Janeen Brady is my HERO!

I am one of those moms who cant control my kids in public. You know the type; the lady in the store with all three of her kids screaming at the same time, while she either ignores them completely, or publicly threatens to strangle them if they don't "SHUT UP RIGHT NOW!" (and yes, I do use the word shut-up - immature of me, I know) Yup, that'd be me. It really is embarrassing, but I'm at a loss for what to do with them when we are in public, where there isn't really a time out spot to stick them in and let them scream it out. (Which is my usual method at home, unhealthy though it may be). They know it too, which I believe is exactly why they act up in public - they are testing me, I'm not sure what they want to prove by making me crazy, they are both obviously aware of the outcome if they act up in public... but that is the game I have to play. So ya. Even at home, they will behave like little angels all day, and then someone will come over, and that's the end of it. It doesn't matter if its my visiting teacher, my sister, a friend, neighbor, even my mom, they instantly act like wild animals on some sort of speed. When its just me at home and they act up, I stick them in time-out until they decide to "be happy and cheerful, and apologize for________." I try to be very consistent about this, but it is really time consuming sometimes, and I cant possibly leave guests sitting in the living room while I stick a kicking screaming child in time out over and over for an hour or so until they decide to comply! So ya, I'm going to have to quarantine myself in my house with my kids simply because being around anyone who doesn't know me REALLY WELL is just too embarrassing!
Today, I had an idea. I needed to go to Walmart for diapers, Walgreen's to pick up pictures and krispie kreams to get doughnuts for Brain's work party. So, I made a preemptive strike, I told Zoe if she could be happy and cheerful and NICE and not sassy on ALL of our errands we would do some fun things at home when we got back. She's a little skeptical of doing fun things, since I usually try to convince her that it will be fun to clean her room, or organize the toys in the play room (which usually ends up with her in time out at least once). Anyway, I have these Janeen Brady activity books that have all kinds of pre-school appropriate activities in them, you know like make a bag puppet, or an animal with brads for hinges on their arms and legs. I'm usually just too dang lazy to dig out supplies to do these sorts of things, so I haven't even pulled them out for a year or so. I forgot how cute they are! If you are not familiar with Janeen Brady and you need something to keep your toddlers busy, you should check out her materials here (she is the one behind the safety kids, if you've heard of that program) my personal favorite is the I have a song for you series - so FUN. Bottom line - Zoe almost forgot a couple of times and started being sassy, but when I reminded her that we would make turkey puppets if she kept being good, she remembered how excited she was, and quit. Liam pretty much follows her lead, so as long as she was good, he was good too. We made it through two stores without anyone staring at me like they were contemplating turning me in for child abuse, so the mission was a complete success! So we came home and made little turkey finger puppets, which they thought was awesome, and it was pretty easy for me to throw together, even while I was holding Finn. Only problem is, I think it worked so well because it was a new kind of thing, so what happens after I've exhausted every activity in the books? Oh well, I guess I'll cross that bridge when I get to it!