The Melo Family

Katie Katie Katie!!!

2011-11-15T15:25:00.000-08:00

... has recently discovered beans

why not?!

It's been a while...

2011-11-13T22:24:00.000-08:00

Here's the first day of school for the girls!
Alicey started kindergarten and Olivia preschool!

My husband is an artist!
He grew and arranged all of these beauties!

As you have probably noticed, I'm having fun with Picasa collages!
Here we've got some fun family pictures with the twins!

This evening I had tried to get some fun shots of the babes.
They are now crawling, sitting, exploring, discovering, and growing
SO BIG!

We had a lot of fun during Halloween, picking pumpkins, making costumes, having parades, going to parties, trick-or-treating, and eating LOTS of candy!

And finally, I had to include a video of the twins.
Here they are ready for bed this evening!
They're nine months old now!

Alicey's preschool graduation and the TWINS

2011-07-12T22:17:00.000-07:00

NOTE: I've included a bunch of youtube videos of the twins in this post, but since it takes so long to upload when you imbed them in, I've just included links to these videos on youtube, So if you're like me and when in a hurry just look at the pictures and skip the words on someone's blog, you might miss some cute footage of the babies!

Alicey's preschool graduation consisted of a program of music followed by a "diploma" ceremony, and finally cookies and punch.

Here's Alicey in the back row!

And here's my favorite part of her graduation... Alicey dances to the months of the year!

My four girls! Oh how I love 'em!

Here's some cute close ups! Rather than always identifying which is which- I'll let you try to figure it out!

Oh, this next one I have to tell you which is which so those of you who haven't met them yet can get an idea of what each looks like- I can tell the difference now, but can you? Annabelle's on the left and Kaitlyn on the right.

They're VERY similar, aren't they? We don't know for sure if they're identical or not.

Here's the twins at 4 months "ao vivo" (if these videos are too long, just watch a little of each; also, my voice gets annoying sometimes. Sorry) The videos were taking too long to upload, so just click HERE for Kaitlyn and HERE for Annabelle.

And now for some smiley babies!

Grandma was here visiting last week! Alicey and Olivia had SOOOOO much fun! They definitely LOVE they're Grandma Marty! Too bad I didn't get a picture of them with Grandma. But here's one with Grandma and the twins!

And now 5 month videos of the twins (ditto to what I said before if these videos get boring) Click here for Annabelle and here for Kaitlyn .

A couple weeks ago we went to a water party at a friend's house. Here's Olivia enjoying the fun!

Our Favorite Sites

2011-07-01T14:52:00.000-07:00

Whether or not you're looking for some fun and educational websites for kids, you need to check these out. These are our favorites!

Poisson Rouge (my personal favorite) and

Starfall.com (very educational)

memorable moments

2011-05-19T09:07:00.000-07:00

I'm going to make this simple, otherwise I'll never get a new post finished...

Here's Olivia with a bowl of mac 'n' cheese dumped over her head. She did it to herself, don't ask me how...

And here's my little helper making dinner- I think it's Katilyn trying out her new Bumbo seat

Here are Kaitlyn and Annabelle showing off their blessing dresses that Grandma got them... I'll tell you the story of how she found them someday.

this one's Kaitlyn

and here's Annabelle

here's all of us after their baby blessings

We are all doing very well, considering there are now 4 little girls under the age of 5, instead of 2. The twins are growing well, eating well, sleeping well, and are very good babies. Of course everything takes a lot longer since there is double the work, and they DO wake each other up when they cry, even though twins are supposed to get used to it, but over all we've adapted very well. I LOVE my four little girls and their dad!

Christmas, snow, and babies!

2011-01-23T12:11:00.000-08:00

I think I'm going to make this blog a slide show with a few comments...

Christmas

Christmas dinner... where are the people?

Thank you Walmart and Martha Stuart for the cheap china half off BEFORE Christmas!

Following in mom's footsteps with too many presents!

This year four stockings, next year SIX!

Some of our holiday guests- Marcio and friend. Juliana and Nathan and their boys also came over for the entire evening,but somehow I didn't get any pictures of them (Juliana, preciso passar uma tarde procurando fotos no seu computador)

Christmas morning- one of the girls' favorite gifts- much asked for, light up, disney, sing-a-long microphones!

Thank you Auntie Mandy for the fun Ariel teaset!

Snow

Alicey and Olivia sporting their new snow gear...

Cesar learned fast that pulling the sled around the yard was much more work then letting it go down a hill

SNOW ANGELS by my angels

the long awaited finished fence- the dogs spend most of their time in the dog run on the right side

Alicey and Olivia really surprised me with their sledding abilities- they never once fell off!

Happy friends!

Babies

the cribs- yeah, you do eventually have to separate twins so they don't suffocate each other

some of the wall decor in the nursery

I LOVE the changing table/hutch we found on KSL!

I made the changing pad cover to match the rest of the room

another project I sewed- we bought one bedding set and I made the second to match with some curtain material we bought

Sorry this one's side ways- I'm too lasy to fix it.

I also made these cute carseat covers for the winter time- the second one is just laid out on the couch.

A week ago at my baby shower- thanks Juliana and Railene for organizing this for me!

As you can see, I am very large and now spend most of my time lying either in bed or on the couch.

Rai's beautiful cake!

Vivian, Samanta, and Railene

Nany, Vera, Mery, Vivian's Mom, Matilde

Christmas is coming!

2010-12-20T07:56:00.000-08:00

This year we got to go pick our own Christmas tree at Dado's house! Decorating was quite an adventure, as all the pine needles are pretty much like actual needles, and stab you if you touch them! Hence, all the decorations are hung right at the tips of the branches and fall off whenever my stomach bumps into them.

