July via Instagram

July was quite the month for us. At the beginning of the month, we received an email from our land lady that she was selling our house and we had 30 days to move. Quite the shock since we had a lease until March! So the first few weeks of July were spent preparing to move- finding a new place, filling out applications, packing...and then we got another message. She was going to try to get another investor to buy so that we could stay put. So, our moving plans were put on hold. Half of my house is still boxed up, but for now we're staying put until further notice! Aside from our moving preparations, we also had a lot of back to school prep to take care of...and the first day of school! Busy? That's an understatement!! Here's a brief look back at our July via Instagram.

Around mid-July, Disney Movie Rewards added some fabulous new rewards to the rewards store...including two princess dolls from the Animators Collection. Now, some of you may recall that Finley has quite the Disney Princess doll collection already, so when I saw Rapunzel and Belle for just 1200 points each...needless to say, I jumped on them!! She ADORES them...as does mommy! And who can say no to FREE dolls, right?

Before the whole maybe moving fiasco occured, we spent a nice weekend with my husband's family in Illinois for the 4th of July! Shaun found a pet frog...such a boy!!

Apparently, my dryer is a fun hang out! Finley thinks her brother is HILARIOUS! Silly kids!

Fin is always reaching for Daddy and Shaun's iPads, so when I saw this pretend 'princess tablet' on clearance at Target, I thought it'd be a great solution. She loves it, but still wants to get her hands on the real deal. Here she is trying to trade with Dad!

Shaun's fun outfit for back to school shopping! That's an Angry Birds helmet, Pokemon belt with Pokeball and Captain America socks...with sandals!!! I love him.

We found Frozen tissues at the Dollar Tree and Finley could not have been more thrilled! Forget spending money on expensive toys...that little box is all she needs!!

Have you checked out the clearance blast at Toys R Us? I managed to find a TON of super cheap Angry Birds and Star Wars toys for Shaun's birthday (Monday!), but he was pretty thrilled with the new case he found for his iPad...just $1.50!!!!!

Miss Finley loves her sippy cup (filled with water)...but she has no idea how to use it! She's never used a bottle at all, so this is a foreign concept! 

Christmas, already!? Yes, we discovered Christmas decor at the craft store...in JULY! It was pretty hard to convince my Christmas obsessed kiddo that he couldn't watch Christmas movies just yet after that!!

Shaun decided he wanted to try out a new hairstyle... a 'mohawk'!!!

Someone was pretty proud of herself for finding bubby's 3DS!! A future gamer on our hands? Hmmm...

To be honest, our garden has not been all that successful this year! I didn't think we were going to get anything at ALL from it...BUT thankfully, I was wrong! We have some wonderful cherry tomatoes...which Shaun is LOVING!

Shaun told me he wanted to draw a picture for God...so he did! It is a picture of him and our house. Here he is sharing his drawing with God. Could he be any more awesome!?



My little guy started the 1st Grade! Yes, in July....the schools in our area are on a modified schedule. They have longer breaks throughout the year, but a shorter summer. Despite his serious look, he was actually quite excited to be heading back!!

And finally, we ended our month with a little something Finley would rather forget- allergy testing! Her eczema had progressively gotten worse throughout the last month or so, leading us to think it may be a food sensitivity. Being at high risk for allergies (due to my own) and having already shown signs of sensitivities to a few foods, we decided it was a good idea to have it done. We should find out the results next week!

So, July has been a bit of a roller coaster, but for the most part, ended on a better note than it began. August has always been a big month for us- THREE birthdays- both kids and myself, a birthday PARTY, and this year, while my husband will not officially get out until the end of September, August will be his last month actually WORKING in the military before going on terminal leave...! It's an exciting, and in some ways scary time for our family, but I look forward to seeing what life has in store for us in the coming month. Wish us LUCK!