Starting June 3rd, I am hoping to have a father’s Day Gift Guide each day for one week!  You will need to submit your products via email (Kelli (at) 3boysandadog (dot) com ASAP in order to have them included.

Please submit your Father’s Day gift idea and be sure to include the following information:

• Name of Item:
• MSRP:
• Where to Buy: (link to “where to buy” page is acceptable)
• Short Description of Item:
• Social Media Links:

**IF YOU HAVE MULTIPLE ITEMS, PLEASE SUBMIT MULTIPLE EMAILS!  This helps me keep things organized and not miss something you wanted submitted!

If I choose to include your item in the gift guide, I will be in touch.  If you do not hear from me, that means your item will not be included in the guide.

Just a few details on the guide:

I am planning a themed guide every day Sunday through Saturday and have thought of things like:

• Sports Nut
• Techno-Dad
• Man-Chef
• Outdoorsy Daddy
• Handi-Dad
• Father Knows Best (brainiac)
• The Gamer
• Hot Rod Addict
• Pet Lover
• Musical Dads
• Business Executive
• etc

The actual themes will be dependent on the submitted items!

NOTE:  A non-returnable sample will be required for all submitted items!

Please welcome Kelly to 3 Boys and a Dog!  She shares some really unique ideas on getting our kids scheduled for a summer camp that they will love!

Not Your Momma’s Summer Camp!

Remember summer camp? Getting dirty, swimming in the lake, swinging on a rope and splashing into the cool water on a hot day…those were the days! I remember eating hotdogs off a stick, roasting marshmallows over that open fire, and telling scary stories late into the night.

My kids would say, “You’re joking, right?” Times have changed, and summer camps are changing right along with them. Today’s featured summer camps are geared more to what this tech-savvy generation wants. If your kids are like mine, they want to create new animated games, role play in stories about creatures from Zelda and Pokemon, and post their drawings on Deviant Art. The online camps may not include Pokemon and Zelda, but they are sure to engage even the teens in your house!

The ID Gaming Academy offers a 2 week, 24/7 camp at Stanford, Harvard, and more. For a mere $3,500, your kids can learn about game development from real experts in the field. The Digital Media Academy is $1,045 for a week, but does not include lunch. Really?

A more affordable option is DIGIPEN Project Fun. Though on-site classes are offered at DIGIPEN’S Redmond, WA, campus, your teens in eighth grade and up can take a completely online camp offering 2D video game programming and Introduction to 3D animation. This camp lasts for 2 weeks, 5 days per week, for 3 hours each day, and costs just $395.00.

Still too expensive? No worries! Sometimes the old adage, you get what you pay for is true, but not in this case. The Digigirlz High Tech Camp, obviously for girls only, is a Microsoft camp, and is FREE. Unfortunately, it’s only offered in 6 cities across the U.S. If you live in Fargo, Irving, Charlotte, St Louis, San Diego, or Redmond, try to register now as it will certainly fill up. Don’t live near any of those cities? Don’t despair! Your girls can take a free online class that will teach them how to create a podcast or design a website with HTML Expression Web Curriculum.

Too busy to commit to a camp? Try some online fun!

The minute you hear, “I’m B-O-R-E-D!” sit them down and log in to one of these great sites:

Have a writer in your house? Storybird is a terrific site where kids can write their own stories using amazing art already provided. Making, sharing, and reading is free, but you will have to pay for printing (starting at $1.99)

Maybe you have a budding culinary artist in your home. Visit Kids Cooking Activities for online lessons for creating bread, pies, cookies, and even dinner. Maybe Mom can take a night off!

If you are one of those parents who feels your kids get enough face time with the computer, head over to Ultimate Camp Resource where you’ll find a list of 70 projects you can do in your own backyard. Don’t forget to roast some marshmallows while you’re at it! It’s nice to know some things about old-school camp never really get old.

Kelly Stilwell, contributor to Mommy Magazine, Baltimore’s Child, and the Examiner.com, is a freelance writer and virtual/homeschooling mom in Florida. A former stockbroker, Kelly now spends her days on her laptop, right alongside her kids, writing about how virtual schooling is changing the face of education. Visit her at Virtual School Resources.

Recently, I was given the opportunity to try Cuddle Covers. Unlike other animal pillows on the market, Cuddle Covers are playful, snuggly pillow covers that bring ordinary bedding to life. They’re hypo-allergenic too!

There are six adorable characters. We got Max the Dog. When Max arrived, all I had to do was remove him from the box, fluff the Cuddle Covers pillow and then stuff him. It was easier to get Max on the pillow than it is to get a traditional pillow case on.

My 3-year-old, Button, was in love with Max the moment she saw him. He is incredibly soft. She has been using the same pillow with the same case since she was a year old, but she abandoned that pillow for Max. She’s been using Max ever since.

