Chicago Dog Salad

Here's another favorite meal in our house: Chicago Dog Salad. All of my boys inherited their mother's love of vinegary foods in utero (remind me, Sam, was it Cole that used to eat mustard with a spoon?). Justin's the only one around here who's not wild about vinegar, but even he loves this meal, because of all the crunchy veggies, and the hot dogs!

This is a Rachel Ray recipe we discovered a few years ago. It begins to pop up on my weekly menus every spring right around daylight savings time. There's just something about long evening shadows that pairs beautifully with seared hot dogs and tangy slaw!

(Big D--I can see you shaking your head--only your daughter would find a salad recipe that uses yellow mustard as its dressing...)

Here it is!

Chicago Dog Salad

1/4 cup yellow mustard

2T cider vinegar

1 rounded teaspoon sugar

4T vegetable oil

a few thin slices of red onion

16 ounces shredded cabbage

1 heart of romaine, shredded

2 tomatoes, diced

3 large garlic pickles, chopped

salt and pepper

8 hot dogs (we like Hebrews National), cut into 1" slices on an angle

Mix mustard, vinegar, sugar and 3T of the oil in the bottom of a large mixing bowl. Add onion, cabbage, romaine, tomatoes and pickles and toss well, until salad is evenly coated. Season with salt and pepper.

Heat a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add the remaining 1T oil, turn to coat pan, then arrange dogs in a single layer. Sear them for a couple of minutes on each side.

Mound the salad on plates, top with the seared dogs and serve.

Growing Up

Cole and I had a few quiet moments in the car today, just the two of us, and this is the conversation that ensued.

Cole: (sigh) "I can't wait to grow up. I'm bored with being a boy."

Me: "Oh, but I don't want you to grow up too fast. I like you being a boy."

Cole: "But why, Mom? Because it's hard work. If I was grown up, I could do things for myself, and you wouldn't have to take care of me."

Me: "Well, I know, but taking care of you is like a blessing, a special gift that I've been given, and I know that someday I will miss making your sandwich and tucking you in at night."

Pause.

Cole: "Oh, well, you can still make my LUNCH!"

School At Our House

This post is a long time coming. I have a handful of friends whose babies are just beginning to reach schooling age, and they have been pestering me for some time now for information and advice about homeschooling. I have been putting them off for so long that I am beginning to lose sleep at night, worrying that they will hunt me down. You know who you are. This post is for you.

For the rest of you, well, you know who you are, too. You think we are back-country, right-wing conservatives who are doing our children a great injustice by keeping them out of the public school system (grin). There are no hard feelings if you'd like to stop reading here, and check back later in the week for a less controversial topic. Instead, I will leave you with a video that will bring a smile to your face

www.youtube.com/watch?v=VM6uqj0_jQc (btw, that's MY six-year-old!)

and a Quote Of The Day:

"These veggies taste good, but they look like you scraped them up off the ground at Dagobah." --Cole, age 6 (a child critic's review of Pasta, Beans 'n' Greens)

******************************************************
Okay, for the handful of you that remain: Let's get down to business.

WHY WE HOMESCHOOL
I don't know if I would have ever considered homeschooling were it not for my husband. He wanted to begin talking about the possibility of schooling our kids at home when I was only a few months pregnant with Cole. I was more interested in talking about how to stop the Cycle of Barfing and a way to develop a covert system of continuing to get paid at my job while spending the whole day asleep on my desk. So we differed, a bit. But that was when the conversation began.

My first impressions? Well, I was against it, frankly. I mean, come on. Homeschool kids are weird. Let's not deny it. They're smart, but weird-smart. Too smart. They don't fit into the rest of the world. They know how to do things like pluck a chicken and knit a hat, but can't recite Shakespeare or throw a ball. They don't know how to communicate with anyone who is not an immediate member of their (large) family. But despite all of this, I wanted to entertain the idea, and keep the dialogue running. I married Justin because he is wiser than me and often has a more refined sense of the eternal, so if it was important to him, I wanted to examine the topic further.

As time went on, I asked questions, talked to people, read books, listened to Dobson. I realized that Homeschooling Today is not what it was twenty-five years ago. People do this now. Lots of people. There are organizations (like our Whatcom Homeschool Association) set up to support homeschool families, share information, provide social activities (like fieldtrips and park days) and trade curriculums. There are curriculums. It's no longer a system of scavenging at the library and working sums on newsprint. It's a bit more refined, now. The churches even have Homeschool Small Groups you can join. It's everywhere.

