Badgers in a Sack. . . .

. . .would probably squabble less than my children.  Today's issue was Micah's going to Target and Toys-R-Us to use gift cards he got for his birthday.  At Toy-R-Us he hit a sale on Bakugans, chose wisely and got three battle gear for his Bakugan (as I understand it, some sort of combat accessorizing that can be attached to the Bakugan once it's opened.)  At Target he wanted a game for his Nintendo DS and again got lucky with a sale on Spiderman, and he also picked out Pokemon styluses to further complement his device.  (Points to me for figuring out how to get him into the Spiderman game and setting it up for the easiest level.)

Upon coming home with his loot, big sister's nose went majorly out of joint for a multitude of reasons.  She's never gotten a gift card on her birthday (but what about the GameStop gift card she received for Hanukah?), Micah spent 'my' money (no, he actually used his gift cards and I used $0.06 left on one of his cards to print photos), and he should just hand over the battle gear as reparations for a piece of battle gear Micah thought she had given to him and he gave to a friend (rectified both by enforcement of a 'no trading' rule and by Micah purchasing a new battle gear for her months ago), his birthday was WEEKS ago and he's STILL getting presents, the litany of grievances was unending.

Thea's whining was horrific, made worse by Micah knowing his good fortune was a source of torment for her.  What I hate about Thea's tantrums is that she does not go away, she sticks to me like glue and she is too big for me to pick her up and toss her in her room.  She just wants to beat me over the head with the facts as she sees them, over and over and over and over.

Having just had a wicked headache last night, I was going to murder her if she set another one off.

Then she had the idea to go outside and work off her aggressions by using her brother's Nerf shooter and another mistake was made letting her go outside without reminding her to unlock the door.  She did not remember to set the lower lock so that she could get back in, and Micah and I were upstairs and in the back of the house, thankful for the relative quiet.  So she pounded and pounded and pounded until the lightbulb went off in her little brain and she rang the doorbell, which I heard and promptly went downstairs to open the door. To find an upset, even more hostile runny-nosed beast.

And after a lesson on making sure she can get back in if she goes out, everyone went back upstairs and Thea and Micah have been playing Lego Ninjagos for the past hour, peacefully.  Go figure.  And so went Saturday.