Parenting | 3 Boys And A Dog

Send Mom a Bouquet She Won’t Easily Forget!

May 7, 2012 By Kelli Leave a Comment

I told you about shopping at RedEnvelope for my Mom and Personalized Gifts for my Mother-In-Law, now I get to tell you about my own Mother’s Day gift! LOL! I am not a flower type girl which I guess is a good thing since my husband hasn’t brought me flowers in more years than I can count. I am not complaining! He brings me Chocolate and that really is sooo much better. However, there really is nothing like sticking your nose in a big bouquet of flowers is there? It just makes me feel all misty and girly.

So, when given the chance, I ordered myself a BIG vase of flowers! I must say, this is the first time I have ordered from ProFlowers and I am impressed! Not only do they have so many great mothers day gift ideas, but their prices are amazing!

I brought my boys in to the computer and told them I was choosing myself a Mother’s Day gift and asked if they wanted to give their opinions. Hmm.. 2 out of three are exactly like their Father “Whatever YOU like Mom!” Not Zack, my sensitive man who told his little girlfriend the other day that he “respects her decision” about whether he should call her on the phone or not! Zack hung out with me for quite some time while I flipped through page after page of the great mothers day gift ideas and we picked quite a few that we really liked:

Send Mom a Bouquet She Won’t Easily Forget!

However, we settled on the vase of Tulips that see you at the top of my page. I was impressed when they came and so happy with the fact that they lasted about a week!

*I was given a gift code by Pro Flowers to test their products and service. Any opinions stated are strictly my own!*

pf button big Send Mom a Bouquet She Won’t Easily Forget!

Filed Under: Parenting, Reviews Tagged With: bouquet, day gift, easily, flowers, flowers type, forgotten, great mothers day gift ideas, human interest, mom, mothers, personalized gifts, send, she, tell

Giveaway: The Potty Target

May 3, 2012 By Tabitha

“Give your boys something to aim for!”

There are four boys in my house. Currently only two of them use the toilet, one is on the verge of being potty trained and the last is obviously no where near potty training as he is only six months old. I guess I am one of the lucky moms out there that doesn’t have to clean up the messes my boys make….yet! I have a feeling once my two year old is trained he’ll be a disaster in the bathroom just like he is in all the other rooms.

So although the Potty Target is intended to help decrease, if not completely eliminate the messes that boys make in the bathroom, I was hoping to use them to entice my two year old to even USE the potty. I am sad to report that although he likes the idea of the stickers on the potty and he made a hilarious attempt to stand and pee, something is still preventing him from using the toilet. I will prevail though, soon, I hope.

The concept of the Potty Target was the idea of Stacey Dragan and Doug Kempel, parents to two little boys who had very little desire to aim for the big white toilet bowl. So in their frustration they decided to give them something to aim for, and so the Potty Target was born in 2009. Made with a water proof adhesive these cute little stickers are not only useful but great conversation pieces as well. I have had quite a few people mention them. In fact my sister in law asked me if I knew there was a sticker in my toilet, because she know my little guy so well and assumed he had put a sticker in my toilet for fun!

Extremely easy to install, it’s a simple matter of draining your toilet bowl, washing and drying the install location, then applying the sticker. It’s just that simple. I had mine installed in less then 5 minutes! And if installed properly they should last up to year, that’s pretty impressive for a sticker! They come in 6 different package options and you get 12 stickers for $9.99. If you only have one toilet that’s approximately 12 years of a cleaner bathroom! Sign. Me. Up. You can purchase yours here.

Win it!

Five of our very lucky 3 Boys and a Dog readers are going to win a set of 12 Potty Targets!

REQUIRED COMMENT: Leave a comment below telling me who you would buy this product for.

BONUS #1: Follow @momof3boys3702 on Twitter and RT this contest. The easiest way to retweet is to simply click the green ReTweet on the top right of this post. YOU MAY TWEET ONCE DAILY

BONUS #2: Like 3 Boys and a Dog on FaceBook then share this post by clicking the FaceBook share button at the bottom of this post.

Other bonus entries:

#1. Spread the word about this review by: email, forums, blogging, Digg, or putting the link in a meme. (one entry per thing done)
#2. Sign up for my NEW Weekly Newsletter.
#3. Subscribe to my RSS feed.
#4. Put my button on your blog.
#5. Leave a comment on any other post (excluding giveaways!) Be sure to leave a comment here saying which post.
#6 – Vote for me at Picket Fence by clicking the button on my sidebar. Be sure to leave a comment saying you did! YOU MAY VOTE ONCE DAILY!