So, when Cole turned four, we ventured into the Homeschool waters. Andie told us about Sonlight and it seemed to be what we were looking for. We took the plunge and purchased the Preschool program.

THE CURRICULUM DEBATE
Oh, now I'm getting ahead of myself, because of course, there are thousands of decisions to make when deciding to homeschool; it's not just "yes we will" or "no we won't". This right here is why I haven't responded to your questions before now----because THIS is the part that is complicated. First of all, there are so many methods of schooling: Unschooling, Classical, Charlotte Mason, etc etc etc....To use curriculum or not use curriculum? It gets overwhelming. Let's cut through all of that for a second. We bypassed most of the decisions by saying: 1) Let's buy a curriculum package (since we have no clue what we're doing) and 2) Let's buy the first one that appeals to us (instead of spending months and months researching all of them). I'm not saying this is the best approach; I'm just saying it worked for us, because it took a lot of the "agonizing over approach and materials" away for me. So when we came across Sonlight, we liked it, we picked it, we pulled out our Visa. Done.

Now. What appealed to us about Sonlight was the vast amount of literature. I liked the idea of my kids learning about history by reading books about certain parts of history--instead of poring over a history textbook--simply because history was the one subject in school that I never really understood, but I loved literature, and I think if I would have been taught this way, I would have gotten it, and loved it. There are workbooks for math, writing, etc....but most of their program is taught through literature. I've always dreamed of having an extensive library, so Sonlight alligned with the things I was passionate about. There are very few consumable resources. It's expensive, but--to me--it was worth the cost to invest in beautiful books that we could absolutely wear out through the years.

Okay, now right away, there were things that DIDN'T WORK for us with the Sonlight program, but we couldn't have known this without trying it. First of all, some of the "preschool" materials were extremely difficult--way over Cole's head. Secondly, at the manic age of four, he didn't like having 20 minutes a day of "sit down and read with Mom" time, and immediately began to resent school. Thirdly, the "schedule" they provide interfered with with a child's natural desire to learn and with the natural rhythm of reading--because they recommend that you pick up 5 different books and read one page out of each one, once a day. What? All this did was frustrate Cole. He'd ask to read another page and I'd say, "No, tomorrow." He'd fight back. There was a lot of push-and-pull between us--not at all the cozy, reading, co-learning experience I was looking for. Now I will say that Sonlight firmly maintains that their Schedules are meant to just be a Guideline, and they repeatedly advise that you manipulate that guideline to fit your own family. I'm sure that works for a lot of people. But I am a List Lover. If I have a list, I HAVE to check off each thing before going on to the next one. I CAN'T jump around and have things incomplete; it drives me crazy. So I fought to the death to stick to the list, and Cole fought against me, and we got things done (sort of), but we were unhappy.

Kindergarten: Same Thing. Push and pull, push and pull, Learning Under Duress. I kept thinking, "Is this why I wanted to homeschool? Absolutely not! We're missing something. Where is that Love of Learning I wanted to instill in my child?"

TURNING OVER A NEW LEAF....
Just recently, I've regained my focus. I've read a few good (anti-curriculum) articles about the original heart of homeschooling, concentrating on the idea of teaching your children at your knee, giving them firm grounding and strong character with some quality education mixed in. Oh! Oh, my soul began to breathe again. This is what I've been looking for. This is what I desire for my children. Not this Schedule-That-Mom-Doesn't-Understand-But-Is-Fighting-For. Not this Constant Dissension. But good, old-fashioned, family-style learning, All Of Us In It Together methodology, following our hearts and our unique gifts and our passions, while still checking off the basics. My boys can learn this way. Oh, they can learn this way! Why was I trying to duplicate the format of school, when that was what I was trying to avoid?!

Those of you who are new to this want me to give you a formula and tell you what books to read, what program to buy, and what path to follow. I can't do that. I'm still so new to it myself; I'm still finding my own path. You'll have to discover your own (I'm sorry). There are still a lot of things I love about Sonlight, truly. But I'm manipulating those things now, to fit my own needs. And quite frankly, this means buying a lot of the materials (mostly secondhand--or check your LIBRARY!) and NOT buying the Schedules. Because honestly, I can't have them in my house. I'm too much of an addict. I need to abstain from them altogether.

