Oh-oh, April Fools Day is only a couple days away. Pat and I better run for cover.
Each year as our kids get older, their pranks get more and more well thought out and clever. It all started out with me and my bright ideas. About 6 years ago we decided that when Pat got home from work that we would welcome him with some light pranks. The girls put a fake mouse in his peanut butter and we mixed a concoction of water and baking soda in a milk carton. Of course when he got home the kids couldn't contain their snickers and 'subtle' hints and it was ruined within 5 minutes but this began probably a life time of our kids coniving ways. The next day as I came into the house to fill a pitcher with water, upon turning on the water I was doused with water from the sprayer. Our oldest daughter and one of my daycare kids had taken a rubber binder and wrapped it around the handle and stood outside the kitchen window nearly falling to the ground with laughter. I immediately removed the binder and squirted them through the window returning the favor.
Some of their other pranks include syrup on the doorknob of our bedroom door, soy sauce and water in the coffee maker, saran wrap inside the covers of our toothpaste and shampoo bottles, the old saran wrap over the toilet seat, hiding all of our books and replacing them with kids books, drawings placed under the sheets of our bed, stickers everywhere in our bedroom and probably the best one that they really got me on was the light bulb trick. I went to go to bed one night and NONE of the lights worked in our bedroom. This was not an April Fools Day prank mind you. I proceeded to check if they were plugged in and all seemed plugged in, I changed the bulbs in my lamp and still it didn't work, I checked the fuses and still no luck. After awhile I realized what they had done. They loosened all the bulbs in all the lamps, unplugged them and rearranged the cords to make it look as if they were plugged in. I stood there laughing and shaking my head wondering what I had created!
Pat and I have certainly not been innocent in all of this. Over the years I have been probably the bigger joker of the two of us. I have always said that my kids will put me through the wringer for the rest of my life so I might as well do the same but in a fun way. Pat used to call me cruel but he now understands and is usually the first to come up with an idea. But we don't do it on April Fools day, that would just be too obvious. We did participate last year with a couple of things but we are not really full of ideas on a whim. The best we could do was put salt on their toothbrushes and, well, it was a great success. Our kids were so disgusted with the salty toothpaste taste in their mouths. We did a couple of other repeat things but they were prepared.
Our strategy is usually to attack when they least expect it. One year I went out and bought about 6 super soakers without our kids' knowledge and hid them in our closet with the full intention of ambushing them. Pat was all for this of course. We planned it very carefully, to fill all of them and at least have the kids' ready for them AFTER Pat and I soaked them with ours.
So, let the ambush begin. Pat placed his soaker outside and I was to hide in the shed in the back with mine cocked and aimed. He then proceeded to get the kids to come searching for me in the back and somehow lured them into the shed. (at the time it was our chicken coop). When they stepped into the shed, WHAM, I blasted them and so the battle began. It was great fun. The water hose became my defense because somehow I always end up getting the worst of it. This water fight lasted for about an hour with Pat coming out the dryest of us all. Even our 2-year old little boy had a mini version of a super soaker and managed to get the blades of grass a little damp.
Other things we have done to the kids are usually at Christmas time or birthdays. My mom used to put numbers on our gifts for Christmas with the hope that we wouldn't figure out who's was who's and this tradition has followed into our home. I number the gifts and keep the master copy hidden away in our room somewhere but these kids have always been able to dupe me out. A couple of years ago Pat and I created a riddle/treasure hunt for them to find the main family gift. They took about 15 minutes to get to the gift and when they finally opened it up we had filled the box with books and a final note asking them what they were doing in the basement when their gift was upstairs. They were somewhat annoyed but loved their gift. We play games with their heads telling them we can't afford to get them this or that and in the end they get it. They always vow to get us back in the end and I would have to say that they are getting more clever than us.
I do so dread this April Fools Day since it is on a Saturday. That could mean a day full of their pranks and Pat and I, well, our imaginations are old school and they are well beyond our way of thinking. We can only hope that this day will pass by quietly since I have been trying very hard to not say a word.
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