What to do when your children embarrass you?

I think I am just in a mood, but being a parent is the most frustrating, exhausting, & time-consuming job I have ever had.  Today was one of those days that I was so embarrassed by my kids.  The kind of situation that gets your family labeled as "that family."  The kind of situation that probably won't get us invited back again.

What's really frustrating is that I work so hard to teach my boys manners and how to behave when we are out in public, but there are times it just feels like a battle I will never win.  They are really good kids, but three boys just tend to get out of control at times.  I know they are only 10, 8 & 5, but I do hold them to high standards when it comes to manners and I expect them to know how to behave.

In this current situation, I took the boys back to the house to apologize and they will be paying for what they broke, but I still feel like a potential friendship has been ruined.   It's embarrassing, disappointing and I feel defeated.  When my boys are in the wrong, I always have them write letters to apologize or own up to what they did wrong.  I know my boys well enough to know when they are not telling the whole truth and I expect them to own up to what they have done wrong.  I am not a parent who looks past mistakes the boys make and brush them off or think my child wasn't in the wrong.  I am actually on the other end of the spectrum and usually jump to the side that they probably did do something.  I know this isn't fair to them.

What do you do when your child embarrasses you in front of others?  Not the kind of embarrassment where they say something they shouldn't, the kind of embarrassment that reflects on your parenting skills?  The kind of embarrassment that gets you labeled.  Today is just a day where parenting is frustrating, exhausting, and time-consuming.  I know tomorrow will bring a day where parenting is the most wonderful experience of my life, but I have to get through this frustrating day first.

**  I did want to mention, as this sounds like a super depressing post, the boys know that I am very proud of them for apologizing to the parent and using their own money to pay for what was broken. I'm just disappointed in the situation.