Hogle Zoo

 We went to the zoo with my dad, Katie, and little sister Emma over

UEA weekend.

The boys had a blast!

 While Katie took Sam and Mateo in the small reptile building, I stayed outside

with Emma, Ben, and Oscar.

We kept them happy with popcorn and ICEE's.

 Such a goofball!

 Oscar was happy to be bundled and cozy in his car seat.

 He really was excited to see the giraffes... he just doesn't show it very well. ;)

 Cute brothers!

It was so fun to see Ben's reaction to the animals. I think we need to go to the zoo more often!

Two Months!

Our sweet little baby is two months old!

At his well child visit, he weighed 10 lbs 2 oz and was 22 inches long.

It's hard to believe he was the same length at 2 months that Mateo was at birth!

He's starting to look more like Sam every day!

Blessed

 Oscar was blessed on Sept 1st.

We tried to keep it small, which is kind of hard to do 

since we both have large families.

For some reason, The Blessing Day is always incredibly stressful to me,

and I didn't want it to be that way again.

It's supposed to be a time to celebrate the sweet new baby,

not a time for The Mommy to freak out. 

That meant that the guest list was small, and the food was simple.

I'm all about simplicity these days.

My mom bought Oscar's blessing outfit, and he looked adorable.

 Of course, Oscar had to have some Converse for the occasion.

(Also a gift from my mom)

 Mateo insisted on having his picture taken with "Oxter."

 Manuel and I kept the invites to immediate family,

and some of our best friends. 

A very embarrassing attempt at a family picture.

I am so grateful for Manuel.

He's an amazing daddy, and it always makes me cry

when he exercises his Priesthood power. 

Oscar's blessing was beautiful, just like the other boys. 

I am grateful for our sweet little baby who wanted to join our crazy family.

I am also grateful for my awesome, supportive family.

Thanks to everyone that came to support us!

Seven!

 Um... I'm pretty sure Sam was just turning 4 like a couple days ago.

And now he's 7.

SEVEN!

In one more year, this boy will be baptized!

He's practically a grown up now!

They grow up too fast.

Anyway, on to the birthday celebrations.

On his actual birthday, Sam was really bummed that he actually had to go to school.

(Normally, school starts after his birthday).

I took McDonald's to him for lunch, and he was thrilled.

After school and dinner, he was able to open presents from us.

 For his family party, he decided on a Scooby-Doo theme.

Sam was pretty excited to have Mummy Dogs for dinner.

(They're his favorite "Halloween" food) 

 Sam's quite the 7-year-old.

He seems to get a little more obnoxious every year.

He told me not too long ago that he was bad when he was 6,

but he's going to be EVEN WORSE when he's 7! 

So far, he's right.

Just kidding.

It's just really interesting (and fun) to watch him grow.

Boys just crack me up.

It's a good thing I have a lot of them, right? ;)

 The Cake.

Manuel actually made the tag for me.

I had tried doing it myself and got so mad I threw a spatula across the room.

I had been working on it for awhile and hadn't eaten anything.

Apparently I need food to function. 

After my little tantrum, Manuel told me to eat my lunch while he
put the tag together.
He did a better job than I did!

Sam is an awesome kid.

He's helpful and sensitive.

He loves LEGOs.

And Nintendo.

And drawing.

He's a smartypants- an excellent reader and likes math.

He's passionate and stubborn, which can be a good and a bad thing depending 

on the situation. :)

Here's Sam's 7 year birthday interview:

What is your favorite color? Green

What is your favorite food? Spaghetti 

Who is your best friend? Hudson

What do you like to do at home? Play Nintendo

Who is your favorite super hero? Robin

What is your favorite movie? Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs

What is your favorite book? Captain Underpants

Where is your favorite place to go? Chuck E Cheese

What do you like to wear? Green (uhh... ok)

What things make you happy? Lots of things

What things make you sad? People beating me up. (Um... does this happen often?!)

What do you do when you're mad? I hit everything and just get mad and I always go to my room.

What is your favorite TV show? Spongebob (which is funny considering he isn't allowed to watch it!)

What is your favorite restaurant? How 'bout we just say... Cafe Rio

Who is your favorite person from the scriptures? Samuel the Lamanite

What is your favorite Primary song? My Heavenly Father Loves Me

First Day of School!

 Mateo started Preschool!

He goes to a cute little preschool in his teacher's basement.

Her name is Ms. Shayla and she is great!

Mateo was super excited to go, but I found out later that he cried

at school his first day.

Poor kid.

He loves it now though!

 His friends, Layne, and Sadie are in his class as well.

It's cute because they'll wait for each other and walk into the house together.

I love all of the cute things he has brought home so far!

 Sam started 2nd grade!

That's right, folks.

Second.Grade.

When did he get so old?

 Poor Sam has had some struggles already.

He misses his Papa a lot, 

and that made going to school kind of hard.

We're working through it, and hopefully Sam can get some help

with his grieving.

My little guys are growing up!

I'm so lucky to be their mom.

Boo-Boo Turns Two!

 I don't know how it happened, but Ben decided to turn two. One thing that has always amazed me as a mother, is how quickly time passes. Like lightning speed sometimes.  One minute we're bringing him home from the hospital, and then next thing I know, he's turning two! I kind of feel like I cheated Ben a little. I just couldn't do my usual parties with a mommy-made cake and themed food. I wanted to, but I had to be realistic, but it didn't stop me from having serious mommy guilt. I'll have to make it up to him!

 Ben didn't last very long with the present opening. I think he sat through a couple, but decided it was too much work after that. Instead, he just had Sam and Mateo open the presents, then he'd play with them. Silly boy.

 He got so many awesome presents! Our boys are always spoiled rotten. They're lucky to have so many people that love them!

