Brief craftiness

Just a quickie today...

I just wanted to promote this awesome crafty project I'm taking part in, along with some people I know through an online forum. Hopefully some of you will be inspired to join us!

We're knitting/crocheting red scarves between now and December 15 for the Red Scarf Project. This is a project of an awesome organization called Foster Care to Success, which helps college students who grew up in foster care. They provide financial assistance, mentoring, and support to these young adults who've already been through so much, to help them land that college degree. They also provide care packages, which is where the Red Scarf Project comes in. Each Valentine's Day care package contains a handmade red scarf. Is that awesome or what??

We thought this seemed like an easy, fun way to support an organization that's doing some really important work. There's no real guidelines other than color (any shade of red, including ombres), size (approx 60" x 5"), and style (unisex). So far I've completed one scarf, and am halfway through another.

I will keep you posted on my progress. And I hope some of you join me in crafting for the Red Scarf Project!

Blerg!

There's just something about the girls' faces in this pic that really expresses much of how I feel today...

What's funny is this was taken on Sunday afternoon at a super fun block party that was fundraising for Minnesotans United for All Families. We'd already played games, gotten faces painted (as you can see), and were taking a break to eat some treats (root beer floats!!). Why they put on these silly faces the instant I pulled out my phone for a picture is beyond me.

But the upside is, I have a picture that perfectly expresses how I'm feeling today!

Super Hero Squad

Recently the girls have been really getting in to super heroes. Aaron's introduced them to many of the characters in the Marvel universe, initially through a show he found on Netflix called Super Hero Squad. It's aimed at kids, and is really cute - Iron Man, Thor, Hulk, Falcon, Ms. Marvel, and Captain America are the main Squaddies, although they're occasionally joined by other heroes including Wolverine, Dr. Strange, and Spiderman. They all live in Super Hero City and fight Dr. Doom and his Lethal Legion, MODOK and Abomination, who sometimes get help from Dr. Octopus, Mystique, Mole Man, and other rando residents of Villainville.

For whatever reason, the girls have gotten incredibly into this show, and the whole concept of super heroes, so we're going with it. Ella's favorite is Wolverine, and Maisie's is Silver Surfer. We've gotten some super hero Lego sets and Squinkies, checked Super Hero Squad books out of the library, and now... we have costumes!

Thanks to zulily, a daily deal site, I found some adorable superhero costumes that I thought would be perfect for Halloween. Ella's is American Dream, who's Captain America's daughter. Maisie's is Spidergirl, Spiderman's daughter.

But once they arrived, there was clearly no way they were going to wait for Halloween. Why would you wait, when you could wear them out to the pizza restaurant??

So here's Captain Dream (Ella's conflation of American Dream and the Cap):

 And a VERY sassy Spidergirl:

They're ready to hero up!