What we are left with: A pile of beautiful books available to us at all hours of the day. We can read as much or as little of them as we want. We can read three, four, ten a day....or flip through them and just look at the pictures and discuss the parts that are interesting to us. The only thing I continue to be a stickler about is that (most) every day we take a few minutes to practice our reading (Cole) and do a page or two of math (Reese and Cole). The rest is icing on the cake. And here's the result: PEACE AT HOME AND LOVE OF LEARNING! Hooray, hooray! The boys are pouring over books again, asking to be read to, begging to go to the library to research more about their favorite subjects. Science, history, literature--they're eating it up. I am too. We have found our joy again.

And here's the last thing: God is giving me more and more peace about having children that AREN'T of this world, that are only aliens here for a while. Weird homeschool kids, hooray! I am blessed now when someone recognizes that they DON'T fit in, because really, isn't that what we are asked to do? To raise up children that will fight for Good, and be focused on the Prize? That will run the good race? Many ask if we will homeschool forever. I don't know the answer to that. Does a soldier in the military ask his commander what the mission will be 12 years from now? The battle is ever-changing. But oh, it is a BATTLE! I better make sure these boys are ready. Because the day will come, surely, when their Commander will ask them to Stand and Fight. On that day, I can only place my hands on their heads, and give them their benediction, and pray that I have done my job well.

********

"After a long time the master of those servants returned and settled accounts with them. The man who had received the five talents brought the other five. 'Master', he said, 'you entrusted me with five talents. See, I have gained five more.'

His master replied, 'Well done, good and faithful servant! You have been faithful with a few things; I will put you in charge of many things. Come and share your master's happiness!" matthew 25:19-21

Just For Fun

92 words

Speed test

Anyone else find that Thursday is the longest day of their week?

Here's something to kill a whopping One Minute of your time today.

Justin said recently that listening to me type is a soothing sound to him--like rain on the rooftop. I still think of him saying this and it makes me smile.

Food

I've received several questions lately about what kinds of foods we eat at our house. I thought I'd start by posting a weekly menu, and then if anyone would like any specific recipes, you can let me know, and I'll post those, too.

For weekday breakfasts, we alternate between oatmeal, eggs and salsa in corn tortillas, eggs/toast/potato combinations, and whole-grain french toast with mixed berries. For lunches, I only try to make sandwiches a couple of times a week, so the other days, we have leftover rice or soup from the previous night's dinner, or a simple stir-fry, or quesadillas.

We do have some favorite recipes that we cycle through, but I love to cook new things, so we usually have a couple of new dishes every week. And as a general rule, we don't eat dairy and meat in the same meal, so we'll have cheese and sour cream with our bean dishes, but will stick with veggies and grains to round out our meat meals. It keeps things relatively simple.

Sunday: Chicken burgers and garlic fries

Monday: Vegetarian Chili with Avocado Salsa (new recipe, but I'll make four batches and stock the freezer) and cornbread

Tuesday: Roast chicken, roasted red potatoes, green beans

Wednesday: Chickpea stew with red wine, cilantro and slivered almonds over couscous

Thursday: Roast chicken leftovers with Indian spiced rice

Friday: Baked fish, Pasta, Beans, 'n' Greens (new recipe) drop biscuits

Saturday: Feijoada (new recipe), green leaf salad with oranges, bread

Happy cooking!

A Shower Tribute

A few weeks ago, I was asked to write a tribute about motherhood to share at Karissa's baby shower. I was so honored to bless my dear friend this way! Here are some thoughts that I compiled....

First, a little background:

I met Karissa back in her wild days, when she was over-the-top about everything and I knew nothing beyond my little sheltered conservative boundaries. I think we were twelve. I was instantly thrilled by her manic spirit and her ability to capture the attention of everyone in the room--not to mention a few in the adjoining room, too. I absolutely wanted to be her friend. She was less than enthralled with my goody-two-shoes personality.

But as time went on, we did become friends. We became the kind of friends that passed dozens of notes between classes and fought over boyfriends. We invested time in each other. So much time; years of time. But as close as we got, we never lost our individuality. We never became carbon copies of each other, and so, even though we disagreed at times, we always had our own qualities to bring to the relationship. I think that is one of the reasons our friendship has lasted these 17+ years.

