey ride (thanks to Uncle Peter Marrocco).  There was a 4^th of July parade and fabulous fireworks.  Ruthie took her first real steps at Jawacdah so that is an added memory!  Emma loved tromping through Salt Creek with lots of her cousins.  She caught tadpoles and crawdads and still talks about those adventures!  Great Uncle George (GUG) invited us over to his gardens (WOW!).  Emma called his back paths of wildflowers "the secret garden".  We enjoyed that visit a couple of times.  Thanks, GUG!

This month we went to the Marion County Fair.  It was just the right size.  Emma rode her first roller coaster and was very proud.  Ruthie took her first ride on a carousel, but wasn’t too sure about it.  Ruthie loved seeing the animals, though.

Finally this month we took a brief road trip to Sarnia, Ontario (Canada) to visit our dear friend, Fr. Iheanyi.  It was his last week as pastor of St. Michael’s parish there.  The parishioners had quite a tribute and sendoff for him.  We were so happy to be a part of that!  He was very loved there and will be missed.  He is now off to teach at the seminary in London, Ontario.  At Father’s last mass on Sunday, he called Emma up to the podium to sing a song (Fr. Iheanyi taught our family years ago) for the congregation.  She did a terrific job and we are so proud of her!  We took a video of it and you can watch it HERE.  Fr. took us on a tour of his new home.  The seminary is absolutely gorgeous.  Our last evening was spent with Father’s good friends the Kensley’s.  They are family with 4 teenage boys who were so welcoming and wonderful to our family.  We enjoyed our evening with them very much.  On our way home from Ontario, we stopped by Sittoo and Giddoo’s for a brief visit to Cleveland.  We always enjoy our time together.  Emma and Ruthie played and played with cousins Michael and Daniel. 

Emmaisms of July:  We were driving in the car to church one morning and Ruthie was nodding off.  I looked back and said, “Ruthie, don’t even think about it!”  A few minutes later Emma says, “Oh Mom!  She’s really thinking about it!” (She had fallen asleep)

Another time in the car Emma was playing mommy to Ruthie.  She said, “Ruthie, don’t throw that on the floor!  Ruthie, what did I say?  I said don’t throw that on the floor!”

Emma came shopping with me one day and we were picking up some undergarments for Daddy.  Emma took one look at the clothing rack (which is quite graphic I might add) and said, “Mom, this is yucky boy stuff.  Let’s get outta here!”

Emma couldn’t sleep one night so she came out of her room and said, “Mom, I’m just a little bit scared in my room tonight.  I’ve been thinking there is a little mouse in my room.  I’m just pretending, but I don’t really like mice, so I just came out of my room to chatter with you a bit.  Is that ok, Mom?  You told me that there are mice in Indiana, right?  But they live outside and they are probably sleeping right now?  Maybe you can come in my room and chatter with me for a little while so I’m not scared anymore.”

Ruthie made huge strides this month—LITERALLY!  She began walking everywhere.  She is climbing and climbing everything—stairs, suitcases, chairs, etc.  Needless to say we have the gates up and have to remember to keep them closed at all times!!  She is copying sounds and words.  She loves to drop things and say, “Uh oh!”  She gives a high 5.  She loves to give kisses—with her mouth wide open!  This month her top 4 teeth are coming in.  She has such a cute little toothy grin now.    She blows kisses (especially in the church to strangers behind us or to the priest).  Ruthie is very adventurous.  Having had a toddler already, it is so interesting to see the developmental differences in children.  Ruthie loves to take things apart and try to put them back together again.  She opens cabinets and literally climbs in to empty out things from the very back.   She is very good at sign language and picks new signs up very quickly.   She signs:  please, thank you, cheese, more, dog (and she makes a panting noise, too), horsey (along with the requisite "horsey" noise) thank you, water, food, bird, among others.   Steve has little names he calls the girls.  Sometimes he calls Ruthie 'Turkey in the Straw'.  He sings the children’s song, “Turkey in the straw, haw haw haw.”  Now when you sing the beginning of the song to Ruthie, “Turkey in the straw.”  She says the “Haw haw haw.”  It’s so cute! 

Well I told you this was a busy month.  You all have to understand that as much as I record these stories to retell them to you, I record them for our memories.  That is why I elaborate so much. I don’t take the time to journal, so I use this site to record important milestones and memories for our kids. 

See you next month!