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A Picture Is Worth...

A thousand words...
Or so at least every parent wants to think as they take picture after picture after picture of their child. That's like billions of words! That's got to be good right?
Seriously though, who doesn't take pictures of their kid? Who wants to be "that" parent who doesn't shell out for school pictures? I have to admit I am almost willing to run the risk of being "that" parent because dang, those school pictures sure ain't cheap. And God forbid you change your mind and decide to get an additional digital version instead of the hundreds of useless teeny prints you thought may have been a good idea at the time (I plead insanity); they will not only charge you again for the same freaking image AND unless you pay more, it's a stupid useless teeny tiny thumbnail.
Whew, ok rant is over...
Whose with me? Let's do a school picture strike!
Ok now it's over.
But.
I suppose in the long run the aggravation might be worth it, so at least for this year I won't be "that" mom. Only as long as they get a good one...


So here it is folks, the little lion's first ever school picture. 
Just like a little man, scratching his belly and all...(I think they were trying to get him to put his hand in his pocket. Darn those skinny jeans!) 
Weee isn't he just the cutest?!?

Well tis the season for school pictures and with Halloween fast approaching it is also the season for pictures of kids in costumes. I've blogged about Halloween before and about the many different ways to "do" Halloween especially with special needs kids, so I won't go into again, but it's here if you want to revisit it...
So this year as I started the usually entertaining search for decent costumes for the kids I had the sudden and slightly unpleasant realization that if your boy is older than 0-12 months old it's really difficult to find a non-scary non-superhero costume! In fact unless you settle for a SWAT uniform or a pirate (again) the pickings are next to zilch. You can buy a gargantuan partially decomposing skull lawn "decoration," but almost no where can you find a sweetly innocent and fun boy costume for a five year old! 
But, perhaps you do find it! And if you do and then go ahead and buy it all the while ignoring the moths flying out of your wallet, the costume will last perhaps just the one night and eventually join all the other billions of costumes and decor at the land-fill Halloween party.
So I went homemade this year.


I bet a lot of you will know who this will be...If not, then you should go buy My Neighbor Totoro movie right away. 
  It’s a totally awesome movie about two young girls who move into an old house in the country with their dad to be closer to their mother who is the hospital.  The girls discover magical creatures (tree spirits who are called Totoros) in the nearby forest and together they embark on an adventure.


It's a Studio Ghibli Miyazaki movie and they pretty much make the absolute best movies for kids.
Leo and Nika love them. And me too!
The big Totoro doesn't say much, but he makes the wind blow and trees grow and when he smiles everything just lights up. Kinda like Leo. Well without the tree and wind part...



What do you think? Looks like this Halloween is in the bag too.



Nika is not in costume...yet..
Make your own costumes guys! It's really way more fun!
And then you can have another excuse to post lots of dorky pictures online too!
It's a win-win thing.




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