Showing posts with label April Fool's Day. Show all posts
Showing posts with label April Fool's Day. Show all posts

Wednesday, April 1, 2009

Laughter is the BEST Medicine...Even With Chicken Pox

April 1st, April Fool’s Day, is one of those days that is BIG in our home. It’s a holiday worth celebrating in our books because the focus is on laughter, a great sense of humor, and creativity (which are all traits we find important)! Life is serious enough…so a day like today I, along with the rest of the family, welcome with open arms! This year we seized the chance to throw one on Baylee and Nathan that wouldn’t probably work any other year but this. We gave them “chicken pox!” It was perfect timing because a sweet friend that came over for a playdate over Spring Break ended up coming down with them just a few days after our time together. So, the kids were exposed (although I was not concerned about it at all) and were asking questions a lot and pointing out any blemish or mark on their body asking, “Is this one mommy?” After hearing that question many times, it sparked the idea to give Chicken Pox to Baylee and Nathan. Owen was left out on this one because we didn’t think he’d “get it” so instead, I put Jon’s underwear in his drawer. That move actually made me laugh a lot because Owen commented when getting dressed for the day, “Mommy, my underwear grew last night!” as he kept pulling them up, letting go, and watching them fall to his ankles (over and over again).

About midnight, once Jon got home from work, we snuck into their rooms with a washable red marker. Both Baylee and Nathan were on their sides sleeping which at first appeared to be a challenge. Gently, we put the suspicious dots on one side of their tummies, faces, arms, legs, etc. As if we commanded them to move, immediately after we were finished and baffled on how we were going to pox the other side, each rolled, taking that dilemma away! So funny…so easy!

The kids slept in today. It was torture for me. Finally Baylee woke up. As she appeared at the top stair she said, “Very funny mommy, I didn’t fall for it!” And the laughter began from both of us. In fact, she did “fall for it”…but not for long after she did a quick glance over and thought about it. A few had smeared too, leaving a weird trail along her body. Nathan, on the other hand, once he woke, was convinced that he did have them and very upset he was going to have to miss school. Seeing tears of disappointment in his eyes, I relieved him of his worries apap. Tears and April Fool’s Day are not an okay combination!

When it was time for Baylee and Nathan to ‘de-pox’ before going to school they were in store for another trick on them with their sinks. Jon and I unscrewed their faucets after poxing them and placed those bath colored tablets inside then screwed it all together. So when the kids turned on their water, instead of their normal water coming out, bright colored water flowed down. Hot pink and turquoise filled the sinks pretty quickly which shocked them and left them in awe to figure that one out!


They weren’t safe from Mommy’s and Daddy’s antics when at school either. Inside their lunch boxes, I did a swithcheroo. I bought individual bags of crackers and cookies which was a big treat themselves. However, prior to packing them, I slowly opened each variety, emptied out the contents, switched the treat, then resealed the bags with double stick tape. So, their Oreo bag had crackers and their cracker bags had Oreos. Notes saying, “Happy April Fool’s Day” were inside each bag.

Later that night, before bed we did one last thing. On top of their toothbrushes, instead of their toothpaste, we put cake frosting to resemble a toothpaste consistency. It was a shocker to their tastebuds.

Somehow the kids gave in and didn’t do too much on us. We had heard them scamming about it for months but something clicked in them that convinced them not to do it. It was a sweet way to end our day together.

Wednesday, April 2, 2008

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."