I know everyone who lives in other places always asks me how big I am, so here's a picture I took today, at 6 months pregnant (28 weeks). I would guess I'm pretty close to the size I got at the end of my pregnancies with Alicey and Olivia.

On Friday evening our ward had its annual Christmas dinner. I love this picture! Everyone is so happy!

After dinner, the girls got to go see Santa Claus! Olivia received a little set of plastic squeaky fish, and Alicey a Tinker Bell stamp set.

And here's Alicey last Thursday at her preschool's Christmas program. She was soooo excited about it! Too bad Cesar had his last final at the same time and couldn't come. She sang with her classmates Jingle Bells, Rudolph the Red Nose Reindeer, and We Wish You a Merry Christmas.

And here's Alicey with her beloved teacher, Miss Lindsay. Alicey LOVES Miss Lindsay! She holds the preschool at her home down the street from our house.

the BIG news!

2010-10-26T21:36:00.000-07:00

Today Cesar and I loaded the girls in the car and headed off to my obgyn's office... I am 20 weeks along in my pregnancy TODAY, so you can maybe guess what appointment was today. Before we get to the big news, here's a little history of my pregnancy...

At my first appointment, 9 weeks along, I was pleasantly surprised when my doctor said "now let's go into this other room and see if we can see your baby in an ultrasound!" At the first appointment! And that was a very lucky thing, too, because my doctor found TWO heartbeats... TWINS!!! My reaction- total amazement, totally surprised, and very excited!!! They don't look much more than blobs at 9 weeks...

And here's the babies at 12 weeks. Another cool thing about having twins is they want to do an ultrasound at every appointment to hear the separate heartbeats. They look more like babies here

And then we get to today. We walk into the ultrasound room and see a 50+" flat screen TV, a DVD player, a stack of blank DVD's and sleeves, and the ultrasound machine. My doctor said since ours was the last ultrasound of the day, he was going to use a better image (I'm not sure of the connection there) and ended up taking about 25 minutes! Of course, the fact that there were 2 definitely contributed to the time. The girls, though, were ready to go after 5 minutes of not really seeing mommy's babies. So, here's the first picture. You can see one of the babies very cleary and a part of the head of the second...

And now, here's the big news. The doctor found that Baby A was a ...

and that Baby B was a...

So we're having TWO more girls! Yeah for us! We're all really excited, except maybe for Alicey who was a little disappointed- she really wanted a little brother. Maybe next time Alicey. And 5 minutes after we were done, the nurse comes out with the whole thing recorded on a DVD for us! It is so neat to see all those arms and legs and feet and hands waving around together. They are separated in different sacs, but you could never tell in the ultrasound. The doctor wasn't even sure they were separated at first, except that I told him at 12 weeks my previous ultrasound showed separate everything. Anyway, so that's the news! And I'm just now starting to feel them moving around- though watching them today I can't believe I don't feel them more!

California and some...

2010-06-05T21:03:00.000-07:00

This was actually taken this morning at the Eagle Mountain Pioneer Days Parade I took the girls to earlier today. We had lots of fun. Alicey was mostly worried about when more candy was going to be thrown to her... Aren't they adorable?!

A week ago I got back from visiting my parents in California with Alicey and Olivia (Cesar had to stay home to work). It was SOOOOO nice to be able to relax lots, get caught up with some old friends, and play with my girls lots. Alicey and Olivia LOVED being read to, especially by grandma...

We went to the park like every day... Here's Olivia and Sam playing in the sand. I almost bought the girls buckets and shovels when I got home to play in the sand with, but then I remembered that the parks in Utah all have woodchips instead of sand...

We played with Summer, Hank, Leah, and Sam whenever possible! Here we are at the Underwood Family Farm in Moorpark.

We got to pick our OWN berries and EAT them! YUM!

They also had these really cute wagons to pull the kids around in. They were VERY helpful when we had to walk about a half a mile to get to the strawberries!

And Olivia was so excited when she finally found a tractor she could ride around on for FREE!

And Alicey had a close encounter with a liger (half tiger half lion). She didn't seem too afraid.

And don't forget the dance parties we had! Olivia just barely made it in to thise one...

And luckily we all made it back to Utah alive last Saturday! My dad drove back with me to help with the girls. We just want to say thankyou to all who made our trip so relaxing and enjoyable- Mom, Dad, Summer, Hank, Leah, and Sam! We love you guys! And Summer, we're SOOOO excited you'll be a Sister missionary in another month!!!!

Disney on Ice!

2010-03-18T20:39:00.000-07:00

And we're back! First, some pictures...

My angels wearing their new Easter dresses Grandma sent them!

Alicey's joy school group.

Alicey shows off her "Cat in the Hat" hat she made... and a wooden angel?

I love my family!

My Valentine's Day surprise for the girls!

Aren't they adorable?!

Hank and Leah came a month or so ago and we all went sledding together!

COUSINS!

Alicey's fine sense of style! These earrings were some of Nana's that Alicey inherited when we were in Arizona for Pa's funeral.

So I figure instead of never coming back to write another blog entry because of being so overwhelmed by how far behind I am, I better just skip the past half a year and tell you what's happening right now in the Melo home!

Well, we're in the proccess of building a new home in the Ranches of Eagle Mountain, Utah. After looking hard for a newer home on a big lot in many different areas and just NOT being able to find one in our price range (besides short sales), we looked into going through a constructor. We were surprised to find out we could get a brand new home, on a .75 acre lot, for about the same amount as a NOT new home on a SMALL lot. We're going through McArthur Homes, and are very excited to be able to move in sometime this summer! I'll try to update you with some pictures along the way...

