Georgia, Snow and Another Georgia!

Greetings from Mariposa! Tis' the season for Holiday Silliness as shown here by the El Portal Elementary staff.

Lyell the Brave has weathered many new experiences this past month, not the least of which was taking his first four airplane flights. Here are Lyell and Matthew waiting at Fresno Airport, the mellowest airport we have been to. We flew to Atlanta to visit Matthew's family and Lyell was a trooper on all the flights. He has the funniest expression that I haven't yet been able to capture on camera when we go to new places. He is now so aware of his surroundings, and he perks his head up high and gets this big smile like, "I'm ready for anything, folks, let's go!"

When we got to Georgia, we met cousin Amber. It was precious to watch her interact with Lyell as she got to know this new being.

We celebrated Thanksgiving with Matthew's parents, his three sisters and their families.

Ruth, Matthew's mother, was the head cook and we devoured the beautiful meal.

While in Georgia, Matthew got to reconnect with his waterskis on the family boat. Carrie and George look on while Wally drives.

We spent a little time fishing and relaxing on the dock in the backyard.

Matthew's sister Emily and cousin Amber with the house in the background.

Lyell go to go swimming for the first time and of course he loved it. We even dunked him underwater a few times and he came up quite surprised but with a smile.

We left Georgia with full tummies and Lyell did great on the two flights home.

Back in Mariposa, Lyell has been very busy growing up. He can now sit up for a little while and loves to roll over and grab his feet. Here he is at playgroup with his friends Silas and Matiah. Lyell and I spend quite a bit of time with other mommies, which helps both of us develop in our new roles; Lyell's as a human being and mine as a mommy. As someone once said, "It takes a village."

I have started leading Family Hikes at our local preserves through the Sierra Foothill Conservancy. Our first hike went to the Striped Rock preserve (you can see Striped Rock in the background) and we had children aged 0-6. I am designing a hike series for the springtime.

This picture was taken back in April when there were four of us pregnant at the same time.

Here we are, almost seven months later, with our babies and our dear friend Jen who is 4 months pregnant, and starting the cycle all over again. Lyell, although not the oldest, is the biggest as he has just weighed in at over 20 pounds. All that chunk and he has yet to taste solid food.

Just as we were basking in the 60 degree fall weather we woke up to snow starting to fall. Soon it turned heavy and all of a sudden our golden hills with subtle red, yellow and oranges has been transformed into a world of white.

But amidst this subzero weather, all our attention was tuned to Hawaii, where my sister was giving birth to her first daughter Georgia!!! Born December 6 at 7am, Georgia Anne St. Germain is the newest member of our family and we are ecstatic she is here. My parents were there for the birth and hopefully we will be seeing Georgia as she might be the youngest passenger flying across the Pacific for Christmas.

Daddy Chip rests with his daughter.

Less than 10 minutes old, and unbelievable shot of new life.