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Memorial Weekend Camping Trip

We spent our Memorial Weekend up north in Grayling camping with some friends. We left Friday afternoon and came home Monday afternoon. The weather was beautiful, a little chilly at night but you just threw on a extra blanket. Of course we had all kinds of yummy food over the campfire. Jesse and Kyle did some fishing and Kyle did some fly fishing for trout two evenings. Sally and I and the girls spend an afternoon in Grayling checking out all the cute little shops. We had raccoon visitors that took some fresh baked cinnamon muffins. They actually dragged the pans with the lids on them into the woods. All that was left was some wrappers! The only bad thing that happened was I had a major gall bladder attack on Saturday night. It started around 9pm and I finally gave in around 4am and had Kyle take me to the ER in Grayling. Of course by the time I was checked in the pain was going away. They took some blood and did an ultrasound. I have a gallstone that is in the opening of my gallbladder and is distended. The doctor was surprised that I was not in pain. He said once an attack goes past about 6 hours it usually does not end and you have to have surgery. They did say I need my gallbladder out and were going to call in a surgeon, but I decided to come home and have it done locally. I have had a few attacks since I was pregnant for Emily. The first one being at about 8 months pregnant with Emily. I can only say that the pain is a lot like a contraction during labor except that it does not stop or go away. It was 6 straight hours of pain. The last few months has been rough though with almost daily heartburn, gas pressure and pain in the upper abdomen and chest area. I have changed my diet, eating habits, etc and it is not getting better. So I am actually relieved that have had this happen so I could get diagnosed and get it removed. So hopefully in the next week or 2 that will happen. I was told if I have more pain or another attack to go to the ER immediately because it will have to be removed then. The ER Staff in Grayling were great! Anyways I am feeling better now, not eating to much and staying away from fatty and greasy food. The best thing out of all of this is that I have lost about 20 pounds since February! I gained back a new wardrobe of summer clothes too! Nothing better than getting into old shorts and jeans. So even with that happening we had a lot of fun. It was nice to relax in nature. Emily loved being outdoors and was so good all weekend. I can't wait to go again. Next time we plan on taking all the kids. James and Hannah were with their Dad and Brayden spent the weekend with his mom. I love being in Grayling. Kyle and I would love to some day move up there on the river. We snowmobile in the winter and love to fish and kayak in the summer.

I hope everyone had a great Memorial Day Weekend too!

Happy Memorial Day! A little early!

We are headed to Grayling this weekend to camp! Hopefully we will be leaving in the next couple hours. Looking forward to getting away for a few days. Our friends Jesse, Sally and Lily are going along with us. I love camping and eating all the yummy camp food. I hope everyone has a great weekend. See ya next week!

Anyone freeze Philly Cream Cheese??

I bought 6 packages of Philly Cream Cheese today. Got a really great deal. I was thinking about throwing some in the freezer but it says on the box for best results do not freeze. So I put them in the fridge. I'm sure I can use them by the use by date in September but was just wondering if anyone has ever froze it before? Does it change the taste or texture? I freeze regular cheese and have never had a problem. Thanks in advance for any advice on this matter!

Redwings Game!

On Sunday afternoon Kyle and I, along with our friends Jesse and Sally went to Game 1 of the Detroit Red Wings and Chicago Blackhawks! We had a blast, the energy at the Joe was intense. It was a sea of Red everywhere you looked. They did a lot of fun pregame festivities and gave out red and white pompoms to everyone who attended the game. The Wings won the game 5 to 2! GO WINGS!! Game 2 is tonight at 7:30pm. You can bet it will be on at our house. Gotta DVR my Tuesday night Discovery Channel shows. We love Deadliest Catch and The Alaskan Experiment.

MOPS Pie Making Fundraiser!

My MOPS (Mothers of preschoolers) group is baking pies for a fundraiser to raise money for a milk program at a school in Sri Lanka. Several years ago they did a similar fundraiser to help raise funds to build the school. So yesterday some of us spent the morning at the church making dough and rolling out pie crusts. We rolled out about 115 crusts! I am not much of a pie baker so I was a little rusty with rolling out the dough, but it got easier as the morning progressed. We had a lot of fun. It's always great to spend time with my MOPS friends. They are a bunch of great women and I have enjoyed getting to know them all a better the past 2 years. Saturday morning another group of women from our group will be at the church putting the pies together and baking them for the sale on Sunday at FUMER(First United Methodist Church).

Started a new blog today!

So I have been thinking about starting another blog that past few days. I decided to start a blog that I can post about money saving deals, coupons, freebies etc. I want to keep this blog for what is going on in our family. So if your interested check it out! It's called Money Saving Mama in Michigan. I am by no means an expert on saving money, but I am learning daily and I am really enjoying the challenge of saving money on groceries and everyday products that my family uses. So if you have any good ideas, coupons or freebies let me know so I can share it with everyone. Thanks for stopping by.

