Can you PLEASE control your children!!

Someone said that to me yesterday!!  And the sad thing is, we totally deserved it.  AAAHHH!  We went to the library like we do every Friday.  I let each of the kids check out 1 movie and then we get a load of books.  I also decided to check out some books of my own. 

That's where it all started.  As soon as we got to the adult side of the library their dark sides took over.  You know...the side of them where they are always sternly called by their full names.  The side of them that makes you whisper through gritted teeth, "You better watch out or you are going to be in TROUBLE when we get home!"  It's not too bad if it only happens to one or two of them at a time, but on the rare occasion that it is all four of them, it is pure misery for me and for all of the people who are pretending like we aren't there.

I only wanted to get 3 books and a movie.  I even took the time to look up the call numbers on the books so I knew exactly where to go before we even got there.  Of course some of the numbers were out of order and it took me a couple of minutes to find them.  Meanwhile, my kids are getting louder by the second.  Then all of the sudden 3 of them are chasing each other up and down the aisles.  The fourth went to go see what was going on and bumped into/almost knocked over an old lady with white hair, bright red lipstick and a hearing aide.  I said I was sorry to her before tracking my kids down, but she was either so upset with me she couldn't say anything or she didn't hear me because she gave no response.

I corralled my kids while I found the last book and then we went to the movies.  I knew what I wanted so it should only have taken about 1 minute to grab it.  In that 1 minute, 2 of my kids started pulling cd's out of the books on cd cases.  AWESOME!  At that point a library worker came up and told the kids to stop (even though I had already told them to stop and was putting them all back thankyouverymuch!).  It was definitely time to go.

We skipped the movie and got in line.  My kids were restless, but I knew to expect it.  What I did not expect was for my 2 year old to take off out the FRONT DOOR of the library.  I dashed after him with the bag full of books and movies on my shoulder.  Then the alarms went off because I was trying to steel kids books from the library and BOOM..."Can you PLEASE control your children!"

I should have said, "Obviously not, would you like to try?"  But I wasn't that witty.  I just turned every shade of red (from anger and embarrassment) and mumbled an apology as I was dragging my screaming 2 year old back to the check-out line.  Then we got our books and left as quickly as possible.

What a day!  Has this ever happened to you?  (Please, please, please someone tell me it has.)

I'm sure it doesn't sound like it, but even after a day like this I still LOVE my job. For every crazy moment there are even more tender moments that touch my heart and help me know I am right where I need to be.

I'm linking this up to Home and Family Friday.