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!

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...

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!

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!

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...

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!

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.

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)

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

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!

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!

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.

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!