Drawing Girls and Barbequeing

This morning, Julia decided she wanted to color in Madeleine's "Draw a Face" book, but was deterred by the fact that there was only one blank face remaining to be colored.  Since Madeleine has not even set her eyes on this coloring book in months, I assured Julia that it was okay for her to color the last page.  Being Julia, she felt she needed the extra reassurance from Madeleine in order to go forward.

JULIA: Madeleine?  Is it okay if I color this face even though it's the LAST FACE in the book?
MADELEINE: (obliviously coloring in a different book)
ME: Hey, Madeleine, it's okay if Julia colors this face, right?
JULIA: Even though it's the LAST ONE in this book?
MADELEINE: (gazing up with mild interest) Uh... (suddenly springing out of her chair) Uh, I want to color it WITH you!
JULIA: No, Madeleine!  I wanted to do it by MYSELF!

I cut things off there and sent them upstairs with Ethan to photocopy the blank face so that they could both color a face.  Ethan wisely made twenty copies, many of which were used.  The girls created characters with names AND ages.  Here is a sample of the girls they drew:

 Addy, age 16, by Julia

Rabecka, age 16, by Julia

JULIA: Uh, Mama, I felt like these girls really should have EARRINGS, so I thought that maybe they should be older, like SIXTEEN, so the other girls, I thought I should make younger, like THIRTEEN.

 Beckie, age 13, by Julia

Emiline, age 13, by Julia

Olivia, age 1, by Madeleine

Madeleine also drew a girl who was actually a mummy, thanks to the episode of "Pound Puppies" the girls watched this morning with a mummy that comes to life.  I asked Madeleine if I could take a picture of her mummy girl, who was named "Mum":

MADELEINE: Here we aaaaare!  Take a picture of me and Mum!

Like in the household puppet show, Madeleine didn't seem to get the idea that if she didn't face Mum towards me, I couldn't actually see the drawing.

So I took another one after Mum was laying flat on the table.  She's not creepy AT ALL:

Mum the mummy, age 2, by Madeleine (who also wrote "Mum" in lower case letters on this page, because she only wants to write lower case now, like Julia.)

In other news, we had our long awaited barbeque today, and the girls had a great time getting wet, wild, and covered in sand/dirt with their friends:

Madeleine set the new record for highest frequency of baths in one week in the Rowe household, after she climbed out of the inflatable pool and subsequently let Anja bury her body in the sandbox, finishing off the night with bath #6 for the week.  Our tub was so full of sand that even with the drain unplugged and the water running continuously throughout the whole washing, there were pools of sand all over the inside of the tub even after I tried to guide them down the drain with my hands.

After stepping out of the tub, Madeleine took notice of our friend Mark (one of two Marks who was at the barbeque tonight), who had come into the kitchen to help load leftovers into our fridge.

MARK: Hey, Madeleine.  How was your bath?
MADELEINE: Good.  But Mama?  Who is THAT GUY over there?!?
ME: That's Mark.  You know, Loula and Will's daddy.  Can you go say hi to Mark?
MADELEINE: Hi Mark.
MARK: Hi Madeleine!
MADELEINE: (standing stark naked, staring at Mark) But...but...but...doesn't it look silly that there's TWO MARKS? (holding out two fingers and nearly poking Mark in the eyes.)

Marks number one and two have since left, along with all the other adults and kiddos, and Madeleine is now zonked in her bed.  Julia, on the other hand, has forgotten all about "Docking Dicks" and the fun with her friends, and is now back to being afraid of the mummy from "Pound Puppies."

So it goes...