The Big Switcheroo...and Other April Fool's Jokes!

The Kempiak Party of Five schemes for months, what it is exactly that we'll do to one another on April Fool's Day. We love to celebrate our sense of humors and not take everything so seriously (something Baylee and I can gravitate to if we're not careful). Well, this year Jon and I pulled off a plan that I had wanted to do for a few years now, but knew we had to wait for Baylee and Nathan to mature just a little bit more. This was the year we could do it! Shortly after midnight, we switched Baylee and Nathan while sleeping. Baylee was gently put into Nathan's fire truck bed by Jon and I put Nathan into Baylee's garden room. Both woke a little, but didn't realize what was going on and quickly fell back asleep when we reassured them and rubbed their heads. (We didn't include Owen in this one since he's in a crib still...although that could have been funnier).



All three kids "got Jon" when they offered him a can of mixed nuts and once Jon agreed (good sport) and opened up the can, a spring-loaded snack jumped out at him. Boy were the kids proud of themselves! (not sure where Owen is in the photo)

And just before bed, I thought I was going to go unscathed...but NO. Baylee and Nathan set up my toothbrush with their kids' toothpaste. YUCK! I can't believe I let them use that awful tasting stuff.

This was a great day, well worth the wait. In the past years we've always April Fooled the kids with some form of "food related" joke and we knew the kids would be expecting it that way again. Never in their imaginations would they have ever thought that Mommy and Daddy would have been able to pull a switcheroo like we did! (Two points for the parents!)

By the way, I came across a site, called Museum of Hoaxes that tells of 100 April Fool's hoaxes from history. Some are hilarious like:

#4: The Taco Liberty Bell
In 1996 the Taco Bell Corporation announced that it had bought the Liberty Bell and was renaming it the Taco Liberty Bell. Hundreds of outraged citizens called the National Historic Park in Philadelphia where the bell was housed to express their anger. Their nerves were only calmed when Taco Bell revealed, a few hours later, that it was all a practical joke. The best line of the day came when White House press secretary Mike McCurry was asked about the sale. Thinking on his feet, he responded that the Lincoln Memorial had also been sold. It would now be known as the Ford Lincoln Mercury Memorial.

#8: The Left-Handed Whopper
In 1998 Burger King published a full page advertisement in USA Today announcing the introduction of a new item to their menu: a "Left-Handed Whopper" specially designed for the 32 million left-handed Americans. According to the advertisement, the new whopper included the same ingredients as the original Whopper (lettuce, tomato, hamburger patty, etc.), but all the condiments were rotated 180 degrees for the benefit of their left-handed customers. The following day Burger King issued a follow-up release revealing that although the Left-Handed Whopper was a hoax, thousands of customers had gone into restaurants to request the new sandwich. Simultaneously, according to the press release, "many others requested their own 'right handed' version."