Family Favorites Friday: April Fools

Grateful for Grace hosts a blog carnival on Fridays for sharing your favorite stories. Check out her site for her stories. She is a great story teller and has a very funny family supplying her with great material.

In honor of April Fool's Day last week, I am going to share two stories today. I am terrible at April Fool's jokes. I can never think up anything good, and I can't ever pull it off. Except for two years jokes just fell into my lap and they were both played on my hubby. And he doesn't think they are as funny as the kids and I do!

One year we had received a letter from the city regarding them changing the water pressure in our water lines. We were given a check for $100 and told to hire a plumber to install a water pressure device that would protect our house. Well, the way it worked out, the plumber came to our house to install it on April 1st. The work was done, I paid the bill, and Han and I started thinking about it. I called Hubby and told him that the plumber had come, but that he had charged us $300 instead. I told him he explained it all to me, but I didn't understand, and would he like to talk to the plumber? My hubby was more than a little upset and wanted to speak to the plumber. I handed the phone to Han who said in his deepest voice, "Hello?" My hubby started to ask him some questions and Han said, "April Fools, Dad!" And the rest of the kids and I laughed and laughed. And Hubby didn't think it was all that funny, he was just very relieved that it was a joke.

The next year we ended up going to look at a puppy on April 1st. Our family dog had died 1 1/2 years before and we hadn't been ready to get another one. The time seemed right, and we had found a lady who had a litter of pups I was interested in. We had planned on going the week before to see the pups with Hubby, but the kids had gotten sick. So it was Sat, and Hubby was working at the local Home Show. I told him I would take the kids and we would just go look at the pups and see if we wanted one. He knew that we would come home with one, but I kept telling him we would just look and see. So the five kids and I drove 45 minutes to a nearby town and saw the puppies. And of course we got one. The man tried to make me an offer of 2 for a reduced price, but I laughed and said my husband would kill me, we would just take one.

So we headed back to our city and I called my Hubby on the phone, while he was working at the Home Show. And while I was talking to him, it just hit me and I said, "Hey, the guy gave us a great price and so we got two of them." Silence on the other end. Then he said, "You are joking." And I said, "No, it was a great deal and I couldn't turn it down, and they are really cute!" Again, silence, and then he says, "I have to go, I will talk to you later" and hangs up. I was laughing and laughing and called him back. All I said was, "Do you know what today is???" And he had to think for a minute and then he said, "So you didn't get two puppies?" And I said, "No, just one. April Fools!" Once again, he didn't think it was that funny, but the kids and I laughed about it a lot.

So those are my only April Fools tricks to date, and poor Hubby is the only one who doesn't think they are very funny. But the kids and I get to talking about them, and laughing, and remembering how funny we all thought they were!

Family Favorites Friday: Han's Secret

Grateful for Grace is hosting a blog carnival every Friday for sharing your favorite family stories. Stop by her blog and check out more stories.

When I was pregnant with first two boys, we did not want to know the gender of the baby. When we were pregnant with Luke, we thought it would be fun to know. But after we found out, my mom told me that my family did not want to know. So how do you tell everyone else, except your family? So, we decided that we knew, but we weren't telling anyone. But 5 year old Han figured out that since we had seen the baby on ultrasound, we had to know what it was, and he really wanted to know. (He had been praying for a baby sister for quite awhile at this time.) So, I swore him to secrecy and told him that the baby was a boy. He was a bit disappointed. But he said he could keep a secret. I was a bit worried. There was still 3 months to go.

About a month before Luke was born, a friend from church, Lisa, ask Han about the baby. It was driving her crazy that we weren't telling what the baby was. She actually asked him what he wanted, boy or a girl. He told her he wanted a sister. She thought since he knew, he had told her what the baby was. So, she came and told me that Han had told her about the baby. And she was very pleased with herself. When we got home I asked Han what he had told Miss Lisa, and he told me. I figured out that she thought he had told her, but he had told her he wanted a sister. I said nothing to her. For the next month every time I saw her, she smiled a secret smile at me. And I smiled back.

