Gotta Have Faith and Daniel: August 2013

Where did the summer go? I feel like it just started, but yet here we are...back to school, Halloween costumes at Target, thoughts of leaves and cider and football. I must confess, I absolutely love fall. It's my favorite season by far for many of the things I mentioned already. But before we can seal up the summer of 2013 we have one more big event - my sister Erica & soon to be brother Bobby's wedding! In just a few days we will celebrate their big day (which will include Faith's flower girl debut). But before we do I thought I would give you one last post about the Grove's summer of 2013. I'm sad to see it end, but we sure did have a lot of fun and fall is just around the corner!

We ended July by celebrating my nephew Connor's 2nd birthday - Elmo style! He's such a cutie pie and LOVES him some Elmo. Faith on the other hand literally tackled the giant Elmo balloon. This girl seriously might have a future as a football player. That same weekend we also got to celebrate my niece (and Connor's baby sister) Kira for her baptism. We started off August in style by doing some berry picking with Aunt Andi, Connor and Kira at our favorite local orchard (shout out to Butler's Orchard in Germantown). Faith had sleepovers at Grandma & Pop Pop Chaney's house (which included her first visit to Chuck E Cheese) and Grandma and Pappy Kehler's house for a few days. And then the whole Kehler clan spent the day at Knoebel's Amusement Park. What started off as a miserable rainy day turned into a perfect day of kiddie rides, roller coasters, ice cream and funnel cake. Faith was a fan of the carousel and anything that went fast. Connor loved the fire engines and the train especially!

The rest of August is a blur - because time flies and because we are so busy keeping up with Faith that the days are literally a blur. Here's the quick version. Faith got new shoes - again (man this girl's feet grow fast). We continued our weekly visits to Jimmie Cone & the pool. We hit up the Montgomery County Fair. Faith loved all of the animals, but especially the pigs! While we were there we had ice cream and more funnel cake. We took one last summer day trip to Greenbrier State Park to hang on the beach and swim in the lake. We saw a few Orioles games at Camden Yards where we ate yet more ice cream. Faith's favorite part of the game is clapping anytime everyone else is clapping. And of course she made several new friends at the games. And finally this week a milestone for the baby book: Faith's first day of day care. Sniff, sniff. She of course loved it and luckily Mommy was so busy packing for Aunt Erica's wedding that she didn't have time to think about how much she missed Faith. A couple of days of day care will keep all of us a little more sane this fall.

And finally, I'll leave you with tons of photos and a quick run down of Faith's favorites these days (in no particular order): climbing anything and everything, reading books ALL THE TIME, running wherever she goes, washing her hands as often as possible, flipping light switches on and off over and over and over again, being pushed around the backyard on her "new to us" tricycle, being outside as much as possible, anything to do with swimming or the water, closing doors and having us knock to come in, learning that when mommy and daddy are counting and get to 3 that is bad, and even starting to like cleaning up (sometimes). She likes cleaning up so much that I'll find toys and books in the most random places. My favorite so far was finding 2 books and a few bath toys in her hamper mixed with all of her dirty cloths. It's a good thing I noticed the books BEFORE I turned on the washing machine.

As you can tell, she keeps us on our toes - literally since we're always chasing her. We all (usually) sleep really well at night. I like to tell people she has enough personality for several kids, which is a great thing! We'd be lying if we said there aren't moments where we we think we're in over our heads, but at the end of the day one look at that smile and we know we have the privilege to be raising one amazing little girl.

Enjoy these last few days of summer. We can't wait to tell you all about the wedding and will be sure to post pictures soon!

Much Love,

The Groves