Christmas Day

Bros- Sonny and T... Christmas is all about family and it was wonderful to have so many family and friends around us, even though we missed the rest of our California family terribly! But it was so nice to have a nice relaxing Christmas day complete with good food, family, friends, and fun!
The dining room is almost ready for our big feast! Yummy!
We hosted our family Christmas morning brunch at our house this year- naturally the Shelbys' were here, but soon Sonny and Patty and Caitlyn joined us and the DeSantiago's- our adopted family. Here, I put Nicole in charge of setting the table (apparently that is a daunting task at my house and Nic, Patty, and Ivana were afraid I was going to be upset that they were doing it wrong- I thought that was funny)
Naturally, we ate great- we always do when we get together, we had a fabulous Brunch complete with Crepes and Berries and Cream, Brown Sugared Bacon, Sausage, Scrambled Eggs, Roasted Red Potatoes, Banana Walnut Muffins, Juice Bar, Yummy! I told everyone if they didn't get fat and happy at my house- it's not my fault!
You sing it T
It was so nice to have such a relaxing and chill Christmas, we all just played and talked and ate and rotated on RockBand marathon Christmas day... and I loved converting people to my new addiction, muwahahaha
Our favorite Christmas day activity- this little band rocked the house!
TJ quickly became great on the guitar and was an easy convert... Caleb was not a good helper though. ;)
I am the drummer- it's not a secret that I've become a RockBand addict- but I have to say that I actually do rock on the drums- and it was great having bandmembers to play with ;)
Sonny is my RockBand buddy... I've converted him, he liked Bass and Guitar most though.

Abby's Class Halloween Party!

I am the head Room mom in Abby's first grade class- and so I was in charge of the Halloween party! We played Halloween Bingo, and made a Witch's stew (game), and did a Broom Dance (another game). We decorated Pumpkin Sugar cookies and made our own chocolate dipped pretzels and Halloween candy molds! We also decorated a little Halloween fun foam craft! And then we drank homemade Root Beer (that smoked and gurgled) out of it's own witches cauldron! And the kids even got treat bags (I rebelled and put in Halloween pencils and erasers since I knew they would get plenty of candy). I couldn't have done it without my great mother helpers- Thanks Callie, Gina, and Kim!! It was of course crazy- but I think they had a lot of fun!

Claire's Pink Pampered Princess Tea Party

For those of you who know that Claire's birthday is on October 2nd, y0u know that this post is a little late... but, as always, better late than never. I survived all of my parties- Yahoo!! You've already seen Abby's birthday and our Hulaween extravaganza- so here are the pics (and some details) from the Pink Pampered Princess Tea Party. I have to admit that it was very cute and a raging success, in my completely impartial and unbiased opinion.
The girls are coloring a giant coloring page of Cinderella!
I should have taken a pic of the invitation- I designed my own princess using my scrap punches and a pair of scalloped scissors- and they turned out VERY cute. I asked each of the girls to come dressed up as a princess. As they arrived, they each got to take turns getting pampered in our Royal Salon... Kemari (BFF) helped as our very own hairdresser- and she has some mad skills with a curling iron and bobby pins! (And she helped even though she had a party of her own to host an hour later for her son Conner who just got baptized today) THANK YOU so much Kemari- all the girls hair turned out beautifully. Patty (sister in law) came to help as our Nail stylist (even though she had to be at work in an hour) Thanks Patty, what would a pampered princess be without a great manicure!? And I did their makeup. And of course, they got glitter- they got glitter in their hair, on their faces, on their lips, and on their nails!

After they were all dolled up, they got to walk the red carpet and have the paprazzi (Chris, our live in photographer) take their pictures (which I printed and attached to their thank you cards).
To keep them entertained in our salon waiting room, I found a giant coloring book with the Disney princesses that they could work on together and they got to watch Barbie's Princess and the Pauper.
Kate (Kemari's daughter), and Claire's best friend!! Ready for her close up...Caitlyn, my niece, all dolled up and ready for a night on the town, or perhaps a great tea party!
After that, we joined in our royal dining room for our Pink Princess Tea Party- we had finger sandwiches, flower shaped Jell-o jigglers, Strawberry-Grape skewers, Pink flower shaped sugar cookies, Pink lemonade, pink Strawberry pudding, and pink sparkled cupcakes. We didn't even have room for our pink ice cream... but I would say it was a great pink feast fit for a princess.

These little shot glasses with Strawberry pudding, and whipped cream were my FAVORITE! (not because they tasted the best, but because they were SO cute! I will do these again)
I even served them on "silver" trays and made a ruffled tablecloth to fit my table out of pink satin with teacups and teapots on it! And of course, they each got a tiara!

After that, Claire opened her gifts, naturally she was spoiled absolutely rotten! She got really great gifts from very thoughtful friends and family! And being the true princess she is, she even remebered her pleases and more importantly, her Thank You's.

All the beautifu princesses- Kamry, Claire, Kate, Caitlyn, Abby, Aubrey, Alyssa, Isabelle, and Katelyn- (they all had names with A's, C's, and K's, except Belle)
To wrap it all up, we made Glittered Bath Paints and Glitter Body Gel. They turned out to be great crafts for that age, and they got to take home some more pampered sparkly stuff! And for their goody bags, they got to each take home a sparkly necklace, a ring pop, and their very own makeup set! So they all got spoiled! And Claire had an awesome Princess party if I do say so myself!
Happy Late Birthday Little Princess Claire!!