I say all of this because, when I think about my journey through motherhood, it is impossible to separate that journey from the friends that have traveled the road with me. Raising a child really does require that virtual village. (I haven't yet determined what raising FOUR children requires!) I have found that there are a few close friends that I do rely on during the course of this journey. God provides my purpose, my daily strength, and that still small voice that guides my decisions--should I let my kids go to that friend's house? Will that ice cream cone become a before-bed disaster, or just a happy childhood memory? Has it been quiet just a moment too long in the playroom (or the bathroom)? But through these friends He also provides my JOY. I could raise these kids with just the help of the Lord, but something in my soul would always long for that missing companionship of other mothers. Through them, God provides encouragement and He meets my physical needs--a ride when I am stranded, a hug when I am dismayed, a hot meal when I have a newborn to hold.

Motherhood is hard. It's hard right from the day of conception. Back when I was pregnant with my first son, I used to say that I finally understood why God have us a nine-month gestation: Because it would take me at least that long to wrap my mind around the idea of how largely my life was about to change. Pregnancy took my sweet, skinny bridal body, gave it a few good punches, threw it around the room a bit until everything was in the wrong place, and then handed it back to me. I was a little bit horrified at the result! I was thankful to finally deliver, believing that after going through a difficult pregnancy and the thrills of labor, that I would begin to get my body back. Ahh, the deceit! The aches and pains! Oh, the joy of it all!

Motherhood is hard in every respect. It's the only occupation that doesn't require a degree, but expects you to adequately answer questions like "If I blow up a balloon, and take it with me into a rocket, and then go up into space, and let the balloon out the window, will it pop?" and "What would have happened to the world if Adam and Eve HADN'T have sinned?" before you've even had your first cup of coffee in the morning. And it's non-profit. On particularly hairy days in his construction world, Justin will come through the door grumbling, "I don't get paid nearly enough for what I do!" I always laugh, "Neither do I!"

Kari Anne Roy writes haiku poems about some of the less-than-beautiful (but definitely eternal) elements about motherhood. She compiled some of them in her book Haiku Mama: Because 17 Syllables Is All You Have Time To Read. Here are a few of my favorites.

O, lovely naptime.
You are better than birthdays
With the gifts you bring.

Yay! The perfect time
To strip down naked and scream--
When Mommy's on the phone.

Bubbles are awesome,
But don't pop them with your eyes.
Then they kind of suck.

When she was my mom,
She said no sweets before lunch.
Hypocrite grandma.

Here is one that is all too familiar:
Oh, photographer
Your misshapen, squeaky mouse
Is freaking him out.

Or,
Please, grocery lady,
Don't make him eat the free ham.
He is scared of you.

And the tie for my personal favorite:
Other playgroup moms,
So svelte in their yoga pants
While I eat cupcake.

And
Child hugging TV
Should probably not be your
Christmas card this year.

My favorite thing about being a mom is the LAUGHTER. Children laugh so, so much during a single day. I appreciate books like Haiku Mama because they, too, are a reminder of the joy that sometimes falls on the back burner when there are hungry boys to feed and a two-year-old to potty train, when the laundry pile has become Mt. Washmore and is threatening to not only take over the laundry room but belch its lava into the playroom, and when the gas bill is starting to arrive in the Blue Envelope, signifying that they are about to turn my heat off for lazyness, I mean, lack of payment. During these moments, I do well to take a deep breath shut my eyes to the seemingly incurable mayhem, and enter into the World of Play with my boys for a good half-hour or so. To build robots and Star Wars pods out of Legos, and draw our favorite sea creatures with fat Crayola markers, and play Crazy Faces Eights and laugh at the Onion Guy with his wild hair, and turn on the battery-powered Panda (don't ask) and race him up and down the beds, jumping up and down and cheering him all the way....(even though there is no one he is racing against....hmm....) These moments revive my spirit. It is the hardest thing in the world to turn my back on a messy house and disorganized checkbook and PLAY....but I find, every time, that when I finally leave the boys to their games and trek back upstairs into Real Life, I arrive with a smile on my face 100% of the time, and my burden does not feel so heavy. On the contrary, I race through my work in record time, having found new life in my calling.

