March and April

March was a very strange month, weather-wise. We would have 60+ degree weather for multiple days, interspersed with snowstorms. Here are pictures from the heaviest one:

Our backyard--we got somewhere between 6 and 8 inches, I think.

Calvin and Dad had a great time playing in the snow.

Snow angels.

John loves having his little buddy who is game for anything, especially if it is outside.

But I think he's rather disappointed with us girls, who would rather watch from a window...

John did get all the kids out to build a snowman, which they loved. Obviously I wasn't home, because Kimmie is out in a skirt and shortsleeves, but it was warming up by then, and I probably would have been fighting a battle that wasn't worth the effort. Getting Kimmie to wear a coat is like pulling teeth. And I doubt she was out very long, her cold tolerance is similar to mine: non-existent.

Easter!! General Conference was the same day, so it was pretty busy but really nice. Conference was great as always, though the many talks on the importance of teaching kids early in the home made me sit back and take stock of how I'm doing...

Anyway, we had John's parents and brothers up for a ham dinner, cake, John's questionable jello/chocolate pudding creation, and of course lots of candy.
The kids were so excited for the Easter egg hunt, and we had fun watching Richard and Gary hunting for the eggs that John and I (tried) to be clever with.

Kimmie shows off her basket of eggs. How does she manage to look adorable all the time?

Richard and Calvin counting eggs. Calvin kept dropping them out of his basket because he was holding it crooked, but heaven help you if you tried to teach him how to hold it right...

Here's a video of the beginning of our egg hunt. Can I just say how fun it is to have family around now to do these things with? It's pretty dang fun.

On Saturday before Easter we went to Mom Butler's work and had an egg hunt there too. Needless to say, the kids were not wanting in the sweets department this year. Or any year, really... Mom somehow talked John into dressing in the Easter bunny costume and take pictures with the kids and some of the residents (she works at an assisted living center). Calvin wouldn't have anything to do with him at first, and neither would Kimmie. I think we eventually got pictures. I will have to get them from Mom so I can save them for a special occasion... like blackmailing John into getting my new floor or something.

Our coloring of eggs didn't happen until FHE the Monday night after Easter. It was a busy weekend, ok? We still had fun, and the kids wished we had another 2 dozen eggs to color. Don't eggs usually go on super sale around Easter? What happened to that??

Kimmie's favorite egg, smiley face and stickers. She turns five this month, can you believe how grown up she is?

Emily's special egg--purple, of course. Smiley face as well (I think it was her idea first).

Calvin thought egg coloring was the best. He loved the green and the stickers. It was kind of fun to have some boy stickers as well as the flowers and girlie stuff. Although he doesn't seem to mind most of the time.

The egg artists. John, as usual, is leading the kids in a funny faces.

Our treats after coloring eggs were chocolate nests. I will never understand how Kimmie eats chocolate so messily. She gets more messy with M&Ms than anyone I know.

John never ceases to surprise me. After eggs John decided to take the dye and make designs on the driveway. Sooo, there you have it. I made the kids (that term would include the big kid in the middle) pose with their design. And I love Calvin's pot belly, it cracks me up.

As far as after the holiday goes, things are plugging along. We are enjoying warmer weather and tackling some yard projects, and other things.

Here's the new book reader in the house, reading to her siblings. So cute, and so great.

Just for a laugh, here's what Calvin came downstairs in after I told him to go up and get some pajamas on. He has on a button up shirt, backwards, and khaki pants. No, he didn't button them up by himself, I'm still not exactly sure how he got the shirt on. He was so proud of himself and looked so funny I had to take a picture. At least the pants are on the right way, it's a toss-up each time he puts those on.

Somewhere in all this we went to Utah, John went to NM for work, I started teaching the girls a little piano playing, John's been super-busy at work, Emily's finishing up her first year of school, I'm teaching in Young Women, Kimmie's doing preschool, and Calvin keeps everything ten times harder than it should be but ten times happier as well. Oh and I've read at least 10 novels. But I won't tell you how the housecleaning has gone...

So hopefully this post will make up for the last couple pictureless ones.

