Funny Boy

William is 20 months now. He still doesn't have a lot of words. He says "Coal" who is our dog. He tries to say "cheers", "cheese it", "scarecrow", "up" and a few other random words. Bill recently took him to a grand opening party that had a spongebob square pants figure and Will.....LOVED him. He wasn't affraid at all. He is growing up so fast.

Halloween....Finally

It has been too long since I have made a post. Some of you may wonder why. Well, pure laziness is the answer, unfortunately. I will start with a couple of pictures from Halloween. Evie dressed up as Ariel from the little mermaid. She is looking forward to wearing it in the pool this summer. (I don't plan on letting her actually do it but for some reason she would like to try). William wore a fisherman costume. He really enjoyed the candy. It was a minor issue when I told him he didn't get any more. Daddy dressed up as Elvis just to entertain the kids. It was pretty funny. He changed before taking Evie trick-or-treating because Evie didn't want him to scare anybody. She must have heard that somewhere...I wonder who said it first? Probably me. Here are a few of the fun pictures from Halloween.

See For Your Self

It depends on you ask, but you will hear many different answers to the question, "who does Will look like?" I personally used to see so much of Bill in him I would smile because I felt look like I was looking at a little Bill. Then recently Bill found a picture of me when I was about 11 months old and I looked like Will....or Will looked like me. I will put up a couple of pictures and you can see for yourself.

William 10 months

Cory 10 months

Evie 13 months

Will and Daddy

5 Years and Counting

2000: Dating

2003: Newlyweds

2006: Parents of a 1yr. old

2008: Proud parents of two great kids

It has been five wonderful years that Bill and I have been married. It has gone by so fast. We are blessed in so many ways. Thank you to everybody who has supported us along the way. We look forward to sharing several more wonderful years together and with all of you.

Lots of Love!

First Hair Cut

It was actually over a month ago that Will got his first hair cut but I had to post this cute picture and the story about how it all came about.

Prior to having a son I didn't understand why moms let their sons hair grow so long and shaggy. Then sweet William came into my life. By the time Will was 15 months old his hair had grown into a quazi-Donald Trump-comb over/baby mullet. The curls in the back were sweet and soft. The straight long hair in the front was less than cute. The plan was to continue letting Will's hair grow but then on an impulse decided it was time to get the first hair cut. Bill suggested I take Will down to Wild Cuts. That is where Bill gets his hair cut, so off we went.

A day later after I stopped crying over the loss of the baby and baby hair, I realized that I should not have waited so long to get the hair cut. Will does look more like a little man instead of a little baby but he is soooo handsome I can not get enough of him. I joke that with his long shaggy hair he looked like a garbage pail kid and now he looks like a handsome young man.

Getting Big

Need I say anything?

For Papa Jim

The Evie-bug is quite the entertainer. She comes by it honestly. My dad could and would love to tell you stories about me singing and dancing in front of mirrors or T.V.s and cameras when I was her age. This video is for you Dad!

Fairtime fun!

Who has the biggest smile in this picture?

Who says you have to grow up?

Big Boys

Jack came over to play the other day. He is taller and bigger than Will. He is so mello and Will is so CRAZY. Jack will be moving to N.Carolina with his parent in August. We will miss him, but plan on playing together when ever he comes to CA. to visit.

Fire Season

A couple of weeks ago the Fire Season officially started in Northern California. One of the first fire of the season started just a couple of miles from our house. It was pretty nerve racking to see it so close. Thankfully for us the wind was blowing away from our home. Not so fortunate for others in the area, the fire burned over 40 structures and several thousand acres before it was contained.

Just a short time later several more fires started (due to lightening strikes). Currently there are 50-80 fires in Butte County and nearly 130 fires in Shasta County. There are several more fires burning in surrounding areas. Thankfully there is minimal wind to aggravate the fires but that also means that the air in Chico is extremely dangerous due to all the smoke. We have been staying inside to keep the kids from breathing the air. All of our outside activities have been canceled for the week.

Worst of all the fire fighters in our area are overworked and understaffed. Our former neighbor works for Cal Fire and has not been home in a month. He says that there is no relief in sight, and as of now he doesn't expect to be home until the middle of July. So, if you are reading this please think of all the men and women that are missing their families to keep so many others safe.

First Day of School

June 3, 2008 was Evie-bug's first day of preschool.

She was very excited to go (she's been waiting a month or more). She did great! She woke up early, picked out her own clothes, brushed her teeth and let mommy do her hair.

The good start continued when we got to her school (as you can see from this picture in front of the school.) The class was outside for playtime when we got there. Evie was a little nervous but one of her teachers (Miss Tamara) gave her some special attention and that seemed to work very good. Evie didn't want me to leave but Miss Tamara said Evie did just fine a few minutes after I left.

Miss Tamara has said that Evie can fool you because she is slow to warm up and a little quiet but once she feels comfortable she participates and has a good time.

We are so proud of her and look forward to many more successful milestones!

Play Time

Our new home provides open space that lets the kids (and daddy) to enjoy some inside fun. Evie is getting better at hand-eye coordination and Will is getting around really good these days.

First Birthday Fun

March 24, 2008 was William James Maurice's first Birthday.

