Welcome, 2025!

The first time I remember the year 2025 ever crossing my mind was when Nellie enrolled at LCS for the first time as a MWF afternoon preschooler. She received a certificate that read, "Congratulations Nellie - Class of 2025" and I thought to myself that it had a nice ring to it. How did we get here already?

Now here we are, celebrating New Years for the last time with all these kids living under our roof. We decided to head north for some time in the woods for an old-school Wernet party for the first time since 2019/2020. We enjoyed all our favorites - some hiking and hunting, Back to the Future, games, a variety of appetizers, homemade Pin the Ball on the Tower, and lots of noise and sparklers with sparkling juice at midnight!

New Years up north circa 2017 - it was a lot snowier and colder that year!

A little hiking and tree climbing

A little Spoons and Back to the Future. I can't for the life of me get a good photo out of Eddie, but he was the Spoons grand champion.

Sparklers at midnight

Family night hike!

Pin the Ball on the Tower. Mary didn't win but I did much worse!

Looking back and ahead, here's what we had to say about our favorite 2024 memories and our commitments for 2025:

Mary: One favorite memory was leaving for Sault Ste. Marie right after school in October. Another was going to the Tigers game and they beat the Brewers 10-2. Her goal for 2025 is getting better at making decisions. 

Eddie: Playing Spoons and watching Back to the Future.🙄His goal is to get taller.

DJ: When the Tigers went to the playoffs and beat the Astros. He wants to do more strength and conditioning workouts.

Annie: Taylor Swift concert! And all the "up north" trips were really great. Annie wants to prioritize her relationship with God this year and making sure she has the right level of motivation for the right things

Nellie: Her top three are the Germany trip, flute concerto, and the Green Day/Smashing Pumpkins concert. Her goal is to have more balance so that she has margin to focus on her overall wellbeing.

Kevin: Rend Collective concert, two Tigers games, Annie running in states and Nellie playing in states on the same day, getting a huge deer, the Green Day concert. His first idea for a goal in 2025 started with "invent a basketball player," so we'll just leave it at that. 

As for me, I think my favorites were all named already! Finding out about Nellie winning the concerto competition while we were shopping for Annie's homecoming rep dress was pretty amazing, though, so that might be my top moment of 2024. Then the Tigers game, the Taylor Swift concert, trips to Petoskey and Sault Ste. Marie, and time with our extended families. Hearing the kids and Kevin make music (singing, piano, flute, saxophone, ukulele, guitar, and now trumpet, drum set, and banjo) isn't exactly a memory but it's a great source of joy. 

My goal is both simple and enormous. To summarize, it's to love others well. I've been thinking about that for four months, since Pam died. Because one thing is for sure, Pam loved us well. In the turmoil of those first days, I found myself wondering, how do we survive such a great loss? The only answer I have is to commit to loving those around us better, as fully as we can. To be more gracious, more present, more patient, more interested in understanding than being understood.

We woke up to a surprise snowfall this morning. Happy New Year!

DJ, age 13

It might take me a while to get used to having a teenage boy in the house! I've heard stories of kids eating a whole box of waffles for breakfast and second dinner at midnight. :) But really, we're excited for what this year holds for DJ. We have so much fun cheering him on in baseball, basketball, and soccer. He has great friends at LCS for whom I am so grateful, and DJ is a good role model for Eddie and Mary. I love having him in the middle school (he might not exactly feel the same) because I get regular updates from his teachers and can hang out with him in Math Club! DJ remains my favorite person to watch sports with because he always knows what's going on, what the foul was about, who that player is, and why the coach is so mad. He does not care, however, how many Taylor Swift sightings there have been.

DJ is reliable, hard-working, and consistently wants to do the right thing. He gets cooler by the year and I pray this one is a great one for him. He's not a man of many words with the interviews, but we hope you enjoy. Love you, DJ!

Birthday morning!

Playing a sax solo at the Wacyk Christmas party

First day of 7th grade

Playing with some honey bees

So it was a sad day when DJ was too sick with pneumonia to go trick-or-treating. But he put on all his Michigan sports gear for a quick picture and his siblings, cousins, and friends were very generous in sharing their candy!

DJ chose an MSU basketball game with friends for his birthday "party"

What is your favorite memory from the last year?

I don't even remember all the way back to the beginning of summer! Maybe my really good soccer season this fall.

What is one way God's been working in your life this year?

Helping me to try harder with my responsibilities, things that are important, like sports and schoolwork.

How do you feel about being thirteen?
I don't know, it doesn't feel that different!

What are you most looking forward to in the next year?
Being a teenager and doing teenage things. Baseball season, being an 8th grader I guess.

What is one goal you have for next year?
Being a better baseball player, working on my hitting power.

Who would you say are your best friends?
Ira, Wesley, Caleb, Jurian, Cullen, Amado, Jack. Otto, Eddie, Mary, and Alexa.

What are your strengths?
Learning new things, getting along well with others.

What careers are you considering?
Football player, baseball player, basketball player. Maybe a math teacher.

What’s your favorite song or type of music?   
The Beatles songs on my iPod, but I don't really have a favorite song.

What's your favorite food?
Chicken pot pie 

Current favorite movie?   
The Sandlot or Back to the Future

Current book(s) you're reading?
The Adventures of Tom Sawyer

Favorite color?   
Green

Favorite place to be?
I don't know, maybe home.