Now go out and enjoy the sun!

recap

The last week of March I decided to drive with my kids to visit family 8 hours away. I was very blessed to have my mother-in-law with me to help drive and handle kids, so it went very well. The trip there was one of the best road trips we've ever had with kids. We only had to stop once and made extremely good time. We were fortunate to be racing the weather both ways and timed it well.
We went out to surprise my sister by showing up and helping with her baby shower. It is their first child and they are now moved far away so it was really fun to go. We came up the stairs into the kitchen and there was Melissa standing there talking. She looked over and saw the kids and said, "What the heck?!?!" and started to cry. It was great. :) So fun to be there for the shower and see them before they left for more temperate climates. My aunt Connie was an absolute gem in letting us stay with her and get in the way of their busy schedule. Emily and Kimmie were absolutely enthralled with Connie's kids (my cousins) and played with them as much as they could. It was so fun to see my Kimmie play with Connie's Kimmi (my Kimberly's named after her--because she's so dang amazing), and the way all the girls were so great with my kids in pulling out the Barbies and playing animals with them and everything else.
Saturday night we went to a park for a while, met up with Melissa's husband and played for a bit, and then went to the Creamery on 9th to meet up with Steve for some dinner and ice cream. It was so fun to be there together. Steve and Calvin had some epic straw wars, Kimmie made "puzzles" out of the fries holders for Ammon (sorry, still don't know how to do the accent thing) and Emily was so excited to buy some ice cream she could hardly sit still. I'll have to get the pictures from Laura to post up sometime. I was a total loser and didn't even touch my camera the whole trip. Fortunately Laura is our family photographer by default, so hopefully she will save my documentation efforts yet again. I will beg an excuse out of being a single parent of three small children for 5 days and I was very busy and very tired.
Sunday we went to church with Connie's family, but only made it through sacrament mtg because we had gotten to bed so late the night before. So we came back and crashed for the afternoon--just getting up in time to head to Grandma and Grandpa Durrans' for a dinner with John's family. I got to talk with Angela and David, Grandmas and Grandpa entertained kids, as well as John's second cousin (?) Gabe who actually hit it off with my girls and talked with them for a good while--training them in all the things he got in trouble for as a kid... Thanks Gabe. :) We got back late again to Connie's (I'm so sorry, Connie!!!), and crashed in bed again. Monday we drove up to see Laura and Jason's house and spent the day with them, playing balloon wars and distracting Jason from his paper (sorry again!) and watching Kung Fu Panda and making dinner. Then we headed back down to Provo for FHE with Melissa, Ammon and Steve, which Melissa and Ammon did an awesome job on, and I got to show off my kids' gospel knowledge. :) Melissa had scrambled up letters in plastic eggs for the kids to find and then put into order. Emily guessed the word "Prophet" after only seeing the "p" and the "t"! I was amazed. After a fun time with them and some yummy peach cobbler, we said good-bye and headed back up to Connie's for the night. Then we headed off home in the morning! The trip home was a little bit more tedious as the treats were old news and I didn't pull out John's laptop to do a movie for fear I would throw the thing out the window (it is old and slow and touchy and extremely frustrating to set up), and we were all very tired. Mom Butler was a saint a drove most of the way since I was in a fog--so tired but unable to sleep in the car. I think we were all very happy to get home. Thanks for driving with us Mom!! You are a life saver.
When we got home, John was still gone on his work trip so I still had another day as a single parents. But it was good to be home and collapse and do nothing for a while. We had a great time with family there--a solid vacation: see lots of family, do lots of things, and be so exhausted we were ready to go home by the end.
Wednesday was tough for Emily waiting for Daddy to get home. Tuesday night she was so tired but she couldn't sleep because she missed her dad. We called him on the phone and after talking with him for a while she was ok again and went happily and quickly to sleep. John, if you ever doubt how much these kids love and need you, just rememer that!! We were all happy to see John home the next night and have our family back together again.
Now is it back to regular life and everything else.

General Conference last week was awesome and wonderful and a bit overwhelming! There were so many messages about the importance of teaching children in the home and when they are young, I definitely had to take a step back and evaluate how I am doing in my role as a mother of small children. I actually had a really good talk with my girls Saturday night about Easter and Christ and His Resurrection. I believe I need to be better about recognizing those teaching moments and taking advantage of them. Strong families are so important and these years before the kids go out in the world are so precious. I think those messages on teaching our children were dead on and that we really do need to focus on helping our children develop testimonies of the Savior and learn to feel the Holy Spirit in these tender years. Which is why I am overwhelmed with that responsibility--but I also believe that being a mother is the most important calling and role that I have, and that the Lord will qualify me for the things He asks of me. So, onward we go.

