Mello Family Fun

Summer Play With Indiana Mellos

2009-07-30T22:58:00.000-07:00

4th of July In Tahoe

2009-07-10T22:42:00.000-07:00

The four of us went to South Lake Tahoe for the 4th of July. We all enjoyed it very much. Evie was crazy enough to swim in the lake for a little bit both days. Will and I held down the fort on the beach. We saw the fireworks from a beach blanket by GiGi's old office. It was a fun and relaxing trip.

So Much Fun So Little Time To Post

2009-06-18T22:34:00.000-07:00

William's First Day of Preschool

Mommy and Will (Good picture Evie-bug)

"Yeah Daddys Home!"

Annual Arizona Trip

2009-05-16T15:25:00.000-07:00

We made our annual trip to Arizona but William stayed in Loomis with Grandma Ginger and Papa Steve. He had a blast riding the tractor, getting doughnuts and feeding the horse.

The rest of us had fun in Arizona....of course.

Who's Talking Here?

2009-04-16T19:00:00.000-07:00

Will is saying more and more but as you can hear in the background Evie just doesn't give him many chances.

April Adventures

2009-04-10T16:48:00.000-07:00

We visited the Sacramento Zoo with some friends. Evie still had her cast on but it didn't slow her down. Here she is as a lovely butterfly.

William was like an escaped Chimpanzee. He ran around the zoo like a crazy man, but stood still to take this picture as a kangaroo. Now I know why they created backpack-leashes for kids.

Easter at the Mello's.

William, Evie, Kate, Sam, Sophia & Lily

Pretty In Pink

2009-03-31T16:46:00.000-07:00

On Will's actual birthday the kids and I were playing at a park in Roseville. The three of us were going down a very cool tunnel slide. Unfortunately, Evie's shoe caught some traction and her leg was fractured. She got her cool pink cast put on the next day. She will only be in it for two weeks and the Doctor expects her to make a fast recovery. She is very brave and very tough. As you can see, not even a broken leg can slow her down.

Happy Birthday William

2009-03-21T16:28:00.000-07:00

Can you believe William is 2?! That is right the "big guy" just had his second birthday. It seems like he grew up over night too. He is using more words and trying to do more "big boy" stuff.

Will is a fan of Mickey Mouse Clubhouse and he is extremely fond of Diego. We asked Evie if brother would like a Mickey Mouse or Diego birthday party and she said he would like Diego best. So, Diego it was! Evie was right he loved it. I am sure he also loved the presents, the cupcakes the friends and family. We celebrated, we ate and we had fun!

Rescue Pack! Coming to the rescue.

Daddy helping with the candles

Is this chocolate?

It's hard work being the birthday boy

Happy Birthday Evie-Bug

2009-02-28T16:02:00.000-08:00

Time goes by so fast. I never realized how fast until I had kids. My baby, my daughter, my first born just turned 4! I am still in awe of her almost daily. Now because she is developing into a little girl at such rapid speed. She is loosing her baby chubbines. Her hair is long and beautiful. She is smarter than I ever imagined a four year old could be. I miss the early days with her but enjoy and look forward to the new adventures we have now. Happy Birthday Evie!

Guitar Rock Stars

2009-01-22T14:51:00.000-08:00

What can I say?

Welcome 2009

2009-01-22T14:40:00.001-08:00

Fun times at the Mello house. Evie likes to wear her goggles in the tub and she suggested we put her other pair on "brother". He thought it was pretty cool. Now when "sissy" dumps water on his head it doesn't get in his eyes.

Daddy's Boy...Go Browns!

A Very Mello Christmas

2009-01-22T14:25:00.000-08:00

Christmas was wonderful this year. It seems that every year it gets a little more fun. The kids make it such an exciting time of year. We celebrated the entire month of December. Evie made crafts and cookies. We decorated the house, put up lights got a tree and mailed Christmas cards. By the time Christmas actually arrived I was beat! The kids traveled very well and behaved themselves very well.

Evie-bug asked for, and received a guitar for Christmas. I couldn't believe that my three year old wanted a guitar, so of course we had to get her one. She loved it! She put it on and walked around her Grandma's house singing immediately. Now we have to introduce her, "From Chico California, her is Evie Mello!!!" and she will walk from around the corner playing and singing. (I will post a video next)

William is still a little young to understand the whole concept but he enjoyed himself still. He loved ripping open the wrapping paper and seeing what was inside. He got some fun boy stuff that he really enjoys playing with but nothing beats the look on his face when he got ANOTHER hammer. Funny kid. He carried a green and yellow hammer around with him for a week or more and then he got an entire tool set for Christmas. He was THRILLED to see another hammer. Life is good for this 22month old.

