Hallas Palace Blog

Crafts around the House

hallaspalace — Mon, 23 Jan 2012 15:46:11 +0000

It has been awesome, since moving to Louisville, to be able to work on crafts again. Here are a few of the projects I have finished.

I made these curtains in MN but put them up as a wall decoration this time around.

This was my attempt at a scheduling visual for the Kids. I can honestly say I have not *actually* used it yet but would love to start using it.

Cute Valentines inspired skirt for Apphia.

Winter hats and gloves, took all of 20 minutes. Super easy and the kids thought they were awesome.

Our mini blinds broke so I needed a curtain. Turned out cute!

Racing car fold up mat, girly.

The dark purple are pockets to hold all of the cars. The kids love the circle turns.

Being in Kentucky I could not resist making this adorable horse.

This not only made a great way to decorate the wall but also gave me more cabinet space! YAH!

New door decoration.

We love Mike so much! (The hearts are our hand prints.)

Happy Crafting!

Louisville Slugger

hallaspalace — Fri, 20 Jan 2012 12:39:13 +0000

Mikes parents Chris and Joe Schmidt came and visited us this past week. We took them to the Louisville slugger museum. We were not allowed to take pictures of the production plant, but we took these…

Silly Abby in the baseball cave

The giant glove and ball

We can't take them anywhere...lol

I see tee-ball in her future!

Apphia has an interesting technique.

40 MPH baseballs comming your way

I decided to hit the way slow softballs.

Grandpas turn

Largest baseball bat right here in Louisville at the Slugger museum.

Happy slugging!

Welcome to the Kentucky National Guard Mr. Hallas

hallaspalace — Fri, 20 Jan 2012 12:25:56 +0000

January 18, 2012 Mike officially because a member of the Kentucky National Guard.

Next month we will get to celebrate Mikes promotion from 2LT to 1LT!

We love you so much Mike, keep it up soldier!

The Army Song

Christmas Time is Here!

hallaspalace — Mon, 26 Dec 2011 17:45:42 +0000

Christmas with the HallasPalace. This is how we roll!

Preparations many days before…..

Daddy needed his hair cut.

Apphia was using a great technique, spit shine!

Mommy's turn

Notice Abbys shoes?

Apphia making our door decoration.

Abby helping with the paint.

Baby Jesus in the manger via popsickle sticks. Quite classic!

After all of that we finally make it to Christmas! I wish I had taken a picture of our birthday cake for Jesus.

Little princesses!

Repunsel Abby, bare feet and all

Princess Apphia

Presents after church

Abby was so excited!

Apphia got a Dora kitchenware set

And the preparations still continue...on herself this time.

Merry Christmas from the HallasPalace to you!

Lights Under Louisville and Gingerbread Houses

hallaspalace — Mon, 12 Dec 2011 17:03:51 +0000

Louisville has a large underground cave and they decorate it for cars to drive through around Christmas. The kids loved it!

Tennis ball! I was pumped!

Cinderella, Abby liked that one!

Abby started singing "Jake and the neverland pirates!"

YIPPE!

Ice Skating! Oh how I will miss that!

I loved the light post next to the church.

Oh little town of Bethlehem!

Mary and Joseph

Lion and the Lamb

Away in a manger no crib for a bed...

We got to drive through a tunnel of lights. Actually the entire thing was underground.

Last night we made gingerbread houses with the girls. They have been asking since we bought it. We finally gave in.

Before the mess...

Apphia and her candy cane

Miss Abs

The spread

Oh Yummy

The master house maker

The finished products, the icing was super runny!

This one was Apphia's.

Abbys house

Oh messy bessy

We were glad to be done.

From VA to KY

hallaspalace — Mon, 05 Dec 2011 15:35:45 +0000

I can not believe it has been a month that we have been living in Louisville, KY. This post is an attempt to catch you up on us since Mikes Graduation from BLOC in VA.

The diplomas

The class

The speaker

2nd LT Michael Hallas of the MN National Guard

An hour after graduation we were on the road again……on our way to Kentucky!

Welcome to West Virginia. What a beautiful state!

Welcome to Kentucky! Oh it was so funny the first thing you see when crossing the state line is a huge oil plant. Nothing says welcome like a factory!

When getting into Louisville we came to our new apartment to drop off our trailer. Then Mike was off for his first and only interview. He got a job the day we came into town. What a huge blessing from God! We have been slowly getting things put away and getting adjusted to our new city. Here are some photos from our time here so far.

Princess Apphia, she always wears the crown upside down.

This was an attempt at a family photo, it did not make the cut for Christmas but I thought is was pretty good.

HUGE THANKS to MasHouse and Del for helping us get settled in!

Apphia loves our new playpark!

Sporting new bath towels! Apphia butterfly and Abby Panda.

Riding bikes outside.

Miss Abs new bike! Shes pretty good at it too!

That’s all for now! Thanks for getting caught up with us!

October 25…..Happy Birthday Mike!

hallaspalace — Tue, 25 Oct 2011 13:02:27 +0000

Today is Mikes birthday. I have been getting things ready for his birthday for a few weeks now. The girls are so excited to celebrate! Though I think they are just excited about the cake and presents.

