Picnic a la screaming...

Well, I thought I'd be so great today and take the kids for a picnic in the park. It was so sunny outside and warm, that I couldn't keep them in the house. It all went well. Until it was time to come home, that is.

Sometimes I think I need a list of all of the tricks I use on Moose to convince him not to freak out on me. He did it. Oh goodness. There was much screaming in the car on the way home.

For my own sanity and possible mental saving reference, I'm going to list out the different tactics I use to get him not to scream at me. The first is the one I should've done first but didn't. The rest are in no particular order:

*If you want to be able to do this again, be happy. If you're not happy when we leave, I won't do this with you again. (This one is quite powerful if done early on, before the craziness really begins. It's really worked with Moose, when I've remembered to use it.)
*The minute warnings. 5 minutes til we leave, 4 minutes, etc. (This used to work great. Not so much anymore, but I did it anyhow.)
*If you do X, you're losing Y privilege. (This works on occasion. Although, every now and then he just chooses to lose a privilege intentionally. That one's a bit irritating.)
*Or there's always the, bribe them with something even better for leaving happily. Like ice cream. (I'm sure this one would've worked, but I wasn't even going there. Sometimes I get crazy stubborn and refuse to give in to the beasts. Me and my hubs have a saying about our kids, "We do not negotiate with terrorists." For they are all really mini-terrorists in diapers and onesies.)

I know there's more, but it's not coming to me. My hubs just set a nice little bowl of ice cream infront of me and the couch is calling. Let's just hope Moose doesn't wake up tomorrow at 4:57 a.m. like he did this morning.

Oh, and happy early birthday to Monkey. Can't believe it's been one year already. I love you!