Easter pictures I will have to post next time, and give a synopsis of the fun there. Happy Spring!

yard work

This week was spring break and the temps were in the 60s. Sooo, I got all ambitious and started to do some yard work. I cleared out one area of the flower beds where tulips and daffodils and crocuses are coming up, and the I decided to tackle the lilac bush--well, tree, really. This thing has been left to grow as it would for nigh on 15 years, and it was HUGE. I started into it and after about an hour of pruning with the clippers or whatever they are called, I realized I was in completely over my head. Fortunately, I have a next door neighbor who is big into gardening and plants and is also one of the most unselfish people I've ever met. He brought over his chainsaw and did about 3 months of work for me in about an hour for him. There were branches everywhere.

Then today, I spent from 11:30am to 5:00 pm (with a break for lunch) gathering up those branches, splitting them down, and getting them ready to take to the wood recycling place. Again, my neighbor came to my rescue and helped all afternoon after doing branches in his own yard, and took my one and a half truckloads (along with his half a load) to the recycling place. Emily also was a huge help (she amazed me, really, she's a pretty hard little worker!!), and Kimmie even pitched in some. Calvin was too busy playing with the dogs next door and his car and the swing and about anything else but helping with sticks. And it wasn't worth the battle for me to make him participate.

Anyway, this neighbor is the one my kids love to go help and is kind of a grandfather figure to them and the one who showed up with his wife and daughter last year in the blizzard snowblowing and shoveling our driveway. Honestly, some of the best people ever. Any ideas on how we can possibly repay his (and her) many unselfish and extremely kind acts of service?? I am at a loss.

Oh, and side note: 60+ degrees all week, including today, and tomorrow we are supposed to have between 6 and 12 inches of snow. Spring is a fickle, fickle thing. I enjoyed the one-day glimpse of yellow crocus blossoms, anyway.

A rough morning

So a couple of days ago I had one of those mornings... the one where it's 9am and you are ready for bed already! And it all boils down to one factor: CALVIN. Holy two-year-oldness. This boy takes it to the max. I'm writing it down because my mother told me that I needed to, and this seems like the easiest place to do so. Sharing with you all is just a bonus. :)

The morning started ok, but as soon as I try to herd Calvin into his room to get changed and dressed, it all falls apart. I have to warn him twice before he will even go in his room, and then he refuses to take his pajamas off. I am working against a deadline here, so after a couple minutes I just take them off. And of course, he freaks. Screaming and crying and the world is at an end. And that's just the sleeper pjs, he has on more underneath... I finally get him to try and get his own pjs off, and he tries for the shirt, and can't get it. So he starts to cry and goes for the pants, and can't get them, so he starts to cry, and goes for the shirt again. He does this two or three times--all the while refusing to let me even touch him to help at all. FINALLY he gets them off. Screaming through the duration, mind you.
He lays down, I get out a diaper and he miraculously sits down on it. I get the wet one off and wrap it off, and all of the sudden--perhaps because that was just too easy and his will had not been taken into account enough--he starts screaming that he wants the wet diaper back on. It is soaking soaking wet, there is no way I'm putting that back on. He freaks, again. I offer to let him pick a new diaper, just so he can have the joy of picking the stupid thing out, but he's too far gone. I'm about at my wits' end, so I just leave him naked and go into the bathroom and shut the door to wash hands and take a breather. He is standing outside the door, banging on it and screaming. Then it is quiet for 10 seconds, and he starts up again. Can you tell where this is headed? I open the door, and he has peed on the door and the floor in front of it. So now I have that to clean up.
I haul him into his room, hold him down as best I can to get his diaper on, wrestle a shirt on him, and dump him in his crib to take care of the mess. I leave him to scream his heart out while I clean up the pee and then check on the girls, because I have to have them ready to take Emily to school. Fortunately Emily has been an angel and gotten herself all ready to go. Kimmie is dawdling around but she is at least dressed. I tell her to get shoes on and then go back up to check on Calvin, who is upstairs in his crib screaming, "MOMMY I WANNA SAY SORRY!!! MOMMY I WANNA SAY SORRY!!!" So I go get him and after "sorry's" and a talk and a couple hugs he's calm and sniffing and coming downstairs to get shoes. Miraculously, he is docile while I put his shoes on. Then I leave him to get the girls herded into the car (Kimmie still doesn't have shoes on, so I have to get on her case a bit). When I come back to Calvin, he has taken off his shoes and thrown them back into the closet--because he realized he didn't get to do any of it himself the first time. At this point, I am done. I grab Calvin and his coat, leave the shoes there, and throw him in the car, pinning him down to get the seat belts on him because he's screaming and squirming and fighting as best he can. We rush to school, and somehow Emily is on time. When we come home, I collapse on the couch and need the rest of the day to recover.
I am very proud of myself for keeping my cool throughout this nightmarish morning, but it took all the emotional reserves and patience that I had to do it. Hopefully we don't have too many more mornings like that. I'm not sure I can handle it!! I am definitely getting practice with patience lately, as he has had a number of episodes like this, but this was by far the worst. Through it all, it amazes me that I can love a child so completely in the same moment that he is driving me completely insane.