Funny Boy

2008-11-24T13:20:00.000-08:00

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

2008-11-24T13:06:00.000-08:00

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

2008-08-30T18:03:00.000-07:00

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

2008-08-16T13:50:00.000-07:00

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

2008-08-05T19:01:00.000-07:00

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

2008-08-01T19:22:00.000-07:00

Need I say anything?

For Papa Jim

2008-07-30T20:45:00.000-07:00

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!

2008-06-29T00:20:00.000-07:00

Who has the biggest smile in this picture?

Who says you have to grow up?

Big Boys

2008-06-29T00:12:00.000-07:00

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

2008-06-26T14:33:00.000-07:00

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

2008-06-03T14:21:00.000-07:00

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

2008-05-25T11:08:00.000-07:00

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

2008-03-29T21:00:00.000-07:00

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

2008-03-21T18:05:00.001-07:00

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

2008-03-16T20:46:00.000-07:00

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!

2008-03-05T00:12:00.000-08:00

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

2008-01-21T22:01:00.000-08:00

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

2008-01-10T12:39:00.000-08:00

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

2008-01-07T20:04:00.000-08:00

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

Almost Crawling

2007-12-17T22:02:00.000-08:00

Will is growing up sooo fast. He is trying really hard to crawl. This may not sound all that spectacular to most people but for parents of one "non-crawler" we are very excited for him. In similar fashion to his sister, Will likes to be naked. When Evie was little, when we took her clothes off she would run around like a crazy woman. She still says, "I want to run like a crazy woman", after she gets out of the bath tub. Maybe all babies like to be naked, not just our kids. Will rolls around on the floor and pulls himself around "army style" (0n his belly) but as soon as you take his clothes off to put on his jammies....he turns into a "crazy man". He jabbers and drools and just gets silly. I caught a few seconds of him "trying" to crawl. He looks so cute. Since I captured this video, he now gets up on all fours and his head too. He will look at you upside down between his legs and blow raspberries. We love this little guy!

The Princess Bed

2007-12-17T20:41:00.000-08:00

It is both a sad day and a happy day!

Cass can no longer jump up onto the big bed ("mommy & daddy's bed"). She will be thirteen this spring. I was thinking about the pet ramp or step that, "allows older pets to easily get to places that they can no longer jump up to", but I was also relieved that I didn't have to share my bed with her anymore. What to do? No need to worry any longer. Cass, the first princess, that has been moved to third on the Princess Totem Pole, has found the perfect bed. It is not too high for her to jump onto, yet it is not on the floor like a dog bed for average dogs (Coal). It is the perfect princess bed! It is Evie's princess bed. I Love it even more now! Evie has a warm body to lay with and Cass....has her own bed. It is a happy day/night in the Mello House.

Lack of Technology

2007-11-29T20:15:00.001-08:00

So much is going on around here. I had a birthday, the family took a trip to Arizona (Will's first big trip), and Thanksgiving. I have yet to make any posts because I recently slammed my camera in the van door. It was not pretty. It actually had some denting and a cracked LCD screen. I did borrow a camera from Steve & Mom but I have yet to get those pictures on the computer. I do however have the last picture taken on my camera. I am amazed to say that the camera took quite a beating but continued to take an o.k. picture. I failed to believe it worked so when Bill tried it and took a picture it is of me.....pissed off! As you can see, it's not one of my best pictures but the damn camera still worked. I have since then replaced the poor damaged piece of expensive photography equipment and should be able to share some new(and cuter) pictures soon.

Happy Halloween

2007-11-01T21:22:00.000-07:00

Little kids are soooo cute when they get dressed up in costumes. My mom and I took the kids downtown for trick or treating at the downtown businesses. This is a good way for the kids to trick or treat safely although it's a bit crazy for the parents. Evie got to choose between a Lady Bug and Bee costume, she chose a super cute Bumble Bee. The big guy was a lion (as Evie says, "a lion. Roooaaarr"). I have to say my kids looked great. Halloween is a lot more fun when you have kids to share it with. Click on a picture to see larger images.

This is Evie supervising her dad's pumpkin carving skill. She's a hands off type of manager.

Grandma Ginger (as Evie calls her) and the kids in downtown plaza

William the mighty Lion. And expert people watcher.

Miss personality herself. Someone actually stopped and took a picture of her because she looked so cute that day. See, I'm not the only one that thinks so highly of her.

Trick or treating and being cute is hard work for a little kid. After a nice hour long nap she was up and ready to go for round two. I on the other hand required 8 hours of sleep and a big cup of coffee.

Boys and Girls

2007-10-18T11:31:00.000-07:00

Each person is different from the other. Boys are different from girls. Will and Evie are already different in a lot of ways too. Will is very physical. He grabs, pulls, chews on and jabbers at everything he plays with. Dinner time is so funny. He gets food everywhere, and the other night insisted on putting two spoons in his mouth at the same time. Yesterday he did the funniest thing thus far....