Alicey and Olivia are getting big and old FAST! Alicey has recently begun speaking English I'd say the majority of the time. I don't know at this point if I should just forget about it or maybe encourage her to speak Portuguese at home. Of course in the long run that's what I would like, but do I need to enforce this while she's so little? Alicey doesn't like me to tell her what to do, so I'm afraid if I insist whe just won't want to. Why is it such a big deal? Because half of her entire family ONLY speaks Portuguese and I don't want her to lose the chance to be able to communicate with them for the rest of her life.

Olivia loves to play with her "babies"- and doll or stuffed animal- and put them to sleep all throughout the house. She is very independent (unlike Alicey) and is happiest playing by herself. Though, the first thing she says whenever I get her up in the morning is "Poppy? Alicey?" Her vocabulary is definitely growing, but she hasn't gotten much further than 1-2 word phrases. I'm not worried about it. She's still 1. Her hair has gotten really long and always falls into her face, since she won't leave anything in her hair for longer than a few minutes. I don't want to cut it because I love long hair and want her hair to grow!

Last week Alicey and I went to see Disney on Ice with my friend, Railene, and her daughter, Alyssa. The girls had tons of fun, though I'd say Alicey only had patience for the first half of the show. After that, she kept trying to come up with excuses to leave, like going to the bathroom, SEVERAL times. Right before the intermission she waved her hand towards the ice rink and said "I'm tired of all of this!" Too bad, I thought, we're staying 'til the end! Alicey connected with about half of the characters that appeard- the Little Mermaid and the Lions King are two of her favorites, while Cars and the Tinker Bell movie aren't. It was fun to go out with just her for something special and to see our friends Rai and Alyssa! Here are some pictures and videos of the experience...

This curtain is a good abreviation of the entire show!

Alicey and Alyssa- buddies since birth! Tinker Bell coming down from the sky!

Meet the princesses before the show starts! Alyssa wasn't very excited about taking pictures.

Ok- I'm exhausted! I think I'll stop now!

Halloween Fun!!!

2009-11-03T06:04:00.001-08:00

So here we are getting ready to go trick-or-treating. As you can see, Olivia decided she wanted to be a cupcake this year. It turned out to be quite an inconvenient costume for sweet Olivia. She kept falling over (hence the constant hand holding), pulling off the sprinkles, and she could only shuffle her feet, rather than take normal steps. But hey, she was cute, wasn't she?!

And cute Alicey. She was an angel this year, though dressed as a witch! As patient as could be with her slow little sister, and SOOOO excited about going to more and more houses! She kept telling me throghout the evening that she couldn't eat anything until she got home. Ok!

And here's Olivia trying to be patient to get another piece of candy in her mouth! You should see the inside of her costume by the end of the evening- it was right up against her mouth most of the time.

Alicey excited to knock on another door...

Alicey trying to be patient along the way. You can see how Olivia was super slow. Mandy came with us trick-or-treating while Cesar stayed at home and handed out candy.

Alicey is so fotogenic!

Here's Alicey's preschool class. They had a Halloween parade right before Halloween. I guess most little girls want to be princesses... It's fun to be different!

Earlier in October we also went to Gardner's Village for a Family Home Evening activity. It was so much fun! The girls LOVED finding all the witches everywhere! And getting a cookie for finding all the hidden ones at the end. Here's Cesar, Olivia, and Alicey almost getting attacked by a witch flying on a bicycle!!!

Here's me and my twin witch!

I think we're going to have to make a tradition out of going to see the witches at Gardner's Village each Halloween from now on! I would definitely recommend this activity to anyone, with or without kids! We all had so much fun!

New Clothes and Some...

2009-10-31T09:10:00.000-07:00

So here are some new pictures of my two beautiful daughters (actually, mostly Alicey- she's gotten most of the "new" clothes recently) I just finished sewing this nightgown for Alicey with some scrap fabric that was leftover from Olivia's Halloween costume. I think she likes it!

And here's Alicey in a new dress I just bought her from my friends' new business- Ladybug Girls (Alicey's nursery teacher made it!).

And here's a peak of Alicey's witch costume!

Olivia's gotten so much older!

And I just love how my girls are such good friends (most of the time)!

My girls

2009-10-02T12:03:00.001-07:00

Recently Alicey has begun climbing into Olivia's crib to play with her (luckily she knows she can do this only AFTER nap time). Don't they look cute? Such good friends..Alicey my angel...

Then this morning Alicey was sucking on a push pop lollipop I bought her yesterday upstairs, and Olivia's was downstairs in the kitchen. Olivia grabbed it from Alicey and Alicey got VERY defensive... after hereing a lot of screaming, I walked into the bedroom just as Alicey chomped down on Olivia's face! Yeah, like I said, my little angel...

My husband's tropical forest

2009-10-02T11:54:00.000-07:00

So, recently Cesar decided to realize his dream in life (or one of them)- begin creating Bonzai trees. His plan is to see if they last until next year and then to sell them on ebay, ksl classifieds, and to local stores. Since these are all tropical plants, and we live in Utah, he has to keep them indoors. So our guest bedroom was extended to Cesar's plants...

Alicey's 3rd Birthday Party

2009-08-31T07:13:00.001-07:00

On Friday, August 28th, 2009, Alicey Melo turned 3!!!!!! We love you Alicey! As you can see, Alicey had a princess-themed birthday party! Thanks to her friend, Alyssa, who turned 2 a couple months ago and also had a princess party, all the decoration were provided for us!

And here's this year's birthday cake! I liked mostly how the cake turned out, except for the hershey kisses- I thought they didn't really match, but that's okay! I liked the idea of the ice cream cone towers on the sides!

