Nerdy Suburban Mom

If you need labels for clothing, lunchboxes, bookbags, towels — pretty much anything, I strongly recommend these: Lovable Labels. They’re based in Canada and may seem expensive, but they’re durable and pretty and absolutely worth it. Of the many that are on Lillian’s clothes and personal belongings, a grand total of zero have fallen off in the last year. I just ordered a batch of new ones with a fire truck, for Reuven.

The final phase of the teaching fellowship I participated in this year is a “teacher’s institute,” where we grad students show teachers some of the lessons we used. This includes giving them enough supplies to do the experiments with their students — 20 teachers, 20 students each…

Reuven’s traditionally favorite blankie is getting a bit worn; plus, it was store-bought (albeit a gift). So, I made him a brand new blankie for his return to daycare.

It looks more complicated than it is. I just took a piece of fleece and added satin blanket binding to the edge; but the patchwork styling of the patterned fleece makes it look more interesting and more handmade.

Either way, he sure liked it.

We carved two jack-o-lanterns. The lumpy reddish one had very thick flesh, so we also made a tasty pumpkin pie!

I’m shamelessly proud of the job I did on both these home-made costumes.

Lillian got enough candy to last another whole year, at least. Wow!

This year, I asked Lillian what her brother should be for Halloween. She thought for a moment, then declared, “A pickle!”

So I made him a pickle. Green fleece, green buttons, and a bit of batting stuffed in the back to round out the pickle shape. Everybody loved it, and only a few people thought he was a peapod.

Plus, they both won the costume contest — Witch got first place, Pickle got second. I was totally stoked.

Taking your family on a trip through a graveyard looking for relatives results in rather morbid vacation pics!

Thankfully, that’s not all we did.

Lillian wants her little brother to be a pickle for Halloween. This is definitely not available off-the-shelf… but here’s the plan.