Our little Halloween party last Friday night was a hoot! I wish I took a picture of the night- but alas, I did not. Too busy playing with kids, eating food and having great visits with friends. I realized that I haven’t really posted any Halloween decorations of our place. We went kind of low key this year. 
If you can believe it, we still have 2 bins of Halloween stuff that’s not making it’s way out. I just don’t have it in me. But what I’m liking: The crows. Simple, throw one on a lamp or on a pumpkin, we’ve got 3-4 in our living room. I’m grooving on them. 
I wanted to make something for the kids, as a little party gift that they could take home so I decided to make some bat & pumpkin bean bags. We played a little bean bag game and then they got to choose which one they wanted to take home.
I still haven’t made Henry’s costume yet, that’s gotta happen this week before Saturdays Trunk-or-Treat (no, Henry wasn’t even dressed up for his own Halloween party. I’m hoping he’s not scarred for life.) Anyway, this years costume has lots of green…any ideas?? Fleece: check. Felt: check. Green Tights: I’m in a bit of a panic trying to find these…anywhere I can get them in the greater LA area?


We made a pot of chili, and the recipe was such a cinch. I don’t have a lot of chili-making experience. It has always seemed too time consuming, the kind of thing that took all day to prepare. I found a great recipe on Allrecipes and made it for the first time a few weeks ago and had to make it again for our party. Here’s the recipe:
Chili
- 2 pounds lean ground turkey or beef
- 1 (46 fluid ounce) can tomato juice
- 1 (29 ounce) can tomato sauce
- 1 1/2 cups chopped onion
- 1/2 cup chopped celery
- 1/4 cup chopped green bell pepper
- 1/4 cup chili powder
- 2 teaspoons ground cumin
- 1 1/2 teaspoons garlic powder
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper
- 1/2 teaspoon dried oregano
- 1/2 teaspoon white sugar
- 1/8 teaspoon ground cayenne pepper
- 2 cups canned red beans, drained and rinsed
Directions:
Place ground turkey/beef in a large, deep skillet. Cook over medium-high heat
until evenly brown. Drain, crumble, and set aside.
Add all ingredients to a large kettle. Bring to boil. Reduce heat and
simmer for 1 to 1 1/2 hours, stirring occasionally.
We topped ours with sour cream, diced onions & cheese.
Anyway, we had a great time and as soon as the last person left, Henry turned to me and said, "Let’s do it again!!!"
I’m sure you’ve been hearing about all the fires here. It’s just awful. I can’t imagine losing everything.
Henry’s been rubbing his eyes alot and I wonder if all the smoke in the
air is starting to affect him. The closest fires to us are in Malibu
and really, it’s not that far away- maybe 20 minutes. I’m not sure what to do for him, besides keeping him inside. Here’s to hoping that the fires start to die down soon!
Happy Wednesday!
p.s. HOLY CRAP- can you believe the Red Sox?? Well, yes I can. They are brilliant. Unbelievable. Bring on the Rockies!
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