PPPs

I can't even think of anything to write about this; nothing I can come up with really does the event justice.  Sierra is nuts!!  Her friend is crazy too!  This water was melted ice and when I say "melted ice" I seriously mean melted ice!  Ice chunks were floating in the water and that white stuff they are standing on is the lake ...the FROZEN lake ...which is ICE ...FROZEN WATER!

It was seriously that cold, don't let the blue sunny sky fool you.  I touched the water with my hand and decided that if I jumped in I would have instantly died, like frozen to death immediately, like my body would have shut down and that would have been the end.  There is nothing short of saving a drowning child that would get me to stick as much as my toe into that water.  For Sierra and her friend all it took was a little dare...  :)

I guess it was more than a little dare.  I have no idea how it started, but how this whole thing works is that one kid jumps in and "calls out" five other names.  The "rules" are that those five kids then have 24 hours to jump in a lake, video it, and post it online.  In their videos those five kids name another five other kids and the insanity spreads just like an evil  pyramid scheme...

Eventually someone decided to turn it into a fundraiser for a local food bank and sold PPP stickers to those who jumped in.  PPP = Polar Plunge Participant

It was actually a cute event.  What you don't see is that the shore is full of people watching and cheering each other on.  Grown ups are jumping in, people are BBQing to warm up afterwards, everyone is laughing and screaming and having fun...  It's been a terribly long winter and this was a cute way to tell all the snow and ice to suck it.  :)

...and here is the best part.  Remember the before mentioned "rule" that you have to video the jumping into the lake and post it online later?  Well I was in charge of the phone that was taking the video AND the camera because I wanted actual pictures too.  I did good on the pictures, but the actual moment that Sierra's little head went under the water I may have maybe missed it kinda missed it.  Oops.  It kinda looks like she jumped off the screen and then two seconds later she comes back into the screen and her hair is wet.  So she and her friend had to do it again.  HA!

All in all, I was proud of Sierra for going along with the crowd.  YES, that's what I just said.  My kid did what everyone else was doing just and she did it only because everyone else was doing it. It's one of those crazy, stupid things kids do and I think it instills a sense of team and loyalty among all of them.  PS. This "going with the crowd" only applies to jumping into frozen lakes, not anything else.  Understood Sierra?  Be you.

That said, I will now mention that Michaela did NOT jump into the lake, which makes me equally proud because she did not go along with the crowd.  Doing something you don't want to do is never a good idea. Understood Michaela?  Be you.

Tricky Day

I start off at a very young age fooling my children on April Fool's Day.  It's the day when I spend most of my time smiling and even laughing out loud to myself about the sometimes mean jokes I play on my family and friends.  I have to justify this to my youngest children by calling the day "Tricky Day"... because mommy does "tricky" things to trick you.  It's all in good fun.  Right?

...and if you've read my blog before you will know that April Fools Day isn't complete until one of my children cries.  Sad, but true.  I first discovered this unfortunate tradition began when I stuffed Sierra and Michaela's lunches full of plastic food and Sierra, devastated, locked herself in the school bathroom during lunch and refused to come out to find the real lunch I had given her teacher.  This was after I claimed to run out of gas and made them walk the last few blocks to school that morning.

This year I realized all my best jokes have used up on the two older girls; I swore them to secrecy and brought back some of my favorite jokes.  The cheese sandwich for lunch was a total winner and the bonus was that nobody ever cried with it...  How could you be upset to get a cake and frosting sandwich instead of a cheese sandwich??!!

See Scotty and Andrea loved it!

But then...  For some unknown reason Andrea lost it.  Please note the REAL cheese sandwich sitting next to her plate right in front of her.  I think the fact that I had tricked her finally sunk in and it was devastating...  Better toughen up kid; this family doesn't produce sissies.

I still needed to get the girls, so I caught Michaela with the common, "OH MY GOSH you missed the bus!!" ...which actually backfired because she ran out of the house in such a hurry she forgot her homework and I had to bring it to her.  

Sierra needed a really good joke because she is the one who loves the holiday as much as I do.  I needed to step up my pranks for her so I prepared some nail polish ahead of time to dry out on some wax paper.  Then I peeled it off, placed it on her beloved iPad, and left it in her room for her to find. Hee Hee.

I even put Poozie's bunny nearby so she would get blamed.  It's a cruel day kids...

I tried to "spill milk" on Michaela's computer, but it didn't work so well....

As the children get older they are also able to be traumatized a little more.  I refilled the insides of Oreos with toothpaste and simply left the box on the counter.  Some of the best tricks are all about being patient and waiting for an innocent child to just take a cookie for no reason at all...  just like I knew they would!  HA! 

I even spread the love to our friends by sneaking into their house and dropping off a small container of minty fresh Oreos.

Last, but not least...  here are my chocolate chip cookies I baked with love...  Love, mashed potatoes, and black beans!  This really didn't fool anyone because I couldn't get them to brown right, BUT it was hilarious feeding them to our chickens the next day.

There you have it.  OH, but wait...  I couldn't just stop there.  I decided to let the whole town enjoy my pranks so I posted something on the town facebook page about how I totally agreed that our town had to many apple trees and what our "small farming" town could really use was a Target.  I referenced a non-existent argument and petition I read online and sat back and watched people fume about how it would ruin our small town feel.  HA!  It only lasted a while before someone caught on, but it sure was funny for a little bit.  :)

OH, but wait again...  there is still. even. more.  Scotty was home sick from school so when I called into the front office to let them know I went on about how he clearly got sick from school because he was fine when I sent him; I said had some wonderful ideas about how they could keep their school cleaner.  Maybe wash every doorknob several times a day, add vitamins to the school lunches, walk the halls with wipees cleaning sick looking children's hands...  I said if they were too busy the moms could help and we could be called the germ patrol and have matching shirts.  I went on and on and then said that I forgot to mention the date of my call ....APRIL FOOLS DAY!  

:)

Green Day ...about a month late.

Every year for the past five years I have posted pictures of our Green Food.  I can't believe I didn't do it this year.  OR tell anyone about the super mean things I did to my children on April Fools Day!  (Yes, I made at least one cry.)

It is a rule that you aren't even allowed to come to the table if you aren't wearing green.  Happy wasn't here; he was at work.  That's another story.  :)

Even Blue has a green collar on.  :)  

PS.  Blue is huge.  He's a good dog, for the most part... He does have his moments where he just can't help but chase a chicken or jump on a kid or eat an entire car seat, but all in all he's a pretty good "little" puppy.