What are your favorite things to do? 
Play sports, read, hang out, play with cousins and siblings and friends.

What was your favorite present?
Either my Kirk Cousins jersey or my new Lego set [he's working on a Mars Rover during this interview!]

Is there anything else you want us to know about you? 
I don't think so.

Christmas 2024

This Christmas held most of our favorite traditions and lots of surprises, laughter, and good food. One thing I love about the kids growing older is that they can tell me what their favorite traditions are - some I didn't even think of! Like the way they sit on the stairs until they're allowed to come downstairs, or how Annie and Mary lay in bed together tracking Santa on the iPad until they get tired. I love that the kids are buying their own gifts for each other (Annie and Nellie even have their own money!) and that they all are becoming thoughtful gift-givers. They had some creative homemade gifts, too. 

Interactive picture DJ made for Kevin

It was a wonderful Christmas week, if a little jam-packed. We sure missed Pam this holiday season, but we extra appreciated the time we had together and with all our family. 

Joy to the world, the Lord is come!

Here are some photos of special moments, in no particular order.

The kids all got paper crowns in the crackers Genny and Jason brought! Love this crowd!

The biggest gifts this Christmas were an electric drumset and banjo - they are getting a lot of play so far!

Christmas apples and oranges

Ready to open presents!

Christmas Eve service with Grandpa Mike

Look at all the special guest cookie decorators!

Uncle Kevin teaching Ira how to build a fire

Family selfie at candy cane lane, with coffee

A newer tradition is a low-key Wacyk grandkid musical revue! They are a talented crew!

Wernet Fall Round-up 2024: Mary

Mary turned eight and had a pretty chill fall hanging out at all her siblings' many events. She graciously agreed to take a break from soccer to ease the family schedule a little, and leaned into playing piano, taking a fall dance class at LCS, and generally tagging along everywhere the rest of the family went! She was everyone's biggest fan. A highlight for Mary was visiting Sault Ste. Marie and playing Mary in the school nativity.

She got a whole lot braver in the water this year - it was wonderful to be back in Gull Lake.

Mary wrote a review last year for the Log Jam, and when we went in this fall, the owner treated her to a delicious dessert!

Doing a little hiking on the LCS trails during sports practices

Helping me prep for a PD day

Finding cool stuff on the St. Mary's River

The dance troupe!

Cheering on Annie at states...

then Nellie!

Mary as Mary

Wernet Fall Round-up 2024: Annie

Sophomore year is the kind and gentle year of high school, in my opinion. You know the ropes but the workload isn't as intense as junior and senior year. Annie is transitioned into 10th grade pretty smoothly this fall! There was no fall musical for her this year so she could focus on cross country. It was another great season; her teammates and coach are amazing, Annie improved significantly, and they went to states for the second year in a row! 

The biggest day of Annie's year involved running in the state meet in the morning, then zooming to Indy for the Taylor Swift concert that night. It was a little overwhelming but a lot of amazing. I will treasure that time with her forever, and I'm thankful for all her patience with my worrying about driving and parking navigating our way around an unfamiliar city.

Annie also continued with Chorale and made it into the regional honors choir again. Last year we were in Florida, so we were excited to make it this time!

In between all that, Annie enjoyed spending time with Robynne when she visited from college and hanging out more with friends. Now on to basketball and auditions for the spring musical, Annie!

Honors Choir at WMU - Annie is in the back row on the left

Hanging out at Impression 5

The concert of a lifetime!

Okay I took this because it was funny to see urinals in the women's bathroom at Lucas Oil Stadium but Annie is also adorable.

The big day - taking down the last link in the countdown chain!

Papa John made it to a choir concert!

This one is bitter (the night of Pam's funeral) sweet (falling asleep over her homework)

The first cross country meet. Her teammate-besties are wonderful friends.

Wernet Fall Round-up 2024: Eddie

Eddie decided to pass on soccer this fall to try out a musical! He auditioned for the Midway Theater Company's show, Honk Jr., and played Billy the duckling. It was hard work every weekend this fall, but he loved it and it was a blast watching him in the show. The tap dancing was a particular highlight. 💛

As a fifth grader, Eddie also got to start playing in band - he chose the trumpet with hopes of playing horn eventually. If you stop by and you're really lucky, you can hear saxophone, trumpet, flute, and piano practice going on at the same time! (Possibly some guitar, drums, or banjo, too.) Eddie's still taking piano lessons, too, so he is definitely leaning into his love of music right now.

Just "hatched"

Learning stage makeup from Annie in the staff coffee room

First band concert

Wernet Fall Round-up 2024: DJ

DJ had a relatively relaxed fall. He played soccer on the 7th and 8th grade team, and they played really well. I have precisely zero pictures, though! With everything else going on, the season went by in a bit of a blur. Soccer season blended right into the early middle school boys' basketball season. We appreciate these opportunities for him to continue growing as an athlete, and he's been fortunate to have the same great coaches several years in a row. 

Aside from sports and and schoolwork, DJ is a student ambassador, still plays saxophone, and likes being in Math Club. He actually missed a lot of school this fall between time off for Pam's funeral, his little battle with pneumonia, and a couple of long weekends to hunt with Kevin, he became the first Wernet kid to be on attendance probation! 

A photo of "doing what he loves" to add to the middle school wall display

Fall band concert! Not pictured - desperate shopping trips and an overnight Amazon order to find everything for the uniforms.