 Cute, happy boy.

 I did a dump truck theme for Ben's party. He has a Tonka dump truck that he loves to play with, and the kid would live in the sandbox if I let him. We had some snacks: tires (chocolate donettes) and slate & Spackle (blue corn chips and salsa). Plus, I made yellow cupcakes from scratch with a chocolate pudding frosting.

 Even though it was a simple party, I think Ben had a lot of fun! He was so cute when everyone was singing to him. When it came to blowing out the candle, he would let out a small little puff of air and smile. Mateo ended up blowing his candle out for him. :)

I sure love our sweet, crazy Ben! I always thought that Mateo was the crazy one, but Ben is literally The Crazy One. He loves to dump Legos on the floor, terrorize the dog, and does whatever he can to make people laugh. He thinks that he is hilarious, and teases people constantly. He's a lot like his father! Ben is my little buddy, and I don't know what we'd do without him! His vocabulary has exploded recently, and he's talking all.the.time.
Some of my favorite words/phrases are: "Book, Mommy!" (look)
                                                              Ham (Sam)
                                                              A-doe (Tato)
                                                              me-me-mems (M&Ms)
                                                              O-wee (Odie)
                                                              ees (cheese, and shoes)
                                                              mammas (chickens- one is named mama)
                                                              Please
                                                              aw-ree (sorry)
He loves cars, Jake and the Neverland Pirates (he calls it, "And me") and has recently discovered Toy Story. Buzz is his favorite, and now anything flying in the sky is automatically "Buzz." Ben adores his older brothers, and tries so hard to keep up with them. He is more "boy" at 2 than Sam and Mateo were, and it amazes and scares me at the same time. Ben is persistent, stubborn, and quick to give hugs and say "sorry." He's the best eater, and eats whatever is on his plate. I love it! Some of his favorite foods are: apples (he calls them "balls") cheese, goldfish, grapes, cantaloupe (although we recently discovered he's allergic :/) strawberries, and "nacks" (fruit snacks).

We're lucky to have this crazy kid in our family! Happy birthday to our Benny Boo-Boo!
                                                           

Some Adorable Pictures, and How Oscar Got His Name

 Before Oscar was born, I was going through my options for newborn photos.

I knew I needed some right away for his birth announcement,

but I didn't want to take a newborn baby to a studio.

After weighing my options, we went with Baby Bella Photography.

I was in love with Ben's pictures, and I love Oscar's too.

 Before I was ever pregnant, Manuel and I decided on a name for our next baby.

I think we both knew that there wasn't a girl in our near future, so we just picked a boy name and called it good.

We always try to pick names that are either Spanish, or work in English and Spanish.

I have loved the name Oscar for a long time, and surprisingly, Manuel liked it as well.

 We left it at that, and didn't talk about middle names at the time.

Then we found out I was pregnant, and 20 weeks later, found out that we were having

a boy.

This launched a very lengthy, sometimes heated discussion, of what the middle name should be.

Manuel and I tend to wait until the baby is born and we're forced to fill out the birth certificate

before we ever decide on a middle name.

For some reason, that conversation just causes a lot of problems for us.

I like using family names, but for the middle name only. 

I think it gets confusing when you have a lot of people with the same name running around.

I told Manuel that this baby would get a family name from my side because

as it stood, Sam was the only one with a name from my family, although his name actually

worked for both sides.

This baby would REALLY have a name from my side.

I really wanted Miguel.

I thought that was what it should be, plus is covered 3 members of my family.

Manuel hated it.

Completely refused to agree to it.

So I was back to square one.

 I wanted to be fair, and I didn't want to hurt anyone's feelings.

I was torn and felt like I would offend someone no matter what I did.

I started searching my family history on my mom and dad's sides,

trying to find "the name."

While I was looking at my dad's family line,

I noticed that my great-great grandfather had a son named Benjamin Oscar who died when he was about one year old. 

It broke my heart. I know it was common for that time period, but I thought about 

the pain of losing a child so soon, and knew that we HAD to keep the name Oscar no matter what. 

We would honor the sweet baby that died way too soon.

 I found my name on my maternal side.

My mom's grandfather's name was Henry, and I have always loved that name.

I decided right away that was what his name should be,

but Manuel wasn't on board, which wasn't a surprise because that's kind 

of how we roll. 

My great-grandpa was a good man, who would do anything for anyone.

Everyone loved him, and his nickname was, "Happy."

I think I need to ask my grandma to tell me the story behind that one.

  

 Up until I delivered Oscar, Manuel wouldn't agree to it.

I was filling out the birth certificate and asked Manuel what we were going to do.

He told me to put whatever I wanted because he couldn't think of anything,

and then he left to run home to shower and get the baby's car seat.

I felt like a brat because I was trying for a name that he didn't care for,

but when I got to the middle name, I wrote Henry in anyway.

I felt bad for about a second, but it quickly went away.

I guess I really am a brat!

 Even though he doesn't want to admit it, I think it's growing on Manuel.

I've been a little hurt though because it hasn't been well-received with his family.

When they asked what his name was, we got some looks of disgust, and some comments like,

"Oh, so he has a 'white' name?"

I felt like someone punched me in the stomach.

I've tried really hard to find names that fit my taste and still honor their culture.

I've done it out of respect for them, and because it was something that was important to Manuel.

The name "Oscar" is like "Samuel."

It's a name that can be English or Spanish depending on how you say it.

Those words killed me. Just thinking about it now makes me want to cry.

I know it's something I shouldn't worry about, but it hurt A LOT.

They may scoff at his name, but I love it. 

My grandma insists on calling him "Oscar Henry," and I think it's really funny.

For some reason, naming our kids is always an adventure,

but that is how Oscar got his name.