Merry Christmas!

Our Christmas started off at my parent's house on Dec. 17th and all the kids had a blast staying up late and plyaing with each other. Microphones, baby Stella and the nightgowns from grandma were the hit of the night! Imagine 7 little voices (some much higher than others) singing 7 different songs all at one time - throwing in a few dance moves along the way. Saturday we celebrated Luke's birthday and Chris and I celebrated our anniversary by lounging on my parents couch and falling asleep to some random movie - Men Who Stare at Goats or something like that. I did actually see the part where the secret agent guy killed the goat just by staring at it - no context at all as to what surrounded that event but I felt like I got the most important part of the movie anyway.



6 years of being married to my best friend - on the one hand it doesn't seem like it's been that long, on the other hand we have two girls and one boy on the way in less than a month - WHAT??

Santa came a little early to our house and the girls got new "pets" that we don't have to feed or clean up after - perfect!! The next morning the girls exchanged gifts with Great Grandma Dornak while Grandma and Grandpa watched them so Mommy and Daddy could go to work.





Our Christmas trip to Fredericksburg was delayed by a day because Nora had a sick tummy on Thursday morning and the rest of Chris' family was going to Mexico on Monday and didn't want to risk possibly catching anything. It was nice to spend one more night in our own beds before heading out for one more Christmas.

The girls had a blast opening a ton of toys but I think the highlights of the weekend were watching the Children's Christmas Mass at St. Marys (thanks daddy for holding them where they could see everything) and then the live lamb that made an appearance at the end of the service at Bethany. We also were able to spend a few hours visiting with Michael John Swanzy - home from Germany for a brief amount of time.

We had wonderful Christmas celebrations and can't wait for the arrival of Wyatt! (less than a month to go - I have a feeling he'll be here before the 29th, especially since my OBGYN has no problem inducing if I want her to:-)

Concordia Thanksgiving

Today daycare had their annual Thanksgiving Feast! Instead of eating in their individual classrooms, the school (well, almost the entire school - more on that in a minute)gathers in the main room and each class is dressed either as Pilgrims or Indians. They say their prayers, the Indians do their little yells and everyone digs in. We were hoping to stop by and tell the girls "hi", take a few pictures, and then head out to our own lunch. Unfortunately, we learned this year that the older kids don't eat until the younger ones are done so while Nora's class made their appearance at 11:15, it was right at noon when Addie's class finally made their way out. Nora was super excited to see us and while she ate most of the food on her plate, I swear she stood up between each bite to run to her Daddy with the biggest smile and point something in the room out (turkey, pumpkin, the horse on his shirt). When she finished saying whatever she had to say, she'd do a cross between a horse gallop/dance/jump the entire way back to her seat. This was certainly an exciting meal for her. Her hair was briaded so cute and their outfits were really precious. Not sure if we get to keep these shirts or not - Addie's class did when she was little but the shirt wasn't in her cubby at the end of the day so I think we are out of luck. When Addie's class finally made their way out, Addie spotted us right away and we snapped a few pictures before we had to leave. Unlike Nora, Addie didn't cry when we left. She's getting so grown up and even informed us at supper that she is nearly 4 (not happening until May but I guess she'll be 4 before she's anything else).

Trick-Or-Treat!

We had a great time going trick-or-treating with my cousin Matt and his family (Nate was a racecar driver) and some of their friends (Madeline was a princess). Addie led the pack right away and was all about going to the next house to get more candy. At one point in the night, Nora had opened a tootsie roll pop in one hand (which she wasn't letting go of) and her pumpkin basket in the other (which she also had a death grip on) which meant that at a few houses where it was "help yourself" to the candy bowl, she was just out of luck! We had to get Addie under control on her knocking more than a few times though because if the homeowner didn't get to the door quickly enough she started to ring the doorbell while knocking some more. She had such a good time and really listened well while we were walking around the neighborhood - she really didn't want the night to end! Nora had fun but took a little while to warm up to the idea of going to different houses. She was content trying to eat all the candy from the first house or two. By the end of it though she was running around - guess she turned into a wild flower:-) I'll admit, the holiday is a lot more fun when the kids get the point!

Jack-O-Lanterns

The week before Halloween we carved pumpkins with the girls. It was late in the evening when we started but we had to carve them then because Mommy was out of town from Wednesday evening through Friday at a seminar. We all worked on getting the guts out of the pumpkins but didn't do a tremendous job apparently because the things were pretty nasty by Sunday - we lit them a few times before then though and the girls loved them. We let the girls draw on the pumpkins with markers first and then Daddy helped to carve their faces. Addie was very interested and wanted to make sure Daddy did a good job. Nora looked on genuinely concerned almost the entire time - it was precious. Here's a few pics from our night! Halloween pics to come when I get around to downloading them on the computer - not tonight:-)

Dornak Family Hunting Trip

Last weekend we had my side of the family out to the ranch for some managment deer hunting. Just so happens that it was Uncle Dwayne's birthday on Friday night. We had cake and sang him happy birthday, and then on Saturday when the kids were getting a piece of left over cake for dessert, they decided to sing happy birthday again before they ate the cake - it was really cute!



