I'm the ultimate craftswoman.

Call me ambitious--

but it's gonna take me another 28 (+/-) weeks to finish this one.

Anyone up for a craft-a-long?

{image via ibreakplates}

"it's such a nice day" she says

Update:
If you couldn't watch the video before, you should be able to now.

We sidewalk chalked.

We chased ants.
We ice creamed.

We love the sun.


{For the record-- a few mins after she smashed Mr. Ant, I saw a teeny little ant dragging him home. So sad.}

My child -- the monster lover.

Mckinlay really like monsters.
She talks about them all the time. Her favorite part of "Seeping Boobie" is the part with the dragon and similarly she like villains in other movies. She sits on the couch watching and when the "bad guy" comes on she says in a super low voice:
"NOT N-I-I-I-I-CE"
over and over until I acknowledge her.
I'll try to get it on video sometime.

Anyway, today she was sitting on my lap coloring and said
"look monster!"

Pretty darn good if you ask me!
This is the first time she has ever drawn a face.

I'm glad she said it was a monster and not Mommy...

Hoppy Easter

We hope everyone had a wonderful Easter!

We had a {very cold} egg hunt with friends on Saturday morning.
Mckinlay was much more interested in chasing the geese...until she realized there was candy in the eggs.

And somebody was pretty thrilled that the Easter Bunny decided to bring her a"Seeping Boobie Barbie!"in her basket.

Happy Spring!!
Now if we'd just get some warm weather here to stay...

Conference Weekend

So excited for conference weekend.
{and not just because of "Conference Brunch"}
Hope this gets you excited too.

Click here to join with the members of our church in receiving spiritual enlightenment from our church leaders this weekend.

Hallstrom Family Reunion

{click to enlarge}

Mckinlay and I were able to go to Hawaii for Grandpa's funeral. We spent a wonderful week there filled with family. It worked out that all of the aunts, uncles and grandchildren (minus Jill who is pregnant with twins!) were able to be there. We haven't had a Hallstom gathering like this is years. We eat KFC, Chinese food, strawberry soda, Uncle Jim's ribs (YUM!) and of course hot fudge sundaes. All the traditional Hallstrom dishes. I can't think of a better way to honor Grandpa.
I love you Hallstroms! I'm so glad we were able to reconnect.

Mckinlay and I flew straight into Cleveland where we met up with Ty so we could go house hunting. We put in a offer on a home that was accepted! We're so excited! Cross you fingers everything goes smoothly with the rest of the process. We feel so blessed to have found such a great home.

Now we're back in Boston. I just pulled out my calendar and was shocked to see that we are moving in 9 weeks! I can't believe it is coming so soon!
I'll try not to think about it...

"My Tropical Baby"

{click to enlarge}

Where we are...

Mckinlay and I are eating

Shave Ice, Malasadas, and Kua Aina's this week.

Next week we'll be eating hot dogs and donuts with Ty.

{that's what Cleveland is famous for, right?}

Be back to blogging soon...

Thumbs up!

{click to enlarge}

Thanks for visiting "Unta-Tan"

We think you're thumbs-up awesome!

But next time would you please bring Rowdy too?

Happy St. Patty's Day!

Why Mormons Build Temples

Sloshy boots.

Since it was so super nice this weekend, we went to the beach.

Mckinlay could have stayed all day sloshing around in her boots full of water and chasing every single dog in sight-- all with a fabulous mess of bed head.

Grandpa Hallstrom

Grandpa Hallstrom passed away last night.
He was 90 years old.

Wasn't he handsome?
{click to enlarge}

I can only imagine the reunion he had with
Grandma and Aunt Patty.
The thought of it makes my heart smile.
{and cry.}

I talked to Grandpa on Valentine's day.
I asked him if he'd be my Valentine,
to which he laughed and said "You want me to be your Valentine?
I love you!"

I love you too Grandpa.

{photo taken in '04}

"Mama fancy!"

she says, as she throws tp over her shoulder like a scarf.
Can you tell we've been reading a lot of
Fancy Nancy
lately?

Au revoir!
{That's a fancy way of saying goodbye
& everything in French sounds fancy.}

Today over mac & cheese...

Me: Mckinlay, are you excited to move to Ohio?
Mckinlay: Yeah.
{pause}
Daddy go Ohio too?
Me: Yeah! Daddy is moving to Ohio too.
Mckinlay: Get house Ohio?
Me: Yeah Mckinlay, we'll live in a house in Ohio.
{pause}
Mckinlay: Brooke move Ohio too?

All this time I've been thinking how sad I am to move, I haven't once thought about Mckinlay being sad to leave her friends!

Maybe we'll just stay in Boston forever...

Mustache March

Have you heard about this?

Word on the street my {not so} li'l bro and my DAD are participating.
Oh yeah,
I'll be posting photos!!

P.S. I'm still giggling at the thought.

Paying it forward.

