meeting the maclaggans

last week, a few days before christi headed to oregon,
the boys and i were fortunate to spend an evening with the 'mac' girls.
i'm referring to christi and her 3 lovely sisters.

i had actually met two already,
but last week i finally met lauren - the oldest sis and her sweet son drew.
to have them all together was something!

they are so much fun and i got a sense of their closeness in just those few hours.
they teased each other -accusing the youngest of turning into a 'hippy chick'
since she's moved to eugene as she has more and more braided bracelets
going up her arm everytime they see her. they teased and joked,
 but not one of them got upset.
that to me was a sign of genuine closeness.

it's it's not every day i see really great families but theirs qualifies.
they'd make any parent proud!

in the mac family, there are 4 daughters: lauren is the oldest (has a 15 month old son drew),
jenny (married to burke), christi (dating tyler) and kelly is the youngest.
all were at the house except for lauren's husband nathan and the mac parents.

spending time with them, gave me a little insight on what their family gatherings are like -
fun and full of good food. i hear mr. maclaggan is an amazing cook (lucky them).

christi brought over the 'maclaggan summer salad' and it is fabulous!
she was kind enough to share the recipe with me.
it's only been a week since she's been gone,
but the boys and i are missing her and our week has been in disarray.

in time, we'll get a routine down but for now it's a bit chaotic.
it doesn't help that scoutie's preschool doesn't start until next tuesday
and finn started school this past monday. ugh!



the mac girls: lauren, christi, kelly and jenny



from left: tyler, christi, scout, finn, jenny, kelly, burkey, drew and lauren

  

saying goodbye to the world's best nanny

don't cry because it's over. smile because it happened.

- dr. seuss

though i tried not to think about it too much, the day came anyway -
- christi's last day with our family.

i will miss her big smile and the daily updates she never failed to give me on the boys,
even when i arrived home a few minutes late and she needed to get going to school.

 i'll miss the cute 'dos and occasional trims she'd give the boys,
the video and pictures she'd send me of the boys during the day
(the one of finn riding in the basket of her beach cruiser is a classic).

i'll miss the help she gave with the boys's b-day preparations,
the swapping of movies, and the cds she'd make me introducing me to her favorite artists.

there are so many little things that i will miss - i couldn't possible name them all.
they all add up to much.

the boys will miss her too - - her zest of life, her creativity
and all those fun day trips all over san diego.
they will miss her adventurous spirit, her kindness and laughter,
the too often 'vanilla milks' she'd get them during her am coffee run (among other treats).

mostly, i think they will miss her love.
they were visibly happy when they were with her - we could see it in their faces.

although scoutie will probably not remember specifics about his almost 2 years with christi,
he will look back at all the pictures taken with her and will know she was his second mommy
during his first few years of his life and know she was special to him.
finn will be able to remember specifics i'm sure, and can fill in his little brother in.

though christi will always remain a part of our lives (i am sure of this),
this part of our lives has ended.
it's a little sad, but i will remember to smile because we were blessed to
have met her and have her in our lives.

we miss you already christi and look forward to seeing you again.
here are a few photos i took at the base of the presidio hill a few weeks back.
i will post photos of our backyard bbq soon.