Miss Frizzle Goes to Kindergarten

     Yesterday was Dr. Seuss' birthday, and in celebration of that day, my daughter's school encouraged kids to dress up as their favorite book character.  Initially Monkey wanted to be Elsa or Ana (of course), but I tried to emphasize book characters.  Yes, I realize there are book versions of the movie now, but I really wanted to encourage something that was at least a book before it was a movie.  After many suggestions and vetoes we both decided on Miss Frizzle from The Magic School Bus series.  We both agreed on this idea because 1) Monkey LOVES the Magic School Bus 2) the costume would be pretty simple to execute 3) the outfit wouldn't be so outlandish as to be a distraction in class and 4) we actually have a few of these books and have read them before she saw the shows  (it's the principle, after all).

     Most of Miss Frizzle's outfits are collared dresses with outlandish patterns, so I decided to start simple and add on.  I began with a simple navy blue, collared dress I found at Gymboree for $10.  (You can buy them online from Old Navy Kids for less, but I didn't have time to wait for shipping.)  I  found some fun solar system fabric at Hobby Lobby and a couple packs of yellow star buttons at Hancock Fabric.  

My haul

     I cut out individual planets from the fabric, pinned them in place, and sewed them to the dress. 

I swear I'm studying

Pinning it all in place 

I literally had to dust my poor sewing machine off before I could use it.

  Next I added the buttons by hand stitching them in place.  Here's the finished product:

Front

Back

      Something seemed to be missing, so I gave Monkey her own "Liz" to keep her company, by attaching her Beanie Baby "Rainbow" to her shoulder using safety pins.  I made sure to warn Monkey not to rip Rainbow/Liz off her shoulder or it would make big holes in the dress and/or the stuffed animal.  I also made sure to let her teacher know how I attached it so she could remove him if the stuffed animal became a problem in class.  It's a good thing I did, because when I got home from clinical, I found this note from Monkey's teacher.  It's a good thing Monkey was in the other room, because I got the giggles after reading it.

     Finally to round out the look, I twisted Monkey's hair the night before while it was still wet so that it would be good and frizzy curly the next morning.  J pulled it all up into a loose clip yesterday morning while I was at school with strict instructions to snap multiple pictures for me.  He, unfortunately, did not get the memo, so I don't have any pictures of the full ensemble. (You had one job, J!) Oh, well.  I may just snap a couple myself next time she decides to play dress up.

     Monkey and I had a lot of fun hunting for the perfect dress, finding the add-ons together, and even giggling while I did her hair.  It's really fun having a little girl, especially when she lets you in on the dress up game.  She got many compliments at school about her outfit, and she really enjoyed the extra attention.  Now she's telling me she wants to be Miss Frizzle for Halloween and Daddy can be Liz.  We shall see if he's up for that, but lucky for him she has plenty of time to change her mind!

     Also to celebrate Dr. Seuss' birthday, I made this special lunch for Monkey:

   I made the Cat in the Hat's hat by coloring red stripes on a white cheese stick.  Then I made green eggs and ham by dying an egg like you would an Easter egg, and threading a bit of rolled up ham on a toothpick.  I added in half of a banana, a GoGurt, and a bit of trail mix made up of Cheerios, cranberries, and yogurt-covered raisins.

     I had a lot of fun putting together all of this stuff so Monkey's usual Monday would be a tad more fun.  Now I'll leave you with these wonderful words of wisdom from Miss Frizzle herself :-)