The Ultimate April Fool's Day Prank

Ok, maybe after having five girls, I'm a little excited about having a boy. Maybe I'm even proud of my son, feeling very special that I can finally dress a baby in blue. Until last Sunday (April Fool's Day), though, I didn't have any idea it mattered to me so much. How, you may wonder, did I make such a startling discovery? Well, let me tell you. It has to do with our time-honored tradition surrounding April Fool's Day.

April Fool's Day at our house has taken on epic proportions. It is, in a way, our favorite holiday. Girls plan for months to pull off the perfect prank. Two years in a row, we were tee-pee'd, by our own daughters! One year, the girls even tee-pee'd us in our bed! Ok, I admit, we played along with that one a litte. And Chris played along with the girls when they put parchment paper over the toilet bowl instead of plastic wrap. This was the first year in many that I wasn't the one soaked by the rubber banded kitchen spray nozzle, only because I didn't do it! But, the prank pulled by my older daughters has got to be the best April Fool's Day prank ever in the history of our family. The girls dressed my son in pink!

Now, to really understand and appreciate the success of this prank, I have to give you the whole story. First, I dressed my boy, as I usually do, in appropriate boy clothes before heading downstairs. Since it was a Sunday, he was dressed for church. We enjoyed a leisurely breakfast of green eggs and ham (yes, we really ate green eggs and ham, like in the book) before loading into the car to head to church. As I was wrapping up final details from our mornings' adventures, I asked my oldest daughter to buckle her brother in the car. She quickly responded she'd buckled him in already; that should have been my first clue. A last minute scramble to cover the baby with a blanket drew a little curiosity, but not enough for me to figure out something was up. Not until a final check by Dad did we discover the reason for the above described behavior; the baby boy was dressed in pink!

If it had only been a pink dress my daughters dressed their brother in, it would have been funny, but not the prank of all-time. What takes this prank up several notches is what happened in addition to the pink dress. Every detail was covered! The diaper bag had been completely transformed; the wipes container was princess pink instead of boy blue, an extra dress (purple instead of pink) took the place of the pants and shirt, even a bonnet, EVERYTHING was girly! Because the discovery was made before we left home, I had time to grab a change of clothes before running out the door to church. What I did not count on was the creative energy my daughters would exert to make sure their brother arrived at church in pink. They hid the extra clothes! That's right; my daughters (they all collectively take credit) hid the extra clothes I grabbed, so their brother had to go into church wearing a pink dress! A few people commented on how cute my baby girl was, too!

When the pastor asked if anyone new was visiting, my husband stood up to introduce his new "daughter." Everyone howled with laughter! Even a week later, people were still laughing, asking for details. Thankfully, before the experience was over, I was able to see the joke and laugh. I must admit, though, it took a while to embrace the humor. You see, I'm very proud to have a baby I can dress in blue. But, maybe not quite so proud as I was. After all, what is April Fool's Day for if not to make a fool of someone, especially your mom, in front of dozens of people. This is definitely the best April Fool's Day prank ever pulled in our family!