Many of you have enjoyed stories about my husband in my For Better or For Worse series since June of 2009.  You have heard me mention time and time again about my husband's special sense of humor, which I love even though I give him a hard time about it.  Aside from an occasional Silly Monkey Story, my husband, who writes product reviews for 3G2S, really has not written any personal posts.

Well, my husband surprised me today with a story he wanted to share with our readers.  I think a personal post from him is long overdue.  I really want to encourage him to write more of these posts, so I decided to give him his own series called "Dad's the Word!".  Look for the first post coming soon.

As my kids get more mobile and active I can’t help but to reflect on my own physical shape. And right now my shape is round. I can barely keep up with them now and things are really just taking off.  I need to get into better condition.

I am so out of shape now, the only thing I would consider starting with is walking. But whatever I do, I need to be prepared to integrate my kids into it or it simply isn’t going to happen. I immediately thought about jogger strollers as the perfect way to do some aggressive walking while keeping my kids involved.

With a good jogger stroller I can keep my kids with me and actually get out there, and that’s 90% of it . . . just getting out the door with kids. Look at the great selection of double strollers at Morestrollers.com.  They have everything and in all price ranges. I particularly like the Schwinn Arrow Fixed Wheel Double Stroller, but this site has so many choices, I think there are probably a dozen more that would work for me.

Hopefully, I’ll be out there soon zipping by in my rocker-sole shoes, twin jogging stroller, and a pile smiling crazy kids!

Dear Karen,

You have to stop being such a pushover!  You can stand up to your children, your husband, and your parents, but you let a cat push you around?  How embarrassed would you be if anyone found out that your cat was picking on you the other morning?  That every time you tried to walk by the end of the bed to get to the bathroom, she would catch the back of your panties with her claw.  Then just to tease you, she would let go and then do it again when you tried to move . . . over and over again.  And for a second, you felt trapped because you didn't want to make a ruckus and wake up your sleeping family.

Seriously, aren't you ashamed of yourself?  You need to show that cat who's boss!  I mean, she must weigh a measly 8 pounds and you must weigh at least *cough* *cough*.  So it's fine to dote on her and give into her when she begs for food, but you have to draw the line somewhere.  Come on!  Are you a woman or a mouse?

It's really starting to feel like summer around here.  We reverted back to the 50s and 60s for a short time, but now we are back up to 80 degree weather.  The children have been wanting to get outside as much as possible, especially since we had such a bout of rain recently.  It is more important than ever to remember to apply sunscreen before we leave the house, but since we do not always remember, we keep sunscreen in a few places . . . in the house by the backdoor, in the car, and in my oldest son's soccer bag.

The sunscreen we keep by the backdoor is the Family Size Banana Boat Kids SPF 50+ lotion.  I like this lotion because it comes in a pump and is very easy to dispense.  Our 7 year old son can apply sunscreen on his own arms and legs using this product without making a mess.  It is also tear-free, which we have put to the test a few times.  When I apply sunscreen to our twin preschoolers' faces, they cannot seem to hold still no matter how many reminders we give them.  I have gotten a tiny bit in their eyes before and it did not seem to bother them at all.

For the car and my son's soccer bag, we keep a can of Banana Boat Kids Max Protect & Play SPF 110 Continuous Spray and a can of Banana Boat Kids SPF 30 Continuous Spray sunscreen.  Both sprays go on as a fine UltraMist.  I usually do not use the spray inside the house, but it is super-convenient to use outside.  I also love it for when I need to reapply sunscreen quickly after a few hours away from the house.  The spray goes on evenly and does not require the lotion to be rubbed in.  When we use this for faces, we just spray some into the palms of our hands and apply the sunscreen with our fingertips.  The only time that the spray does not work so well is when it is windy outside.  On those days, it is difficult to control where the spray lands.

Both the traditional Banana Boat lotion and spray seem to work very well.  I highly recommend the higher SPF products because I noticed my children would still turn a little red after using the SPF 30 spray.  Both the lotion from the pump and the spray absorbed into the skin fairly quickly and did not feel greasy afterwards.  There also was no strong or unpleasant scent left on the skin.  Both products are water-resistant, but we have not had a chance to test that out yet this year.

You are invited to take the Banana Boat Sun 101 Quiz to become Sun Certified.  When you do, you will prompt a $1 donation to The Skin Cancer Foundation from Banana Boat.  Also visit Banana Boat on Facebook to learn about their "101 Days of Summer Giveaway".

You can purchase Banana Boat suncare products at most major retailers of skincare products.


Thank you to Banana Boat for providing complimentary product samples for us to base this review upon.

We just have one contest to draw the winner for today.  It is a contest I was very excited about because I just love to shop!  Let's see which lucky reader will be shopping soon too!!

