April Fool's Day Terror

Nearly every morning, Bob is the one who wakes up the kids for school before he goes to work. This is normally done in a kind, and fun, sometimes silly way, which usually makes the kids smile as they start their day. This also works great for me, because I am in NO WAY a morning person, so it gives me a few minutes to accustom myself to the difficult task of having to get out of bed. This morning was different.....instead of hearing giggles and laughter outside my door, the house was filled with crying and screaming.

My husband thought it would be a funny April Fool's Day joke to wake up the kids by pretending that the dog (Brietta) was running through the house. He stomped up the stairs, scratching at the doors with a comb, yelling, "Brietta! Down! Brietta stop!" and "Help me girls! Brietta has your Webkinz and is chewing them up!" Well, my girls are terrified of the dog to begin with, and are currently enamored with their Webkinz, so this was probably the worst scenario they could imagine to come to pass. What kind of nightmare are they awakening to? They began to cry, cowering on their bed, fearing for their lives that the dog was going to bound into their room. Bob then quickly let them on to his secret (but I'd bet permanent emotional damage had already been done), and he continued on to the boys. Though the boys could see that it was only Daddy running up and down the hall making all the ruckus, they continued to anxiously search for Brietta and save their precious toys. Even Thomas shot up next to me in bed, with a grave look of concern on his face as his eyes were glued to the door.

What a way to wake up. Crispy said he just wanted to stay asleep until it all passed.....Melissa told all her teachers about how "Daddy was mean"....Michael was forced to get out of bed 3 hours earlier than usual....Jonny still looks confused......and Laura was fine once she was settled in on the couch with her laptop. To counter the horror of the morning, we spent the ride to school telling funny, and more age appropriate jokes like me telling the kids I had to pick them up early for a doctor's appointment later that morning. This got the smiles back on the faces of my little kids, and they all had plans of jokes they were going to tell other people throughout the day. I forgot to warn Alex about an orthodontic appointment in the afternoon, and had to call the school to ask them to let him know what time I would pick him up. That would have made a good joke if it were not a real appointment! I am glad he showed up at the door on time vs ignoring the call and brushing it off as me just kidding once again.

This little video clip is Laura working on her computer just like Daddy and her big brothers do. I had been watching her do this for several minutes before I grabbed my camera which of course, distracted her. I'd say she is typing about 90 words a minute! Too cute!