Slow Fade...

Slow Fade,by: Casting Crowns

Slow Fade:

Be careful little eyes what you see
It’s the second glance that ties your hands as darkness pulls the strings
Be careful little feet where you go
For it’s the little feet behind you that are sure to follow

It’s a slow fade when you give yourself away
It’s a slow fade when black and white have turned to gray
Thoughts invade, choices are made, a price will be paid
When you give yourself away
People never crumble in a day
It’s a slow fade,
it’s a slow fade

Be careful little ears what you hear
When flattery leads to compromise, the end is always near
Be careful little lips what you say
For empty words and promises lead broken hearts astray

*This song used to be on my playlist. I need to put it back up along with some others. I can never listen to it enough. I pray that those who open their hearts to these words may never forget the truth they hold. Be very careful, very, very, careful. Please.

Love to all,
Julie

Happy Birthday, Carissa!!!

Our adorable niece, Carissa,is 14 today!!!! Hope you have a wonderful day, sweetie!!

WE LOVE YOU & CAN NOT BELIEVE THAT YOU ARE GROWING UP SO FAST!!!!!!!!

Love you always,

Uncle Charlie, Aunt Julie, Claire, Lily & Drew

show LOVE to your family; bake for them!! (Pumpkin Cream Cheese Streusel muffins)

*I have some posts scheduled to publish throughout the week. I sat down last night and worked on some recipes I have promised a few people. That's probably all I will get to post this week but there are quite a few so I had to get them out of the way sometime!

I made these last night for Charlie & the girls (me, too) lol. We had Darcy's Chai tea along with them and all I can say is, "Who needs Starbucks?" :) I didn't have the same kind of green tea as Darcy used but we made it work. It's delicious and the whipped cream and cinnamon with it; heavenly! Anyway, here's the recipe for the muffins. I think I may have shared them before but they are so good, I will share them again!

filling:

1 (8 ounce) package cream cheese

1 egg

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

3 tablespoons brown sugar

streusel:

4 1/2 tablespoons all-purpose flour

5 tablespoons white sugar (used half Splenda)

3/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon

3 tablespoons butter

3 tablespoons chopped pecans or walnuts

muffins:

2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

2 cups white sugar (used half Splenda)

2 teaspoons baking powder

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1 tsp. pumpkin pie spice

1/2 teaspoon salt

2 eggs

1 1/3 cups canned pumpkin

1/3 cup olive oil (I used Smart Balance)

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C). Grease and flour 18 muffin cups, or use paper liners.

To make the filling:
In a medium bowl, beat cream cheese until soft. Add egg, vanilla and brown sugar.
Beat until smooth, then set aside.

For the streusel topping:
In a medium bowl, mix flour, sugar, cinnamon and pecans.
Add butter and cut it in with a fork until crumbly. Set aside.

For the muffin batter:
In a large bowl, sift together flour, sugar, baking powder, cinnamon and salt.
Make a well in the center of flour mixture and add eggs, pumpkin, olive oil and vanilla.
Beat together until smooth.
Place pumpkin mixture in muffin cups about 1/2 full.
Then add one tablespoon of the cream cheese mixture right in the middle of the batter.
Try to keep cream cheese from touching the paper cup. Sprinkle on the streusel topping.Bake at 375 degrees F (195 degrees C) for 20 to 25 minutes.

*I used Valentine's cupcake papers to make it special; all muffins this week will be baked in these! Hope you enjoy these yummy muffins!! :)

Happy LATE Birthday, Ann Mary!! :)

Well, I took a blogging break and in the process forgot about our niece, Ann Mary's 12th birthday!!! Sorry, sweetie!!


We hope you had a wonderful day and that you are enjoying being 12 YEARS OLD; I cannot believe you were just almost one year old the day we got married. I still remember you sitting in your Daddy's lap in your pretty white dress. :) You were such an adorable baby and you are a gorgeous girl!!

And, congratulations on making the Honor Roll!! Smart girl!! :)

We love you!!!!

Uncle Charlie, Aunt Julie, Claire, Lily & Drew

happy birthday, papaw!...

today is Charlie's dad's birthday! I am not telling how old he is, though. Sworn to secrecy, although I can say that he is younger than Uncle Donald! haha. ;)

Look at my sidebar and read more about papaw. Please pray for him if you aren't already & if you are praying, we thank you from the bottom of our hearts!

papaw is a wonderful person and a great dad & papaw. The kids absolutely adore him and he is just all around a fun person to know! he's always good at making us laugh! :)

Well, Happy Birthday, dad & Praying you have many more to celebrate with us!!

Chocolate Gravy....

I have thought of sharing this before and I guess that I just never did. It's cheap and we have it a lot with hot buttered biscuits. My mama and my granny fixed this growing up but the person I remember fixing it the most and the best (sorry, Mom) was Wilma(my Mom's best friend). I am missing & thinking of our Wilma(she died 4 years ago this week) so to honor her, I am posting her recipe (with some modifications made to fit the way my family likes it; but it's still basically her recipe).

4 heaping T. cocoa

4 heaping T. flour

1 c. sugar

Dash of salt

2 c. milk

1/2 stick butter (sliced into small slices)

1 t. vanilla


In medium bowl, sift together flour, sugar, cocoa, salt. Whisk in milk until smooth. Pour into skillet and cook over medium heat, stirring constantly until mixture begins to thicken slightly. Remove from heat and add butter and vanilla. Serve over hot buttered biscuits. Yum! Yum!!

Merry Christmas from our family to yours......

sweet baby boy...

THIS face makes me thankful every day. :)

sweet, adorable, cuddly, Drew-bear

Nana's Peanut Butter Brownies...

1/2 c. peanut butter

1/4 c. shortening or butter

1/2 tsp. vanilla

1 c. brown sugar, firmly packed

2 eggs, one at a time

1/2 c. flour

1/4 tsp. salt

1/2 tsp. baking powder

In mixer bowl cream together peanut butter, shortening or butter, brown sugar, vanilla & eggs. Add the flour, salt, baking powder. Pour into a greased 9X9 pan bake in 350 oven for 25 minutes or until golden brown. Cool, cut into squares.

*Oh my goodness, these are the best brownies, EVER!! We have some in the oven right now!! Charlie's grandmother, Elizabeth Fogg, "Nana" made these often for Charlie and his siblings when they were young. I am very happy to have this recipe to share with our family.

Trick or Treat!! =)

Jenn, at Munchkin Land posted this!! How funny!! =) Come on, you know that you want to laugh! Thanks, Jenn! =)

and, with that, I am hopefully through blogging today!! Have a great weekend and Happy Halloween!! =)

JULIE