I have a sneaking suspicion that I haven't even begun to scratch the surface of figuring out what motherhood really means. There are days I wish I could have figured it all out before actually having kids, but I'm realizing that's just not possible. This is an occupation with On The Job training. Only. Period. But despite the crying, the cranky attitudes, the whining, and the messes....and all the negative sides of my KIDS, too....I really don't ever wish I was anywhere else, doing any other job. This is my satisfaction. This job of Mothering enables me to try my hand at all of the things I have ever expressed interest in: Gardening, cooking, cutting hair, teaching school, managing finances....the list goes on and on. So what if the pay's not great? What other job can boast all of these perks?

Karissa: I know you share my heart on this. I am so thankful for you, every day, and for our like-minded approach to mothering.

One last thing I'd like to share: A poem by Amy Rosenthal, simply titled LOVE:

I love how when we're listening to the radio in the car the DJ's banter and band names are a foreign language to them and so they get hysterical and blurt out the few words they do recognize, like "Mom, he said 'Bare Naked Ladies'!"

And I love that whenever it's my or their dad's birthday, they can't grasp why there aren't any goody bags

And I love that they think yellow taxicabs are really just baby school buses

And I love that they refer to the exterminator as "the ant hunter"

And I love that they wonder if there is specifically "a Chicago heaven"?

And I love that when our flight was delayed for seven hours and I was a whiny brat they showed me that it was just as much fun to play at the terminal as anywhere else

And I love that they define my job of writing as "drinking coffee"

And I love that they get excited, I mean really excited, about Jurassic Park paper plates

And I love how they can say so much with so few words, for example, "Your feelings came into my feelings, and they came and took my good ones out"

And I love playing make-believe games with them where they get attacked by a tiger or vampire because then I get to revive them by slowly applying the "magic lotion" all over their soft yummy little legs and arms and cheeks

And I love being wakened (if one must be wakened up) by the words "Mom get up, get up, it's seven o'clock! WE'RE WASTING TIME WE COULD BE PLAYING!"

So Happy Soon-To-Be Birthday, Little One,
And Blessings on your Mama--she has earned another jewel in her crown!

I love you
Love, k

Hunting for Crabs

Quote of the Day:

"Mom, at the beach house we saw a crab that had been shot with a gun." --Reese, age 4

Organ Aroma

Quote of the Day (sorry this is all I've been posting lately; it's just that there are so many!):

"It smells like organs in here." --Cole, age 6

(Thanks, Dr. Matt!)

Raining

Quote of the Day:

"Sometimes, it's raining somewhere,
and sometimes, it's raining nowhere." --Reese, age 4

Robots and People

Quote of the Day:

"We should just make a robot that can hold Reuben." --Cole, age 6

Quote of Yesterday: (also by Cole)

"I'm so glad we are people."

Trapped In The Drive-Thru

Hey everyone, Justin here again. I, now, understand how it feels to get my thoughts about life out of my head and on to “paper.” It is important for me to do this (it makes room for more thoughts). I appreciate my wife Kim deeply and thank her for letting me use her blog to do this. If I had my own blog, I would spend ALL my time writing and no time being a husband/father. So I thank my wife for this chance to speak.

Recently I heard the song “Trapped in the Drive-Thru” by “Weird Al” Yankovic. Don't judge yet, keep reading. I was instantly drawn to it. I have watched it about fifteen times so far and I will most likely watch it several more times. The tune is catchy and the animation is entertaining, but I was struck deeper in my core by the whole thing and I could not pinpoint what it was (that is probably why I could not stop watching it). I'm an introvert, so naturally I've been thinking about it a lot for the last few days. Here is what I have been thinking.

If you have not already seen this then watch it right now so you have context for what I'm going to talk about. In my opinion, it is ok for children. They use the word “stupid” once but they are referring to the TV so I let it slide. All of my children have watched it and think it is funny. The song is about 11 min long, so buckle up. If you have a slower connection, press pause and let it completely download before you watch.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nJWSkSaLGPA

Apartment: Adam (every man on earth) is sitting on the couch trying to forget his mind numbing day at his unimportant job in some corporate robot factory by medicating with TV. He does not even know what he is watching. His wife, Eve (every woman on earth) walks in and tries to engage him in conversation. Adam does not engage and goes right to another form of medication: Food. Both of them are not hungry. Eve says it flat out “I kinda had a big lunch, so I'm not super hungry.” Adam says the same thing, “Well you know baby, I'm not starving, but I could eat.” They are looking for something to satisfy the hurt they are both holding onto. Adam does not think about Eve here. He is looking for food and that is it. Eve has control over the situation but she resents it. Notice how she gets them to go out and you know she wants Adam to take her out to a nice restaurant Eve is looking for love/attention from Adam. Amidst miscommunication and distraction they continue. Adam thinks, “Eve just does not know what she wants” (even though she already told him) so he tries to fix the situation by “being the man” and making the decision. He has totally missed!