We celebrated at home with his aunt Jackie and ice cream and with Aunt Chrissy & Uncle Jon. Then that weekend we planned a big party at the park. However, Mother Nature was not cooperative and we moved the party to the ultimate party place...The Graduate. Another Mello child has their first birthday at the bar. It reminds me of the movie Sweet Home Alabama, when Rese Witherspoon's character is in the bar and she runs into an old high school friend and she says, "you have a baby?....in the bar!" Other than that, it was a great day. As you can see from the pictures Will had a great time. Please visit our kodakgallery.com to see all the pictures.

Cute Pics

Here are some new pictures of the littlest Mello crazies. They are too cute and TOO FUNNY!

This is Will's early Bday present from Gramma Ginger and Papa Steve. We couldn't keep him out of Evie's chair so we thought for his safety we should get one just for him. Now Evie sits in his chair and he get to sit in hers.

Little Flirt is what I like to call him. He has amazing powers with the ladies (except his sister)
Who's this big girl you ask? Why that is the 3 year old Evie-Bug.
This picture is for Papa Jim. Watch out Papa she's got a mean swing and lots of energy. She should be on the course in no time.

Mission Accomplished Part II

Evie-bug did it!!!! She decided to quit wearing diapers. We told her that if she wanted to go to school she needed to be pottied trained. So, that week she was done. That's right one week. After all the stickers, cheers, and other tricks, going to school was the factor that worked. "It's" just like "they" say, "when a child is ready to stop using diapers, they will." I'll remember that when it comes to potty training Will.


Mr. Funny Face, with his bubble beard.

Mommy and Will....from Evie's point of view....not bad for a three year old.

I think that Will likes eating more if he can make a mess!

Happy 3rd Birthday Evie-Bug.

The princess party was a success. We had an extra treat when Daddy and Tommy brought snow. They brought a truck load of snow and built a small sled hill in the driveway. The kids LOVED it. We have so many princess presents that even Daddy knows who is who. This week I have to call Evie, Princess Genevieve- Snow White. I am Sleeping Beauty- Mommy. Will is Ariel and Daddy is Shrek and sometimes he's "the king" (depends on her mood). The last picture is Evie showing her muscles in her new swim suit/ floatation devise. Thank you to everybody for the wonderful gifts and for remembering Evie.

Mission Accomplished - Part I

Life is an adventure for the Mello family. We are currently working on pottie training with Evie-bug and waiting for the "big guy" to crawl. Bill and I have found ourselves excited (or at least acting like we are) to take Evie to the bathroom. We are now the pottie cheerleaders. We cheer and give high fives. We bribe with stickers and the promise of panties and other "big-girl" opportunities. All of our enthusiasm is quite entertaining for Evie. She continues to waiver back and forth between the potty and the diaper. I am seeing just how strong minded she is. I know!!!! I know.... that she knows how to use the potty and when she needs to use the potty but she enjoys our cheerleading and pep talks so she keeps "trying" to be pottie trained. All we need is the "perfect cheer"....

As for William...he is officially crawling! That's right there is a crawler in the Mello household. We almost thought that he may not crawl and we also began to think we lacked a gene for crawling. Lucky for us this was just an over exaggeration of our nervous anticipation. I have always thought that crawling babies were so cute. I really wanted at least one of our babies to crawl. Will has also learned to pull himself up and likes to stand whenever he can. He does a funny little side to side dance and acts so proud of himself. I'll post a video soon.

Snow Days

The day after Christmas we packed up the kids and took P.D. (Patrick), Mema, the boys and Mema's family to S. Lake Tahoe. It was so much fun. It had snowed before our trip so there was a decent sledding hill down the road. Here are some of the pictures from Evie's First Sledding Adventure. Click on picture to view larger image

Here is my little snow bunny. She is 3 going on 16 and sooooo cute! She is pretty hard core. She never got cold and didn't want to leave. She would even climb up the hill all by herself.

Here is the "big guy". He is wearing a hand-me-down snow suit that I LOVE! Thank you Wendy. It fit perfect to keep him warm and cozy. He didn't fuss one bit. Bill put him on a little sled and he seemed to enjoy it. I bet he can't wait to be a big boy and play with his big sister.

Here is some video footage of the sledding adventure. It doesn't appear that they are going very fast but when we were actually there it seemed very fast and somewhat dangerous for my baby to be doing.

Christmas is for kids

Christmas has come and gone.....again! We had a great time with all of our family and friends. Evie and Will were spoiled rotten, as we expected, but are doing great. I definitely enjoy Christmas more this year than I have in several years. I think because it is so much fun for Bill and I to watch and listen to Evie. Three year old's are so funny.

When the Holidays began we asked Evie what she was going to ask Santa for. Her wish bobbled between a candy cane and a cake, balloons and presents a.k.a. a birthday, and last but not least a princess dress. During some last minute shopping on Christmas Eve I found a Princess Rosella dress half price at Target. (Princess Rosella is one of the Barbie princess movies that Evie watches) We made a last minute decision to buy it and it was....priceless!

Will was very cute too of course. He has a little while before he understands what Christmas is all about. He had fun rolling around in the wrapping paper and watching his sister be crazy. Here are just a couple of my favorite pictures. Click on a picture to see a larger image