The next morning, she woke up and told me, “I had good dreams because Max kept me safe.” Now, obviously, there is no way for a pillow to protect a child (nor is that what I’m suggesting), but it’s great that Max makes her feel safe.

She’s been taking Max everywhere. Mostly dragging him by the arms or legs since at 36″, he is as tall as her. I am pleased to say that the seams show no signs of wearing down, tearing or stretching. Also, when she spilled milk on Max’s head while trying to give him a sip, I simply removed the pillow and tossed Max in the washer and dryer. He came out looking brand new.

Buy it!

You can buy any of the 6 Cuddle Covers friends for 19.99, and an official Cuddle Covers pillow for 14.99 by visiting the Cuddle Covers website.

Win it!

One lucky 3 Boys and a Dog reader will their very own Cuddle Covers!

REQUIRED COMMENT: Visit the Cuddle Covers website and tell me which of their 6 characters you like the best.

BONUS #1: Follow @CuddleCovers and @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 Cuddle Covers 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 30th

OPEN TO: USA and Canada

***DISCLAIMER: I was sent items by Cuddle Covers to help facilitate my review. No money changed hands. All opinions stated are 100% my own.***

Last week we wrote a post that we are determined will be super popular, this week we are going to begin marketing it.  We will focus on one thing each week for the next few weeks.  Hopefully we will all have a super popular post AND will have learned to market some of our less popular posts.

Before we begin, go into your analytics again and find that post… you only need to set your timeline from the day you wrote the post through today.  Write down all the stats of that one post so you know where you have started.  We will be checking this thing each week over the next few weeks.  My post, Top Ten Recipes, has received 67 page views since it posted on the 11th.  My goal is to have 500 page views of it by this time next week.

This week let’s think of linkies.  We all know them, they are all over the web!  Maybe you only do Wordless Wednesday or Menu Plan Monday each week.  Or maybe you spend 90% of your online time linking things all over the worldwide web.  Either way, this week I want you to find a few linkies each day to link up your popular post.  Be sure it fits the category.  THEN, on every linky that you link up to, choose 5 people to go visit and comment on.  I suggest pinning, stumbling, and/or tweeting the posts you visit, also!  Help your fellow man and you might be surprised at who helps you!

I have heard many people say they don’t know what to say in a comment… here’s a great draft!

Hi!  I am stopping by from the XXXX linky because your XXXX caught my eye!  I just love XXXX and even Tweeted, Pinned, and Stumbled you.  Great job!

Kelli:  http://southernmomcooks.com/ten-most-popular-recipes/

Be sure to use the link to your full post in commentluv, in the website link of the form, and if there isn’t a commentluv or website place, put it within the comment like I did above.  Ta da! Comment done, now move on to the next one.

Feel free to leave your link in the comments and I will come visit!  See ya’ around the blogosphere!

Oh yeah, this thing is MASSIVE and oh so pretty!  Up against my body, it doesn’t look super big, but honestly it is!  I had Tank (5) get into it out of fun and he fit just fine. LOL!  Helen has lots of pockets and a big roomy center that is perfect for taking all of your beach paraphernalia like” towel, Kindle, sunscreen, brush, cell phone, iPod, snacks, etc.

Helen comes in several designs, including the pattern I got, Lulu!  Isn’t it pretty?  Sort of reminds me of another popular bag designers but Gigi Hill is so much more affordable!  Don’t you think?  Plus I really like that you can have Gigi Hill Parties! Move over Avon Lady, Gigi Hill is here!

Here’s what Gigi Hill says about their first tote under $100.00:

Helen is our ‘go to gal’ of the season! A new look in a softer feel with un-laminated cotton canvas and our first tote under $100.00! Helen can be casual for the beach, stylish for the mall, and join you for dinner, always the style setter… surely, your new BFF!
Dimensions:
14 1/2”W x 12”H x 8 1/2" D
Strap drop 10"

Guess what, you could even win one!

One lucky 3 Boys and a Dog reader will win their very own Helen Tote!

REQUIRED COMMENT:  Visit Gigi Hill, look around, then come back and tell me something you want or something you learned.

BONUS #1: Follow @GigiHill and @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 Gigi Hill Collection 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 29th

OPEN TO: USA and Canada

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

This is a super fun thing to do with the kids this summer to keep them from uttering the most annoying words in the world “I’m Bored!”  Thanks to Sarah for this post!

Fun Obstacle Course

In celebration of the biggest sports event of 2012, why not encourage your kids to compete against each other in a self-made obstacle course, which would have professional athletes shaking in fear of it. Okay, the athletes’ bit is an exaggeration, but it will be a fun day and give the kids plenty to do both in preparation and while partaking.

