Recital Time

Matthew (7) playing Bagatelle by Diabelli


 

Emma (11) playing a Chopin Waltz





Jacob (14) playing a Chopin Polonaise

Thanksgiving 2012

Family picture.  Jacob (14) Emma (11) Matthew (7)  Benjamin (5)

Emma's dreams came true on Thanksgiving Day.  Riding horses!

Our friends the Johnsons let everyone take turns riding their horses.  Ben loved it!

Matthew loved it too!

Jacob takes design and architecture of gingerbread houses seriously!

My gingerbread house and hat Ben made for me.

Benjamin

I'm so in love with my family.

It was a wonderful Thanksgiving.

Jacob's Eagle Project: April 10th - Refinishing the Billinghurst Middle School Band Stands

Jacob worked hard on getting his first Eagle Project approved - the first one was helping with fire damage restoration in Reno City. Right as he completed the whole application and finished meeting with city leaders, the city pulled the plug on it. They were worried about liability issues. This was disappointing. Especially for how much time Jacob had put into it. A couple of weeks later Jacob came home and said, "I know what I should do for my Eagle Project. The stands in the band room look terrible and have so much obscene graffiti on them. I should refinish the stands." Jacob met with the Band Director and the Principal, who gratefully approved the project and said they would pay for the paint. Jacob set a date, wrote up his application and it was approved. The morning of his project, he was a bit surprised when Edgar (janitor whom he had coordinated with) didn't show up for the project. Jacob thought he was coming to demonstrate how the process should be done (since the janitor was responsible for this work in the past). Jacob, Darren, and I called him several times but he never came. So Jacob ended up deciding and showing everyone how to refinish the stands. In the end it was decided it would be easier to take them apart rather than tape off the silver parts. A lot of boys showed up to help. We were grateful for everyone's support! Jacob of course thinks it was a great time and is happy to have his project complete.

Taking the stands apart.

Dave Rasmussen - Jacob's Young Men's Leader

Spencer Smith

Christian Arnold

Taking apart the stands

Josh Warnick

No more graffiti on the stands!

Dallin Arnold

Craig Eyre, Ethan Chinowski, Jacob, and Ashton

Ryan Ross

Leadership!

Ashton Ochs

Darren

Cousins Come to Visit

This Past Week Rebecca, Nathan, Josh, and Tyler Warnick came to visit

us in Reno. We loved it! They were able to be here for Jacob's Eagle Project. We also went to the Discovery Museum, Virginia City (A Step Back in Time to a 19th Century Mining Town), and The Carson City Pool. Nathan directed an awesome cousin's movie done in Hunger Game Style, and we played LOTS of games including Dominion, Incan Gold, and Settlers of Cataan. Nathan played Candyland with Ben. The kids all picked out treasures in Virginia City (Matthew chose some shark teeth). Rebecca, Emma, and I saw a movie and did some shopping. We can't wait for their next visit!

Josh doing a back flip off of the diving board and Jacob getting out of the pool.

Making electrical circuits at the Discovery Museum.

Matthew, Tyler, and Benjamin played here

a long time.

Matthew, Josh, and Ben on the way to Virginia City.

Emma on the way to Virginia City.

Rebecca on the way to Virginia City.

Nathan and Jacob in the car on the way to Virginia City

February Birthdays - All 3 of Them! (Phew!)

Darren had a terrific birthday on the 8th! He turned 39. We have a family tradition that you get your favorite breakfast in bed the morning of your birthday. You also get to choose your favorite dessert (doesn't have to be a cake) and your favorite dinner. Darren had a breakfast sandwich with grapefruit and some juice. He chose oatmeal cake with caramel sauce and ice cream for his dessert and Papa Murphy Pizza for dinner. He was spoiled with many presents. Happy Birthday to a great guy who does so much to serve his family. We love you Darren!

Matthew has always LOVED a party. So two days later on the 10th (also my mom's birthday), he turned 7 and wanted bacon, eggs, and juice for his birthday breakfast. For dinner we had pizza and he just wanted a normal chocolate cake for his birthday. I sent him with cupcakes to school and about 12 friends from school, church, and neighborhood came over after school for a party. We played a lot of fun games and Matthew received many wonderful gifts. He said his favorite was his new football. Happy Birthday to a wonderful boy! We love you Matthew!

Matthew with some friends at his party.

Emma turned 11! This was birthday cake number 2 for Emma, given to her on her actual birthday - February 21st. I made some cupcakes for her to take to school and forgot to turn on the convection oven instead of the bake oven and the cupcakes on the bottom rack didn't bake. When I turned them over to cool, it splattered all over the counter. So Walmart helped us out and Emma took 24 donuts to school instead. On such a busy morning, McDonalds breakfast had to do - there wasn't time to fix anything! Emma asked for hamburgers and homemade fries (Darren's specialty) for her special dinner.

Birthday cake #1 at her party the Friday night before her birthday.

13 girls came to Emma's party on Friday night. (2 more came after we took the picture). Second Friday in a row for a party at our house. It was really a lot of fun. They played a get to know you game upon arrival, ate lots of yummy food, painted nails, sang karaoke (Darren was the star of karaoke that night), played outside on the tramp and swing set (a novelty for many of the girls - Nevada yards typically aren't big and lots of grass isn't common), more games, and of course cake and ice cream. Julie Moore stayed to help me paint all the girls nails for which I was very grateful! Emma's favorite gift was new clothes. (One of her favorites is below). Happy Birthday to our only girl. We love you Emma!

And I am relieved that the birthday month is OVER!!!

Miracle

We watched Miracle the other night, the famous Disney movie about the American Hockey team that miraculously beat the Soviet Union. We found Herb Brooks and the movie inspiring.

October Fun

Last month, after observing Benjamin's preschool that cost $350 a month for 2 half days a week, I took him out after not being very happy with what I saw. I decided to do preschool myself. I really have a greater appreciation for preschool teachers now! Preschool is the reason our family blog isn't getting updated as frequently. All those years of volunteering in my kids' preschools are paying off now as I have embarked on doing preschool. Even though I'm finding myself with little of my day free between teaching piano and doing preschool, I feel a great sense of satisfaction of watching my little class learn. The Warnick kids are all very interested and involved in the preschool. Emma plays school teacher with Matthew and Benjamin in our office which has been converted to a preschool room. Matthew comes home with ideas of lesson plans for me. This month we took a preschool field trip to Ferrari Farms which had a corn maze, hayrides, games, farm animals, a bounce house, and tons of pumpkins to choose from. My older kids wanted to come so badly that I agreed to let them skip school and come along. We bought a 70 lb pumpkin for $20. What a fun place!

Today was Preschool Halloween Party Day. I think everyone had a good time. We bobbed for apples (not a good activity for preschoolers - they just couldn't do it...) played pin the stem on the pumpkin, read scary stories and made a ghost craft. We also did the mummy wrap and musical chairs. We finished up with treats and prizes.

Last night we carved pumpkins as a family and had scones. We are enjoying October.