The biggest mistake I made today was actually explaining to my children the gist of April Fool’s Day.  Clark said in the car after I finished, “So today’s the day that God doesn’t care if you tell a lie?”  Yep, you got it buddy.  The rest of the day I was tortured with, “Hey mom, guess what?  I hit a kid on the face at school today.  (giggle, grin. grin, giggle.)”

“Oh no! (calling down legions of angels to keep me from rolling my eyes)  Why would you do such a thing?!  (Feigned shock. Disapproval.)”

“April Fool’s, mom!  It was just a joke.”

I would write more, because believe you me– there are PLENTY of examples– but they were painful enough the first time around, and I’m guessing you’ve got the idea of how fun that was.   So as if all the excruciating and not-even-remotely-funny lying was not enough, they also played the best jokes they could come up with to trick people.

Picture this scene:

“Yay! Yay!  Daddy’s home!”  (screaming, jumping, asking for autographs, etc.) “Hey daddy, guess what?  Today’s April Fool’s Day.  We have some surprises for you.”  (more giggling.)  “Go change your clothes and then lie down in your bed for a nap and you just might feel something.”  (They all look at each other and smile oh so secretively.)  Even Natalie pipes up— actually she demands he pick her up then screams this enthusiastically about 3 inches from his face:  “Daddy.  APIL FOOOOOOOOL!  We play tricks on you!”

So good sport dad climbs into his bed to take a little after-work nap and wins an Oscar for his astonished dismay at finding a pile of jacks spread around his mattress.  Those little rascals.  They all bounce up and down cackling their guts out because they are so darn clever.

Another example of their coy pranks was saying to Matt at one point, “Hey dad, come downstairs and walk in your office please.”  Clark added, “And Dad, if you see a pillow on top of a door, just walk in the door anyway, okay?”  I’m thinking that one of the wisest national security moves that President Obama could make would be to recruit my children into Al Qaida and then watch them act “covertly” and lead our military directly to the prime enemy targets.

Well, I had had enough of this amateur business, so I decided to show them how you really work some April Fool’s magic.  I don’t know if I’ve ever played pranks on this day before (I probably did, but nothing worth remembering), but the situation at our house was so pathetically dire that it demanded a little up-the-ante.  So when everyone was seated for dinner, I told them that I made them a very special April Fool’s dinner and they had to close their eyes.  This is a picture of their joyful shock when they realized we were having cupcakes for dinner:

And then here are their faces when they realized that those cupcakes were not really cupcakes at all:Behold my I-pity-the-fool masterpiece– meatloaf and mashed potatoes:

Clark, who is half goat and will eat anything that is not currently alive, enjoyed his “cupcake.”

But Grant, who will not eat anything he has not already eaten at least 7 times 70 times, was this fond of his meal:

I think a new tradition has been born.  So, how was your day?

p.s.  To vote for your favorite limerick, follow the link on the sidebar. Voting will close on Saturday night, afterwhich some lucky woman will recieve the Nobel Prize for Literature a spot on my sidebar and some chocolate.   So, rock the vote.  What are you waiting for? ————————————->