The Course

To begin with the course will have to be planned. How many individual obstacles do you want to have, and what will they be made of? Once you’ve decided how big your course should be, and this is very much dependent on the space you have, it’s time to scavenge the house for material. Creativity is key when making the course and your kids should be the chief engineers of it all with you helping them along the way. They will need to referee the event, and as ref you’ll need a stopwatch. Here are some ideas for obstacles to give you inspiration:

Slalom

Find some tin cans empty or full is up to you, and place them in a row on the course. Be sure to leave enough space between them for a leg to get through, but not too much as this would make it too easy. The contestant must zig-zag through the row of cans as quickly as possible without knocking them over. If a tin gets knocked down, the contestant must start from the beginning and loses valuable time.

Beam

Next up is the balancing beam. To create this obstacle you’ll need a wooden plank or large and sturdy branch, which is balanced atop some crates, storage boxes or hardcover books. The beam needn’t be high off the ground. Contestants must balance across it as quickly as they can, and if they fall off, then they have to start the beam again.

Throwing Game

This game requires good aim and patience. Place a pair of wooden shutters across two crates or boxes with an open box beneath it. Make sure that the slats of the shutters are wide open. Contestants must throw a selection of objects through the holes of the shutters’ slats. Each object could grant you 5 milliseconds off the final time. These objects can be anything of any weight that can fit between the slats, for example marbles, pins, mini-action figures or Lego people, toy cars, or wooden spoons. The more you get through the better, and, of course, the clock is still ticking!

Bowling

Align some old cereal boxes filled with sand to give them a bit of weight, or use old milk cartons with some water in them, into a v-formation just like the pins at bowling. The difficult part of this game is that you never know what size ball you will get. Tennis balls, volley balls, and beach balls can all be used to knock as many pins down as possible. Contestants have three chances to knock over the pins.

Shape game

For the shape game you will need boxes and a blindfold. One box contains several different shaped objects. Ten of these objects have to be round, while the others can be anything but round. The contestant is blindfolded and must move all the round objects from the full box to the empty box as quickly as possible.

Once all obstacles are complete, contestants must sprint to the finish line. Whoever has the best time wins a gold medal, which is made out of a chocolate gold coin hanging from a ribbon. You can always invite friends over for extra competition.

Author Bio: This article was written by Sarah Oxley on behalf of Shutters Direct, providers of quality wooden shutters. Sarah is an experienced teacher and has created many games to keep her pupils amused during break time and as summer holiday inspiration to keep them from getting too bored.

Whew, it took long enough, but my site should be back on track!  I thought I was the other day, but lo and behold I wasn’t!  So, I was biding my time until I could get switched over to my new host e-Design Pro!  I think everything should be good now, but be sure to email me if you notice something wacky so I can get it fixed.

Ok, so lets get caught back up on the Countdown to Summer Event (geez, this thing didn’t go as planned, did it?)!  Today, I want to tell you about an amazing new product for you to put into your picnic basket or snack bags!  Little Debbie’s Little Muffins.  I feel like I have been saying this a ton lately, but OH MY GOODNESS!  Look, I am so selfish!  I received these and the chocolate ones were so yummy and so moist that I immediately hid all 3 boxes in my desk drawer and didn’t tell my kids about them!  Seriously!  They still think Little Debbie only has Blueberry Little Muffins  -which they like, so it is ok!  LOL!!

Fast facts about Little Debbie little Muffins:

· This is the first time Little Debbie is offering a little muffin product

· They offer a fresh–baked taste

· The come in bite-size portions for better portion control

· They come in two varieties – Chocolate Chip and Blueberry

· They offer convenient, on–the–go, packaging

· SRP per box $2.59. There are five packs per box, with four muffins per pack, so there are 20 muffins in each box.

One lucky 3 Boys and a Dog reader will win their very own boxes of Little Debbie Little Muffins!

REQUIRED COMMENT:  Visit the Little Debbie Snacks website, look around, then come back and tell me something you liked or learned!

BONUS #1: Follow @LittleDebbie and @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 Little Debbie 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 28th

OPEN TO: USA and Canada

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

I am not going to see my husband a whole lot this week because he is umpiring at the local baseball park (well, he has been doing that since High School Ball, where he Coaches, has been over.  But, this is the last week of it and he wants to make as much extra money as possible.  So, he will be gone just about every night and part of Saturday!

BTW, only 13 days of school!!  Wow, I am shocked!

Be sure to print out your coupons this week!  Remember, you should be able to print them twice.

Ok, on to my menu plan for this week:

Monday: Crockpot Pizza (determined to get this made before the boys eat all the pepperonis!)

Tuesday: Oven Fried Parmesan Chicken (Taste of Home: Cooking School Cookbook: 400 + Simple to Spectacular Recipes), and Copycat KFC Cole Slaw

Wednesday: Glazed Pork Chops with Corn Bread Dressing (Taste of Home)

Thursday: Leftovers

Friday: Jerk Chicken Nachos and some other finger foods for Movie Night!