We have been so blessed to have such a wonderful husband and father. He works harder than all of us to provide for us, love us and show Christ to us. Love you Mike, have a great birthday!

So cute!

Mike in Bosnia.

Canning, oh what fun that was!

First Daddy Daughter Date with Abigail. Build-A-Bear and Jamba Juice

Little girls!

Duluth

Shooting Apples with the Apple Cannon!

I got my eye on you (Sara)!

Until next year! Enjoy being 31 love!

Girls and Bikes

hallaspalace — Mon, 17 Oct 2011 12:54:12 +0000

We had a beautiful weekend here. Saturday morning we took the girls out to ride their bikes.

Apphia and her "Bike". Though she is too big to sit and scoot so she prefers the stand and push method.

Mike was cleaning our van out. Looks like new on the inside now, well the carpets anyways.

And what we have all been waiting for....ABBY and her half time dance show!

I think she got her dancing skills from Mike!

Apphia up close, too cute!

Zoom Zoom

The Pack

Thinking about stopping to smell the Roses.

"Mommy it smells like.....a flower"

Off they go!

Fun Filled HallasPalace Adventures in VA Part 9: VA State Fair and Luray Caves

hallaspalace — Wed, 12 Oct 2011 14:39:17 +0000

State fair time! Wow could it ever be as sweet as the MN state fair? I can tell you um…..No. But we still had fun.

Nothing says Welcome to the State Fair like a Horse!

Hahahaha

There was a corn play area.

Only 3 pictures from the Fair? Yes that should tell you something about it.

LURAY CAVES

Over our long weekend we decided to take the kids our to Luray Caves in the Mountains. Here is some information on the caves.

Since discovery in 1878 by a tinsmith and a local photographer, visitors by the millions have made Luray Caverns the most popular cave in Eastern America and an internationally acclaimed destination.

4,000,000 centuries in the making beneath Virginia’s storied Shenandoah Valley, this “must see” U.S. Natural Landmark awaits your discovery. One hour tours, from well-lighted, paved walkways lead visitors through cathedral-sized rooms with ceilings 10 stories high. Enormous chambers are filled with towering columns, shimmering draperies and crystal-clear pools.

Also in this subterranean wonderland, “Hear Rocks Sing” as you experience the haunting sounds of the world’s largest musical instrument, The Great Stalacpipe Organ. Completely unique are the beautiful tones created by this one-of-a-kind instrument, which makes music of concert quality from the surrounding stalactite formations covering more than three acres.

Luray Caverns, for more than 130 years, has been renowned as one of the world’s most spectacular natural wonders. A world of magic and majesty, still as marvelously beautiful as described in the newspaper headlines over a century ago.

There is water under this making it a perfect mirror image. Very neat!

We were told this when the explorers say this they thought it was a white ghost!

Kids thought the caves were cool for like 10 minutes, the hour after that not so much. ha

There were actually on the ceiling but I thought they were so cool!

ribbon features

White pillar

The town of Luray is a neat town between two mountain ranges. Before we set our to see the caves we ate at this super cute cafe.

We had a wonderful breakfast of Ham crescent, eggs and rye toast with jam, coffee, gingerbread latte (which I needed since there is no Dunn Brothers out this way), chocolate muffin, orange scone, lemon scone, chocolate milk and a white milk. Total YUM-O!

10 things I will miss about Acer Dog

hallaspalace — Wed, 12 Oct 2011 14:03:53 +0000

Last week was a really hard for me. We have been searching and trying to find a place to live in KY for seminary that would allow us to have Ace and we were just not able to find anything that would work. So last week we gave Ace away. He is going to a family living in Arkansas to live on a farm with other Aussies. I am sure he will love them just as he did to us. Here are 10 things I will miss about our little buddy.

1. He was always happy to greet us when we came home regardless if we were not so happy to see that he had gotten into the garbage.

2. He loved going for a walk and anytime we would say “walk” or “park” he would go nuts and run and jump and bark at us.

3. He hated bath time so we tried not to give him too many. But when he did get a bath he would jump out of the tub and run like crazy feeling the wind against his fur and rub his wet fur on everything, even our clean pile of clothes on the floor.

4. He loved riding in the car and playing his game of catch the car. He never won but it made us laugh a lot.

5. He loved to snuggle. This was a new thing for us though, he only started doing this about a year ago. He would actually curl up on the couch next to us and lay his head on out leg. So stinking cute!

6. He hated guard drill weekends, and I was not a fan of that either. He would mope around all weekend while Mike was away, not eat for the first day and just act like he was pouting.

7. He loved to sing! We would turn on music really loud and dance around and sing and add in our own howls for him to sing along with us.

8. Apphia never learned to say Ace she called him “ruff ruff” not the word, the sound. That was his name to her.

9. Being a herding dog he would try and gather us up by pushing around our feet to get us to take him outside or go with us in the car.

10. Giving kisses. He loved licking us till we needed a facial. He especially loved licking Mike, I would tell Mike that he choose him because sweats out coffee!

This is Aces first picture!

His favorite toy back in the day. Mr. Duck!

One of the many haircuts with a lovely bandana.

Ahhh loving the dog park, chasing the tennis ball.

Moose!

Awe...daddy dog time!

Enjoy your new family Ace!