1. Enter a contest for free ice cream. WIN said contest.

2. Convince your awesome husband to go to the grocery store to redeem the coupons.

3. REJOICE when the ice cream is delivered by awesome husband!

4. Scoff at things like “serving suggestions” and “nutritional information.”

5. Scoop a bowl of delicious, delicious ice cream.

6. Finish the ice cream in as few bites as possible. Clean the bowl.

What? How do YOU clean YOUR bowls?

My Grandmother was a prankster who loved April Fools Day. I remember one year she told us there was a snake in the toilet. My brother and I ran into that bathroom so fast, only to hear my Gramma cackling behind us. Another year, she put string in our spaghetti. It got to the point where on April first, we all watched our backs, careful not to fall prey to my gramma’s trickery.

I DO love a good prank, though I have never really been good at pulling them off. I’ve done the easy pranks on April 1st – you know, saying I was fired, or pregnant, or moving, but I longed to do better. And then this year, inspiration struck in the form of a grilled cheese sandwich.

Except, that’s not a grilled cheese sandwich at all. It’s toasted pound cake and tinted butter cream frosting.

It was really easy to do. Just take a loaf of Entenmann’s pound cake and slice it to look like bread:

Get butter cream frosting, and use yellow and red food coloring until it looks like the color of melted cheese:

Toast the pound cake slices so they are brown and warm. You could either use a toaster oven or a regular old toaster. I used the latter.

I cut the pound cake before I frosted the pieces, and this turned out to be a good idea. Less crumbling, plus the frosting didn’t smear all over the place. Once I had my sandwich, I settled on my Gramma’s favorite victim – my dad (or as Maddie now calls him, Bampa). I set the sandwich down in front of him, then stood back and watched.

Taking the first bite and realizing something…wasn’t…right.

“Um…what’s WRONG with this?”

Being a good sport (note the Squirt Bottle of Discipline. My dog is a food grubber.)

Maddie, denying all knowledge or blame for the incident.

mmmm….dessert.

I think I made my Gramma proud today. Did anyone else fool or get fooled? I’m already thinking about next year…

Ever since we got back from Arizona, it’s been Go Go Go for me. Which means it’s been Go Go Go for Maddie, because she’s my super-awesome pocket-sized sidekick. Which means erratic naps, which means grumpiness for both of us, which means we are both crabby witches. Throw Rigby into the mix and well, I’m not going to follow the rhyme, but you get the idea. Lucky Mike!

Because of this, I only just remembered that I took a couple little videos when we were in Arizona. Most of them are of kids screaming. Why did I think THAT was a good idea? Because MAN, a couple of those videos would be serious birth control for high schoolers. I know just re-watching the videos of three kids shrieking made my ovaries call up my brain and say, “we’re going on vacation! Don’t worry if we’re not back for a few years!” Dang, kids are SHRILL.

I cracked up at this video, though. First, my four year old nephew made me laugh when he said, “excuse me Hedder.” Then, my two year old nephew is just jumping on the bed with abandon for what seems like hours before we finally notice. Third, Maddie is trying SO HARD to be bigger. She’s standing on her tiptoes, and if she’d figured out how to climb onto the bed I wouldn’t have been surprised. And then, at the end…well, I think Mike doesn’t have to worry about Maddie and boys for a while. I know it was her COUSIN showing her the affection, but I think it’s clear that even though Maddie adores Spencer, she is afraid of the cootie monster.

Cooties kill, man.

Maddie did…OK…on the plane. I think that Mike and I were so worried that she’d freak out that we crowded her and CAUSED a freak out. But, on the Maddie scale, it was a minor upset. And anyone who was pissed at her whimpers felt badly when they saw her cute little face. She was SO excited when we first got on the plane, though.

She couldn’t even sit still for a photo.

After her freak out, she was antsy for about 25 minutes before she fell asleep, and luckily she stayed asleep through landing.

We’re still here in AZ, we arrive back in LA late Monday night. Until then, we are enjoying our time with family. And we’re LOVING watching Maddie interact with her cousins. Maddie thinks both her cousins (ages 4 and 2) are the coolest things ever. But her four year old cousin Spencer? I’m pretty sure she thinks he hung the moon.

Getting a kiss from Spencer.

Playing in their pajamas.

Looking at him like he’s a God.

The good news is I think he loves her a lot too.

Before we head home we’re going to have the annual Spohr Tennis Tournament (the only time anyone plays tennis all year) and then we’re going to another baseball game and having one more meat-filled dinner. I think I might explode and/or turn into a bovine if I have one more slab of meat. But…it will be totally worth it. Meat is goooooood. Of course, on Wednesday, I am turning Vegetarian (Wednesday, because Tuesday is St. Patrick’s Day, and I have to have Corned Beef. But then I am TOTALLY down with becoming a Veggie. Like, completely committed. But…Easter will present a problem. I DO love me some honey baked ham. CRAP. Let’s just pretend this vegetarian discussion never happened.).`1

Before we turned into Bovines.