One.

Our Little Sunshine turned ONE this past Saturday. 

So... we celebrated with a BIG 'ol Party!!!

Sophie and her best little friend Brynn decided that they wanted to have a joint birthday party, since they are only just 10 days apart in age.  So, I made the Birthday girls matching Party Dresses.

Brynn's dress got a little dirty during the cake episode, so I didn't get a picture of both girls in their dresses...

The Party!!!

  

Our Party was supposed to be an outdoor party.  No kids in the house.  Lots of running and playing in the yard, while the parents enjoyed drinks on the patio.... Well, the weather put an end to that!  It was so chilly here that day that coats and hats and shoes were needed.  Not to mention, the birthday girls and their little friends would never be able to stay out in the cold for long, anyhow.  So, my outdoor Party turned to an indoor party.  We had about 40 people, kids included, corralled up in the basement for the first little bit.  Which, actully turned out to be quite the hit due to the Popcorn Machine that my parents got me for Christmas.  With the popcorn smell, balloons, and streamers, you actually felt like you were at a Carnival!

The Lemonade Bar, with yellow striped paper straws and mason jars for glasses.
(but, alas, no pictures of their cuteness...)

I made oodles of pennent banners to zig-zag around my porch, but moved them inside due to the crappy weather.

After the party, but I had really wanted a head on of the dessert table... I guess you just have to use your imagination.....(and try to ignore the giant new house they are building behind us!)

Cake Pops!
(...and they are as good as all the hype.)
White chocolate outside, pink delicious inside all smothered in yellow and pink cocunut!  Yummy

cake pops before being turned pops!

Handmade paper cones to hold cheezies!  Lots of work, but super cute!
(and how ironic is it that the cheeses match my colour scheme perfectly?)

The Birthday Girls' Cake.
4 little layers of white cake seperated by 4 little layers of lemon pudding, all frosted in whipped cream.
Needless to say, they LOVED them.

Chocolate covered Oreos

Jelly Beans...

Candy Shish Kebobs.  These were a MEGA hit!
(I think the birthday girls even got a taste...)

Lemon Parfaits

For supper we had sliders and tatertots, and veggies too.  But the mini burgers were quite a hit with the kids.

The Sunshine of my Life!

This cake is going....

Going....

Almost Gone.
I cannot believe how much cake my little girl ate!

Then it was present time!!!  Sophie rather enjoyed this, too!

The ballons that filled the basement.  These are day old pics, so the balloons had began to loose their helium.
We had the yellow, bright pink, and light pink balloons.

 Unfourtunatly, we got NO pictures of the basement.  Which, due to the unforeseen weather, turned into a last minute party paradise.  Balloons EVERYWHERE, and crepe paper, too.  We rented a helium tank, and had around 40 balloons floating around the room.  

This is where we put our 12 month photo banners, as well.

(A photo of mom pregnant, then a newborn photo, then one photo a month.  These were hung from bakers twine with clothespins, and though super simple to do, looked amazing.  Sophie's is still downstairs.)

Hopefully I can get a picture of it up, too.

All in all a whole lot of work!  If I ever go party crazy again, I will be sure to get everything set up the DAY BEFORE!  Then, I will have lots of time to get the pictures that I want and make any last minute store trips to pick up what I forgot!

Happy Mothers Day Momma!!!

Yours of course is still in the box.  But, I'm pretty sure that it is a lot like this one.  Now you don't need any help hauling rocks to build your own.  ;)
You just now need to find a way to get it from here to there...

Things have been extra busy around the Rustad House as of late.  I have been busy busy busy trying to get my yard patched together... time and water and time.  I guess that's all it takes (with the addition of a little grass seed and fertilizer).  

I was hoping to have the grass looking good for Sophie's first birthday party next weekend, but it will be what it will be.  At least there shouldn't be any "hidden treasures".

Sophie is sharing her big day with her little friend, Brynn.  Brynn turned one today, but since we pretty much have the same circle of friends, we are having a joint P-A-R-T-Y!  Sophie is super excited because she loves her little Brynn friend.

I'll def. post some pics of the shin-dig... it should be super cute.

I'm going with a "Sunshine & Smiles" theme.  Since Sophie is my little sunshine, and she has brought so many smiles into our lives over this past year, it only seemed fitting.

Everything will be done up in yellows and light pinks!  So, this weekend, I'll be busy making tissue paper pom pom garlands, pennants, and god only knows what else!

Last weekend, I finally got my porch pots planted, and even got my backyard flowerbed  off to a decent start.  I was having so much fun, I even decided to dig up a patch of my dead backyard and turn it into a veggie/herb garden.  So far it's just chives and tomatoes, but that's about all it can handle at the moment...

 Sophie LOVES the Carpet!  

Here is Sophie's new toy.  Which she LOVEs!  

She won't let me put her in the swing, but she likes to push it!

 Here is Gnome-Burt.  He protects our yard from evil pee spots.... 

 
 The girls hangin out in their yard.

 sophie truckin along....

 This little girl is always on a mission to go somewhere.... or shall I say get somewhere.

She can't wait for her back yard to heal up.

And, neither can her mommy.

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"!