And here were the party's "amiguinhos" (as Alicey calls her "little friends"). We invited maybe 13 or 14 little kids, and 3 came!!! Sammy and Lucas are Alicey and Olivia's friends from church that live a few blocks away. They're also 1/2 Brazilian. And opposite from Alicey and Olivia, these guys are short and cute! Sammy turned 5 a few days before Alicey turned 3! Alyssa also showed up a little later, but unfortunately we didn't get any pictures of her and Alicey. And we must not forget our "big friends" that came to the party... Aunty Mandy, Tia Rai, Marcia, and Fernanda. To be honest, Alicey didn't even notice that not very many of her friends came. She was excited about the party before anyone even showed up! When I put her to be that night (so cute), she was praying and thanked Heavenly Father for her party, the cake, the presents, and her "amiguinhos".

And here are the presents she got! I think her favorite was from Grandma and Bampa- an electric guitar! She surprised us a few weeks ago when we were asking her what she wanted for her birthday and she cried out a guitar! I think after seeing Mandy's she decided she needed one, too! One day in the car while listening to the Wedding Singer soundtrack, "Video Killed the Radio Star" came up, which starts with some strong guitar beats, I told Alicey that was a guitar playing. Ever since that day, whenever that song comes up, Alicey starts screaming, "guitar!!! guitar!!!! guitar!!!!! I'm going to get a guitar for my birthday, too!"

She also got a bunch of these flower clips (that Tia Rai made) from her friends Sara and Julia that weren't able to make it to the party. I thought they made the party outfit.

And we must not forget the "mesinha" (little table) that Alicey has been asking for for months!! She told us she needed a new table so she could make medicine for Olivia. Who knows where she got that one from! She loved it!

And she also LOVED Mandy's present- a set of big building blocks (leggos). She plays with these every day! Sammy and Lucas gave her a really cool farm puzzle (which I couldn't find a picture of). She's helped me put that together already and gotten it out several times to play with!

Overall, I felt the party was a big success, and most importantly, Alicey loved it!!!

Thanksgiving Point Museum of Ancient Life

2009-07-15T20:12:00.000-07:00

So last night we deicded we'd take the girls to the Dinosaur Museum at Thanksgiving Point for a Family Home Evening Activity. When we got there, if anyone is familiar with the building, there's a huge T-Rex painted on the front of the building. We told Alicey we were going to see dinosaurs and she immediately got very nervous. She saw the big dino and said she didn't want to go in. We couldn't help laughing. After convincing her that the dinosaurs were not loose and not even alive for that matter, she consented, as long as Cesar carried her THE WHOLE TIME! Here's me with the girls looking at their first dinosaur. Notice the shirt Olivia is wearing. It's kind of hard to see, but I made it for her this week. It was originally supposed to be for Alicey, but it's kind of hard for me to get the sizing right for some patterns, since I don't really use a pattern. It's "shirred", if anyone knows what that means. The top part is sewn with elastic thread and is streachy.

Alicey enjoyed riding the baby dinosaur...

... while Olivia just wanted to kiss it!

One of Alicey's favorite parts was searching for dinosaur bones at the end of the tour. They bad brushes their for the kids to see what it's like being a dino archeologist! This museum is great for kids because it has little interactive kid stuff like this all throughout!

And Olivia enjoyed brushing the sand off the other brushes!

I really enjoyed spending some educational time with my family. Thanks Cesar for taking us!

Bows!!!

2009-07-15T20:09:00.000-07:00

Here's my newest project. I decided Alicey needed some new hair bows, so I bought some cute ribbons and figured out how they work! I think these are a very common thing lots of women in Utah make and sell. Hmmmm... maybe I'll try it someday!

2009-07-13T22:22:00.000-07:00

About two weeks ago I decided I wanted to start some projects at home. Why not try my luck at some sewing?! I think I started sewing when I was maybe 8 or 9. My mom had me do some small projects to teach me. And we can't forget the summer of lovin' Erin and I had when we were about 10 and we made lots of stuff, including big, funny rabbits, aprons, crooked shorts, and jumpers. Around that time I also went to a sewing class from a lady in my ward, Sister Ludlow. She wanted to teach her daughter how to sew and thought it would be more enjoyable for her in a few of her friends were involved. I can't really remember, but I probably sewed every once in a while while I was a teenager, as well. And then I took a sewing class at BYU, as well. And that was the extent of my sewing history. I probably haven't done anything for about 10 years.

So where does one start who wants to sew? I would say one needs a sewing machine! I used to have one of those. My mom gave me her old one when I got married. Then I moved to Brazil and took it with me. A few months later, I moved back and left the machine with my mother-in-law, Maria Alicey. I saw her a month ago and she kept telling me how happy she was that I had given it to her because her other one had just broken! Anyway, two weeks ago, once I decided I wanted to start sewing, I bought a machine. It's a Brother 50 Stitch Computerized Sewing Machine-Limited Edition Project Runway from Walmart. I think we've gotten along pretty well since I got it! Here it is:

And here's some of the projects I've been working on:

The first was a baby blanket for my friend's baby shower. I always loved these shaggy blankets and wanted one for my babies, so I decided to try out making one for Ruth. I thought it turned out pretty well! I'll have to make one for my girls now!

And closer...

The next one is kind of hard to see in these pictures, but I forgot my camera when they wore them for the first time. Thank you Mandy for donating these! I made Fourth of July dresses for my girls!

Then I made these butterfly room decorations last week for Olivia's room.

I made this "clutch" (that's what Mandy tells me it's called) for Summer for her birthday last week, too. I've never made a purse before and thought it was a good experience! I liked the colors. Thanks Grandma for all the scraps you gave me last week!