Drive-Thru: Adam is fighting the wrong battles (Volvo man, restaurant employees, his wife). He has a God-given desire to fight for truth and righteousness, but because of his pain/fear he is fighting the small things of life that don't require faith or risk. Eve makes one last ditch effort to sit down, face to face and eat, but Adam has already sabotaged it by wearing his bunny slippers (comfort v. engaging Eve). He also talks to the drive-thru girl with more depth than he does with his wife, he corrects miscommunication and actually tells her stories (albeit not very kindly or respectfully). He does that because there is nothing at risk there. Classic Adam, gets bored and turns on the radio, just killing any moment he has alone in the car with Eve. The music shocked both of them, but notice how they both went back to their guarded persona when the problem had passed, no partnership evident at all in adversity. This next part is great! Eve offers her beauty to Adam in a smile. Adam just sees something in her teeth and says something about it! Eve is thinking, “I totally gave myself to him and he takes that offering and points out the flaws in it. We'll see how much I offer myself in the future.” Man I've done that before! Ahhhh! They get to the pay window (or what ever you call it). Here you can tell that Adam and Eve have separate jobs and separate bank accounts and separate credit cards and probably file taxes separately. What about that is unified? As this shows, it breeds resentment and selfishness. But more importantly here, Eve gives up. She has to pay for his meal and give up, not only an opportunity to connect with Adam, but her chicken sandwich, three dollars and her dignity! Adam shrugged and volunteered her sandwich so that he could keep his fries and soda and cheese burger! That is the last nail in the coffin of their relationship this night. 16 year old Eugene brings his own baggage, but that is a whole other story for another day.

Driving away: Adam absolutely can't wait to satisfy that ache in his soul. He thinks a burger and fries can do it. Eve sees his “hunger” and enables his addiction. She settles for offering Adam empty satisfaction so she has a role in making him “happy.” The icing on this whole dysfunctional cake is that Adam is disappointed with his drug and THAT is what makes him sad.

No wonder I have lost sleep because of this song. I noticed the drastic difference between the words and the music. The song is sung SO passionately and intense. If the words were about love or loss or family it would be one of those songs that would make you cry. At first I thought the words did not fit the intensity of the music, but there is much more communicated here. Body language is 80% of communication and when you watch you can see a HUGE back story on this couple. They are merely addressing a common situation all of us have been in, but they both bring 30+ years of baggage and unaddressed pain to this basic function of having dinner. . . as do we all. I can see myself in this! I have played out every one of these scenes in my life. Why? I'm human and broken. The passion of the music DOES match! This song IS about love and loss and family. Our lives bleed this intensely in every situation we are in, no matter what. Everything is connected to where we have been and what we have seen. Unless we invite God “The Master Surgeon” to heal the broken or dead parts of our heart we will continue to drag them with us EVERY place we go . . . even the Drive-Thru.

April Fools

As a general rule, I am against practical jokes, so we never really do anything around here for April Fool's Day. But this year I wanted to do something fun and memorable for my boys.

I went to Haggen Tuesday evening and bought a chocolate cake with chocolate frosting, colored sprinkles, and mini M&Ms. I also bought a pint of Ben & Jerry's Vanilla Heath Bar Crunch ice cream. Then I came home (Justin was here with the kids), threw two frozen pizzas in the oven, served each plate with a piece of cake and a scoop of ice cream, and called the boys to the table. You should have seen their faces when they rounded that last corner! Reese kept asking over and over again whose birthday it was. I told them sternly that they must eat ALL of their cake and ice cream dinner if they expected to get any pizza dessert!

(Cole looked at me dumbfounded and said, "But Mom, that's not even going to be hard!" Leave it to him to take the whole thing seriously!)

What fun things did you do for April Fool's Day? Did you start any annual family traditions? I know that around here, we'll all look forward to April next year with a lot more excitement!