April Fool's Day 09

We have never celebrated April Fool's Day before. Somehow this holiday just slipped by me. But last year I decided we were going to start a new tradition this year. So we started out the day with pranks on our kids. I drew on thier faces while they were sleeping the night before. It was a little tricky; I discovered Savannah is a deeper sleeper than Irelynd, who kept swatting at the marker, and once woke up and looked at me. Then Scott and I got up 15 minutes earlier than normal and tiptoed down to the garage to hide from our kids. We made our bed and left no traces of having been there. We sat in the van with the baby monitor, while listening to the sounds of our twins jabber back and forth to one another in their cribs. Neither of us thought to bring a watch, or the keys to the van, so we waited for what seemed aeons for the kids to find us. They finally threw open the garage door and Irelynd giggled and said, "there they are!" Surprisingly, no one was paniced. I wasn't sure wether that was a good sign, because our kids have grown up independent and able to care for themselves, or a bad one, because they weren't surprised by our absence. I choose to think we've done our job well and made them strong and independent:) They were nonplussed about the face tatooing, though they seemed to think their mom was weird for thinking drawing on her kids' faces was a funny thing to do. We put food coloring in their cereal bowls and added in dry cereal on top, so when they poured the milk in it changed color "magically." They were not impressed. Geez! Kids are so desensitized these days! Then we sent them off to school, with faces red from scrubbing and slight patches where you could still see the mornings' antics on their cheeks.

When they got home that night from Savannah's softball tryouts, I had dinner waiting. I set the table with an assortment of kitchen tools and gadgets such as canning jars for glasses, colanders for plates, and pasta stirrers for utinsels. I made a menu of nonsense names for each dish, such as Savannah banana rama lama ding dong dillydish, and we rolled a dice each to see who got to choose first. There were 7 dishes, one for each member of the family. Except for the main course, they happened to order the items in traditional order. I liked the spaghetti and meatballs cake, but even before it was on the table the girls had it figured out. What a lot of work and no one was fooled! But the meatloaf cupcakes got the desired reaction. When Savannah bit into her pink "frosted" cupcake she was very surprised to bite into mashed potatoes and meatloaf. I tried to capture her reaction, but missed it. She exclaimed "yuck!" until she figured out what they were.

After dinner Scott asked Brighton is he was poopy, and then proceeded to check his pants. I turned around in time to see Scott's fingers covered in brown runny goo. He was yelling and flipping it all over, then licked his fingers. I was stupidly pulled in. When we went upstairs to brush our teeth we all squeezed out a big, gelatinous booger out of our toothpaste. Again, I was unprepared for the prank. It was a craisin, if you're wondering. Lastly, we all had creepy crawlies in our bed. The girls had snakes, which they thought was really cool and took to school the next day, and I had spiders and bugs. I HATE bugs, especially spiders. Even plastic ones. Isn't that dumb? Scott got a big kick out of it. Scott got off "scott free" this year, but not next. I'll be better prepared next year. So, if you're reading this Scott, your payback is coming buddy!

All in all, we had a great time together, and made some fun memories, so it was all worth it! I think we'll continue this tradition next year! I'm going to start planning my revenge tomorrow.

technicolor cereal

not my best artwork, but it was funny...to me at least. The girls were good sports.

The girls eagerly await the unveil.

ordering their meal

On tonight's menu: Meatloaf cupcakes and spaghetti and meatballs cake. Can you tell which is the dessert?

Irelynd's method of shoveling...



Scott got the spatula because of his big mouth...heehee!

Sometimes drastic situations call for drastic measures.

Here he is sucking the jello out of his dish.

Brighton gave up and used his fingers.

Savannah's utinsel. Given for her long tongue.

Irelynd's reaction to the "cupcakes."

When it comes to jello, you don't mess around with silly dinnerware.

Keaton even got in on the action with the cake. Scott couldn't get it in fast enough!