Blessed

It's not everyday that you have the clarity to say, "I am so blessed beyond measure." Well today I had that.  Over the past few weeks my work family has been celebrating the birth of David Sacran, the child of my co-worker, Louis.  When David was born, he needed medical attention due to a heart defect. While getting him the help he needed, the doctors also discovered that David has Down Syndrome.  And today, after reading the latest update on baby David, I felt so blessed. Thankful of my life, my walk with Christ, and the relationships that we build every day.

If you know me, then you know that I love special needs children. I have always had a special place in my heart for any person that needed a little extra love to get through the day. I am also blessed that my job allows me to love these children as well.  I know that Louis and his family are going to be experiencing a lot of information overload and a lot of questions over the next few years. But, I also know that a Downs Syndrome child is truly a ray of light! I have never met a family that has a stronger faith in our God than the Sacrans.  I am so blessed to know Louis, but even more blessed that he now has a blog about David. As I said before, this child of God will truly be a ray of sunshine.  Well the family knows that and they are calling him Sunshine Sacran.

If you want to be blessed beyond measure and learn about this bundle of joy, I encourage you to visit and share their blog.  www.sunshinesacran.com  Start from the beginning and read how God has blessed and strengthened this family. You will not be sorry!

God bless,
Emily

I'm Gonna Knock your Socks Off!!!

Ok get ready. I am about to knock your socks off!!! Each year for Mother's Day I try to make a dessert that is tasty but also beautiful.  However, if you will remember from this post: http://ramblingsofrealcraziness.blogspot.com/2012/05/mothers-day.html my cake looked like a baby shower cake.

So....I decided to do simple this year. I found this recipe on Pinterest and unlike some recipes on there, this does not disappoint! It is phenomenal, easy to make, and again, will knock your socks off! Here it is:

First, gather all of your supplies

• Box of Chocolate Cake Mix (I used Betty Crocker Super Moist Chocolate Fudge)
• Can of Eagle Brand
• Jar of Caramel topping
• Heath Bar topping (I used the Bits 'O Brickle, but you can use the mix with chocolate in it too)
• 2 small tubs of Cool Whip (not pictured and the recipe called for 1 tub, but I LOVE Cool Whip!)

1. Bake your cake as directed on the box (you will obviously need the egg, water, and oil called for on the back of the box too)

2. Let it cool for about 10 minutes

3. Poke holes in the cake with a wooden spoon handle

4. Open your can of Eagle Brand and pour it on the cake. I really enjoy doing this part because you can take your time and make sure some of the ooey gooey goodness gets into every hole you poked!

5. Let this sit and soak for about 5-10 minutes.

6. Pour the jar of Caramel on top of the Eagle Brand goodness. Again, I like doing this slow because I want some caramel in every bite.

7. By this time your cake should be cooled enough to "frost" with Cool Whip. Here's a helpful tip...make sure your Cool Whip has thawed and is at room temperature. It will not spread if it is hard...don't even try.

8. Add your topping. In the picture below, I forgot to take a picture of the final project, so this is the half eaten version of a final project.

There you go...an easy and FABULOUS dessert.  I will add this: I made my dessert the night before and put the Cool Whip on, but didn't put the topping. Then before I served it, I added more Cool Whip and the Heath topping.

As well as this dessert, my family got together to celebrate on Sunday, here are some pictures from our Happy Mother's Day.....

 

I have the absolute BEST family in the world!!!!!!!! I am so thankful for my "other" family in West Point (my husband's family), even though I don't have any pictures of them, we had a Fantastic time Friday night! I sit here and realize how blessed I am to be surrounded by such amazing women. I was raised by wonderful women that taught me and molded me into who I am today. Thank you to every "mother" that I have had. I love you all with a whole heart!

I'm a Little Crazy

So it's only been a month since I wrote a blog... Let me toot on my own horn! With everything that has been going on, I'm pretty happy about this little accomplishment. My title for today is "I'm a Little Crazy", and I would like to explain why.

Since the last time I updated everyone I. Ads the announcement that we were moving, well we are but the process has not been what I planned. I thought that we would put our adorable house on the market and 2 days later sell it. I mean it is a good price! But alas we have not. Granted it has only been on the market for a month, but as stated above, I'm a little crazy! You might say, "Emily, you're not crazy this is normal." Before you make this declaration let me continue...I have all of these worries and questions, why doesn't anyone want to buy our house, when will we sell it, what if we don't sell it, where will we go if we do sell it, what if we don't find a house, what house will we buy, where will we put our stuff, will we live with my parents forever, what if my parents get tired if us, what if we hate living here, what if I go crazy before we move!?????? See I told you I was crazy! I know that it will all work out, I just need to trust in God to provide. But, that doesn't stop me from obsessing!

So instead of focusing all of my energy on the move, I put some of that crazy into a shower for my friend Cindy. I was on of the co-hostesses for this awesome shower. I decided that we would do Mad Libs and play a game based on the bride and grooms answers to some questions. I have to say they turned out so cute! The mad Libs are below and if you want a word copy of your own or a PDF of this, I'd be happy to share. I think in another lifetime I was a graphic artist. I don't want to offend any of my friends who are really graphic designers by my lack of training or true lack of talent, but I love making documents and cute invites!

 

 We also had great food! Elizabeth made this pasta salad that was to die for!! It was also so pretty. I made these sugar cookie cheesecake bars that were ridiculously good if I do say so myself.
The recipe is here: http://www.justapinch.com/recipes/dessert/cookies/cheesecake-sugar-cookie-bars-by-freda.html#.T41l94LA0xJ.pinterest

Let me warn you though...you HAVE to let the cream cheese get to room temperature before you make these. If not you will be disappointed like I was. The taste doesn't change but the look does. Also don't expect to pull these out of the fridge, cut them, and think they will look like the picture...not gonna happen. But what does happen is fireworks in your mouth!! I mean slap yo momma good! I'll admit that I went a little cray cray when I cut them and only half of the batch looked decent. But everyone ate them anyway and raved!

Here are some pics of the fun shower! Also, next weekend is the bachelorette party so get excited to hear about that..well some of it because I don't think I can censor everyone!

This is before all the food was plated, but look closely at the cheescake bars...not like the picture!

Doing a Mad Lib

She got all of the good pictures...plus she looked REALLY cute!

The Bride and Sloane

 I have to also share one really new thing that I'm adding to Emzy's Whimsies bow business...flower headbands/clips. What do you think?!