So how, do you ask, did I find time to make all of these things? Well, like I said, I got kind of excited about my new machine, and since daytime sewing is kind of hard with two little girls (I've tried it a little bit but not with much success), I've ended up working ofen late into the night. I downloaded some books on tape (MP3's) and listen while I sew. Don't ask me which book, I shouldn't be reading/listening to it again...

And where have I come up with these ideas? Well, I've discovered something really cool offered on a lot of web sites by a lot of people. They're called tutorials. They walk you step by step with pictures and explanations, and all for free! Here's the tutorial for the clutch I made Summer.

2009-07-07T09:00:00.000-07:00

For the past year and a half, I think, I have been working with a wonderful lady named Ruth Rodrigues in our primary. Ruth followed me as music leader in the Brazilian ward we belong to. She also, like me, is an American married to a Brazilian, though she did not speak any Portuguese when she married her husband, Breno. When she was called as music chorister in our ward, she spoke fluent Spanish and not a lot of Portuguese. I was so impressed with her dedication to the children and her calling. She did such a wonderful job! Anyone could tell watching her with the children how much she loved them! She is moving to Missouri this week. She is also pregnant and very close to her delivery in the next month or so. Last week we had a baby shower for her. Here are some pictures: Ruth after opening her presents.

Hungry guests: Vera, Flavia, Juliana, and Tirzah.

Tirzah, Janese and her baby, and Ruth!

The shower was held at one of Ruth's nursing friends' home. That's Lindsay and her baby in the middle. Celia and Silvia showed up for the last part of the shower. They took a break from work to come. How thoughtful!

Here we have one of the games- cutting pictures out of baby magazines to see who could best come up with Ruth's baby boy...

Juliana thought she should have won this game...

We also played another funny game where everyone had to drink juice from a bottle and see who could finish first. I don't have any pictures of that one. Too bad. I don't think anyone had enough patience to finish. My mouth REALLY hurt after a minute or two!

2009-06-18T08:18:00.000-07:00

Since Cesar works a lot from his computer at home translating, or in portuguese, his "trabalho", Alicey always wants to "trabalhar" too. Well, this past Saturday our neighborhood had a big garage sale and we found this "trabalho" for Alicey! It doesn't really work, but she doesn't care! It's a kid laptop!And here we have Alicey and Olivia enjoying their new "weeee" we bought when we got back from Brazil. For now it's in our living room. It's been really rainy outside recently and with the dogs in the back yard, it's safer here. They love playing on it, even though it's pretty small for Alicey. Olivia climbs up the slide, stands up, and then usually won't come down. She'll stand there bouncing, walking back and forth, and yelling, until one of us goes over there and helps her down.

And here we have Alicey and Olivia's favorite new present- a play house! Cesar's mom sent us home with some money to buy toys for the girls, and my parents gave us money for birthday presents for the girls this summer, and with it we bought this! It has a working door bell and cordless phone! They are playing it in write now as I write this! Thank you Mom, Dad, and Vovo Alicey!!! And finally, here's what Olivia just did when I handed her a bowl of fishy crackers...

2009-05-21T12:41:00.000-07:00

Olivia shows off her beautiful skin problems here! We're not really sure what this is, probably a mixture of some kind of virus, allergies, bug bites, and heat. And it ended up spreading over her whole body... We took her to a doctor here and he gave us a perscription for some medicine that's really been helping. It's faded and not very noticable anymore.

Olivia with her Tia Rose at the beach.

Cesar and his daughters, as goofy as can be!

Olivia LOOOOOVES to play in the water! She splashes, jumps, kicks, and smiles!

Alicey won't go into the water without holding someone's hand. She's not quite as enthusiastic as Olivia is...

Alicey and her "sorvete" (icecream)...

The Melo family in Salvador, Brazil!

2009-05-12T07:31:00.000-07:00

So here we are in Salvador, Brazil! Our flight went surprisingly well with Alicey and Olvia. Our longest part was from Chicago to Sao Paulo and Alicey fell asleep a half our after we took off and woke up a half hour before landing. Olivia wasn't quite as cooperative, but still didn't give too much trouble. Then on the last flight from Sao Paulo to Salvador, Olivia slept until I had to stand up to get out of the plain, and Alicey spent most of the time playing with a little boy sitting in front of us.

So we arrived Saturday afternoon and spent the afternoon with Cesar's family. On Sunday, church started at 8:00 am, so we had a pretty early start. That evening Rose had planned a birthday party for Olivia with a beautiful cake, LOTS of treats, balloons, and lots of friends and family! I didn't even know about it until Sunday!

Then Sunday night I woke up around 11 p.m. (we went to bed early). I heard a bunch of noise under our bed. Then I wondered if maybe Alicey's restless sleep had gone overboard... She had been sleeping on a mattress on the ground next to our bed. I peaked over Cesar to where Alicey was supposed to be, and as I suspected, she wasn't there. I woke Cesar up and told him of my conclusion. We looked under the bed and there she was- rolling around in her sleep. Cesar grabbed her arm and pulled her out. We layed her in bed with us and she kept kicking her legs on the bed and tossing a bunch. We tried talking to her and finding out what was wrong but she wouldn't respond. Then I wondered if maybe the mosquito bites she had gotten the night before (several that had been quite red when she went to sleep) were bothering her. I turned a light on and we noticed that several had blistered and a few had even broken upon. She was miserable. It was HOT, HUMID, and very uncomfortable! Then she started crying and of course woke Olivia up. I went in and tried to calm her down. After a while I put her back in her bed but she cried for a good 15 minutes straight! Finally I went back in there, picked her up, and noticed that her head was all wet. I HAD heard a strange noise before when I was calming her down, that could have been water dropping from the ceiling. So I went closer and noticed that there WAS water dripping on Olivia, poor thing! I called Cesar and we moved her bed and changed her sheets. After nursing her again for a while, she did end up falling asleep.

