No more thumb-sucking!

The last time we went to the dentist, he told L that he needed to stop sucking his thumb. When we got home L asked me to call Dr. Gover and ask him if he could stop after Christmas. I pretended to call and told him Dr. Gover said it was okay.

Well....today he found a soft satin tag on one of J's new toys and he touched it lovingly and said and I quote, "Mom, I really miss sucking my thumb. Do you think you could call Dr. Gover and ask him if I can have one more suck?"

Thought you might get a kick out of that!

Chrismas Food!

Mom and dad just left and I am so sad to see them go :). But...mom cooked up a storm while she was here. She is such a wonderful cook! Such a blessing! Check out some of what she/we made!

When mom and dad arrived I had hot soup ready for dinner. It is recipe from my sweet friend Emily and we love it. This picture has sausage, but I also made a vegetarian version for dad and I. We had salad and bread to go with it! YUM!

The first night mom was here she made Eggplant Parm. Big C and I both love it and were not disappointed. I only make it once a year because it takes forever. Here you can see mom cutting the eggplant and then her assembling station! Finally, the result! Great job mom!

C1 loves peanut butter cookies with kisses. I made a vegan version of the cookie and he scooped and put in the kisses. He was thrilled with them!


Christmas Eve we go over to my mother in laws house and she cooks mostly everything, but we did bring a few things.

zucchini pancakes with herb dip

spinach pie (one of mom's specialties)I made vegan fudge with fresh coconut. It was really good if I do say so myself!
These are a sampling of mom's cookies! There are Anisettes, Sesame Pillows, and Jellies. Yikes, Big C couldn't keep his hands off!

Finally, Christmas dinner! Mom made prime rib, roasted carrots with shallots, roasted tomatoes and garlic and a dish layered with potatoes, zucchini, tomato and onion that was covered with swiss and fontina cheese. Yowza! I had to go off the vegan bandwagon and have a little bit of that last dish! It was fabulous. There was also garlic bread and lobster tails!

A few weeks ago L saw a picture of a Cranberry Trifle on the cover of one of my cooking magazines and decided that we were going to have to make that for Christmas, so here is! Great job L!

Hope you all ate as well as we did! I'll post more about Christmas later. One post at a time....

Look again!

Wait! Is that J I see? It can't be.....but it is!!

Big C super-imposed J into the Santa picture! Check it out! (See previous posts for why!)

More than I deserve

I took some time looking back through the blog this morning and am thankful beyond measure. To look at our lives and see what God has done is a true miracle and the best Christmas gift. I have more than I deserve or ever expected. Thank you Lord! May we bless your name today!

Christmas Fun!

We have had a blast with our recent flurry of Christmas activities! Check it out!

Making cookies for our Homeschool Christmas party!

I only whip out the cookie press once a year and they really like it!

Visiting Santa at the Mall! Since J screamed head off when we tried to put him on Santa's lap, I am including a separate picture of him by himself!

Sleigh Ride in the neighborhood! Then home for some home-made hot chocolate and whip cream!

Finally, dinner and advent chocolate!

Tomorrow is the first night of Hanukkah. My stepdad is half Jewish and growing up mom made potato latkes a lot. I loved them then and love them now. We eat them with sourcream and applesauce.

Hope your family is enjoying making memories!

Merry Christmas!

My husband LOVES Christmas!

Big C LOVES Christmas, he loves everything about it. He begins singing carols in November. He loves looking at lights. He loves doing Advent with the boys. He loves the food.

Last night we went looking at lights. This is a picture taken from my phone so it is not so good, but you get the general idea. It is a house near us. Amazing!

Next to it is our house. C worked so hard on it. Doesn't it look pretty!

I know he wished our house looked like the first. We sat and looked at the lights for at least 20 minutes, until C1 asked if we could go and Big C said no. Finally we went on our way and toward the end C2 said, "Can we go home and go to bed?". Big C said, just one more cul-de-sac.

When we eventually made it home, Little L wanted to stay up and look at the tree with me. He can't get enough of the lights. Just like his daddy!

He went to work like this on Friday for the Christmas party!

Merry Christmas from the Toscano's!

