April Fools Fun

Happy Belated April Fools Day! Jake thinks this is a great holiday, and I really wanted to make it fun this year. So, we had dessert for dinner and dinner for dessert! These are not original ideas, but are plenty fun just the same.

Our menu consisted of cupcakes and Kool-Aid. The kids were ecstatic to have cupcakes for dinner - confused, but ecstatic.

Of course, they all tried to take a drink first. Poor Zachy. He got it the worst. The other 2 kids were confused at first, but poor Zac just did not understand. He kept sucking and sucking on the straw, but nothing would come up! He told us, "Mine not working. I don't wike dis one." We explained that it was really jello, but he still kept trying to drink it. 

Jake thought it was great though!

The real fun was using the straw the slurp the jello. It makes the funniest sounds! One of my favorite childhood memories of my cousin is when we were vising family in Wisconsin. He and I were eating jello  - with straws! He was laughing so hard that red jello came out his nose! We had so much fun that day. And now I was able to carry on that excitement with my own children.

These were incredibly simple to make. I made a packet of jello according to the directions on the box, and poured the liquid into individual glasses. Then, I stuck in a straw and placed them in the refrigerator to solidify.

We moved on to the "cupcakes." Alyssa tasted the frosting and was a little disappointed that it wasn't sweet, sugary frosting. Jake tasted it and said, "Mashed potatoes??? But what's the cake?" As soon as he tried it, he was happy to find out that it was actually meatloaf. That boy loves meatloaf. This particular batch was made with venison from a deer that Leighton shot last fall. All the more special.

These were easy to make. I made a batch of meatloaf and filled my silicone muffin cups. I topped each one with a bit of ketchup and stuck them in the fridge on a cookie sheet. When I was ready to bake them, I just popped the cookie sheet in the oven. Then, I made mashed potatoes, filled my dessert decorator, and piped the potatoes on the cooked meatloaf cakes.

I couldn't think of anything fun to do with a veggie, so we just had plain ol' broccoli. Exciting, I know, but we all love it, so it worked out fine. Our meal was filled with much laughter and talks of tricks that the kids could play. We had so much fun!

After church, we ate pizza! Or rather yellow cake crust, red colored frosting sauce, white chocolate shavings cheese, and fruit roll-up pepperonis.

Even after being tricked before, they were still surprised that it wasn't real pizza. Gotta love their innocence. And their smiles.

They gobbled this "pizza" right up. Jake was leery at first about the "cheese" because he thought it might be coconut. He had no hesitations when I assured it him was white chocolate though.

This one took a little bit more to prepare. I baked a yellow cake mix according to the directions on the box in two 9" cake pans. (I used only one half. To be more realistic, you could put less batter in one pan to make a thinner "crust.") Then, I used what frosting I had in the fridge (about 3/4 cup) and added quite a bit of red food coloring. As I suspected, it still had more of a pinkish hue than red, so I added some strawberry jam. I don't think it helped much with the color though. It did, however, make the frosting even sweeter. For the cheese, I used a potato peeler to scrape off curls of a white chocolate bar. The pepperonis gave me the hardest time of all. After trying multiple things to make the circles, I found out that the easiest thing was just to cut them out using kitchen scissors.


What fun we had! The kids have been talking about the tricks all day today.

And they're already talking about next year. I'd better start planning now!

Make It Monday: Thunderstorms

April showers bring may flowers. We made the flowers last week and the rain this week. (Ok, so maybe we're a little dyslexic.)

We used a shower pouf to make clouds.

Finger prints make perfect little rain drops.

Jake insisted they add yellow lightening bolts. What a storm!

Painting with the pouf was so much fun! It was addicting dab-dab-dabbing it on the paper. And of course, finger painting is always a good time. Once they were done painting their storms, they moved on to the newspaper. Alyssa attacked the paper with the pouf and made swirls with her finger. Jake took the experimental route and spent time mixing the paint to make new colors. 

We started with the paint in juice caps and a coffee can top. (It's a good way to re-use things you already have. Plus, you don't have to spend time washing them afterward. Just toss them in the garbage and save on water too!)  Eventually, we squirted the paint right on the newspaper for them to spread around.

You really need to try painting with a pouf! They clean well and are tons of fun. Use your imagination and make sure to come back and share your creations with us!