Sound like Life to me: Baby Dedication

I remember getting the phone call from my sister one hot June day, (haha I was laying out in my plastic swimming pool in our backyard) that they were headed to Baltimore, MD to adopt a precious newborn baby girl.

One of the first pictures my sister texted to me of her new bundle of joy!

Prayers immediately followed that call and haven't stopped since.  My sister is a beautiful woman and she has been so blessed with an amazing husband and now, baby girl! Tinsley Ellison is a joy and a delight and I am so thankful she is a part of our family!  Yesterday, we all joined them in a celebration of God's goodness in dedicating Tinsley to the Lord.  No, this was not a baptism, it was a beautiful way for my sister and her husband to share, before family and friends that they were committing to raising her in the ways of the Lord. 

Beautiful balloons at their church.

Momma and baby girl at Longhorn Steakhouse.

Can we say "ADORABLE"

Kisses from the easter bunny!

What a joyful gift she is! 

The precious Osborne Family!

Grandma and Grandpa Hartofelis

Aunt Kim and Uncle Charles

Tinsley Ellison, WE LOVE YOU SO VERY MUCH!  Praise God for your beautiful life and the amazing family you were hand picked to be a part of.  We pray daily that you will grow confident and strong in the ways of the Lord and follow Him all of the days of your life.  I can't wait to see you grow and mature, and we look forward to sharing and making many precious memories together.  

love, Aunt Doodle

From our kitchen to yours

I love sweets! Charles, well, he likes some sweets and he's mighty particular about how and when he eats them.  I saw this recipe for Caramel Toffee Latte Cupcakes over at a blog I read Kevin & Amanda and I had to make them!

Okay, Charles HATES coffee... scratch that.  Ehhh lets use the IDEA of this recipe and make something semi-homemade and "Charles friendly".

You can go to their website above and follow her directions... I didn't, but basically, you need chocolate cupcakes, toffee bits (heath bar), homemade Caramel buttercream, and chocolate to drizzle (I just used left over "can" chocolate frosting).

So here's my home-made Caramel buttercream recipe I made up that is TO DIE FOR!

1/2 a bag of square caramels

1/4 cup of Great Value Brand Creme Brulee Coffee Creamer

1/2 cup (1 stick) butter, softened
3 cups powdered sugar
2 tbsp milk
2 teaspoons vanilla extract

Melt caramels over a double boiler (or a heavy bowl over a saucepan of almost boiling water) until smooth.  Remove from heat.  Add in 1/4 cup creamer and stir until well incorporated, let cool.  Take butter, that has softened to room temp, place in stand mixer bowl and beat with the wisk blade.  Add in caramel solution, 3 cups of powdered sugar, milk and vanilla. Whip until it forms medium peaks (about 5 minutes).

Seriously, this is some of the best buttercream I HAVE EVER TASTED! No need to refridgerate. Just DEVOUR!

Oh, and in case you were wondering... CHARLES LOVED THEM! I have never seen the man eat a cupcake that fast in my entire life!  Success.



From our kitchen to yours

As you could tell from our last post, we have a plain jane fridge/freezer... no ice maker, no ice/water dispenser in the door.  Well, we do have an ice bucket. But, it doesn't hold ice... it holds fun size Twix.   Don't be jealous, you can do this too :) haha we're terrible

Home Sweet Home

So sorry it's been so long since I posted :( I started a new job and I've been pretty consumed! Here's a little bit of my life lately! haha Charles and I decided to do some early spring cleaning!  Our house is super small and our kitchen is super, super small. Having been married for a little over 3 years, we noticed we were accumulating way too much stuff in our little house, see pictures below.

Yep, emptied out all the drawers and cabinets...

Yikes! That's a lot of stuff!

We had items on the counter, that needed to be hidden ...

Here she is, all neat a tidy!

Organized!

Cleaned up corner

This looks so much better and it's so much easier to find things!

These were full, now there's room to spare!