When Luke was born, I called to tell her. She said, "What is her name?" And I said, "Her name is Luke!" Then I explained that she had asked Han what he wanted, not what we were having. And we had the best time laughing about the last month! And Han is my only kid that can really keep a secret. All of the rest of them have slipped up and told Christmas or birthday presents. Even my hubby has accidentally told me my Christmas present twice! But Han has never let a secret slip.

Family Favorites Friday: Leia's smile

Grateful for Grace is hosting a blog carnival every Friday in order to share our favorite family stories. Hop on over to her blog to read more fun stories.

In the summer of 2007, a good friend of mine lost her husband to cancer, leaving her a single mom of 5 children. This made my hubby and me want to look closely at our life insurance and see if we shouldn't get more. At this same time, Leia had to have two bottom teeth pulled because the adult teeth were coming through and the baby teeth had no intention of falling out on their own.

Leia is very afraid of anything medical or dental. She especially doesn't like needles. So one morning I took her to the dentist to get a cavity filled. Then while she was there, the dentist pulled her two teeth. This was a big deal for her and she was a bit traumatized. She came home, laid on the couch, and watched a few movies. Later that afternoon, my newly widowed friends' son came over to play for a few hours. While he was there, we had a life insurance salesman come by to talk with us. The kids were all outside playing and we were having a nice conversation with the salesman.

Suddenly there was a loud screaming coming from the yard and here came Leia with her hand up to her mouth with blood gushing out, crying hysterically, and the rest of the kids coming in after her. Someone said that the friend had accidently hit Leia in the mouth with a PVC pipe while they were sword fighting and knocked out two of her teeth! She was bleeding so much I couldn't even tell which teeth were missing. I was worried it was the bottom middle teeth which were permanent teeth. I finally was able to tell that it was her top two middle teeth that were missing, and they had been loose baby teeth. So, we got Leia cleaned up, cleaned up all the blood on the floor, and then tried to explain to the insurance salesman that things like this don't usually happen around our place. And that we didn't want to buy his very expensive insurance!


So here is a picture of Leia's toothless smile. And you wouldn't guess the crazy story that was behind it!

Family Favorites Friday: Olympics

Grateful for Grace is hosting a blog carnival called Family Favorites Friday. I was so excited to see this carnival begin because I love stories. Then I was struck with stage fright, worried that my family stories wouldn't be funny to anyone else except us. But, then I realized that really my blog is for me and my family as a sort of digital scrapbook, so if we like the stories, that is what matters. And if anyone else gets a giggle out of them, that would be an added bonus. So, here goes....

I love the Olympics. In fact, I am an Olympics junkie. I remember being a little kid and watching the Olympics. I remember all the big stars, and moments. Now, I don't really like boxing or hockey, but put it in the Olympics, add a few personal stories, and I will watch every moment I can. When I was 20 I had surgery on my knee and spent a lot of time on the couch recovering, and the Summer Olympics was on. I watched every televised moment that year. I was even up in the middle of the night to see all the coverage I could. I love the Olympics.

So, 12 years ago, I was so excited for our two oldest boys to be introduced to the wonderful world of Winter Olympics. They were 4 1/2 and 2 1/2 years old. I thought they would be interested in seeing the skating or the skiing, or any of it. The Olympics were held in Japan, and during the opening ceremonies, our boys did see something that they loved. They were fascinated, and practiced their moves every chance they got. They discovered Sumo Wrestling!!! I couldn't believe it. The were disinterested in everything else they saw, but those huge men wearing what looks like diapers, they loved. They would take off their clothes, stripping down to their underwear and diaper, and practice the opening moves, and then full fledged wrestling would follow. We have lots of pictures, but I am not able to scan pictures right now. Maybe some time soon the kinks will be worked out and I will add some pictures.

This year, Padme is 5 and can't get enough of the skating. She dances along as they skate on TV and practices all the moves. Exactly what I was thinking would happen 12 years ago. But the boys did find something they loved, just not what I was thinking they would. And it wasn't that I hoped they would want to be in the Olympics, just enjoy watching them as much as I do. Really, what mother in America hopes her sons will grow up to be Sumo Wrestlers???