New Year, New Beginnings

Happy New Year! I hope you all had a great Christmas and are looking forward to 2009! Our family has celebrated like no other time I can remember. Things that made Christmas 2008 special:
1. Joe was in town for two full weeks, and he worked from home for a few hours on a few days, but other than that, he was just "dad." It was great!
2. Chloe had no gym workouts for the entire break! Thank you, Jesus.
3. Watching Emmy's face Christmas morning. There is nothing like the awestruck wonder of a 3 year old who absolutely believes. I loved it. After changing her wish list as she sat on Santa's lap at the mall, she was thrilled to find the originally requested items under the tree. Again, props to Jesus for that little blessing!
4. Ross read 2 instruction manuals, cover to cover, and was able to build the entire Lego Star Destroyer BY HIMSELF.
5. Celebrating with family at the Gaylord Texan the Saturday night before Christmas. Fun, fun, fun. Yummy food, lots to do, and beautiful surroundings. LOVED it.
6. Celebrating in Temple with Ginger & her family the weekend after Christmas. The kids had a great time together, and so did the grownups!

That is pretty much the wrap-up of Widner Christmas 2008. We look forward to the blessings of the New Year!!!

OPEN HOUSE 2008

MERRY CHRISTMAS 2008! WELCOME TO OUR HOME!!!

We have a large Christmas tree in our dining room... I joke that the room looks full only at Christmas time because we don't have any furniture in that room, other than the piano!!!

Our entryway table has my two favorite holiday decorations on it. I got the first one at Sample House a couple years ago. You might not be able to read it, but it has John 3:16 down the front of Mary's robe. How appropriate as we celebrate this season!

This next one, the Liberty Angel, was given to me by a friend the Christmas after 9/11. I used it as my tree topper for several years, but recently retired her so that we could see her up close!

Our downstairs living area has another tree - the "kid tree" - with all the colored lights and every decoration they have made over the years in preschool , Sunday school, and elementary school. It is amazing that an entire second tree could be filled with such treasures!!!

Our mantle, in the same room with the kids tree, is decorated with more of my favorites - crosses (they stay out all year), an angel, and this really cool Christmas tree I found on clearance last year at a specialty store here in Frisco. The stockinge are hung with Mom & Dad first, and then the 3 munchkins.

This is a music box from Macy's in New York. It is hard to see the detail, but it has several of the floats from the Thanksgiving Day Parade in 2003 in it. And, of course, the snow globe does actually "snow." LOVE it!

I am not much of a "collector," but at Christmas, I love decorating with snowflakes (probably because you NEVER see them in Texas!!) and manger scenes. Joe made a trip to Israel earlier this year, and he brought this beautiful olive wood manger scene back for us to enjoy.


The year Emmy was born, I decided I wanted something to commemorate the first Christmas with all three of our sweet children. So, I took them to a paint your own pottery place and stamped thier hands on a plate. I am not crafty, but I did manage to turn their handprints into Santas!!! I can't believe that was 3 years ago... my, how they've grown!!!


2005

Ross: 2008

Chloe 2008

Emmy 2008
MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!

And there were shepherds living out in the fields nearby, keeping watch over their flocks at night. An angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified. But the angel said to them, "Do not be afraid. I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is Christ the Lord. This will be a sign to you: You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger."

Suddenly a great company of the heavenly host appeared with the angel, praising God and saying, "Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace to men on whom his favor rests."

When the angels had left them and gone into heaven, the shepherds said to one another, "Let's go to Bethlehem and see this thing that has happened, which the Lord has told us about." So they hurried off and found Mary and Joseph, and the baby, who was lying in the manger.

When they had seen him, they spread the word concerning what had been told them about this child, and all who heard it were amazed at what the shepherds said to them. But Mary treasured up all these things and pondered them in her heart. The shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all the things they had heard and seen, which were just as they had been told.

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!

Moms earn their angel wings during the Christmas season, I am sure. The Christmas card photo and letter, presents for everyone, decorating the house and the yard, cookie exchanges, school parties, church parties, neighborhood parties, parties for hubby's work, old friends parties, etc., definitely require an element of organization and prioritization that other seasons just don't demand.