CONTEST ENDS: at Midnight CST on May 17th

OPEN TO: USA and Canada

*DISCLAIMER: I was sent items by Potty Target to help facilitate my review. Any opinions stated are strictly my own.*

Filed Under: Early Years, Giveaways, Homemaking / Housekeeping, Just for Kids, Parenting, Parenting, Parenting and Family, Review and Giveaways, Reviews, Teachable Moments Tagged With: bathroom, chamber pot, excretion, Giveaways, human interest, messes, potty, potty targets, potty training, six month, stickers, Target, the potty, toilet bowls, toilets

Prepping A Whole Lot Of Fun This Summer #C2S12

May 2, 2012 By Kelli 1 Comment

Please welcome our first guest poster for the Countdown to Summer 2012! Niña Angeli Pilapil gives us some really great ideas to keep the kids busy this coming Summer! ~Kelli

Summertime is again fast approaching and what better way to spend it than by taking your kids to different exciting summer activities! The incredibly modern age has prompted kids to be more interested in doing indoor and sedentary activities like video and online games. Lots of kids nowadays are more interested in catching up on the episodes of their favorite television shows than bother with outdoor playtime. Well, you can change all that. Why not start this summer?

Summertime Kids’ Activities Suggestions

It would be great if you can encourage your kids to depart from their gadget and new media fascination for a while and just focus on more “active” stuff. You can do so by organizing recreational activities that are suitable for summer. Here are some suggestions for you:

Take them for a dip at the local beach or pool.

Summertime wouldn’t be complete if you don’t take your kids out for at least one beach or pool trip. Make it more fun for them by organizing a kids’ swimming tournament and invite your children’s friends so they can do it together. Come up with fun water sports and games and be sure to give out great prizes, so they will be motivated to join. Just make sure that you tap other parents so they can give you a hand in supervising the kids.

Go on a photography field trip.

Is your child inclined in the arts? Make this summer fun for him or her by having a photography trip and visiting some of the local scenic spots like parks and museums. Bring along your camera and teach them how to take awesome pictures.

Make them your assistant chef for meal preparation.

Teach your kids the importance of preparing and eating healthy meals by making them your assistant chefs and including them in daily meal preparations. This way, they will get to appreciate the food they’re eating and maybe even cultivate their inherent cooking skills.

Enlist in different summertime charitable events.

Encourage your kids to help people in need by enlisting in various local charitable activities. It can be as simple as old clothes or toys donation or as intricate as joining a food drive event. This is a good way to teach them the value of compassion and generosity.

What do you think about the suggestions above? These are just some of the ideal summertime activities you can do with your kids. I’m sure you can think of more. Whatever activity you choose, make sure to explain to your kids the importance and value of doing the said activity. What are some parent-kid summertime bonding suggestions you have in mind?

Niña Angeli Pilapil is a best promotional products expert and writer who loves reading books and novels. She works for Promopeddler, a promotional items company. Visit her Twitter page at http://twitter.com/ninsbonita.

pf button big Prepping A Whole Lot Of Fun This Summer #C2S12

Filed Under: Guest Blogger, Holidays / Seasons, Just for Kids, Parenting Tagged With: #C2S12, angeli pilapil, come summer, countdown, fun, guest post, kids, lot, online games, prepped, prepping, summer, summer activities, Summer Fun, summertime

GIVEAWAY: Pampers Gives Families a Chance!

April 27, 2012 By JacquiO

I always love enjoying watching my children play. Nothing makes more proud then watching them learn threw their movement. I have said more than once (and I am sure I am not alone in this) that I wish I had their energy level! Pampers want to encourage this energy and “little athletes” . They are doing this by launching it’s Limited Edition “USA” diapers and wipes designs. They have also partnered up with the one and only two-time Olympic Games Gold Medalist(Beach Volleyball) and Team USA Hopeful, Kerri Walsh.

From now until May 19th you can visit the Pampers Facebook page and enter for a chance to win a trip for a family of four to attend the London 2012 Olympic Games and attend the FIRST EVER Pampers Playground event. Not only would you get to go to the Pampers Playground event but you get to go with Kerri and her family which consist of her husband and two sons.

The winner for the trip will be drawn on May 21st. Guess what? Not only are the giving away a trip for a family of 4, but they are also drawing at random each week between now and August 12 for a special prize pack. The prize pack will include a one month’s supply of Pampers Limited Edition “USA” diapers and wipes.

Pampers Limited Edition “USA” diapers and wipes combines utility and aesthetics. This helps encourage the little ones to explore and play. What makes the “USA” diapers stick out from the other diapers is they have the USA logo printed combined with red, white and blue stars and stripes design. These diapers are available in Cruisers Size 3 through 5.

Kerri Walsh (Pampers sponsored athlete) is also the epitome of P & G’s ”Thank You, Mom” campaign. The campaign recognizes the important role that we as mothers play in our children’s life. P&G hopes to raise $5 million which will help establish youth sports programs around the world.

Outside of the “Team USA Sweeps” Pampers also built a new platform on the Pampers site called Pampers Playground. It has three sections that are for sections that we(parents) can use to explore with are little ones: Picnic Table, Toy Box, and Park bench. The picnic table gives us parents a chance to upload and share photos and videos of all the different ways our babies like to play. The toy box provides fun tools and games to help our babies to play. Such as an interactive story book. Lastly the park bench offers articles detailing the importance of play for little ones.

As a mom I only wish there were more companies out there that care as much as Pampers does for our children and the products and services the provide for them.

Connect With Pampers

Site

Facebook

Twitter

Want to share the Pampers offerigns with your friends and family?