BBC + Jane Austen = awesome

BBC/PBS has a new production out. They have taken on Emma, and I think they did a great job. Very faithful to the book, just like Pride and Prejudice. I think they did a great job of portraying Emma more as Austen would have liked, and delving into the emotional and nitty gritty and soap opera-ness of the story. Here is the link to the page if you want to see it:

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/masterpiece/emma/index.html

I am not sure if anyone but my family looks at my blog anymore, so this may not be new to them since Laura was the one who lead us to it. Regardless, I liked it, and will be looking to buy it if the price of the dvds is ever cheaper than it is currently!

Emily's school journal

Emily does journal time at school. Every day they have 20 minutes or so to write in their journals and draw a picture. They write whatever they want. Emily has brought home 3 or 4 now, and here are some of my favorites. I'll put a translation at the bottom so you can tell what they say, but I think she does pretty good for just trying to sound out the words and figure them out herself. She tackles some pretty big words sometimes.

"I went sledding with my Aunt Angela. I had fun. I love sledding. When I went back to my Grandma and Grandpa's house I was wet."

In this one you get a taste for what John has been working on every Saturday for a very long time: attic prep for insulation! I think the picture is great. It says:

"My dad scratched his shoulder with a nail. He told me he did this morning. He put a band-aid on it."

This one is my favorite. If you have ever been present when John has expounded on the virtues of our new pressure cooker, you will understand why. It says "My dad likes to cook rice in our pressure cooker pot. He is cooking rice in our pressure cooker pot. I like rice with bbq pork. That is my favorite way to eat it." I laughed out loud when I read this one. So absolutely perfect. There is a snapshot of our John, through the eyes of Emily.

Fambly part 2

Laura and my brother Steve came to visit in February over Valentines Day. It was so great. The kids were thoroughly excited to have Laura back again; and it was great to see Steve, since we hadn't seen him since before he left on his mission two years ago. Calvin was born the day he got his mission call to the New Hampshire mission, so Steve had never seen him at all. The kids warmed up to him right quick and he even got two valentines with candy from the girls. I think he was pleased to have a no-pressure Valentines Day. It gets kind of crazy in the 'Valley of Happiness' called BYU. Thanks to Jason, for lending us Laura for the weekend. We didn't really do anything exciting, but we had fun. And yes, we played "Monsters."

Thanks for taking the long drive for a short visit! Oh, ps Laura, John said the tires on your car are super bald, so maybe you want to check on that before the next time you venture through Wyoming blizzards again! Yikes! Glad you guys made it home okay.

I am not a very good picture-taker, I'll have to con some from Laura, but here's one of Emily and Steve doing homework together. Well, Steve's doing astro-physics or something, and Emily is drawing. :)

I woke up Saturday morning and John was nowhere to be found. I got Calvin some breakfast and wondered where on earth he went. I shrugged it off and went back to bed or up to play with Calvin, I can't remember (probably back to bed, if I'm being realistic), and later Emily came bouncing up the stairs saying that she and Dad had a surprise for me on the table. So I came down to find this beautiful arrangement on the table. He had gone out early with Emily to find them (even paying the extortionist prices that stores charge for Valentines roses, I might add--which is big, if you know John). He even tried to find my favorite chocolate doughnuts, but couldn't. Which might be a good thing, since one of those things fulfills your saturated fat quota for the week. But they are good! Anyway, it was sweet, and Emily helped write the note, which was cute too. Thank you John, it meant a lot! Love you tons!! Hard to believe this is our ninth Valentine's Day together. Thanks for sticking with me through all the ups and downs, for being supportive of my callings, especially that of motherhood, my hobbies (well, I know the reading drives you nuts), and encouraging me to develop my talents and friendships. Thanks for making life fun and for being a great husband and father. I love you.