Evie with her "newey" :

Will with his "newey":

See Boys are just a little different!

Pumpkin Patch 2007

2007-10-14T14:11:00.000-07:00

We got together with the Puritz's, Barkers and Broses and went to the pumpkin patch the other day. We took our niece Kate with us and had a great time. We hiked through the fields and picked out a pumpkin for Evie, one for Kate, one for Grammy & Grampy and one for me. We had a good time getting dirty and seeing the animals. We finished up our day with a trip to the pizza parlor. That was an adventure. Stay tuned for Halloween costumes.

Thought for the day

2007-10-11T00:51:00.000-07:00

One of the greatest inventions for moms is the Drive Thru! It's true. Who wants to unload, carry and manage their children while running in for a quick stop. A good example is drive thru coffee. In Chico, we have many local drive thru coffee stops and even a Dutch Bros. but I recently learned that we also have a drive thru Starbucks. This is a very good thing. Starbucks sells a pumpkin scone that I could live on this time of year. So there are many mornings that a coffee and scone are just what I want and now it is possible. I am a big fan of drive thru's. My bank has a drive thru, my dry cleaner is a drive thru and now my Starbucks is a drive-thru.

She Likes Him

2007-10-08T21:55:00.000-07:00

Evie told her dad that she would like to hold "brother". We couldn't believe it so we had to get the camera. As you can see they both enjoyed themselves!!! Will looks like he is as big as Evie already.
It only took a few months and now she really likes him. Evie tells Will "good night" and "love you". She also goes into his room and peaks into the crib when he wakes up and says "good morning Will, how did you sleep?". I'm am such a lucky and happy mommy!

The Boys

2007-10-05T16:35:00.001-07:00

For those of you that don't know my friend Kelly and I were pregnant at the same time. Our due dates were just days apart. Kelly's baby was due on April 2 and Will was due on April 4. I was scheduled to have Will delivered on March 26th but the big guy just couldn't wait. Will was born on Sat. March 24, 2007 at 9:30 am. As it turns out Kelly's baby just couldn't wait until April either. Jack Robert Eldon Stephens was born on Tues. March 27, 2007 at 7:05 am.

It has been pretty fun for Kelly and I to share our pregnancies and now our boys get to grow up together. As you can see from the pictures there are many similarities: at their 5 month check up there was slight differences in their lengths and weights, their mom's like camo, and their dads like baseball.

Park Play

2007-10-05T16:12:00.000-07:00

Evie, Will and I took an evening trip to the park the other day. There are several parks in the area but we went to one down the street that has swings. Swings are a must you know!
It was Will's first time in the swing. He seemed to enjoy it. I think he really liked being up next to his sister. Evie was showing Will how she goes "high in the sky" but told him he couldn't do it because he's "too small".

Evie wanted to play in the water faucet that she had played in several times in the summer. I tried to explain to her that it may be cold. Sometimes the best way for a two year old to learn is to figure it out themselves so since it wasn't freezing I let her try it out. It only lasted a minute and then we moved on to something else.

I only had the cell phone to take pictures with so the pictures aren't great but you have to love technology. I took pictures with my phone sent them to my computer and then uploaded them to the blog to share with you.

And So It Begins....

2007-10-05T16:02:00.001-07:00

Today is the big day....I've started a blog for myself and the family. I convinced my dear husband to put Evie-bug to bed so I can watch the season opener of CSI (the original) and start my new hobby. I'm actually hoping to create a journal for Will since I have not even purchased a baby book for the big guy. So here it goes.....
Will is six months old. He's rolling over and over and can get around pretty good when he wants to. He is eating some solids but likes to nurse even more. He sleeps 8 to 10 hours at night and is a pretty good little guy.

Evie is a precocious little bundle of energy. We are working on potty training and she is doing good. We give her stickers to put on the potty and on herself whenever she uses the potty. We used to use M&M's but she learned to take off her diaper and use the potty just to get candy....I figured that out.... after a while.

Bill's bday is just days away. He shares the big day with Ryder so we will be attending a big first birthday party. Evie and I are looking forward to it and Bill.... will adjust to going to kids parties on his birthday.

This sounds like a good place to start
Stay posted....it really is entertaining.

For A Smile Look Here

2007-09-29T09:25:00.000-07:00

Are these kids a riot or what?

Like Father Like Son

2007-09-15T21:08:00.000-07:00

I've always thought Will looked a lot like his daddy but this picture seals the deal. Look at those two cute guys. I am such a lucky lady.

Not only does Will look like his dad but he already has a lot in common with him.