That was all during the night from Sunday to Monday. Alicey kept waking us up during the night complaining about her bites. The next day we bought an allergy cream, neosporin, and bandaids to fix her up. I also gave her some Benadryl I had brought for the flight (which I didn't end up using to put Olivia to sleep). We realized it was pretty much a mixture of the heat, humidity, and allergy Alicey had that caused such a severe reaction. She finally started getting better this morning, Tuesday. We haven't been able to go outside with her to avoid any more problems. And though it has been raining TONS here lately, it didn't rain at all yesterday or today. It would have been nice to go down to the beach, but that's okay.

So, here we are. In spite of all the drama, the girls are LOVING it here with all of Cesar's family. Alicey's favorites are her two cousins, Margarida and Manuela- Margo and Manu (13 and 8 years old) that she calls "minha meninas" (my girls). And Olivia's favorite is her grandpa Messias. It's pretty cute. Every time he walks by she reaches out to him to pick her up. Alicey and Olivia eat bread rolls all day long (in fact, that's what they're doing as I write this). Olivia's hair has also gotten quite curly here. And Cesar seams right at home! There's nothing really for me to help with here so I pretty much just watch over Alicey and Olivia all day. Cesar works for a few hours translating and managing his on-line math course each day. Cesar's mom feeds us meals and snacks about every two hours. Lots to eat. And that's about it so far. We don't have too many plans to do a lot of site seeing. We'll probably do more on the weekends because Cesar's sister, Rose, can drive us around. I'll update this later once more has happened!

2009-04-23T07:09:00.000-07:00

Alicey is definitely growing up!
beautiful Easter dresses from Grandma!!!

CANDY!!!!

Ok, so it's been forever and we're moving this weekend and shortly after going to Brazil for a month. So, I guess I'd better post something before all that. So a lot's happened in our family recently. My favorite is that Alicey has finally been potty trained!!!!! Yeah!!!!! We took advantage of all the extra Easter candy around the house and used it as an incentive each time she was able to use the potty. No more diapers (for her)! Also, check out Olivia's newest feat:

This was a couple weeks ago...

And this was yesterday...

2009-03-07T22:13:00.001-08:00

So it's been over a month! I thought it's about time to update you all on what the Melo family has been up to recently...

Olivia has grown up a bunch (which tends to happen when you're under a year old and a month goes by). She is now starting to stand up on her own. I expect within a month or so she'll be taking those first steps!

Alicey is also beginning to recognize Olivia as a playmate- that's fun for both of them! They love to play in Alicey's bedroom with their toys together (though Alicey is still trying to learn what it means to share). Olivia also started giving kisses recently. She leans in with her mouth wide open and lays it on, slobber and all! My favorite is when she decides to give them to you unexpectedly! It is so precious!

Cesar's babies are also doing well. Bela, the newest member of the family, has grown a bunch and is definitely becoming a playmate for Nebo! Here's a video of the two being themselves!

2009-02-06T21:21:00.000-08:00

Here's the newest addition to the Melo family... Cesar bought her from PuppyFinder on the interent. She came on a flight from Kentucky! After long and hard thought, we're pretty sure she's going to be called Bela. She is a 9 week old Alaskan Malamute, a companion for Nebo.

2009-01-25T20:17:00.000-08:00

So Alicey has truly become a GIRL! This week I took her and Olivia to go see Summer on campus. When we were driving into the parking lot, all of a sudden Alicey gasps and says (in Portuguese), "Oh no! I forgot my purse! And my cell phone!" It was pretty cute. And then last night we were getting ready to go to a birthday party and Alicey come out of her bedroom with her arms full. She was struggling to hold onto her purse, big Dora cell phone, and sun glasses. She often walks around the house carrying as many bags as she can. Here's a picture to help you imagine.

And here's Olivia showing off her funny faces. She gets a big kick out of making people laugh. And she also doesn't really like cold baby food. (Sorry the beginning of the video is sideways)

2009-01-19T14:39:00.000-08:00

Here's a cute video of Alicey and Olivia saying hi to their cousins Katya and Oliver.

2009-01-01T16:11:00.000-08:00

Chatham girls at the Florence/Busby Christmas 2008 reunion.
Alicey with her beloved Telma (nursery leader) at our ward's Christmas party.
We took Alicey and Olivia to the mall to meet Santa Clause, and like most little kids, Alicey wouldn't look at or speak to him. But in the end she was still pleased because she got a sucker!
Olivia on Santa's lap at the mall.

Christmas Eve 2008 at the Melo family home!

Christmas was WONDERFUL this year! We were blessed with the company of my parents at our home for a week. The Busby's (my dad's cousins) organized a big family reunion which by the way turned out to be FANTASTIC! Well prepared and very nice time spent together. Christmas eve and morning everyone from my family came over (Mom, Dad, Mandy, Trevor, Lindsay, Summer, and us of course). We all opened up presents together, had a nice breakfast- my mom's yummy breakfast casserole- and then went over to Mandy's for the rest of the day.

Alicey was happy after one present and didn't know what to do with all that she ended up getting! And as usual, my mom outdid herself with all that she had prepared for everyone. She now makes 90% of her gifts! And close behind her in thoughtfulness and creativity was Leah, Hank's wife. She made fingerpuppets for Alicey, Olivia, and Calvin, and bound a self-illustrated book of a Marty Florence original story. Amazing art and talent! Leah also went far and beyond this year. And Lindsay, Trevor's wife, surprised me a few days before Christmas with a wreath for my front door she had made herself! She had heard me mention a month ago that I didn't have one and so decided she was remedy my problem! I have VERY thoughtful sisters-in-law!

