Artists and Gymnasts

The girls continue to embrace their Lenten tasks as the weeks go on; one of their particular favorite tasks was drawing a picture of our family doing something fun together. 

Julia decided to draw us all going out for ice cream together.  "Mama?  Because it's a picture of us all doing something TOGETHER, I drew you with ice cream, too, even though you can't REALLY have ice cream.":

Madeleine's picture doesn't depict us doing any specific activity, though she insists we're all laying down together:

In case you're worried that Madeleine's unique, surrealist artistic style is giving way to a more traditional, hunky-dory family picture style of drawing, I can assure you that the creep factor is still there in much of her artwork.

Here is a picture she made yesterday:

The big brown object in the center left is a cross.  Down on the grown is, according to Madeleine, "Little Buck-Buck."  Little Buck-Buck is standing beside a see-saw.  The cross is apparently situated on some water, which eventually dumps into a waterfall to the right of the page.  The ghoul-shaped head who looks to be wielding a sword was what really creeped me out.  I decided to try and figure out what it was supposed to be.



ME: Madeleine?  What's this?
MADELEINE: Uh...that's a SOUL.
ME: What's the soul doing?
MADELEINE: It's just floating around.

I can't even begin to wrap my head around the deeper meaning of all this.

When she's not drawing souls, Madeleine is back into her phase of being a gymnast, thanks to last night's umpteenth viewing of "McKenna Shoots For the Stars." 

It wasn't enough for Madeleine to just watch "McKenna"; she had to BE McKenna at the same time as she watched.  Copying McKenna's every move, Madeleine looked EVERY BIT the elite gymnast as she performed for us in the living room:



Before I knew it, Julia was joining in the gymnastics show as well:



Now, I don't mean to brag, but I think it goes without saying that we have some MAJOR talent in our family, here, folks.