One thing that really puts me in the holiday spirit is watching school aged kids perform at their Christmas concerts. There is nothing more nostalgic to me than hearing old favorite songs being sung by children! This season, I was privileged enough to attend two. Our 11 year old, Ross, sang with the 6th grade choir at this week's chapel at school. Ross is our child of few words, so he mentioned this casually to me on the night before the performance (thankfully, his choir teacher had already sent an email). He requested that I go and video the whole shebang for his dad, who was in NYC this week. They did a beautiful job! Here is one song for you:

Our 3 year old, Emmy, had a "Christmas show" at her preschool last night. Now, when you watch this video, you will very clearly see the difference in the 3 enthusiastic year olds and the calm, cool, collected 6th graders!! You just can't help but smile when you watch and hear this old favorite!!!

Happy holidays!!!

Disneyworld

Wow! So much to say about Disneyworld! We arrived the Saturday after Thanksgiving and settled in at the Polynesian. You walk in the doors to this amazing place and a sweet lady hands you a lei! Here are the Widner girls in our Hawaiian accessories!

Disney has this fabulous habit of "underpromising" and "overdelivering," which we experienced when our room was upgraded to waterfront, complete with a (small) view of Cinderella's Castle!

We got on the monorail and headed for the Magic Kingdom, where we watched a parade, caught a show, did several rides, got our faces painted, and met some princesses - a good "warm up" for the next evening when we sat down for dinner with all the princesses!

The best parade view is on daddy's shoulders!!!

Here are a few of my favorites :

Emmy, all ready for her one-on-one with Cinderella!!!

The "bibbity, bobbity, boo!"

Last night at Magic Kingdom was a bit chilly!!!

Chloe & Emmy with the mouse who started it all!!!




On our way into It's a Small World!!



Great trip, great memories! We highly recommend this family experience for everyone!!!

Chloe's December Meet

It has been awhile since I posted. Not exactly sure what happened to November, but I am very aware that Christmas is almost here!! I need more time!! We just got back from Disneyworld, so look for a post about that trip, complete with pictures of our princess Emmy meeting her favorite princesses!

Saturday was the Carol Hillenberg Invitational meet at Trevino's Gym in Lancaster. It had been a pretty long time between meets, and Chloe missed several days of gymnastics because of prior commitments, Thanksgiving, and being sick. I had no idea what to prepare for as her scores were coming in! Once again, she amazed me! Here they are:

VAULT: 8.6
BARS: 9.55
BEAM: 9.6
FLOOR: 9.4
ALL AROUND: 37.15

Here she is competing on bars & beam:

It has been such fun to watch her improve each week, and such a great lesson for her that hard work and perseverance pays off! We are fortunate that Chloe has found something she enjoys so much!

Carving the Pumpkin

Here is our front porch with our two Halloween jack-o-lanterns.

Joe & Emmy carved the smaller one Sunday, and the girls & Joe carved the big one last night!

I took pictures and Ross was in charge of lighting the candles inside each pumpkin,

a very cool job for a very cool 6th grader!
Here are the girls with our finished jack-o-lantern!

As you can see, Emmy is enjoying every minute of the fun!


We scooped and counted over 350 seeds from our pumpkin.
Daddy roasted them for us - thanks for the recipe, Melissa! :)

Two little hands doing lots of BIG work!

Right after I cut the top off the pumpkin,
they both wanted to see what the inside "felt" like!

Today, the weather changed and it REALLY feels like fall now.

Perfect time to light the pumpkin for our friends & neighbors to enjoy!

Happy fall, y'all!!

JUDGE'S CUP GYM MEET

Chloe had another meet Sunday. This one, called the Judges Cup, is hosted by, you guessed it, the judges! I was a little concerned because the meet didn't begin until 5:30, and after a busy Widner weekend, I thought Chloe might be too wiped out to do what we know she is capable of doing. Well, did she prove me wrong! Her goal going into the meet was 3 nines and 1 eight, and she hit it! Her scores:

VAULT: 9.1
BARS: 9.2 (her best all season!)
BEAM: 9.45 (her best all season, and the 2nd highest at her gym!)
FLOOR: 8.6

ALL AROUND: 36.35 HER PERSONAL BEST!!!

We have a LONG break before the next meet, which is scheduled for Dec. 6 & 7. And then, we go to Houston for the Mary Lou Retton Invitational in January! Fun for the moms - these girls have NO IDEA who MLR is!!! :)

We have a busy November, complete with a mother-daughter retreat to Sky Ranch a 6th grade science trip back to Sky (Joe is chaperoning), and a trip to Disneyworld at the very end of the month! Keep checking the blog... I will be posting periodically!!!!

Here is the bar routine:

Here is beam:

Here is floor...