Third Annual Halloween Party

We held our now Third Annual Halloween Extravaganza last night, and I think it was a raging success! Patty and I have a lot of fun planning and scheming, and naturally, there was a ton of preparation, and money, time, and work but it turned out great! Even Chris who has been, uh, apprehensive about this party, thought it turned out pretty dang good and has even conceded that we should have it again next year (a week or two ago, this was the last one ever!) But we had great food, great friends, great costumes, and great fun!!

This year it was our Haunted "Hulaween" theme, so we turned the Maloy Manor into our forbidden island! As guests arrived they were greeted with Tiki torches, and a pumpkin carved into a Tiki god, and a Tiki mask on the front door. Upon entering, everyone was "lei'ed," and received a sheet of halloween stickers that they were charged with sneaking onto other people, a fun game to get people interacting since we had a mixed group. The dining room was transformed into our Witch Doctor lab, and the living room was the voodoo lounge. Patty and I made "grass skirts" to hang over all the main walkways and room entrances and windows for our thatched roofs, with bamboo poles for "support." Patty painted some awesome large Tiki masks that watched the festivities from the windows in our forbidden island family room . The kitchen was transformed into our very own Tiki bar, where our great bartender (Chris) mixed made to order tropical drinks (complete with cocktail umbrellas when he remembered).Here are our awesome glasses all tagged and ready to be served up at our Tiki Bar!

Neo is looking pretty cool, notice our awesome "thatched roof" in the background!

Our very cool Tiki Bar, one of the highlights of the evening!My Witch doctor lab, much more cool in the dark, but pretty cool nonetheless!

Check out the Tiki masks in the windows!

The Love Guru is in the house (aka Jesus to some)

"I am the Pirate Queen! And it is, it is, a wonderful thing to be the Pirate Queen!"

Eat it up, Yum!

We had a luau feast that was anything but vegetarian- Sweet and Sour Meatballs, Artichoke Dip, Bacon Wrapped Weenies, Kalua Pork, Huli Huli Chicken, Beef and Chicken Skewers with different dipping sauces, Macaroni Salad, Lime Rice Pilaf, Crab Salad, Hawaiian Rolls, Coconut Fried Shrimp, Fresh Fruit Tray, Banana Bread, Pumpkin Cookies, Lemon Squares, Mummy and Witch finger chocolate dipped pretzel rods, and Coconut Mango Cheesecake. I know, sounds good, huh?? We were wishing we had kept a whole plate full of everything- I was craving Sweet and Sour meatballs and Kalua pork for breakfast this morning!

Our food bar... and I just can't get enough!

While the main portion of the evening was a chance for us to talk and eat and just have fun without our kids... we had a few fun activities too! I have to give Chris props for this idea, he came up with the idea to play the "Newlywed game"- I altered it into a party edition, and it was a lot of fun- and some great laughs!

Playing the "Nearly Dead" Game- Chris was our (bossy but funny) Master of Ceremonies

Nacho Libre and his favorite Nun! (aka Frank and Ivana DeSantiago)

Elphaba and the Executioner (aka Derek and Kemari Nielson)

Grim Reaper and his dead Bride (aka Jeff and Wendy Laypath)

Tinkerbell and Captain Hook (aka Jason and Monica Bergstrom)

Salt and Pepper (aka Carma and Kepi Heimuli)

Surfer Babe and Dude (aka Jenny and James Olson)

We also had some very creative and fun costumes! We had everything the Love Guru, a "freaky a#* dark fairy," Tink and Captain Hook, Elphaba, and some more traditional scary Halloween folk- executioner, wicked witch, and white trash! So fun!!! Naturally we had a Costume contest with very interesting (and questionable) ballots!

Here are the results-
Funniest - Nacho Libre (aka Frank DeSantiago)
Scariest- Grim Reaper and his Vampire Bride (aka Jeff and Wendy Laypath)
Cutest- Tinkerbell (aka Monica Bergstrom)
Most Original- Salt and Pepper (aka Kepi and Carma Heimuli)
Best Couple- Red Riding Hood and the Big Bad Granny (aka Chris and Megan Sliders)
and, drumroll, please.............................
Best Overall- Pirate Queen (aka Heidi Maloy)
Best Themed- Surfer Dude and Surfer Babe (aka Jenny and James Olson)

Love Guru and the Dark Fairy (aka Sonny and Patty Maloy)

White Trash and her cutest man on the Planet (aka Ben and Lacei Child)

Red Riding Hood and the Big Bad Granny (aka Chris and Megan Slider)

Me, the Pirate Queen (aka Best Overall Costume ;)

Neo (aka Chris Maloy, my cutest man on the planet)

I think (and hope) everyone had a great time- what a great way to kickstart the holidays! "Happy Hulaween" everyone!

Party Planners Extraordinaire (aka Patty and Heidi Maloy)

Now we are off to Park City for some much needed chill time! See ya!