Saturday evening mom and I took all the kids (minus Skylar who was hunting with her mommy and daddy but sadly didn't see anything to shoot) to the family stand to look for deer. No real surprise - we didn't see anything (I'm pretty sure the deer would have had to have been deaf and blind in order for us to have a chance to see it). It's getting to be more and more fun with all the kids out there - they are really starting to grow up! We had a great time decorating Halloween cookies, riding 4 wheelers and playing with Uncle Dwayne's Birthday present. Can't wait until next year's trip when we'll have one more kid to add to the bunch!

Daddy's Big Buck

Opening weekend Chris shot a 150+ buck at Luckenbach with his bow. The girls were so exicted because we found the buck that hadn't run far but was nicely hidden behind a large cedar tree - luckily mommy went left with the girls instead of right and ended up in just the right spot! Nora could barely contain herself and just kept repeating "big buck" while petting the shoulder and belly. Addie was also super excited and told us that the tall grass we were walking through was "awesome" and that she really wanted to touch the buck's eyes and tongue - needless to say, she did NOT get to. Eventhough it's been over 2 weeks, Nora still asks about the "big buck" and looks in the back of the truck for it on an almost daily basis.

Wyatt Christopher Schoessow is on his way!

We found out on September 9th that our 3rd little baby is, in fact, a boy! When we've told people the news in person or on the phone, the number one response was "Bet Chris is relieved." I don't know that relieved is the best word but certainly he is excited! I'm excited, I've always wanted at least one of each (boy and girl) and with both of my girls tending to be Daddy's girls I want my shot at a Momma's boy:-) The number two question is "Are you going to stop having kids now." My response to this is always the same. First of all, we didn't have a third kid to try for a boy so it's not like "Mission Accomplished"; God willing I always wanted at least 3 and possibly 4 kids(no, I'm not crazy). I'm a middle child and have always wanted a middle child (or 2) of my own. It could be that the baby factory shuts down after this little guy but I won't rule out number 4 until we've had three for a while.

The best response (beyond Chris and I finding out at the ultrasound) was Addie's. She's been so insistent about having another sister that I made Chris promise we wouldn't tell her until we were both home and had the video camera out. That evening we asked her again what the baby was and she said a girl. Chris asked her, "What if the doctor told us it is a little boy?" to which she cautiously responded, "Well, it could maybe be a girl." Then the moment of truth - Chris told her that the doctor said there was a baby brother in Mommy's tummy and much to our surprise Addie broke out a huge smile and clapped! (I've checked the video again to verify that I didn't just imagine this) We asked if she was going to teach her little brother all the things that she knows and Nora started shaking her head adamently as Addie answered yes. I hadn't realized that Nora was even paying attention - poor middle child already neglected:-)

So with that hurdle overcome Daddy jumped right into the name and asked Addie what we should name the baby. We'd been preparing Addie for the possibliity of this baby being a boy by asking her, "If it's a boy, what should we name it?" Every time, without hesitation, the answer "Tinkerbell" was given. Sure enough, this evening was no exception, she answered her Daddy "Tinkerbell" while throwing her arms in the air. Chris then told the girls his name - a name we'd discussed over 4 years ago when we didn't know what Addie was and again briefly over 2 years ago when pregnant with Nora, but certainly hadn't discussed recently. It took me by surprise because we hadn't even discussed boy or girl names at this point in this pregnancy and it wasn't like this was the only name that I liked - but as Chris reminded me by providing the other names he preferred, it was the only name we both liked! Addie easily repeated "Wyatt" and Nora tried her best but her first attempt sounded a lot more like Sprite. She's gotten much better at this though. In light of the facts that (1) this was a name I'd originally found over 4 years ago (before Cheryl Crow named her adopted son Wyatt), (2) I'd come up with and pushed the names we ultimately used for the girls, and (3) I still didn't like the other names on Chris' list and still really like this one, it's pretty official that his name's going to be Wyatt Christopher Schoessow.

The next day as I dropped Addie off at school she called out to me as I was walking away, "Mommy, keep baby Wyatt nice and safe in your tummy!" It was so sweet. Nora seems to have the same confusion that Addie did when she was Nora's age and I was pregnant with Nora - occasionally when we talk about the baby in Mommy's tummy she looks down at her own bloated tummy, pats it and says "baby" which makes me laugh every time.

The ultrasound showed that he's a healthy little guy who is growing right on track - we can't ask for anything more other than that God continues to bless us with a safe pregnancy and a healthy little boy in January!