Hooray!! I was the first to comment on Laura's blog!
I shall now pay it forward.

THE RULES:

1. Be one of the first three bloggers to leave a comment on this post, which then entitles you to a handmade item from me.
2. Winners, you must post this on your blog, meaning that you will "Pay It Forward," creating a handmade gift for the first three to leave a comment on your post about your giveaway!
3. You have 365 days to make/ship your item. And, remember: It’s the spirit and the thought that count!
4. When you receive your gift, please feel free to blog about it, sharing appropriate linky love! If you are not one of the first three to comment on this post, you can still play along. Start your own "Pay It Forward" chain and encourage your blogging friends to do the same!

A&W.

I just bought one of these.
Fingers crossed it arrives lickity split.

*UPDATE*
Mckinlay just walked in here saying:
Mommy: "No honey that's soy sauce."
Mckinlay: "Mommy -- some soy sauce?"

Make that lickity LICKITY split.

We {heart} vinyl

Happy Jo is having a Spring give away!

Head on over to her blog:
Chocolates for Breakfast
and check out what a fab mama I have.

We're big vinyl lettering fans. The possibilities are endless.
Happy commenting!

What a lovely name.

I just heard about this web site called:

What a Lovely Name,
The Perfect Name for your baby

NO,
I'm not pregnant and baby name searching, but I thought it looked like fun!

They give you several dispositions to choose from and then you can pick a name from there. I decided to search our names and see how accurate they are:

Traits:
American, dependable, leader, outgoing

Traits:

African-American, fun, outgoing and quirky.

They have us pegged.

What are your name traits?

Welcome March.

Nothing says hello to March like getting a bunch of

Today is definitely a stay indoors kind of day.

We made donut muffins for breakfast
and painted pictures for:
Grandma
Happy Jo & Papa
Jeff
Mommy
Daddy
Addy
and Rowdy.
{Did I mention Rowdy is Tanner's a dog!?}
As usual, she chose who all the pictures were for.
Expect them in the mail as soon as I buy some more envelopes
or as soon as they dry.
Not sure which one will come first.

{click to enlarge}

We're getting Spring Fever over here in the worst way.
The other day Mckinay and I tried on our swimming suits, just because.
Where are you Spring!?

Happy March!!

And if you're having a stay in day too, why not make some muffins.

French Muffin Donuts:
1 1/2 c flour
1 c sugar
2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp nutmeg
1/2 c milk
1 egg, beaten
melted butter
1/2 tsp vanilla
1 tsp cinnamon

Sift flour with 1/2 c sugar, baking powder, salt and nutmeg. Combine milk, egg, 1/3 cup melted butter and vanilla. Add liquid ingredients to flour mixture, stirring only until all ingredients are moistened. Fill greased muffin cups half full and bake at 400 degrees for 20 mins {mine only took 15}. Remove from pan, immediately brush with melted butter and roll in mixture of remaining 1/2 c sugar and cinnamon.
Make 12 scrumptious muffins.

Help a sista' out.

My friend Karli is having a week long contest with her husband to see who gets the most hits on their individual blogs.
Her husband pulled ahead in the race today.
SO--
would you mind clicking HERE to increase her numbers?
She's totally deserves to win.
I think she's neat.
{And I'm sure she'd think you're neat if you clicked several times.}
She even has a contest going on, so feel free to comment and enter.

And while you're clicking,
check out my Mama's latest post.
I haven't stopped giggling.
Classic Tyler.

We {heart}:

The Museum of Natural History -- BING!

Laura and I took our kiddos, + Marcus and Brooke, to the museum today. Good thing it wasn't crowded because there was a lot of yelling and stomping going on.

Joyful yelling and stomping, mind you.

Mckinlay kept asking for some of those delicious looking fossil cookies.


Guess the raisins just weren't cuttin' it.


P.S. Pretty sure Maddle and Tyler are the only people who will get the title of this post. If someone else knows where that is from, I'm embarrassed.

Stinky cheeser.

learned to open the fridge.
Don't let those darling jammies and dischevled bed head fool you,
she's a trouble maker, she is.

I was online checking the library schedule and turned around to find a pile of Parmesan cheese on the bedroom floor that she was lapping up like a dog.
I got out the vaccuum and vacuumed.

Then I heard the fridge.

Went into the kitchen to hear "Mama eggs!"
and find the egg carton out.
Egg yoke all over the floor and dripping from my child's fingers and jammies.

I stick her in the bathroom while I clean up and a few second later my 1/2 nakie child comes running out of the bathroom and licks the raw eggs I dripped on the trash can lid.

Awesome.

I finally get her in the tub and go to turn off the movie that was on to keep her occupied while I checked the library times {ha!} and find more cheese. This time all over the coffee table.

Then later as we were heading out the door, I find more cheese.
Lots more.
A trail of cheese from room to room.

And the best part is this all happened before 8:30am.
It's going to be an awesome day.