Miss Jokester

April began with some practical jokes for the whole family by Anna.  Actually, a few days before the 1st, when Anna and Kenny were home alone, she convinced him to change around all of the pictures hanging in the dining room as a joke for me.  So cute.  The wall contains a family tree including pictures of all of our family; my family on the left and Kenny’s on the right.  Now, it’s one big happy family, all mixed up.  I haven’t even changed them back yet.  I thought her joke was so clever.  

After school on April 1st, Anna came to me and told me about the joke she wanted to do for James and asked if I could help her.  She wanted to fill a plastic Easter egg with water and then open it over his head.  We found an egg, filled it with water, discovered tiny holes in each end, and then taped over them.  We talked through the logistics of what she would say and how she could get the egg over his head.  After some discussion, she decided that was too tricky, she’d just try to open it over his feet.  In the end, I think she got more of the water than he did, but the joke was a good one and she loved every minute of it.  

Then she moved on to her plan for Dad.  She wanted to pretend she lost another tooth, then surprise him and say, “April Fools!”  That evening we were to meet Kenny at small group, so on the drive there, Anna practiced her joke on James.  When we arrived, Anna told everyone what her plan was and they were all so kind to play along.  Kenny came in, Anna acted out her joke and it worked perfectly.  

We were all surprised this year by Anna’s interest in April Fools Day!  Not only did she plan clever jokes for each of us, but she had so much fun pulling them all off.  At the end of the night when she was getting ready for bed, she was so sad that no one played a joke on her.  I quickly pulled Kenny aside, told him to come up with something quick, and in the end Dad’s humor was just Dad’s humor and Anna didn’t think his joke was funny at all; just gross.  Oh well.  He tried.  Next year we’ll all be ready for Anna’s jokes and be sure to have one in mind for her!

We love you, Anna girl, and your spirit of fun!