Oh, just for fun, here is a picture of Calvin all ready to go help Dad "shovel" the snow. Plus throw snowballs and do a few doughnuts in the car in our culdesac. He is Dad's little bud because he's game for just about anything. He's the only one that will go out in the snow now. The girls are ready for spring.

Fambly visits

I feel bad teasing Laura about not posting on her blog about coming to visit us, and I have been remiss on posting things myself. Hypocrite? Yes. But I am repenting now. Here are videos of Laura and Jason visiting us in January and introducing the kids to their new favorite game of all time (thanks so much, guys): Monsters!! I had to load all three because they are all funny and cute. Jason, I think you are a perfect match for Laura purely for the fact that you have as funny a run as she does. Thanks for playing with our crazy kids.

Here is Laura reading "Skippyjohn Jones" in her muy muy good spanish accent. :)
We had so much fun in a too short weekend with those two crazy kooks, and the kids were very sad when they left. Calvin kept asking where "Woh-wa" was. Come again!

equation

1 2-year-old's ear infection + 10 diapers a day + at least one load of laundry a day + pullups on a 4-year-old who hates it + whiny kids +no eating/picky eating + 1 6-year-old's sinus infection - 5 straight nights of a good night's sleep =

a household of stomach flu and one mother on the verge of a nervous breakdown.

But it doesn't take all those years of Calculus to figure that out. Pity, then they all might have been worth something.

TV

In some ways the internet is seriously helping me waste my time. And in doing so, I have found (with some help from family members, you know who you are) some seriously cool television shows. So, I thought I'd share the wealth. The three best TV shows (in my opinion) on the air right now:

1. Psych (USA Network)
2. Chuck (NBC)
3. White Collar (USA Network)

While you can never have anything perfect, these shows are witty, pretty clean, funny, and have intriguing plot lines and characters. And that's my tidbit for today--or the week, depending on how things go. Happy watching!

Sledding video

Here's a sampling of the Butler family sledding.

Christmas Day and sledding again

Christmas morning was fun. Our first in our new home! The video says it better than I can, so here's a couple to give you a sample of the fun:

The kids got Cars the movie from their Aunt Laura. You have no idea how excited Calvin was to open that! He got all excited and jumped up and down saying "Light-ing A-Keen!! Light-ing A-Keen!!" They watched it later on after breakfast (I took a nap).

The kids in their new pajamas from G&G P and their presents. So excited!!

Emily LOVES her new horse and carriage from Santa. Actually, the other kids do too and sometimes sharing has been tough! The blasted tail came out the next day and Emily was distraught, but fortunately Mom can be somewhat clever at times (sitting on the floor for an hour gathering up the hair and trying to get it all the same length again was a definite labor of love) and got the tail back in.

The boys had a great time playing with Calvin's new cars. I'm not sure who was having more fun... I'll post a video and you can judge for yourself.

The girls in their new hats from Aunt Angela. Thanks Ang! Now they finally have hats that fit, and they will wear!

The day after Christmas we went down to John's parents' again and they all went sledding. Kimmie and I still were harbouring memories of our last sledding trip and decided to wait at home. However, they had a great time and I feel bad for bailing. Ah well.

Emily loves sledding and had a great time.

Calvin had a blast!

Calvin and John suiting up for the next run

Ready for another go!

Snow angels, father and son

Christmas Eve

Christmas Eve was a busy day for us. That morning, John convinced us all to go sledding with him up at the park. Not knowing the good sledding spots yet, we ended up on a pretty pathetic hill, but it gave John a good workout. Doesn't he have great bowling form?

Poor Kimmie lasted about 5 minutes before the tears started. In her defense, it was about 15 degrees and I'm pretty sure the windchill was subzero and we were on top of a hill... And she has the same cold weather stamina as her mother! John was not amused with us, but we just went on a walk and found a nice sheltered spot on a swinging bench in the sun overlooking the geese on the lake. It was actually very peaceful.

Fortunately for John, he had two other kids that were game for sledding even though it was freezing. Emily and Calvin had a great time.

After about an hour though, everyone had just about had it. I think they were all in tears when we got back in the car! But, that dried up pretty quick after we went and got burgers and fries and ate them at John's office, and played foosball. For the record, I did beat John in the parental showdown... barely.

