Merry Christmas!

from our family to yours,

MERRY CHRISTMAS & BLESSED NEW YEAR!

Dear family,

Christmas greetings to you all! I can’t believe it’s that time of year again for the otten update! We wish you all a very merry Christmas with many blessings for health & happiness in the coming New Year! Sorry, that this letter finds you rather late this year, there is always so much going on in this busy household...

This will be just a brief look at our happenings this year.

As I write this the house is empty, & quiet (enjoying my Christmas music) with the exception of Levi being home. I have him doing some odd jobs around here today. Wayne’s been busy at work as this is his busy time with year~end inventory. The girls are at the mall…naturally, and I am trying to create order in this house…most times unsuccessfully!!

Eryn & Danielle are finishing up with exams this week and will have a much needed break from school. They are still dating the same boys from 2 yrs ago and we love having them over. Veronica & Levi are enjoying their high~school years, establishing lifelong friendships. Veronica has started driving this spring…yep, another one on the road! Levi is big into basketball right now. He’s also hit a growth spurt as you can see in our family pic, which definitely helps his gameJ!! Jordyn’s in gr 7 now & loving it. Her new teacher this year turned out to be Kevin, Eryn’s boyfriend! Yep, you read that right. Kevin applied for a teaching position at our school last January and they hired him for one of the gr 7 classes. Needless to say it’s going great for them both.

Wayne & I have both been busy working, so the renos on the house are an ongoing project! Last year if you can recall, we got rid of the little French bulldog that we were fostering because of his growing aggression. Well, this past week, we were given a new little friend who was in need of a home as his owner was moving across the country and couldn’t take him with. He’s a 2 yr old miniature pinscher and gets along well with our big boxer. He’s still very timid as he’s not used to a house full of people (many times there are 9 of us in the house!), but he is doing well. He’s sweet and Mika likes having a little companion around again.

We have been blessed with health and continue to spend time together as family. We enjoy going up north a couple of times in the summer and being out on the water fishing or having fun doing water sports. We continue to be busy with school & church related activities. Over all we were blessed with a great year which once again, flew by!

We hope & pray that you all have a wonderful holiday spent with those dear to you!

Blessings for 2015!

Wayne & Brenda,

Eryn & Kevin, Danielle & Ron, Veronica, Levi & Jordyn Otten

dexter

meet dexter...

he's the latest addition to the family.
he's a 2 yr old miniature pinscher who was in need of a home.
he belonged to jordyn's piano teacher's brother, who was moving across the country & couldn't take him with. we were asked if we could give him a home, so naturally, we obliged!
he gets along with mika just fine, but still is a little timid around all of us (i don't think he's used to a household with so many people!)
for now, things are going great...he's a well behaved little guy.

well....
it's that time of year again to debut my band of merry men...

check it out here

catching up...

so, this summer FLEW by eh!?!

got these kiddos back to school...
i miss 'em

still had some last minute~end~of~summer kind of fun...
good times in NF...
{sorry, my phone pics aren't great :( }

and enjoyed a treat at cc swirls to end off our night~sooo yummy!

enjoying some puppy love...

savored some s'mores around the campfire...
these 2 both enjoyed the eewwwy goooie goodness... :)

spent an absolutely glorious day with my bestie in TO.
we've been friends since we were 7 yrs old...
she's the 'kindred spirit' kinda friend to me~
she has such a beautiful, gentle spirit & knows how to bring out the best in me!
love. her.
she's beautiful inside & out!

we went to a taping of a local tv show City Line
{if you click on it you can see the episode in which we are audience members :) }
this day out together was a birthday gift from my daughters.
they reserved 2 tickets for me, made the arrangements for my sweet friend to come and we took the train into the city.
if you get the chance, it's a fun day out!

now, we're into the middle of october.

thanksgiving has come & gone for another year.
{you can see my newly installed window...no trim, just insulation seeping peeking out!}

took in the annual craft show with my sis...
it's been a long standing tradition

we have even enjoyed some nice warm weather for a couple of days~it was warmer this past tuesday {27 degrees C} than it was the week in august that we were on holidays!

{don't get me wrong, i am totally lov'n these beautiful days, but it would have been nice had the temps been higher than 11 degrees in august!!}

i DO love fall.
cool, crisp days.
brisk nights...so nice for sleeping :)
the smell of of fallen leaves.
the sound of said leaves crunching under foot as you walk.

we've been busy around here...
the renos are moving along at a snail's pace nicely.

the living room window has been replaced~yay!!
hopefully, this winter it will be warmer & dryer...the old one leaked :(

painted the brick by the front door.
i like it.
changes the look of the house for sure!
the stone's going on the front of the house...

some other things that have gotten a re~do...

i found this cute little mid~century modern cabinet on kijiji....key word 'little'

it's kinda too small for the space that i had intended on using it.

sooooo, i thought i'd give it a new look & maybe re~sell it find another spot for it~not sure yet!

 i took it apart, found some paint i had on hand that was neutral & that i love, of course headed over to pintrest for a chalk paint recipe & mixed away!!

i then painted it up :)!

then sanded and sanded and sanded and sanded some more...

let me tell ya friends, my right arm is jacked~i kid you not!

then once the tedious job of sanding was done, it needed to be waxed.

wax on. wax off....boy does that age me or what!?!

anyhoo, the wax is to protect & gives durability to the piece, otherwise the paint will just chip off.

ta~ da....

the finished cabinet!

next up...

the fireplace {i've always hated strongly disliked the wood colour}

so, as soon as the cabinet was all put back together, i tackled this thing...

from this...

to this...

the next project...

remember these chairs from this post?

weeeeeelll,

they were taken apart,aaaannd that's as far as it got!

pretty sad, eh!?

i could use these sweet chairs.

they used to be my oma's and i would love to be using them again.

what's the hold~up you ask?

well, i don't know...life was happening...aaaaannd i still need to buy fabric.

i know, poor excuse.

but i'm so on it now...i want this pair back in use.

so, stay tuned!

for now,

a family pic that was taken thanksgiving weekend...

{camera on tri~pod, set timer & GO!}

until next time..

best foot forward...

spending girl time together with my girlies :)
i love it.
i'm think'n a pedicure is in order....
ya..
that's my idea of a treat ~pamper'n for my gals with my gals!

what a great way to close out summer holidays

eryn & dani have gone for pedis with me before a long time ago

buuuuut, for roni & jordyn...it was the first time!!
they.
were.
pumped!

they(roni & jordyn) thought they would just be getting their toenails painted....no soaking or scrubbing or scrapping or picking or clipping or massaging involved at all!
ha!
aren't they in for a surprise?!

we pick out our colours...

egg shell blue is her colour of choice...

pretty coral...

aqua blue for roni...

lavender purple for this little lady who looks like she just rolled outta bed!!

all set for some pampering....big smile!

normally, i'm good with people massaging or touching my feet, but this time, i almost peed my pants laughing so hard couldn't help laughing....ooops!

these chicks think i'm weird....that's ok, cuz i am!!

putting on the polish...

sit'n under the foot dryer...

our pretty feet :)

eryn's the only one who didn't get a design on her big toe...

so much fun doing this for my lovely ladies.
they've worked hard this summer and always pick up the slack for me at home~so nice!

now,i must find something relaxing to do with the boy...
a treat at timmies is a great start...
physical activities may be out for a while since he fractured his wrist :(
at least he's still smiling :)
i think a game of laser tag in the fall would be grand....we'll see~hmmmm

gotta say 'good~bye' to summer soon though~boo
but still totally enjoying these warm days.

next...
back to school~sigh