Pin 196: April Fool's Day Prank

Original pin:

http://mrsgoffskinders.blogspot.com/2012/03/best-april-fools-joke.html

A fun little April Fool's Day prank--a homemade batch of "brown-e's"!! Love it! (And by the way, this blog it is from has some really cute ideas for the pre-school/early elementary crowd. I'm going to have to spend a little more time digging around out there.)

I spent last night at work (my "real", paying-sort of job) so this morning and early afternoon were spent sleeping. Big El was at school and Lil' Dub was off at Grammy's house for the day. After I picked Big El up from the school bus, we hopped in the car to head out to pick up the brother. We were talking about April Fool's Day and what sort of funny things we could do when I remembered this fun idea. I LOVE a good pun. I hadn't intended on making any stops, and money has been tight the past month (thanks to birthdays, dental work, home repair, more birthdays, more dental work, more home repair. . . ), so I didn't have any cash on me. I have strictly forbidden myself from charging or debiting anything other than true necessities. However, one of my favorite dollar stores was on our way and we started digging change out from all the little storage spaces in the car.

We managed to pull together a few dollars and stopped in for our supplies. With our change, we bought foil, a brownie pan, some brown lunch sacks, and an Orange Crush (because hard work made us thirsty and we had a couple extra coins.) As any good crafter (or nurse), I always have a few tools with me, so I pulled out my suture scissors and went to work making some "E"s while Big El went to work on the Orange Crush. Moments later, we had a pan full of Es ready to present to Grammy and Pops.

He was so excited as we met them at the door bearing our special holiday brownies. When Grammy peeked inside and found the surprise, Big El burst into giggles.

We were able to pull it again on Pops and then again on Daddy. Good clean April Fool's Day fun!

Total cost: $3 (unless we add in the Orange Crush.) I could have put this together for $0 if I had had the clear brain to think of it before we left the house. Oh, the woes of working the night shift.

Total time: 5 minutes (plus baking time. . . hehehe)

Final verdict: I love it because it is a good pun. The kid's loved it because it was fun to play a prank on April Fool's Day. Now how are we going to top this next year??

Pin 128

Original pin:

http://simplekids.net/easy-ways-to-surprise-and-delight-your-children/

Easy ways to surprise and delight your children--that don't cost money!

I actually took this pin from the comment section of this post, but it fits right in as if it were part of the list anyway.

The commenter in the post surprised her son with a birthday cake no where near his birthday because that is what he wished for on his dandelion wish. I don't know many kids that love to play "happy birthday" more than my little W so he probably would have played real nice with her boy. I started this over the summer--surprising him with a birthday cake lunch!

W and I were feeling pretty lonely this week since big L is off to kindergarten and his preschool hadn't started yet. Everyday we were looking for fun things to cheer us up. So I whipped up his birthday cake lunch, sang a rousing round of happy birthday, and presented it to him.

bread, deli turkey, and veggie straw "candles"

I imagine his flames look something like this artist's rendition

So excited listening to me sing happy birthday to him!

Aaaannnnddd he blows out the candles! Yay!

Total cost: $0

Total time: 2 minutes

Final verdict: Why wouldn't you want to bring a smile like that?? He loves this game and it's so easy. What a fun way to surprise your kiddos and make lunch fun.

Pin 114

Original pin:

http://ashbyfamilyblog.blogspot.com/2010/08/ms-long-legs-pattern-tutorial.html#axzz1n1zpAvTl

Cute little tutorial for owls. I recently got my Pottery Barn Kids catalog in the mail and these reminded me of this tutorial I had pinned a while back.

http://www.potterybarnkids.com/products/penny-and-joy-owl-plush

Lucky me! I just so happen to know a soon-to-be born wee one who needs a little stuffed owl to decorate the nursery up. Inspired by these two, I decided to whip up a fat little owl of my own.

I didn't use a pattern, just looked at these cute little guys and created my own interpretation drawing from each. If you are looking for a pattern, the top link has a pdf you can download. I didn't have access to a printer (read as: I didn't feel like lugging my laptop across the house to plug it into the printer. Lazy much?) so I just created it as I went. (Dangerous--yet fun. I like to live on the edge.)

Once I had the eyes appliqued on I packed up the pieces and headed out to girls craft night to finish this owl off with a glass of wine and some mint milanos.

My little guy turned out boxier than PBK's and Toad's Treasures, but I sure thought he was cute. He made a great little pillow too! My son was really sad to see him whisked away and is hoping I will make him something to snuggle with next.

Total cost: Ahem. I don't usually comment on costs of gifts. Cheaper than PBK.

Total time: 2 hours

Final verdict: I love him. I hope little PJ loves him too. He will make a perfect little kid sized pillow too. I think he likes his new place. Owlie sent me this photo of him and P at the new house:

Pin 111

Original pin:

http://bamkapowxo.tumblr.com/post/13597111267/crafts-activities-future-family-octopus

I was throwing together lunch for the boys today when I realized I had two hot dogs and only one bun. Little man will ask for a bun, and big brother will want one when he finds out there is only one. I had to do something to distract them from the lack of bun. Octopus hot dogs it is.

I sliced each hot dog in half. For the legs I just cut through, lengthwise, the bottom half of each half, turning 1/3 each time. (Three cuts total.) Yeah, I only had six legs, but no one counted.

I didn't like my toothpick created eyes, so I used some of those long skinny chocolate sprinkles. Ketchup for a mouth, drawn on with a toothpick. Some of the mouths were more blob than smile. Great for the boys because then they had "an angry octopus" and "the happy one." They loved this. It was easy and fun.

The angry one and the happy one

Time for battle of the octopi!!

Total cost: $0 for two leftover turkey dogs

Total time: 2 minutes

Final verdict: They absolutely LOVED it. No one even noticed they didn't have a bun. And sprinkles for lunch!! (Yes, two measly sprinkles, but that counts!)  Don't do this if you don't want your kids to play with their food.

Pin 66

Original pin:

No source available.

So I originally pinned this as a joke. I pinned it to my "free smiles" board. But one day, when I was at my wit's end with the boys I decided I was going to spend an entire day whispering whenever I felt like yelling.

I guess my whisper isn't scary. I know my mom's was. I think all kids should have a little healthy fear of their parents, but I guess my kids aren't scared of the whisper. HOWEVER, it actually was a very effective strategy for multiple reasons:

1. Yelling escalates any situation. It releases adrenaline that ramps you up, makes you angrier, makes my face turn bright red. Whispering doesn't have this physical effect. So the situation doesn't escalate nearly as fast.

2. Each time I needed to whisper to them, I had to call them over to me which meant they were leaving whatever situation it was that was getting them in trouble. 9 times out of 10 they didn't go back to whatever it was they were doing.

3. A lot of my kiddos misbehavior is attention-getting at times when I am occupied, i.e., dinner making. Calling them to the kitchen for a brief minute gave them a little attention. They giggled at the whisper in their ear and I got to give them a little bite of whatever was cooking.

4. No one gives you dirty looks in public for whispering at your kids like they do for screaming at them. You can say anything you want in a whisper and no one will know. (And the tickly whisper makes my kids giggle so the general masses think I'm being sweet and silly with them. I know the truth.)

Total cost:$0

Total time:One waking day

Final verdict: Overall, it is not a strategy I could do 100% of the time, and it wouldn't be effective if I used it all the time either. But it definitely opened my eyes to the degree of escalation that was occurring once the yelling started. I am surely using it as one of my tools in the great toolbox of discipline.