Don’t forget to visit Org Junkie & Susie QT Pies for Hundreds more menu plans and before heading to the grocery store… Print coupons for your favorite brands and save at Coupons.com.

Looking for more ideas?  You can find plenty of recipes as well as a free menu planning sheet on my kid friendly recipes page!

I love reading websites, so checking out one was okay with me!

About Mollymocassins.com (from their website)

Our purpose is really very simple: to encourage and inspire young children to discover the wonder and amusement of the “every day.” By combining new technologies with old-fashioned wisdom, we hope to capture their imagination and build their curiosity, enabling them to notice and connect with the world surrounding them through “adventure”stories, activities and games. Our lead adventurer is Molly Moccasins, whose positive attitude and clever curiosity takes her on many adventures, sometimes right in her own backyard, and never too far from her everyday reality.

Adding story-related activities and games enhances enthusiasm not only to learn while children play, but also to exercise their innate sense of wonderment. The versatility of mollymoccasins.com allows young adventurers to easily navigate between and within any of the stories, games or activities, while the experience of the site encourages them to create their own stories and games in their everyday lives.

mollymoccasins.com is a unique digital book series and online experience where young children can explore, with or without adult guidance, and learn that every day brings the possibility of a new adventure.

My Thoughts

I like that the stories are a series, and that they play on their own, no having to push the next page button.  The words highlight on the bottom, so if they are a fast reader, they can follow along.  You can choose to turn off the sound or the highlighted words.  It has some nice extras, such as printables, picture puzzles (that you can adjust the level on), connect the numbers, splash coloring, story painting and activity pages.  You can buy each book for 99 cents!  Then you can download them as apps, ebooks and audio books!  Pretty cool!  They aren’t really short stories either!  You can give story gifts to someone else and every book bought gets a book donated to a child in need.  Fantastic!

Sign up!

You can buy one story at a time for 99 cents each (with all of its games) or you can go ALL ACCESS for $29.99 here.

I have fallen in love with the greatest new site! I really only started using it about 2 months ago after my mother told me about it, and I’ve already saved about $300! Know that it probably more than I could normally count on, but since I happened to be planning a family reunion for me and my cousins, it just sort of worked out that way. By using CouponCodes4u I was able to actually save money on a variety of shopping that I would have done anyway.

Now, I did use some coupons and rebates for my local grocery store and I did not factor that it, but with the diapers coupon alone I saved like $2.00 and I have 3 more for future shopping trips! I did take advantage of the Macy’s coupon though for the gift I got my mom for Mother’s Day. I saved 10% off of my entire clothes order, and look forward to the Macy’s discounts and deals for next month too!

Next, I began working on this trip I mentioned. By using the Hot Orbitz Coupon Codes I got $25 off of my ticket plus a free checked bag. One of my cousins used it as well, but I think he might have used a different airline because he saved almost $100 off of his total flight.

Since our family reunion was in Lake Tahoe, I wanted to get some good shoes for hiking and maybe some fishing gear. Typically I would have probably gone to Target or something like that, but with the discount and free shipping currently available with Outdoor Cabelas Coupons, it was actually cheaper to order higher quality equipment from them than the discount department stores. I was thrilled with all the money I was saving on Couponcodes4u.com.

Finally I thought what the heck. I usually do not like to complete credit card offers online, and I bet I am not alone in feeling this way. I was having such great success with the other offers on couponecodes4u.com that it seemed silly not to try it out. Besides, an extra credit card for the vacation would be great. So I figured why not save with an Why not Save with a American Express Coupon Code? while I was at it! Even with my subpar credit I was approved for a prepaid credit card and I completed that offer as soon as I returned home from my trip. I’m really glad I did because I use and pay off the card now and I’m working to rebuild my credit.

Really the true highlight saving with couponcodes4u.com came with the all day boat tour we all took from Tahoe. I only counted this as $25 savings on my part, but 10 of us all saves 25, that’s $250 total! Obviously that was exciting. Oh tour guide that we found through the Viator.com coupon was hilarious and knowledgeable. I’ve never enjoyed getting a sunburn so much in my entire life. Seriously whether on vacation or just looking for some weekend fun, use Viator Coupons for all your fun days out, I am. I even have one to use and Dave and Busters for me and my girlfriends next week.

I’ve used quite a few coupon code websites and they can be real hit or miss but usually worth the search to save a few extra bucks. I love couponcodes4u.com because it’s the first time that all the online discounts seem to be here all in one place, which saves time and even more money. If you have ever spent even a couple of minutes searching for coupon codes for online purchases, then you will also really love the specials available through couponcodes4u.com.

To Get Macys Discounts and Deals Click Here

*Sponsored Guest Post By Jessica Rogers for CouponCodes4U.com