Our busy day outside

Yesterday Kyle had a day off from work and the weather was beautiful so we decided it was a great day to work on some outdoor projects.

First Kyle borrowed his Uncle's backhoe so we could dig up some old bushes in front of our house. After he dug them out we racked and cleaned up the mess! The house had to be cleaned. We then went to an old rock pile on his family's property and picked out big rocks to make our rock border for the new flower bed. It is looking good. We need a few more rocks and will be getting some dirt. We need about 4 yards to make it look good. I can't wait to put some plants and flowers in. I will be moving some perennials that I already have into it too. Eventually we will be removing the old cement front porch and build a little deck off the front. We also need to repaint all the windowsills this summer.

We also planted the 2 trees that Kyle got me for Mother's day. He took me to The Flower Garden on Sunday and I picked out 2 of the Robinson Crab apple trees. They flower a deep pinkish purple flower in the Spring. We also started our garden. We planted the onion sets and our red potato's. We will wait a little while longer until we plant the rest, due to the worry that it will still frost.

So we had a great day outside. We all got a little sun and very dirty. Emily had to have 2 baths yesterday! I am so glad winter is over and we can be outside. We are also planning on building a large deck off the back of our house this summer! I will post more pics of the new flower bed when it is complete.

$50 in Kraft Coupons!!

Today is the day to make sure your registered for the Kraft Community.Only registered members can print the Kraft coupons. Click here to register.

The coupon expires one month from the date you print it. There are $50 worth of coupons available today! They can be printed twice.

Coupons currently available:

$1/1 A.1. Steak Sauce
$1/1 Boca Meatless Product
$1/2 Breakstone’s or Knudsen Cottage Cheese or Sour Cream
$1/1 California Pizza Kitchen 12″ Pizza
$1/2 Claussen Pickles
$1/1 Cool Whip Whipped Topping in a Can
$1/2 Cool Whip Whipped Topping or Dips
$1/1 Crystal Light Drink Mix
$2/2 Crystal Light Drink Mix
Buy One Crystal Light Drink Mix Get Crystal Light Skin Essentials
$1/1 Digiorno Crispy Flatbread Pizza
$0.75/1 General Foods International Coffee
$1/2 General Foods International Coffee
$1/1 Grey Poupon Mustard
$1/1 Honey Maid Grahams
$1/2 Jack’s 12″ Pizzas
$1/2 JELL-O Gelatin or Pudding Snacks
$1/3 JELL-O Gelatin or Pudding Boxes
$1/2 Kool-Aid Canisters
$1/1 Kraft Bagel-Fuls
$1/1 Kraft BBQ Sauce
$1/1 Kraft Deli Deluxe Cheese
$1/2 Kraft Easy Mac
$1/1 Kraft Mayonnaise
$1/1 Kraft Miracle Whip
$1/2 Kraft Natural Cheese
$1/1 Kraft Salad Dressing
$1/2 Kraft Singles
$1/1 Kraft Velveeta Shells & Cheese or Deluxe Macaroni and Cheese
$1/2 Lunchables Lunch Combinations w/ Drink
$1/2 Maxwell House Coffee
$1/1 Nabisco 100 Calorie Packs
$1/1 Nabisco Multi-packs
$1/1 Oscar Mayer Bacon
$1/2 Oscar Mayer Bologna
$1/2 Oscar Mayer Deli Creations Sandwiches
$1/1 Oscar Mayer Deli Fresh Meats
$1/2 Oscar Mayer Hot Dogs
Buy One Oscar Mayer Deli Meat Save $1 any Kraft Cheese
$1/1 Planters Big Nut Bars
$1/1 Planters Nuts
$1/2 Philadelphia Cream Cheese Bricks
$1/2 Philadelphia Soft Cream Cheese Spread
$1/1 Premium Cracker
$1/1 Ritz Crackers
$1/1 Ritz Bits Sandwich Cracker Variety
$1/1 Ritz Wheat Thins Toasted Chips
$1/1 Starbucks Coffee
$1/2 Tombstone 12″ Pizzas
$1/1 Triscuit Variety
$1/1 Velveeta Pasteurized Prepared Cheese Product
$1/2 Velveeta Shells & Cheese Cups
$1/1 Wheat Thins Variety

I was able to print them twice! These are some really great coupons! I am already seeing some great coupons to pair up with sales at my local Supermarkets this week! Don't wait too long, you don't want to miss out on this great deal!

Thanks to Deal Seeking Mom for this one!

