Charlie

Charlie has had another busy year in our house.  You can see his antics here in 2013 and here in 2012.  We've had Charlie since 2009, but in the early years, he just moved from hiding place to hiding place, he was not nearly as naughty or as busy as he has been in the past few years!  :)

Day 1: Relaxing in the boys' bathroom:

Day 2: Roasting marshmallows

Day 3: Drawing minions on the bananas:

Day 4: Lining Carter's cars up in a circle:

Day 5: Digging in the candy bowl:

Day 6: Protecting the boys' treasures from Journey to Bethlehem

Day 7: Welcoming the Mackeys to our home for Christmas:

Day 8: Swinging in the boys' bathroom doorway:

Day 9: Hanging out with G.I. Joe and friends:

Day 10: Soaking up some Vitamin D under my desk lamp:

Day 11: It's hard to tell, but Charlie is trapped inside this balloon:

Day 12: Snowball fight with Bullseye: 

Day 13: Playing tic-tac-toe with Bullseye: 

Day 14: Building snowmen with Bullseye:

Day 15: Sledding with friends:

Day 16: Look closely at the bottom of the wine glass:

Day 17: Helping me with my never-ending cutting project for Carter's winter party:

Day 18: Rolling down the stairs in a toilet paper tube:

Day 19: Wishing the boys a great last day of school in 2014:

Day 20: Wishing Ryan a Happy 10th Birthday:

Day 23: (The boys are at Mom and Dad's for 2 days) Saying goodbye to the boys:

The boys reading their letter from Charlie:

Charlie's magic was lifted and Carter could touch him to say goodbye

He was so gentle

And snuggled him so cute!

Until next year, Charlie! :)

Day 24: Letter from Charlie saying he'd returned to the North Pole:

Mackey Christmas

We hosted Evan's family Christmas at our house today.  It is always so good to see everyone.  I always stress myself out preparing the house and menu for his family and everything always ends up working out just fine.  My Mom did 99% of all food prep, I don't know what I'd do without her help!

My handsome trio getting ready for their cousins to arrive:

Feeling very blessed today:

Does it get any cuter than this?  My great nephew hiding behind the tree and gifts at picture time:

The great grandkids.  Our youngest great just turned a month old:

Evan and his siblings:

The grandkids:

Tamara and Camden:

Ryan with his #1 wish list item - Skylanders Trap Team, a gift from his Godparents, Uncle Dennis and Aunt Monica:

Carter happy to get a little spending money at his favorite store, Target:

Kyle will be sporting a new Giant's Ridge hat and a guardian angel pin for his car:

My Mom, the one that worked her magic in and out of the kitchen this weekend:

Happy Thanksgiving

Happy Thanksgiving from the Mackeys!

We had a great day with our family and we have so much to be thankful for!  I am feeling very blessed!!!

Instagram

My first post in the month of November is on the 19th?  Wow, a sure sign we are super busy at the Mackeys!

Celebrating the end of speech therapy for Carter. He worked on his disfluency for 4 years (graduated from that in June) and just finished a program working on the placement of his tongue when talking, resting, eating, and drinking. He was born tongue-tied and although his tongue was clipped when he was an infant, he had already learned to rest his tongue on the bottom of his mouth. This caused him to have difficulty speaking, eating, and drinking. 4 months, a lot of homework and hard work later, he is done! So proud of this kiddo!!!

The boys were not happy with me for sleeping in to the unacceptable hour of 8:30 on a Saturday morning.  I made it up to them by baking cinnamon rolls for breakfast.  I was quickly forgiven.

The last Bengals football huddle for 2014.  I am going to miss seeing all of these boys (and parents)!

Proud Mom to a Johnsville All Star student.  Carter was told by the counselor last week that a classmate told her Carter was the only one that stood up for him against a bully.  In our bedtime prayers last week, Carter said he thanked God that we didn't live in Martin Luther King's time because he wants to be able to play with all of his friends {including those who are another race}.  Kids are so open and accepting and I am so proud of him for his great choices!

Ryan's life lesson - I asked him to put on play jeans when he went outside and he didn't.  He had major grass stains on his good pants.  He scrubbed them clean and wasn't very happy about being asked to do it.  Maybe he'll think twice about wearing his good pants out to play tackle football in the backyard!

Winter arrangements are complete, and just in time for our first big snowfall the next day!

Carter bit a perfect heart shaped bite into his apple:

My scrabble partner:

Ryan and his buddy Josh braved the cold last weekend to go sledding:

My new FitBit Charge arrived in the mail this week.  I was able to get it at a discounted rate plus I will return my Force on the recall and get $140 refunded to me.  I came out $22 ahead!

I came home 2 minutes after the bus went through tonight.  This is the note Carter wrote for me "Carter is gone at Moti's no homework" :)