Little people, BIG attitudes

All day the boys have been in rare form and I couldn't wait to get them to bed. Of course, things didn't change there. Aiden asked me to read them a book and I agreed. They get a book read to them six out of seven nights. He got a new paper back Transformer book today and as I started to read it, I found it was pretty easy to skip pages without them realizing. (I mean, I am exhausted from all the 'tude today.) Well, I thought no one realized. I got to the very last page and Aiden says, "You skipped a page, and you skipped a few pages here, here, here...". I said, "Then I can just reread it to you tomorrow night with all the new parts. I didn't realize I missed pages." How did he know with it being a brand new book?!
I came and sat on the recliner in the peace and quiet and I can hear them giggling, talking, arguing, and so on. Then, Aiden starts crying. It was an attention cry so I didn't bother getting up. (You can tell the difference in cries.)
He kept on and on with the whining, then he says "Mom! Roman poked me in the eye!".
I said "Aiden, I don't care. You need to go to sleep. Now!! I am tired of the games at night and I specifically told you two I didn't want to hear a peep."
Aiden yells back "You don't care if I die?! I could die. He poked me in the eye!".
Then, I hear Aiden say in a lower voice "Roman, I am going to poke YOU in the eye!".
Before I could respond, I hear Roman crying.
I fuss at Aiden to stop it and to go to sleep. I threaten to punish him from his Lego game on the computer and he starts all kind of back talking. I punish him for one day. I hear in a low voice "Mom is stupid. She doesn't care. She says I am punished from my game and I didn't do anything. Hmmfph!".
Myself, saying loudly "That's it. Two days off the computer."
The reply from Aiden is "I didn't say anything!".
I said "I heard you call me stupid, Aiden."
He says, "I called myself stupid, not you! I said that I'm stupid."
We must have argued for what seemed like an hour with him getting himself in more and more trouble. I think by the time he finally went to sleep, we were at two weeks with no computer games. (Jude is working tonight.)
Roman had his moments all day, too. I think he got fussed more today than he has in his entire three years of life.
Sometimes, Jude and I just don't know WHAT to do. It feels like our kids rule us at times. Especially at dinner time. Definitely at bed time. We read parenting books, we have stacks, and the advice always sounds nice until you are in the moment and things aren't going "text book" ways. It is so hard being a parent, yet so rewarding at the same time. Some days, I look at Jude and ask "Why? Why did we do this to ourselves?". Other days, I look at him and say "Could you imagine how boring and empty our lives would be without our children?". Parenting is a catch-22! All I know is that I am aging FAST.