Happy Mother's Day

Just wanted to take a few minutes and wish all you Mother's a Very Happy Mother's Day today! Enjoy your special day. It looks like here in Michigan we are going to have some decent weather!

We are getting around to head to church, then will visit my mom and later we will have dinner with Kyle's mom.

I am very blessed to not only have a wonderful caring Mother of my own, but I have an awesome Mother in law too! How lucky am I?? I love you both very much and wish you Happy Mother's Day!

Fun Girls weekend

A month or so ago I happened to win a trivia question contest on our Local Country station. I won 4 passes to a concert for an up and coming new country group called Gloriana. It was held at the Whiskey Barrel Saloon in East Lansing. I invited a couple friends to go along with me. So last night was the concert. The group is pretty good. They have one song that is being played on Country radio right now called "Wild at heart". We all had a good time and we danced and laughed all night long. It ended up being a pretty cheap night for me, since we got in free and all I had to drink was water. I did buy their cd, but it only cost $5. I was up way to late though! I think I am getting old!!
Me and one of my oldest and best Friends Amanda.

Gloriana in person Friday night!

Today I had an all day Crop. I have been working on Emily's album. It was a fun day and nice to have the fellowship of other women. There was yummy food as always. I really enjoy scrapbooking and need to make more time to complete some albums I am working on. With the weather not being too great today, being inside all day was ok with me.

Looking forward to tomorrow and celebrating Mother's Day! Hoping the weather is a little nicer tomorrow.

Free Mars Chocolate on Fridays!

Here is a great way to get some free chocolate! Mars is giving the first 250,000 people who register on their website, in conjunction with their Real Chocolate Relief Act! This is available on Fridays now through September. Go here to register for your free coupon. Limit of 4 coupons per household. I got mine this morning. You might have to keep hitting refresh to get the page to load. I had to do that with mine. Mars will mail a coupon to you in about 6 weeks. I know I will try to get all 4 coupons that are available! Who is going to turn down free chocolate?? Not me!

Limit: 250,000 Coupons per Friday (9:00:00AM ET to 11:59:59PM ET).

Thanks Deal Seeking Mom

Emily is 18 months old!

Wow, Emily is officially a year and a half! Time flies by so fast. She is a ball of energy all day long. She is very stubborn! I wonder where she got that from?? She is such a joy to be around. She is reaching that independent stage, which is bad and good at times. Her vocabulary increases weekly. Her new words this week are flower and popcorn. I am enjoying being able to actually communicate with her. You can ask her questions and most of the time she will respond with a yes or no. She loves to give kisses. Her new favorite thing is being outside or "side" as she says it. She loves exploring in our big yard. Picking flowers and rocks are her newest hobby. I am enjoying every stage she hits. It is so much fun being her Mommy, even on those days when my patience is wearing thin. I praise God for her daily, actually I praise God for all my children daily! They are such a blessing.

Flowers for Mama

Emily loves to pick dandelions out of our yard! I am the luckiest mama, because she is always bringing them to me, like she is in this picture. Gotta love a bouquet of dandelions.

$1.00 Coupon for Coke Products!

I was very excited to come across this coupon on Deal Seeking Mom. I am a die hard Diet Coke addict! I am working hard on breaking it slowly. I have it down to maybe 2 cans a day at the most now and I quit drinking it after mid afternoon, due to it making me jittery and I was not sleeping well. Anyways, go here to print out this great coupon. As of right now there does not seem to be a print limit! I have printed out many of them, as they don't expire till 8/05/09. I am going to match this up to the 4 packs for $11 sale at Meijer this week, making it 4 cases for $7 plus deposit, not bad. CVS also has a great deal right now too, go here to read about that. Thank you Deal Seeking Mom!

AWANA end of the year program

Last night was the AWANA program for James and Hannah at their Dad's church. They have both worked very hard this past year and earned their 1st book award! The program was nice. Organized very well. I grew up in AWANA myself and loved it. I am very glad that James and Hannah are able to go as well. I am hoping that a local church here in town will have a program up and running by this fall. There is talk of that happening. I really want Brayden to be able to attend AWANA, and obviously Emily too when she is old enough. Way to go James and Hannah, I am very proud of you both.

Hannah and her Best Friend Natalie

Wordless Wednesday: Enjoying the outdoors!

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Can't get this picture to flip around!!

Free KFC Chicken!

KFC is offering a Free 2 piece Kentucky grilled chicken meal, complete with 2 sides and biscuit. All this for free. Click here to go and print out the coupon. You can print it 4 times. You have to hit your back browser to print it more than once. I was able to print the 4 time limit. You have to print it by tomorrow night and redeem it by 5/19/09, excluding mother's day this Sunday! I see a couple of free lunches for my husband this month! I love free stuff.

