Banana Revenge

It had been a long day.  The night before I slept poorly... Gracyn slept poorly... and, well, those two things combined never make for a good day.  So, I made it through the day.  Granted I wasn't the most cheerful mom, but I wasn't a complete grouch, either.
But, as usually happens on days like these, by evening I had filled my quota of patience.  It was a late night for Jason at work and I was a single mom trying to put all four kiddos to bed... And any person on a good day struggles to do that peaceably.
So, naturally, I lost my cool with the big girls and gave them a stern talking to (for something so minor, I realize now, but at the time, boy was it BIG in my book).  After my firm lecture, I turned out the lights and went to put Gracyn down.
"In your anger do not sin" :  Do not let the sun go down while you are still angry.  Do not give the devil a foothold.  Ephesians 4:26-27
As I rocked Gracyn, God nudged me to go back to the girls... Whether I was right or wrong didn't really matter now.  What mattered was that I was angry.  And the girls, I'm 1000% certain, were angry.  I wanted to give them the opportunity to forgive me, and I them, before the devil got a foothold and a deeper rift was between us in the morning.
As I approached the door I could hear them talking to one another.  So, as any good parent would, I eavesdropped.  The conversation went, word for word, just like this:

Hannah: And I'm gonna smash a banana in her face! Hee-hee!

Ella:  Yeah, and I'm just not gonna speak to her.  If she speaks to me I'm gonna ignore her.  I'll talk to Gracyn, Daddy, Kaden, and you, but I'm NOT speaking to her!

Hannah:  YEAH!

(Silence)

Hannah: But... If we don't speak to her... how are we gonna get breakfast?

(Silence, again, for a good 15 seconds)

Ella:  Hannah, let's just talk about this in the morning.

I was rolling... Suppose you could say my anger dissipated almost entirely.  I walked in the room and we talked it through.  I ended with asking them if they still wanted to smash a banana in my face and Ella threw Hannah under the bus (naturally).  ;)
It's never fun to lose control as a mother, but the lessons that come from it are where my kids and I grow the most.