Dinner Bomb!

As most of you know, I love to cook. I love cooking with my boys, cooking with my mom and cooking by myself. I just love to cook. I also love to try cooking new things and since I became vegan I have enjoyed learning how to cook with tofu, seitan and many other meat substitutes. I have asked many times for my family to join me on the vegan bandwagon, but that has not gone well. :( So I try to sneak new recipes in every now and then, sometimes they go well and ..... sometimes they don't. Well......

Last week, I tried a new recipe. It was pecan mushroom burgers with roasted veggies on goat cheese toast. I know my boys love goat cheese so I was hoping that would hook them all in. Though they loved the goat cheese on the baguette, everything else was a BOMB! I liked it all, but was the only one.

The next day I wanted to redeem myself. I made pasta with pesto and roasted veggies, Italian bread, salad (J helped with that) and chocolate cinnamon biscotti (vegan). Check out the pictures below to see how I did!

Was it a success? What do you think?

I love my husband! My husband loves food! An easy way to make him happy. The challenge is how to make food he loves, that is also good for him. Any suggestions? Do any other wives also run into this dilemma?

Happy Birthday!

C1 turned 9! I cannot believe it. My sweet baby....what happened? He is half way outta here....I can't even think about it.

We had a quiet birthday at home and plan to have a date night with just mom, dad and C1. We are all looking forward to that.

C1 is growing up to be such a wonderful young man! We are so proud of him!

Happy Birthday!

Mimi's Santa's

Mimi (Big C's mom) has started a Santa collection for each of the boys. Each Christmas she gets them each a Santa. Sometimes the Santa comes from one of her trips oversea's. We have Santas from Poland and Russia! Sometimes they represent something each boy has really enjoyed that year, and sometimes it is just a cute Santa. She writes the boys name and year on the bottom.

Last week we unpacked the Santa's and the boys had a blast recalling each one. I would call them up by name and they would put their Santa on the shelf.

Thank you Mimi for this wonderful tradition!

Christmas Wonder!

We started putting out decorations today. Little J was completed in awe of the Santa I put in his room. This Santa has been around for about 15 years. We got it as a gift before we were married by our sweet, long time friends the Mollo's! We never imagined it would bring so much joy for so many years.

We put it up and Little J looked at it from afar and then later, he went upstairs. I followed him thinking he might be going to see Santa and there he was. He kissed him, held his hand, and even beeped his nose. I had to share!

I love Christmas, especially through the eyes of a child!

Italian Style Mashed Potatoes

Okay....you requested it and here it is. Mom's "Italian-Style" mashed potatoes. Though I don't have a picture of them alone, you can see them at the bottom on this one. Can't you just taste the cheesy goodness?! I emailed mom for the recipe to share. I have tried to duplicate it many times, but it never comes out like mom's. It is a favorite of all my boys.

Here it is, directly from mom to you....

I don't have it written down, I just go by memory. (mom's words)

5lbs potatoes, peeled, cubed and boiled.
2 eggs , slightly beaten
1 cup of milk. I just eye this so add as much as you need.
1/2 cup grated cheese

Put all of this ingredients in mixer until smooth. Spray a cassarole dish, layer in potatoes, then a few slices of butter, some bread crumbs and grated mozzarella cheese. Continue laying until all the potatoes are used. On the top goes a few pats of butter, mozzarella cheese and a covering of bread crumbs. Bake in a 375 oven until the cheese on top is brown and crusty.

Hope you enjoy! Let me know if you make it!

Christmas Traditions!

We LOVE Christmas traditions! One that we all enjoy is unwrapping a Christmas book every night of December. I wrap up 23 different books, the same ones every year, and put them in a basket. Each night the boys take turns opening one up and then Big C or I read it to them. They look forward to it every year. On Christmas Eve, Big C reads The Night Before Christmas and the Christmas story from the book of Luke. Great memories!

Here is our basket of books!

Here is the first book last night!

We added a new tradition this year, it was C1's idea. We are singing a different carol each night. He went online and printed out the lyrics for all of us. Though we couldn't sing in a concert hall or anything, it was a sweet, sweet sound!

May you all enjoy your Christmas traditions!