September 27, 2013: photo post--superhero day

So, every year at school we do this Read a Thon thing.  Basically, in an effort to raise money for the PTSA (parent, teacher, student association, formerly known as the PTA), the kids pledge to read a certain amount of time each night for 2 weeks and people give them money for this.  Evidently it works as a fundraiser.  We've done fairly well the past 3 years, and E usually reads 20 to 30 minutes a night, and she's delighted when she can raise money for it and we all say, "yay, reading!" at the end of the two weeks.
This year, we read together every night, a chapter in whatever book we were reading.  We were about halfway through A Wrinkle in Time by Madeline L'Engle when it started, and on finishing that, we started Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone.  She's enjoying the stories so far (which wasn't hard with Potter, since we've seen all the movies).
Anyway, as a reward for the students if they meet their reading goal, they get to dress up in some sort of theme on the Friday where they have the assembly to celebrate the Read A Thon's end.  This year was superheroes.  E decided, rather than be one of those traditional heroes, she wanted to be Raven, from the Teen Titans.

This is a challenge, frankly, since Raven wears a body suit and a cloak, as well as a mask (no masks allowed).  We shopped around, and it's tough to find a purple cloak.  While I'm great with most crafts, I'm not much of a seamstress, so making one wasn't an option.
The raven pictured to the left is E's idea of Raven.  There are others, which vary from more childish to more sexy.  Much more sexy.  Inappropriate for a 7 year old to wear to school sexy.  Mostly, we were having problems resolving the whole "she wears a body suit" thing, since the child really needs to go to school in pants.  Again, when reviewing superheroes with a little girl, it's hard to find a female hero who isn't completely sexed up, from Supergirl and Batgirl in their microskirts, to Wonder Woman in her one piece bathing suit, and to the various other skin tight body suit options that usually involve low cut tops, corsets or other such nonsense.  How do you fight in that crap, anyway?
We came up with a "okay you have to know that E likes Raven in order to understand that this is Raven" costume, but she seemed to like it.

 While it's not the best costume we've ever had, she got her purple and black in there, and she got her cool belt.  And, crucially, she got to wear a gem on her forehead.  Apparently that cures a lot of ills.
The shirt she's wearing is made of that underarmor type material that is supposed to keep you cool while you're being sporty.  She was trying to put it on after her shower this morning, and she announced that it was like trying to put on a wet bathing suit.

Ella: This would be a good shirt to wear under your coat when you're skiing.
Me: yes, it would.
Ella: Or if you're robbing a bank.
Me: I think I would prefer that you not rob a bank.
Ella: I said "or."