Fun With Face-Paint

This afternoon we had a play-date with our dear friends the Listewniks!  Julia and Madeleine were thrilled to see Jovina, Wyatt and Quinn again! 

The play-date launched off in the messiest way possible:

Kid-on-kid face paint!

Yes, that is Julia's hand painting Madeleine's face.  Julia and Jovina were the co-painters, and although you can see Ethan's fingers giving a guiding point in the above picture, the adults were mostly absent from the rest of the painting fun.  Not that the kids even needed us; they were more than sufficient in transforming themselves into creepy monsters and wild animals!

Introducing:

Quinn the tiger

GRRRRRRRR!

Wyatt the Vampire
(In a slightly disturbing but completely in-character turn of events, Madeleine gave Wyatt piles of naked Barbie dolls whose blood he was to suck.)

Julia the Vampiress

Ooh la la!  Vampirism meets haute couture!  Work it, you queen of the undead!

Jovina the Bunny, complete with carrot finger
(Okay, I guess SOMEBODY had to be the sweet, innocent victim)


And:

Madeleine the Happy Witch

 Madeleine the FIERCE witch.  (Work your magic, honayy!)

Madeleine the Slightly Indifferent But Mildly Content Witch


Yes, that's right, while all the other kids simply tolerated my picture-taking, Madeleine relished in it.  "Mama, take ANOTHER one!  Can I see it?" (climbing all over my lap to take a look at my camera play-back.)

These wild and crazy creatures even took a trip outside to our snowy backyard to burn off some energy, although they shed their personae (if not their painted faces) in order to play what Julia calls "The Mean Mom Game."  In this game, Julia and Jovina are British runaways who are trying to escape their horrible mother.

ME: Why are they running away from their mother?
JULIA: Uh, because she's TERRIBLE.  (calling back to me as she runs off into the back woods) NOT YOU, THOUGH.  YOU'RE A WOOONDERFUL MOTHER!

Thanks for the reassurance, Jules.

At any rate, it was a great afternoon for all the kids, and there were definitely some tears when it was time to wash all the face paint off and get ready for bed.  In fact, Madeleine's hands are still green because no matter how much soap and water we applied, those witchy fingers just wouldn't fade away.  So at least she gets to take a little token of her magic with her to bed this evening. 

Good-night, my little tiger, bunny, vampires, and witch!