A Boy Named April Fools

When I was a kid I was an absolute pathological liar.  I had my entire first grade class convinced I was a vampire.  When friends came over to my house they wanted to see my giant boa constrictor that I fed horses to.  I even got my elementary school faculty in an uproar when I told them I'd seen a big, smelly man in the girl's bathroom singing "Yo ho ho and a bottle of rum."

Eventually I learned my lesson: lie honestly. 

April Fool's Day is the one day a year when lying is acceptable- encouraged, even!  So I don't hold back.  And I really let my inner liar out this time.

We sent packages to our parents.  The boxes were empty except for a pair of baby shoes.  But on the bottoms of the little shoes...

Yes, I've been planning this prank for months.  Roy thought it was a pretty funny idea.  So did the guys at the post office.

 The packages arrived a little early to each house.  Too bad it wasn't actually on April 1st.  But then again... it might have made our prank all the more convincing.    I was at work when I got the first phone call.

It was Zac, my 14-year-old brother, and I've never heard him so excited before in my life.  I had to calm him down before I could tell him to look at the bottoms of the shoes.  It was almost heart-breaking to crush his hopes and dreams of "being an uncle."  I couldn't stop laughing.

Since Zac had opened the package on his own, I recruited him into our prank.  I wanted him to re-seal it and get video of Mom and Dad's reactions.  After getting over his embarrassment he was happy to do it.  As Dad was opening the package Zac got out his phone and pretended to be texting.  Really he was capturing the moment.

And it was a fantastic moment.  I would post the video on the blog but I don't know that Dad would love that idea.  We got him SO GOOD!  He just kept looking at my mom over and over again like he'd been slapped in the face and couldn't believe it.  Zac finally said, "She said they wrote the name on the bottom of the shoes."

Almost reluctantly, Dad picked up the first shoe.  "April."  He told me later he thought that was a horrible name for a boy {they were boy shoes}.  Then he picked up the second shoe and read "fools".  He looked up, stumped for just a second, and then threw his head back and laughed.  And anyone who knows my dad knows that this is hilarious.

Others who fell victim to our prank include Kirsten and Alexa {our sisters}.  Roy's parents said they immediately had their suspicions, but hopefully the little girl shoes were still enough to make them jump.  Even if just for a split second.

Roy and I have watched that video of Dad like five times, and we laugh so hard.  It's been quite a successful April Fool's Day, and it's only just begun!