ups and downs

My mom told me once, "when you're a mom, the days are long but the years are short". She told me this when my oldest was 2 and he was in the middle of "the terrible twos". Now five years later that little 2 year old is now 7 and has been joined by two more little ones. I look around and it appears that so many other peoples children are fun loving, happy go lucky, extra smart and love to play. I look at my children who are screaming, fighting and asking to watch yet another TV show on a day where the sun is shining and it's 75 degrees outside. I do remember being a TV kid but I also remember loving to go outside in the summer. I know in my head, everyones children act the same as mine. I just wonder how much of their negative attitude is their age, the time of year, or is it more related to my attitude. Lately I've been debbie downer. Everything I look at is ugly, broken or needing to be repaired including myself. I try to use logic to cheer me up and make me realize my life isn't so bad but then the emotions come rolling back in and I just want to give up and crawl back in bed. I can explain my actions away with a number of things, but that is just an excuse. How does one look at the glass as half full instead of half empty?