Facebook Share

Tweet Offering

Do you want to learn more about the “Thank You, Mom” Campaign?

Look Here!

Purchase Pampers

Online Store

Want to win Pampers size 5 USA diapers and wipes?

REQUIRED COMMENT: Visit Pampers and tell me something you liked, learned, or want!

BONUS #1: Follow @momof3boys3702 on Twitter and RT this contest. The easiest way to retweet is to simply click the green ReTweet on the top right of this post. YOU MAY TWEET ONCE DAILY!

BONUS #2: Like 3 Boys and a Dog and Pampers on Facebook, then share this post by clicking the Facebook share button at the bottom of this post.

Other bonus entries:

#1. Spread the word about this review by: email, forums, blogging, Digg, or putting the link in a meme. (one entry per thing done)

#2. Follow my blog.

#3. Subscribe to my RSS feed.

#4. Put my button on your blog.

#5. Leave a comment on any other post (excluding giveaways!) Be sure to leave a comment here saying which post.

#6 – Vote for me at Picket Fence by clicking the button on my sidebar. Be sure to leave a comment saying you did! YOU MAY VOTE ONCE DAILY!

CONTEST ENDS: at Midnight CST on May 05, 2012

OPEN TO: USA

Filed Under: Giveaways, Parenting Tagged With: babycare, chance, children play, diapers, facebook, families, family, Giveaways, gives, human development, kerri walsh, limited editions, olympic games, pampers, pampers limited, team usa, world wide web

Giveaway: Picture Collage Maker Pro Giveaway {$39.99 value – 20 winners}

April 24, 2012 By Erika 26 Comments

Picture Collage Maker Pro has to be one of the easiest digital scrapping softwares I’ve used in a long time. I normally like to do free form digital scrapbooking because it’s super fun for me but lately I’ve noticed that my pictures are still hiding in my computer and my time is super limited (more than normal). So I decided to use their templates and wizards instead of being completely creative about this and I was super impressed with the results:

They have TONS of templates to choose from and you can change the background, add pictures, add clip art (which I did with the flowers and clouds)…it was easy-peasy! Just select, click, drag and drop! My only initial complaint with the wizard was that I wasn’t able to add text to it BUT I finally figured it out…so my suggestion would be to make it easier to add text to the picture but it really wasn’t too hard to do that. If you can’t read the poem, it says:

“Children are like flowers,

Water them with love,

and they will bloom!”

Then I saved my picture collage and wanted to see if it would fit on the header of my new Facebook timeline as a cover foto and it was pretty close to being perfect (minus the flowers that didn’t show, but that’s okay)….it’s adorable anyway…so I was able to add my little poem when I posted it on Facebook instead, which made me happy. :)

Since I wanted to create more projects and noticed that it had a “download more templates” link, clicked it and a bunch of NEW choices were available on their website online…so I downloaded some for Mother’s Day! This time I played with the template lots more…it is super easy to change things too, this one had four photos originally but I only wanted two, so I deleted them and voila! I created for my mom for Mother’s Day!

Using the program was easy, quick and I can see me taking advantage of their templates and wizards to blow the dust off the pictures hiding in my computer and start sending updates for my mom and other family since we’ve moved to the North East. So what else can Picture Collage Maker do? In just minutes (literally) you can create more than just photo collages:

greeting cards
photo calendars
scrapbook pages
and other art work

All in all, it’s a great program to have if you have children and your time is limited but you want to create cute picture collages and look like you are a professional digital scrapbooker….shhh…no one needs to know you used the template and wizard! :) Download now for FREE! (15 day free trial)

Ready to order? You can do it online right now for only $39.99 (or if you want to go Pro with it, it’s a little more) by visiting Picrture Collage Maker’s website.

Want to win it?
Twenty (20) friends of 3 Boys and a Dog will receive (winners will receive the license code and download link), here’s what you need to do:

Required: Go to the Picture Collage Maker website and leave a comment with a project you’d like to do if you win.

Bonus #1: Follow @momof3boys3702 on Twitter and RT this contest. The easiest way to retweet is to simply click the green ReTweet on the top right of this post. YOU MAY TWEET ONCE DAILY

Bonus #2: Like Pearl Mountain on Facebook and 3 Boys and a Dog on FaceBook then share this post by clicking the FaceBook share button at the bottom of this post.

Other bonus entries:

#1. Spread the word about this review by: email, forums, blogging, Digg, or putting the link in a meme. (one entry per thing done)
#2. Sign up for my NEW Weekly Newsletter.
#3. Subscribe to my RSS feed.
#4. Put my button on your blog.
#5. Leave a comment on any other post (excluding giveaways!) Be sure to leave a comment here saying which post.
#6 – Vote for me at Picket Fence by clicking the button on my sidebar. Be sure to leave a comment saying you did! YOU MAY VOTE ONCE DAILY!

CONTEST ENDS: at Midnight CST on May 8th

OPEN TO: USA Only

*DISCLAIMER: I received a copy of this software for free from Pearl Mountain to help facilitate my review. Any opinions stated are strictly my own and the gift received does not weigh in on my honest review of this product.*