April Fool's Day 1990
My husband Dave and I decided to pull a prank on our 3 children ages 8 (twins) and 10.
At the time we were living in a not so desirable neighborhood and a very small home. We had talked about building a home and the kids were involved in the design of their bedrooms etc. So they knew it was for real that they would be moving eventually.
The English Tutor house that we had decided on was beautiful, we would all look at the plans often and imagine what it would look like on the inside. The girls had their colors and decor chosen for their rooms, our son was interested where all his electronic gadgets would live. Needless to say they were having a great time.
A few months into the house building idea, Dave and I were driving through a really nice neighborhood one day and saw the mirror image of the exact same house we were going to build. We couldn't believe our eyes. At that moment we both thought of the April Fool's prank we could pull on our unsuspecting children. I know it sounds a little mean but read on....
Being the type of parents that we are, raising our kids to go with the flow, we decided that they were secure enough to handle this somewhat nasty prank, and moved forward with our plan.
So we set the stage ... It was the morning of April 1, we told them not to ride the school bus home that day we would be there to pick them up, because we had a huge surprise for them that they were sure to love.They had all day to imagine just what the surprise might be.......
We picked up 3 very excited kids that afternoon. We didn't share the surprise until they were in the car. We told them we were not going to build the house that they had come to love (on paper). Our children are pretty good at expressing their opinions so you can imagine what kind of reaction that brought. When the noise level dropped we proceeded to tell them we had a much better idea than building a house that would take a long time to complete and we really weren't up for all the stress involved in building..... etc. At this point we were turning the corner towards the mirror image of the house that we were going to build, the house they were very fond of by now. We said the reason we are not going to build is because, as we pulled into the driveway, we bought this house, instead.!!!!
The noise level was back in the intolerable range once again....
Dave and I were enjoying the moment but suddenly we realized we had to break the April Fool's news when they went charging to the front door to go inside and take a look at their new home. This wasn't so good because it wasn't even for sale it was occupied! The words 'April Fool's' loudly came blurting out of our mouths just in time before the front door was bombarded. I never did find out if the owners were watching this or not, it is probably best I don't know.
Remember the noise level I spoke about before... didn't even compare... this one was off the charts!!!!
As you might guess they were a little upset but after the initial shock of the news wore off they began to laugh really hard (I love to hear them laugh) and all was well when we said we were still going to build....they are really good sports.
Fast forward 2 years... It is now April 1992 and we are moved into our new home with most of what they had imagined for their special places and Mom and Dad's 'nasty' trick wasn't so bad after all.
Every April Fool's Day for the last 17 years all 5 of us remember the prank of 1990.
Happy April Fool's Day to all
Audie
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