After we got home, we finished up with our first year (and maybe last) of major candy-making. John made toffee (he's pretty good at that now) and I tried peanut brittle for the first time, and with a bit of advice and encouragement from my mom and Grandma R over the phone, it turned out pretty good! We also made fudge (best ever this year, with a little tip from Taste of Home cookbook to let the fudge cool to 110 degrees without touching it--it is so creamy!!) and chocolate truffles. Here's a picture of Calvin "helping" with the truffles...

That night, John's family came up to enact the traditional nativity. This picture captures the gist of the thing, with Angela narrating, Richard as a stellar donkey, Emily as a Mary poofy with child, Calvin as Joseph leading (being led by?) the donkey, and Kimmie as a reluctant (very reluctant) angel.

Mary and Joseph...

The Wise Men... or rather more literally the "wise guys:"

I just thought this was a fun picture, with Calvin looking up at Matt. I'm not sure he really had any idea what was going on, but he was a good sport--Calvin, I mean. Though Matt was a good sport too...

Kimmie and Grandma B as the angels. There was no way Kimmie was getting up there on her own, so Grandma got recruited into the angelic host.

Kimmie took a picture of me manning the piano for the night. I figured I don't post many of myself, so I'll put it up.

Apparently Kimmie had to have her turn as Mary as well...

Calvin was a great Joseph: angel halo, thumb in mouth and all. He was so tired!!

After the nativity, David read "the girls" (everyone else was just there) a story--one of my favorites: The Christmas Miracle of Jonathan Toomey by Susan Wojciechowski (yes, that's really the last name). The artwork is beautiful and the story sweet.

And now the kids are starving and I really do need to go. I'll post Christmas day pics a little later!

And just to seal the deal...

Here it is in physical form and hopefully you can see it now. No promises on actually reading the text though.

Christmas Letter 2009

Anticipation

Four more days til Christmas. And let me tell you, it has been a loooong time getting to this week. I can prove it, too, since we have four different Christmas countdowns in various places around the house, presents that have been counted and rearranged and counted and rearranged again, and a certain six year old who is about to go into cardiac arrest waiting for Christmas morning to finally arrive. We were doing okay until I decided to wrap all the presents from Grandma and Grandpa P and put them under the tree one night a week or so ago, after the kids had gone to bed. When Emily awoke the next morning and discovered the new additions, she could hardly contain herself, and has sighed dramatically and said "I just can't wait until Christmas!!" countless times since. The child was so obsessed that I actually threatened to take some away if she couldn't get a hold of herself. It's calmed down a bit, but I still have to remind the kids to leave the presents under the tree every so often. As a sampling of both her gift enthusiasm and her writing, here are two notes that Emily wrote for Kimberly and I, all on her own:

Also, I am exceptionally proud of myself for actually putting together matching Christmas outfits for all three kids this year. I found these dresses at a second-hand store and was thrilled to find matching colors but not identical styles, and then I found the tie and shirt at another store for Calvin and just couldn't resist, it was too perfect. Aren't they adorable?!?

Baby, it's bone-freezin' cold outside!

It is cold. This morning, it was 2 degrees F--possibly less. Now, after noon, it's warmed up to a nice toasty 8. I think the high is supposed to be 14, but I have my doubts about getting there. I picked up Emily from school, and the walk from the car to the school was enough to make my ears hurt it the arctic wind, and my fingers numb even inside the gloves. There are about 6 inches of snow on the ground, and not a bit of it is melting off the street, so driving is interesting. Did you know that cold, dry, squeaky snow is actually very slippery? It is. I've had to practice the rocking back and forth out of snow drifts a couple times now, and it is always interesting to wonder if this might actually be the time where you get good and stuck. Fortunately, that hasn't happened yet.
Also, can someone please invent a silence bubble that you can pop over a screaming toddler when you are in public places? It needs to be air-permeable, but not sound. Think you could do that? It would be so much easier to get grocery shopping done and various other errands without having to either a) drop everything and vacate the premises so they don't destroy the eardrums of everyone else in the store and to find a private place to wait it out or discipline them, or b)give in to the tantrum to shut them up but at the same time encourage these tantrums to continue because you give them what they want when they do it! Can you imagine how great it would be, once they started screaming because they want something they can't have, to just throw the bubble over them (oh, it needs to be compactible so I can store it in my purse) and continue shopping in blissful silence until they realize the tantrum is not getting them anywhere? Oh well, I can dream, can't I?