A couple of weeks ago, Lily’s school year had “meet a Roman soldier day. For this they were encouraged to dress up as a Roman. Not surprisingly, this ties in with the current learning theme of “Romans”. Putting aside the additional £2.50 we had to cough up to have the Roman soldier there for them to meet – silly me, I thought I paid for their education THROUGH MY TAXES – it seems like it was a top day.

We prepared the outfit somewhat ahead of time.

Nanna supplied a table cloth which would double up as a toga, plus quite a few bangles and the necklace we eventually used in Lily’s hair. I remembered (I think) from my own studies that Roman brides wear flame-coloured cloth, and it so happened that we have a suitable sarong in the dressing up box…

I’m not normally a big fan of the high, tight pony tail – too much Lorraine Chase in my youth – but on this occasion, I felt it was appropriate.

With suitably strung silver necklace, I give you… Lilliana Gracia Romana

Thiese were taken about a week in advance of the day itself, when we were working out what to do. On the intervening Saturday, Lily spent the day as a Roman. Unfortunately during that time, a bit of chocolate biscuit got dropped down in between the toga an under-t-shirt, which meant we had to find an alternative t-shirt and be *very* careful about how we folded the tablecloth.

Because Romans don’t have princesses, she is the Emperor’s daughter. She was pleased with this until she got to school, and discovered that one of her classmates was a Goddess.

Sometimes, you just can’t win.

*sigh*

and finally, the post header is a quote from one of my favourite films The Life of Brian. as someone who has had to struggle with Latin grammar, while being fully fired up about actual Romans, that scene definitely struck a chord…