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December 18th or EARLIER IF there is a large response.

The giveaway will run from December 18, 2011 – January 1, 2012

What is Lyme's Disease?

Wikipedia defines Lyme's Disease as "Lyme disease, or Lyme borreliosis,[1] is an emerging infectious disease caused by at least three species of bacteria belonging to the genus Borrelia.[2][3] Borrelia burgdorferi sensu stricto[4] is the main cause of Lyme disease in the United States, whereas Borrelia afzelii and Borrelia garinii cause most European cases. The disease is named after the town of Lyme, Connecticut, USA, where a number of cases were identified in 1975. Although Allen Steere realized that Lyme disease was a tick-borne disease in 1978, the cause of the disease remained a mystery until 1981, when B. burgdorferi was identified by Willy Burgdorfer.
Lyme disease is the most common tick-borne disease in the Northern Hemisphere. Borrelia is transmitted to humans by the bite of infected ticks belonging to a few species of the genus Ixodes ("hard ticks").[5] Early symptoms may include fever, headache, fatigue, depression, and a characteristic circular skin rash called erythema migrans. Left untreated, later symptoms may involve the joints, heart, and central nervous system. In most cases, the infection and its symptoms are eliminated by antibiotics, especially if the illness is treated early.[6] Delayed or inadequate treatment can lead to the more serious symptoms, which can be disabling and difficult to treat.[7] Lyme disease is a biosafety level 2 disease."

Before yesterday, I knew it was a disease you can get from the deer ticks in our area, but that was about all I knew. But yesterday my wife, Melissa, was diagnosed with Lyme's Disease and after the initial shock, I started researching to see what we are up against.

Thankfully it can be treated with antibiotics if caught early enough. Well, of course, my wife is in the later stages of the disease and she had to get her knee drained of fluid yesterday since the disease effects the joints. She is now on an antibiotic that we picked up last night and she must take that for a month and hopefully she will recover from it.

So if that wasn't bad enough, we got caught in a transitional period of work where my wife and I are not covered under any insurance. Thankfully the staff and doctors at Pottstown Memorial Hospital have helped us out a little bit but we are still facing a huge stack of medical bills that will be coming in. Please keep us in your prayers and I will keep everyone posted as we progress.

Leap Pad giveaway

Here is a great giveaway for the new LeapPad.

PROS:

* A magnetic stylus, which is fairly easy to get in and out and less likely to get lost (I hope!). My youngest son cut the stylus off of every single Leapster we had in the past, which has been very frustrating.

* An EXTRA stylus, in case you do lose the original. =) (Fantastic idea, LeapFrog!)

* The Learning Path, which allows parents to keep track of their children’s learning progress online.

* Kid-friendly touch screen with nice, clear resolution.

* The camera and video recorder, which may be my kids’ favorite features. Combine those with the included Art Studio and you’ve got hours of fun for kids that like to play with their pictures. The camera is pretty low-resolution, but it serves its function and my boys don’t know any better yet.

* Art Studio! Lots of fun for kids and it gets their creativity and imagination going.

* The “All About Me” game, which allows kids to make books about themselves and share them via Facebook or email. I started my own book and had a lot of fun being creative with it.

* Ultra e-books, which are so cool! They’re interactive and give kids a new reading experience.

* It allows several player profiles and each profile keeps track of that specific child’s skill level. This is particularly nice because I remember in the small amount of time when my girls were still playing with their Leapsters (the original ones, I’m talking about here), their brothers would get on them and wreck their progress because there was no such thing as a different profile or log-in. I also love that the LeapPad, as well as the Leapster Explorer, does keep track of each kid’s progress.

* You can get new games and apps to continually challenge kids (more than 100 in the LeapFrog library!).

* Much better alternative to an iPad for younger kids. Of course it’s much more limited than an iPad, but it’s also a fraction of the cost.

* It’s educational, which is my very favorite thing about LeapFrog products. They know how to combine learning and fun in such a way that kids don’t even realize they’re actually learning something and not just playing a fun game. You can feel good about your kid using this as part of her allowed screen time because she’s not just playing mind-numbing games, but actually actively participating and stretching her learning skills.

To enter for a chance to win visit http://www.parentingbytrialanderror.com/2011/11/01/review-and-giveaway-leapfrogs-new-leappad/comment-page-11/#comment-72991

Baby Bump Contest

For all of those expecting mothers or family's with little ones this is a great giveaway for you to enter.



Just visit this site to enter using the rafflecopter form.

http://www.myfourmonkeys.com/2011/10/baby-bump-giveaway-prize-pack-worth-over-450/#comment-124598

Good luck to all.

Hauling and Trucking & Makobi Scribe present Sharing For Christmas where we gathered together to donate to Parker’s Pals, which is an organization that helps children who are diagnosed with cancer under the age of three. The bloggers hosting the event donated just under $200 to go towards a Parker's Pail. The cost of a pail is $240 so we came really close! Please check out this worthwhile organization!