I personally have enjoyed this past week (after Christmas) for the relaxation it has offered me! I have been able to sleep plenty, eat plenty, and do not much plenty!

2008-12-28T17:43:00.000-08:00

This morning Alicey disappeared while I was making dinner. After a while I realized something
was fishy and went looking for her. This is what I found! Alicey had painted herself with my makeup! She had even rubbed eye shadow all over her eyes! There was no way I could get mad at her! Cesar and I just busted out laughing! Who knew little girls pay such close attention!

2008-11-16T07:53:00.001-08:00

You've gotta love Alicey's fake smile! Whenever you tell her to smile this is what she does.

This week I decided to make sugar cookies with Alicey and decorate them. It was a lot of fun, though I don't think she enjoyed how long it took. She had to wait in between each step of the process. I wanted her to be able to help in ever step. As we were decorating them I kept asking her who they were for. Most of them she wanted to give to her friend, Clarissa. Some for Nebo, the dog. And of course others for Calvin and her aunts and uncles.

2008-11-16T06:55:00.000-08:00

Finally Halloween!! (I'm a little behind) This is Olivia and her cousin, Calvin (Trevor and Lindsay's baby). This was their first year trick-or-treating! They even got some candy (though didn't get to taste it).Trick-or-treating in down town Provo on Halloween.

This is Alicey (a chicken AGAIN) and her best friend, Clarissa. They went trunk-or-treating at our ward's Halloween party the week before Halloween.

Alicey also got to help carve her first jack-o-lantern this year. She really enjoyed watching but didn't want to stick her hand in the gooey stuff!

2008-10-26T16:07:00.000-07:00

So yesterday, thanks to the help of Mandy, we were able to get some nice pictures of the family! Here's us, Cesar, Heather, Alicey, and Olivia on October 25, 2008.

And here's an update on us:

Right now I am working about 11 hours a week teaching classes at UVU (the former UVSC in Orem). I'm teaching two sections of business calculus and a section of intro to statistics. I really enjoy getting a chance to do something I like to do and earn a little extra money at the same time. In the future I'd really like to be able to teach one class a semester. I am finding myself REALLY business as of late trying to prepare exams, reviews, and quizzes and grading homework and everything else. But that's okay.

Cesar started teaching full time at Salt Lake Community College (SLCC) this year and is really enjoying it. Why? Well, very few hours, great benefits, he gets a laptop while he works there, and it's fun! His contract is a tenure track, meaning as long as he doesn't slack off, he's there for as long as he likes! Cesar is also continuing his summer work from home of translating patents of products being sent to Brazil and also revising translations of the same. He says he really likes this because it doesn't seem like work. He said it feels like he's just playing around on his computer while he watches TV... Cesar's ideal job! AND, Cesar is also finishing up a masters degree in Portuguese Literature at BYU and teaching a Portuguese class as well. So, in a nutshell, he's pretty busy!

Alicey is growing up fast! I'm sure all of you know what that's like if you've got kids at home or kids around. She it talking LOTS and LOTS now! It amazes me everything she knows how to say, and in Portuguese! And what amazes me even more is that she has also figured out how to say a lot of things in English as well! I only speak Portuguese to her, so that has come from friends, family, TV, church... She is also starting to use her potty, though she usually doesn't have enough patience to get anything done there. After five or ten seconds she gets up and asks for me to put her diaper back on. I guess that's where our problem is! Alicey's favorite thing to do is see people! She loves to be around lots of people! Her favorite place is church where she gets to see Telma (her nursery leader), Clarissa, and the babies! Her hero is Tio Radames (a guy from our ward who's been adding an addition to our house). And she loves to sing lots and lots of songs! Oh, and I must not forget that the first thing she asks for EVERYDAY is to watch "Doya" (that's how she says Dora, for Dora the Explorer). On Sundays it takes a lot of effort to take her mind off of it and distract her with other things. That's my fault for allowing her to become so dependent on Dora, and Tigger and Pooh, and Mickey Mouse Clubhouse, and Little Einsteins.

Olivia got her first tooth a week or so ago (I think I already mentioned that), and is learning to sit up. She loves to talk, or babble, roll around LOTS, and play with toys. She also LOOOVES to eat! She's eat anything, though I don't give her anything. But anything I've ever offered to her she'll accept, even the gross baby foods like peans and green beans! Olivia is also becoming a Mama's girl. She does quiet well in the evenings with Cesar while I'm teaching, and most of the time with Cesar's she's okay, but if I ever give her to someone else to hold, she usually starts crying with a few seconds! She's got the cutest smile and I love her to death!!!

2008-10-19T09:05:00.000-07:00

Here's one more video of Olivia and Alicey. Olivia is working hard on learning to sit!

2008-10-19T08:53:00.000-07:00

Alicey sings "The Wheels on the Bus!"

2008-10-19T08:36:00.000-07:00

Yesterday we left Alicey at a friends house so we could go hiking with Nebo! Olivia came along in her Snuggly pack as we took Nebo on his first field trip! He definitely enjoyed himself and all of the exciting smells! We'd love to take him to a more scenic place, but we don't have a way of taking him in a car right now. So we just hike up the mountain from our house.

2008-10-18T11:17:00.001-07:00

Here are some pictures we got taken of the girls yesterday!

2008-10-18T11:15:00.000-07:00

... and a few more of Olivia!

