the.amanda.sewell

I hope you are having a happy Halloween. We have had quite a hectic one here. Today was our walk through for our house. We had to go find all the construction damage, etc. We were there for 2.5 hours and I think we were fairly thorough. Most of the issues are minimal paint touch ups, etc. I am so excited to move into the house -- it is almost ready for us. We get the keys on the 7th after another quickie walk through. When we got home, we all relaxed for a bit and then I began to prepare dinner while M dressed the kids for Halloween. I made a pumpkin chili recipe that I found on all recipes (I have included the changes/fast fixes I used). It turned out YUMMY! Pumpkin Turkey Chili INGREDIENTS 1 tablespoon vegetable oil 1 cup chopped onion (used precut ones frozen - included peppers in the bag) 1/2 cup chopped green bell pepper 1/2 cup chopped yellow bell pepper 1 clove garlic, minced (used a tsp garlic powder with parsley) 1 pound ground turkey 1 (14.5 ounce) can diced tomatoe...

Today we decided it would be okay to carve our pumpkins and keep them in the fridge overnight and throughout the day on Halloween. Ah the joys of living in sunny and (still) HOT Arizona. Anyway . . . J had never done pumpkin carving with us, so it was cool. He has issues in regards to his hands being messy, so it was icky to him when he reached in the pumpkin. My cute little clean freak son. E had done it before but still enjoyed it quite a lot. Usually I just carve the pumpkins during the day on Halloween, so this year M was excited to participate and carve a pumpkin. The children chose Mumble from Happy Feet and Lightning McQueen from Disney Cars. I think they turned out great this year! We had a lot of fun and McQueen was surprisingly hard. I *may* have used a few straight pins here and there to fix it up . . . Here is the recipe I plan to use for the pumpkin seeds we saved: Cinnasweet Pumpkin Seeds (From allrecipes.com) INGREDIENTS 4 cups pumpkin seeds, rinsed and dr...

I am so tired. I am hardly awake as I type this but I wanted to post the pictures of my kids in their costumes. They wanted to dress up as Woody and Jessie from Toy Story 2 -- but since that movie is a few years old, I decided I would make the costumes -- I thought it would be easier for me. It turns out it was a lot of work because I packed my sewing machine thinking I would not need it and then I did, but rather than try to dig it out, I just hand sewed the things I needed to sew. I think they turned out looking pretty good! We had a great time at the party. They had lots of fun games, basketball, ring toss, jello eating contest, cake walk, fishing, throwing ping pong balls into a pail in a pool of water. It was great! They also had chili and treats to eat. (and yes, that is Dobby by the van dressed as a ladybug. E picked that costume out for him)

Instead of packing, I played the whole day with my family today. We slept in, then ate some breakfast and watched cartoons, then we got dressed and went out to lunch at Olive Garden. After that we went to the pumpkin patch and farm to play. The kids had a lot of fun with the activities the farm had to play with -- they had a hay bale maze which the kids did over and over . . . . and they had a "corn box" which was like a big sandbox filled with dry corn. The kids were so hard to get out of the corn box. They loved it! They also had a slide, a petting zoo area with goats and some baby black pigs, and a little train. They also had a couple of corn mazes. One was made just for kids and we went in it. It was fun! E posed like this for the picture all by herself . . . I thought it was just too funny! And last but not least, we played a little bit in the pumpkin patch. J's last experience with pumpkins he was about 4 months old (well, the last time we were at a pumpkin...

Okay, reality is that tonight we will probably eat spaghetti (something fast and easy since I am mid halloween costumes and packing to move into the new house) but I did make this gorgeous (and extremely calorie laden) dessert the other day and it was so good. I thought I would share it with you because 1) Thanksgiving is coming soon and it is festive and a change from regular old pie and 2) it could double as a meal based on its calories. LMBO! Cranberry Crumb Pie by Eagle Brand A cream cheese filling is topped with a cranberry sauce layer, and finished with a crunchy nut topping. Yields: 8 servings INGREDIENTS: 1 (9 inch) unbaked pie shell 1 (8 ounce) package cream cheese, softened 1 (14 ounce) can EAGLE BRAND(R) Sweetened Condensed Milk (NOT evaporated milk) 1/4 cup lemon juice from concentrate 3 tablespoons light brown sugar 2 tablespoons cornstarch 1 (16 ounce) can whole berry cranberry sauce 1/4 cup cold butter or margarine 1/3 cup all-purpose flour 3/4 cup chopped walnuts DIRE...

The house is almost done. As I promised, here are pictures. We move in, in three weeks and our walk through is on Halloween . . . so close! The kids enjoying the new brick path around our grass in front M and the kids by our new tree in the front yard So, do you want to see inside? Want to see my kitchen? How about my bathrooom? My front hall? Okay, I will show you . . . but you have to wait till I move in to see my stamp room . . . KITCHEN Eventually (like in the next year or so) we plan to rip out the linoleum and put in floating wood floors so right now it is pretty but not as pretty as it will be! We also plan to replace the counter tops with granite, but they are a little further down the list of things to do . . . I am so excited for all the cupboard and pantry space! It will be awesome!!! ALSO, I love my island! It is fun shaped. In the third picture you can see where my staircase is located in relation to the kitchen/family room (tv room). FRONT HALL and LIVING ...

So I finally got my camera back after leaving in the restaurant in Utah. My cute friend Robyn sent goodies with it, so that was fun. However, upon attempting to upload the pictures on it to my computer, I discovered that the USB cord is missing. M and I went on a frantic search for like 2 hours yesterday and we still have not recovered it. I guess I am most frustrated because I hate losing my memory and there are two cords out there somewhere in my house missing. *annoyed* Anyway, M said he would go and get me a new one today at lunch and that all would be well when he came home. He is such a keeper. SO, that is part of the main reason I am slacking. I find it so hard to just write and not photo-document everything. Pictures are worth a thousand words you know . . . Anyway, since I wont get the cord till tonight, I thought I would answer some of my blog emails in this post to "catch up" Lynda (Aug 15th) Amanda: Love your Magnolia card. I have been trying to access t...