THANK YOU SO MUCH for donating your time and money to Parker's Pals!!!

Rainy Day, Fun Day

It's a rainy Wednesday and with my 3 oldest kids at school, I am home with my 3 year old, Elijah and looking for something to do.  Little boys like to build so we get the blocks out.

And little boys also like to destroy.

Getting a head start!

He had such a good time knocking the blocks over, and over again.

Sometimes the old toys can be so much fun for you child and we also got to teach Elijah some words associated with the pictures on the blocks.  Now I just have to get him to help me clean it up.

What to do on a Fall Day?

It's a beautiful fall day, the leaves are turning and falling, my 4 kids are home with me and my wife has to go to work.  Soccer is cancelled since the fields are too wet and I need to keep my kids busy.


First thing we do is go for a bike ride!  We heard about this bike path from my sister-in-law so we decide to go try it out.  The 19-mile Perkiomen Trail runs through the Perkiomen Creek Valley from its junction with the Schuylkill River Trail at Oaks, Upper Providence Township to the largest County Park, Green Lane Park. Most of the trail is a 10-foot wide cinder or stone aggregate (non-paved) surface with grass shoulders. Selected sections are  paved where deemed appropriate.  We drive to Green Lane Park to start at the beginning of the trail.  Such a beautiful park and we had a great bike ride up and down hills, through the woods, and over creeks.  Here are some things we learned about the park.
     The trail is an important regional amenity and landmark,  it provides a wealth of benefits to nearby communities by:

• preserving a greenway link, along the Perkiomen Creek;
• serving as both a recreation and a transportation resource;
• providing access to the creek, for sightseeing, fishing and other water related recreation.
• enhancing property values; and
• contributing to local economies by bringing new customers to existing businesses and by creating a demand for new services.

After our ride and coming home we decided to get the rakes out and rake some leaves into a pile.  We made a huge pile for the kids to jump in.

Everyone helped rake the leaves and pile them up.  Once we were done all the hard work, it was time for the fun to begin.

Lined up and ready to go!!

My oldest son, Daniel was the first one to "dive" into the pile.

After a few minutes, and everyone getting into the fun, our huge pile of leaves was reduced to a small mound.

And now everyone is hiding under the leaves.

All in all we had a great weekend.  The weather was a perfect fall day in the 70's and the sun was shining most of the weekend.  Now I have to go back out and rake the pile of leaves back into a huge mountain for the kids.

Have a great week!

Diamond Candles Review

From time to time I come across a company that I think has all the things needed to be successful.  I spend time on their website or Facebook and learn everything I can about the company and their products.  Diamond Candles is one of these companies.  When I say that I spend time researching them, I mean I search them on the web, check out their facebook page, ask people and other bloggers that I know what they think about it.  Before I was a stay at home dad, I had a job that required lots of research on new products and I can tell you I really love what I found out about Diamond Candles.  Now, I'd like to share my review with you.Diamond Candles is such a unique company.  Yes, they are a candle company - and an eco-friendly one at that! All of their candles are made with 100% soy candles and not from petroleum based parrafin wax, bees wax, or palm wax.  Each candle is 6 inches tall, 3.5 inches in diameter, and weigh about 3 pounds.  They are available nine delicious scents ranging from "Apple Slice" to "Lavender Lemon".  There's also a scentless option for those who love candles but dislike or are sensitive to scents.

Yet, that's not what makes Diamond Candles so unique and obsession-inducing.  There are many, many candle companies out there, after all.  What really sets Diamond Candles apart from the crowd is what they put in each candle.  If the name hasn't already told you, I'll let you in on this special feature... each candle has a ring, valued from $10-5,000 inside!

You read that right!  A ring.  Here's how it works- each Diamond Candle has a little gold sticker on the side of the candle marking where your ring is buried.  You burn the candle down until the wax foil protecting the ring is revealed.  Then you use tweezers (or whatever you can find to dig something out of hot wax) to dig the foil-wrapped ring out of the wax.  Then you desperately rip the wax apart and open the baggie that holds your ring and reveal to yourself the treasure you just received within you Diamond Candle!

Individual candles are only $24.95 and sample packs of 5 candles are $124.75.  Remember, each candle contains a ring valued between $10-5,000.  Thanks to the growing online community if you don't like your ring you can trade it or sell it so you really have nothing to lose.

Check out their website at http://www.diamondcandles.com/ or you can visit their facebook page here.  While you are there look at their happiness rating, 96% as of today and check out the videos.  You can also follow them on twitter diamondcandles twitter.  For those dads, husbands, boyfriends out there looking for a unique and perfect gift for that special someone in your life this has got to be it.  We all know how much the women we love like sparkly things.