Havaianas, a leading footwear brand most well-known for its wide array of styles in flip flops,  actually sells shoes for the entire family.  Their selection includes sandals for babies and kids, women's sandals, women's sneakers and espadrilles, men's sandals, and more.

My husband and three children live in flip flops, but I personally have never been able to become accustomed to wearing thong-style sandals.  The Havaianas Origine Ballerina Espadrille are right up my alley though.  I would love to own a pair in Black and another in Sugar Coral, which is such a feminine and flirty color.

You can shop for Havaianas footwear on US.Havaianas.com, in many major department stores, and at American Eagle and 77kids.  The Havaianas website has such a huge selection.  If you are known for having difficulties making up your mind, you might as well accept the fact that you might end up buying more than one pair.

Thank you to Havaianas for providing product for our contest prize.

Luke has been complaining that his throat hurts the last few days. No fever, cough, or any other symptoms. The only thing that can cure a sore throat, by the way is an ice cream shake . . . an absolute fact according to Luke.

Well, he had yet to score his ice cream shake by this morning and suddenly developed sever pain in his belly. The pain was in different spots depending on when you asked him. Apparently ice cream shakes cure sore bellies as well. Well by lunch time he realized his sore stomach strategy had backfired and the very last thing in the world he was going to get for it was a shake.

After explaining to him that ice cream shakes weren’t good for sore bellies Luke got up and said:

Then suddenly realizing there were some leverage chips still on the table he says:


Luke got his ice cream shake and all his ailments are suddenly cured. You know what? Luke was right, it is an absolute fact that ice cream shakes cure sore throats...





If you have a Silly Monkey Story to share, sign Mr. Linky below with the link to your blog post (not the link to your main blog page). Please do not forget to visit the other participants and leave them comments to let them know you stopped by!

Like many pet owners, we have battled with fleas so we know how important flea protection is. We have tried every brand of flea prevention available and have had good results with some and very bad results with others. When PetArmor offered me their “Take a Hike” gift pack along with the chance to review their flea, tick and lice protection, I was happy to try it out; not only because it’s always nice to test this type of product without the upfront investment, but because PetArmor is priced well below other leading brands, so if it worked and we liked it, it would save us money in the long run.

PetArmor is the first EPA approved generic fipronil product used to treat both dogs and cats. It is sold through major retailers, such as Walmart, and offers a substantial savings to leading flea protection. PetArmor is available in two forms: PetArmor which kills fleas, ticks, and chewing lice and PetArmor Plus which kills fleas, flea larvae, flea eggs, ticks, and chewing lice.

Last week, my sister and brother-in-law treated everyone to a Father's Day dinner at an Italian restaurant called Buca di Beppo.  This restaurant served dinner family style, so it was a nice change of pace compared to other family restaurants.  For dessert, we had Tiramisu and celebration cake.  We thought the children would love this colorful cake, but they actually found the colors to be off-putting.  I tried it and thought it was rather good.  The bottom layer of red was especially buttery.  Have you ever had the chance to try Italian celebration cake?

Company Kids, a leader in children's room decor, has introduced their new pirate and nautical themed collections! Each is themed for your little pirate or mermaid and has the great quality we’ve come to trust from Company Kids.

Do you recall how excited I was when my article "Recent grads need to dress to impress for job interviews" was a front page article on Examiner.com for the Boston area?  On that day I told myself that I need to check the front page daily just in case one of my articles was featured.  Well, do you think I remembered to do that?

I actually have only remembered to check a handful of times since that day.  Today was one of them and there it was . . . the article I had published yesterday titled "Skirted capris are a stylish and practical solution for active women".

To find out more about writing for the Examiner locally or nationally, visit Examiner.com.

I took an abundance of photos on Father's Day.  I've shared many on Facebook and in last week's Silly Monkey Story, but the first two photos below stood out to me the most.  I can't wait to see some of the Father's Day moments captured by the other Weekly Winners participants!

I love coffee (who doesn’t?) and I especially love a good iced coffee in the summer. But one thing I hate is to make my own, so I buy my iced coffee. When I had he opportunity to try a Keurig Mini Plus Brewing System with a variety of Green Mountain iced coffee and tea K-Cups, I was excited. Although I rarely drink iced tea, the possibility of getting my iced coffee fix without needing to make an extra stop in the morning is like a winning lottery ticket.

My overall impression? The Keurig B31 Mini Plus Brewer made excellent coffee, was a breeze to use, and clean up was as easy as it could be, but a few design shortcomings on cup compatibility make the Keurig B31 slightly less than perfect. If this brewer was a couple of inches taller this would be the perfect coffee machine.  This is not the machine to choose for brewing iced coffee or tea directly into a cup of ice, since that would require a taller cup to allow room for the ice.

To view the full line of Keurig coffee brewers and iced beverage K-Cups, visit Keurig.com.


Thank you to Keurig for providing a complimentary product sample for us to base this review upon.