2008-10-13T06:25:00.000-07:00

What a great story teller Leah is! Alicey sat like this with her for maybe a half hour listening and reading with Leah. I think I learned a lot watching! Hank and Leah came over for dinner last night and Hank did ALL of my dishes! Thanks Hanks!!!

Thank you Mandy for this CUTE outfit! I love it! Can you believe Ive grown so big in the past few weeks??? I must have almost doubled in size! I~m wearing 6-9 month clothes and am only 5 months old!

Olivia as little Eeyore... I found these super cute jammies at DI.

Alicey just got these new "Princess Jamies". She wants to where them all the time! And Olivia is working hard on learning to sit up on her own!

Can you find which babies are real???

2008-10-05T15:55:00.000-07:00

Alicey got this princess dress up set from Mandy for her birthday!

Alicey LOVES her new bed! She's had it for about a month now! She still thinks she can't leave her room without calling us, though. We're crossing our fingers she doesn't find out anytime soon...

2008-10-05T15:44:00.000-07:00

Let me do a little catching up for those who haven't talked to us for a while. This semester I am teaching 3 math classes at UVU, the former UVSC, and spending most of my time being a full time mom. My classes are in the evenings and Saturday mornings, so Cesar gets to watch the girls when I'm gone. Cesar is teaching full time now at SLCC (Salt Lake Community College), working 20-30 hours a week translating for a company called Multiling, and finishing up a Masters degree at BYU in Portuguese Literature. He should be done in April next year. Yes, he's a pretty busy man.

Alicey turned 2 this past August and Olivia was born in May. They are already very good friends and Alicey is over her jealous stage. Now she just wants Olivia to be old enough to play with her! Whenever Alicey has a new outfit or a new toy, she always runs over to Olivia and tells her to LOOK! LOOK! Alicey also likes to sing a lot right now. Her favorite song is "Sou um Filho de Deus" (I am a Child of God), and not far behind are "Popcorn Popping," "The Wheels on the Bus", "Wind the Bobbin", "5 Little Monkeys," and "The Wise Man and the Foolish Man." Olivia right now loves to babble and roll all over the floor! We lay her down on a blanket and within a minute or two she's complaining because she's rolled herself right up to the base of the sofa or pillow. I am really enjoying these little girls! I was a little nervous to go from one to two when Olivia was born, but I have to say it's only gotten better!

Here are some recent pictures of our family...

2008-10-05T15:38:00.000-07:00

And here's Alicey and Olivia together this afternoon. Alicey has a new dress on she got from her Tia Rai last week, and Olivia is happy to have a big sister! This picture, by the way, was taken in our new bedroom that we just added on to our house (though you can't really see any of it in this photo).

2008-10-05T15:33:00.000-07:00

Ok. So I'm going to TRY to be better about updating my blog. This is Olivia and Calvin with their auntie Mandy at our house during Sunday conference! We have a tradition in the Florence family here in Utah to meet together at our house for cinnamon rolls in the morning while we watch Music and the Spoken Word, and then to watch the two sessions together. And now we've got two new additions to our crew since last time... Olivia and Calvin! They got LOTS of attention and did really well being happy and sleeping throughout the day!

2008-08-03T08:30:00.000-07:00

Olivia's baby blessing. The Melo family is growing bigger!!!

2008-08-03T08:28:00.000-07:00

Alicey always wakes up with super beautiful hair!!!

2008-08-03T08:26:00.000-07:00

Here's Olivia when she started smiling

2008-08-03T08:24:00.000-07:00

Yeah!!!!! We're back on blog! And Olivia's here to join us! Here's out two cuties saying welcome back!

2007-02-13T15:15:00.000-08:00

my very first tooth!!!!
(meu primeiro dentinho!!!!)

2007-01-12T08:07:00.000-08:00

Daddy's little girl...

2007-01-12T08:03:00.000-08:00

Oh so cute!

2006-12-20T11:34:00.000-08:00

AHHHHHHHhhhhhh!

2006-12-20T11:32:00.000-08:00

2006-12-20T11:30:00.000-08:00

2006-12-11T11:37:00.000-08:00

Ooooooo! It's chilly in here!

2006-12-11T11:25:00.000-08:00

Alicey and her new bow.

2006-12-11T10:41:00.000-08:00

Alicey sleeping in her long johns!

2006-12-11T09:56:00.000-08:00

Christmas time with Alicey and her mommy!

2006-11-06T10:26:00.000-08:00

Alicey loves her swing and her Tigger

2006-11-06T10:01:00.000-08:00

The Melo family as.... the Mario Brothers and the Princess Toadstool

2006-10-31T14:24:00.000-08:00

The cutest clown in town!!!

2006-10-19T07:18:00.000-07:00

Alicey tries on her first hair-do

2006-10-09T06:14:00.000-07:00

Alicey and her "chupeta"

2006-10-09T05:53:00.000-07:00

Showin' herself off...

2006-10-04T10:41:00.000-07:00

Alicey meets her Auntie Summer for the first time!

2006-10-04T10:21:00.000-07:00

Hi guys!

2006-09-22T06:15:00.000-07:00

Out for a walk in the cold

2006-09-21T17:37:00.000-07:00

Alicey joins the circus!

2006-09-14T17:25:00.000-07:00

me and my mommy (somebody likes to sleep)

2006-09-13T22:08:00.000-07:00

Family portrate

2006-09-13T21:53:00.000-07:00

Our adorable newborn chubs

2006-09-13T21:37:00.000-07:00

The cutest grandpa in the world...

2006-09-13T14:03:00.000-07:00

Alicey in her blessing dress.

2006-09-13T13:50:00.000-07:00

Alicey flying with Daddy .