Fall Time is here

Baby Loves his backpack

Last weekend, I didn't really do much (because I was working) except we did take a walk around our neighborhood with our entire brood. I have started walking the dogs on a more regular basis. I finally feel like I have a little bit better of a schedule going on with Baby and the Things have been so understanding this summer. I call him 'Hannibal' because he wears a muzzle when we walk (and very vaguely you can hear him say 'Chianti' and make a sucking noise like on the movie Silence of the Lambs.)

When I am alone with them, I have to take them one at a time on a walk. (I usually only take them around our apartment complex because it is a nice walk and then I can keep it fair. I don't need any sibling rivalry coming from the Thing department.)
It has been such a beautiful fall here in the Northwest, that I will forgive it for the crappy summer. I love fall. It has to be my favorite season (until of course I see Spring then I forget the beauty of Fall and become infatuated with all the new growth and colors.) But back to Fall, I love all the leaves and especially love to crunch the fallen leaves on the sidewalk and gutters. That is right, I still walk in the filthy disgusting gutters to satisfy my need for that crispy sound that only comes once a year. This picture just makes me smile and want to walk back down there to stomp and kick through one more street before this fall turns into the swampy cold, rainy winter that is just around the corner. It is definitely the little happiness in life. I am glad that one thing that has carried over from my childhood is the leaf crushing thing (well that and my horrible bad habit of chewing my nails, but that is for a different day.) I think I better leave the laptop and head out while the sun is shining......

Reposted with Video: Jabbering on

Recently, Baby has started to find his voice. He loves to sit and just jabber. He actually reminds me of my Grandpa Asao. I was very young when he died, so I only have a few memories of him. I was always amazed that he didn't have many teeth (I don't think he had any in the back to tell you the truth), but could still 'eat' any piece of Kentucky Fried Chicken. So with the greatest respect, this video happily reminds me of being a kid watching my Grandpa eat, surrounded by all his grandkids and family in his tiny house on Wall Ave. No fried chicken yet for him, but great memories to talk about with my jabbering Baby.

And the winner is.....

And that makes the winner.....Congrats, Hillary!

Thanks so much for everyone that entered and Hillary I be emailing you all the info to use your fabulous $35 gift certificate from CSN!

ALSO a big THANK YOU to CSN for the gift certificate.

Lookin' Good

You know how one day you look up and things have completely changed. Today was that day for me. I had my camera out and was able to snap a few pictures of a very cooperative baby. I have know for a while that he is no longer a newborn, but today, as I was editing the pictures, I realized he is getting so big so fast. (as I know everyone always said, but you never believe it until you are living it.)He is smiley and happy (unless he is hungry, but as you can see, he doesn't miss many meals on my clock). His little personality is starting to shine through more and more. He finds our crazy Thing 2 hilarious. I love that he finds laughter contagious, and if we are laughing he will bust up as well. And of course, it is common knowledge that baby's laughter will heal any bad day that the real world can throw at you, so we are in good shape at the Sodermoto house!

One last reminder.... Friday is the last day to enter my wonderful giveaway from CSN from Monday. Don't be left out and Good Luck to all that have entered!

So this is ok right?

I was impressed that he would go cross-eyed for it.

I figured that since he had to dress up like a monkey he should reap some of the benefits, right? I only let him suck and break apart the candy bar from the outside of the package. No chocolate this year, but definitely next for sure. Until then, the fun size candy will only be moving straight to my hips.... maybe I should try sucking on a few of the candy bar packages too. I don't need to open any more.

Also, don't forget to enter my giveaway from Monday...

CSN Giveaway and I ain't talkin' about Crosby Stills and Nash

So today is a special day. It is the first ever giveaway for our blog ever. Yeah! I was contacted a week ago to do a giveaway for one of my readers from a company called CSN (not affiliated with Crosby, Stills and Nash). It is a website that has a ton of different stores and sells a ton of different things. The winner of my giveaway will win a $35 dollar gift certificate to use on anything from their online store.

So here is how to enter....

Leave a comment as to what you would get from CSN if you won this gift certificate.

For extra chances to win:
Post about my giveaway on your blog, twitter or facebook account. (Please leave a separate comment on my blog for each post that you do.(example "I posted about your giveaway on Facebook."))

Become a Follower of my blog (Leave a separate comment letting me know that you are a new follower or an existing follower of my blog)

Giveaway ends Friday, November 5, 2010 at 11:59 PM PST. The lucky winner will be drawn by a random number generator. With each entry, please include a valid email that you can be reached at. If no email is included with your entry or the winner does not contact me within 48 hours, a new lucky winner will be chosen.

Thank you, CSN!
and Good Luck and I can't wait to give this prize away to a lucky reader!

My Monkey Related family....

Yesterday, we officially had a reason to celebrate Halloween. I was a lot more excited this year than in years past because I couldn't wait to put Baby in his cute little monkey costume. I decided to dress up as jungle vines because I realized that I needed to find a way to carry the little one around all night for the party we were invited to. I really liked how my costume turned out and was excited that Baby didn't freak out when I was wearing my vines. Soder found a shirt that was the chest of a Wookie, and since he is losing his hair he decided to wear a werewolf mask and hands that my sister had. It was funny because the kids really loved the fact that Soder would try to scare the kids which would in turn make the kids run around and then want Soder to howl at them. I loved to watch Soder get attacked by a pack of children. It was a great time and while we didn't trick-or-treat very long, it was a great first Halloween as a family.