Great score on Meat at the Supermarket!

Ok, your probably wondering what is going on by the the title of my post! I have been tyring to be more careful about where I spend my money and I am now planning out my meals, using a ton more coupons and trying to buy what is on sale and pair it up with coupons. I am planning my weekly meals around what I have in my pantry already and by what is on sale that week. I know a lot of you already do this and save a ton of money monthly on groceries. I was very excited the other day when I went to our local Family Fare supermarket and they had a ton of meat 50% off. It gets marked down when it gets close to the sell by date. That is fine by me, because I just freeze it anyways. I was able to buy 12 pounds of ground chuck in the 3lb. tubes for $3.49 each. I figured out I only paid $1.14 a pound for the hamburger! That is awesome. I just got done separating it into pound packages and putting it in the freezer. I also bought some t bone steaks and a few other cuts of steaks at 50%! Now around here we LOVE steak and like to eat it weekly, but it is very expensive so I was very excited to put some in the freezer. Now I can pull it out and Kyle can grill up some yummy steaks and potatoes. I am trying to reteach Kyle and I about spending less money. With the way the economy is and construction work can come and go, I want to have some cushion to work with when his work is slow. I have found a ton of blogs that offer frugal advice along with coupons, etc. I am finding them so helpful in getting our finances more organized. I know I have a lot to learn, but hey it's a start! I welcome any advice, tips or great websites you might have! Ok, gotta go finish some chores while Emily is napping.

Emily has another boo boo

So I am in the kitchen making Emily and I some lunch and she is with me just hanging out. All of a sudden she starts crying, not her normal whining cry when she wants something, but a cry that a mother knows means something bad has happened. So I bend down to her and she is bleeding on her finger and is holding a small piece of glass! I got the glass away from her and grabbed her and got her to the bathroom to wash up her finger and see how bad it really is. She basically just sliced her finger, not to deep thank goodness. She has quit crying by now and I get her finger dried off and it is still bleeding. I put 2 bandaids on it. She likes them for about a minute then this is what happens when you put a bandaid on a 18 month old!
Yep the bandaids get peeled off. She has no interest in keeping the bandaid on. Luckily the bleeding has stopped. Back to the piece of glass. Saturday night a glass was broken in our kitchen. Of course you can sweep and sweep and double check that you got all the little pieces of glass, but there will always be one more little sharp piece that your little one will find. Of course I feel horrible that it happened, that mommy guilt thing, but I am glad it was not worse and I am sure we will encounter many more boo boos in the years to come. Emily is now down for a nap. I am going to go and sweep the kitchen floor one more time, or maybe two more times!!

Busy, but fun weekend

So we had a busy weekend. Saturday James went to a birthday party for Logan, a friend from school. It was at the Zap Zone in Waterford. So I dropped him off for a couple hours and I took Hannah, Brayden and Emily to Great Lakes Crossing so we could eat lunch at The Rainforest Cafe. It had been years since I had been there and none of the kids had ever been there. We had fun! Emily was so fascinated by all the animals, which move about every 10 minutes. Hannah was so excited for the thunderstorm. Our waitress told us that it would thunderstorm every 1/2 hour. So we knew it would while we were eating lunch. Hannah kept looking at my cell phone, tying to figure out what time it might "storm"! It was pretty cool, even for an adult. So we had a yummy lunch and spent some quality time together. Brayden and Hannah having fun!

Emily loves french fries. She especially loves dipping them in ketchup!

Sunday after church we had my parent's over for a cookout. The weather was beautiful with the sun shining and temps in the 60's. I happened to find some t-bone steaks marked down so I bought some for lunch and we threw some chicken on the grill for the kids. We had strawberry shortcake for dessert! Yummy. I love strawberry shortcake! I could really go for some right now, but of course Kyle finished the leftovers off last night!Emily dressed and ready for church! Don't you love her new smile?! When you tell her to smile she closes her eyes and shows her teeth, sometimes she kind of snarls! Too cute.

Relay for Life Bracelets

A week or two ago I posted about joining a Relay for Life team! I mentioned that we are making bracelets and selling them to raise money for our team. Here is the link to that post. http://kyleandwendymcnamara.blogspot.com/2009/04/relay-for-life.html

I am posting a few pics of the bracelets, not the best pictures but just wanted everyone to see them. We are selling them for $3 each. If you would like one let me know and I will get one made for you. Each bracelet comes with a card explaining what each color represents on the bracelet. The colors of cancer. I am still personally trying to raise $150.00 towards my walk. If you would like to donate or join my team go to my website:
http://main.acsevents.org/goto/wendy.mcnamara

I am really looking forward to doing my 1st Relay for Life this summer.