For Halloween this year, Anya really wanted to be a minion. And Andy needed to be Gru. And I needed to be one of the little girls. I found crochet patterns for a minion hat and for minion goggles, and I made up a super simple knit pattern for a Gru scarf.

Alas, as much as Anya wanted me to be one of the little girls, the complexity of their clothing was too much for me (so many parts!). I thought about going as a kid in “The Box of Shame,” but that somehow didn’t seem appropriate to wear to school. I remembered I had a purple wig from last year, and I pondered for a while dressing up as a purple minion, but that required me to get a purple shirt. Woe is I. In the end, I crocheted up a minion goggle and wore my purple wig and made growling sounds and had to explain to everyone who I was dressed up as because really I was just a weird person wearing a purple wig and a circle thing on her face.

And Anya? She wouldn’t wear the goggles. By the end of the school party, she’d taken off her hat, gloves, and shoes, too. When she got home, she changed into normal clothes and wouldn’t put any part of her costume back on for trick o’ treat time. Andy convinced her to put on her big sweater and go as Red Riding Hood.

Andy’s costume was definitely the most successful of all. He shaved his beard off the night before and had a coworker help him put on the bald cap and draw in super big eyebrows. He was really creepy, and I almost didn’t recognize him when he showed up at school. A few people thought he was Uncle Fester.

I’ve been wanting to write a post for a while but you know, the usual: I’m tired, or busy, or foggy headed, or driving, or in the shower. That last one I think one day will be overcome. Surely one day there will be a wall-mountable, water-proof, steam-proof computer. I guess, though, along that line of thought, I could in theory dictate a post to some sort of device while driving. No matter how cool the device, however, that sounds like trouble to me.

My breakfast is ready, and my mind is wandering, and this post is about to be left to languish in the pile of forgotten drafts, so I better hurry up.

We went to Goodwill last weekend to look for some stuff for Anya’s Halloween costume. Of course we had to check out the shoes. I think these are the most amazing shoes we’ve found so far. I almost bought them.

Do you need a better look?

Personally, I think they go very well with Anya’s outfit. I’m also thinking maybe we try on too many fancy shoes because she had absolutely no trouble walking up and down the aisle in these. Thankfully, pretty much every time she is done trying on fancy shoes she says something like, “Yes, they are nice but they aren’t good for my feet and back.” You got it, girl. And remember, soda is disgusting.

About two weeks ago, we went to Target to search for a birthday present for a little friend. We weren’t in any sort of rush, so of course we had to roam all the aisles. After this trip, we read a really gross book about head lice and then watched a sort of gross cartoon about it. I sort of wish those events had been reversed, but (knock on wood) we seem to be safe.

Although, this picture is so cute, it may have been worth a little lice.

No, not really.

I was definitely testing fate that day because I requested Anya pose in this hat, so I could see if I could replicate it later.

“See, Mommy, that’s my thoughtful look!”

And that’s all for now. My bacon is getting cold.

Craft swaps are fun, but it’s a good thing the group I’m part of is understanding because very few of us are terribly timely with our projects. Until this weekend, I was three months behind on my submissions. I decided to take June as my “free” month, and then I did two items to catch me up for the summer. Nothing super neato, but I enjoyed what I made. I continue to try and use as much of the materials from my swap packet as I can.

So, here’s what I made:

For July, I decorated these little kraft paper notebooks I found on super clearance a few months ago. The paper and ribbon are from my swap pack, and I think I bought the sentiment cards…though maybe they were in the packet, too? I don’t remember. The ladies I went to the convention with (why I feel weird about using their names when I posted photos of them yesterday I cannot explain), who are members of the swap, really liked these books.

For August, I made some get well cards. The patterned weather-themed paper and little pearls were from my packet. I put the cards together and didn’t have any sentiments and was a bit bummed. Especially after searching the convention vendor floor for two days to find something that would work. Luckily, one of my crafter friends found and bought a stamp pack that was just perfect, and so now my fellow swappers can tell someone “I’m sorry to hear you are under the weather.” (Get it? Weather? Umbrellas and raindrops? Oh, I am so clever!)

My swap packet is starting to get a bit empty and tattered. How many more months did I sign up for this?

Q: What do you get for $40 and an hour in the sun?

A: A giant, squeaky Tweety Bird and a bag full of advertising junk.

Seriously though, you also get to have a good amount of fun. At least until the kid has a meltdown and cries away her Flower Fairy face painting, which her dad somehow managed to not get any pictures of even though he took about a dozen while the face painting was in progress. (How does that happen?)

Before the crying, though, there was the acquiring of the Tweety…

and the posing with the Tweety…

and the mother holding the Tweety while the kid poured some very expensive colored sand into a plastic dolphin bottle…

and a spin-y ride, during which no Tweetys were harmed.

She is Super Shape Girl!!!

I love the library, and I love summer. I really love the library in the summer. I love the library so much, we go to TWO libraries. Oh yes we do. We can’t get enough library goodness from just one library. Sometimes, I’m afraid to admit this. I don’t want our local library to feel left out or to think it’s not good enough or to be sad. Our local library is great. Our second library, though, it’s great, too! Why should we limit the amount of library greatness we get?

The first summer program we went to this year was at our “other” library. SHHHHHH! But how could we resist? It was a SUPERHERO party. Dude.

First, the superhero-in-training decided her super power and made a shield or chest plate with their symbol on it. Anya had the power of shapes. So like, if someone needed to cross a river, she could make a giant rectangle across the river to be a bridge.

Next, the superheroes tested their strength and skills to determine what areas they needed to work on a bit more. Even superheroes can improve! They tested their super-breath….

Their super hand-eye coordination…

And their lava puddle jumping techniques.

Then everyone ate mini-cupcakes and fruit snacks and went home and drove their parents nuts with their sugar-induced invincibleness.

(Note of Disclosure: In the spirit of truthful advertising/blogging/whatever, in the first picture, Anya is wearing her Super Shape Girl mask she made at a friend’s birthday party and not at the superhero library event. So, if your child went to the library event and did not get an awesome mask, please do not call the library and complain. Instead you should call Anya’s friend’s mom because why didn’t she invite you to the birthday party?)