I swear it, I have the best parents in the whole wide world.  They made a HUGE drive (over 40 hrs in total and not the funnest drive in the world), to come help this family get ready for SPRING!  Poor little Sophie had no place outside to play.  Life with 3 big dogs and one small yard was depressing us all a little bit... but, Grampy put an end to that.  Now these Rusty Puppies have a dedicated doggy run/potty area--AND, a dedicated (once beautiful, now not so nice) yard for PLAY.  There is still LOTS of work to be done in the yard and LOADS and LOADS of sand to be brought into the dog run, but at least we are headed in the right direction.  And, there is no way this mom could have managed without her mama and papa.  I love you both so much!!!  Thanks a million times over.  

Sophie can hardly wait to go PLAY in her yard!  And she is especially excited because Grampy and Grammy gave her the money that Mommy gave them for gas...to buy toys for her new backyard.  Lucky Girl.  That's alot of toys.

I will post some pictures of my yard and puppie area later, right now they are way to skanky to post.  But here is a picture of my new privacy screen on my back porch.  There is a little doggy door in the lower right corner that the dogs travel via ramp down to their doggie area.  I am looking foward to planing flowers in a couple weeks!  It really is the small things in life...

On another note, our Little Miss Sunshine turns 11 months old today.

Here she is in a dress that her Great-Great-Grandma Jessie made for her Great-Grandma Beryl's baby Lori.

Yes, this is a little dress that Sophie's Grammy Lori wore when she was a little girl.

I wonder if she looked as cute....

Little Miss Sunshine...

She is my Sunshine!

She makes me so HAPPY.

...and I'm not the only one smitten by her. Today her dad told her that he loved her more than anything in this world, including his dogs! to use his wording..."Honey, you are #1 in my life, and my doggies are #2"!

Projects

Lately, I've been finding myself with some spare time. So, I've been using it wisely and crafting up a storm.

I sewed up this heart for my front door using burlap, muslin & felted wool.

Covered some letters in burlap, muslin, and paper.

I stitched up some burlap fabric hearts to hang from our window, and a cutesy little heart pillow for my hunny bunny to hold.

My favorite new valentines addition, I must say, are these pillows that I did up for my living room...

And, here is a watercolor that I painted a few weeks back.

Sophie is getting to a phase now where she is content to play on her own for longer and longer...which is good for mommy. That means more time for cleaning and more time for crafting.

YAY!

Sweet little Sophie...

She always looks so sweet and cute after bathtime... So, I had Ryan snap a picture of us this morning. You know, one to look back on when she's a teenager and remember how sweet and tiny she was...

Looks like she didn't agree with the whole idea...

GROW...

Unfourtunatly, I'm kind of a slacker. I should have been more on top of this, but I guess that I should be thankful that I at least have these. If I could go back in time I would have taken all of her growth pictures in white onsies. That way all of my photos would have matched up.

2 months...

3 months...
4 months...

5 months...

7 months (almost 8)...
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And.... Feeding time at the Rustad Zoo.

Feliz Navidad!

Sophie enjoyed her Christmas morning more than I thought...

She was very happy with her stocking. You can't go wrong with rubber duckies...

She was thrilled with watching the doggies unwrap their presents as well.

The doggies were happy, too. They love presents. Especially Mr. Nevaeh.

Our Family had Oyster Stew and Christmas pudding for Christmas Eve.

We went to a friends for Christmas Day supper. And then, we had our "special" family supper of Prime Rib on Boxing Day, afterwhich we went to a Christmas Levee at the Mess.

All around, it was a beautiful Holiday weekend! Unseasonally warm sunny weather, too!

Best wishes to all for the remainder of 2011!

We wish you all a Happy New Year.

Naughty or Nice....

Sophie and I had a little photoshoot yesterday afternoon. She was sooo good (untill I took the sucker away...)

She is almost 6 months old already. So hard to believe!

She is such a sweet little thing. I am so lucky to have her in my life! She is just wonderful...