Caterpillar Family Blog

Monday Funnies

2012-01-16T16:03:00.001-05:00

Collected from around the interwebz :)

Recent Projects

2012-01-01T11:02:00.001-05:00

10 slots for January now available! Email me- jesscarbone@gmail.com :)

Friday Funnies

2011-12-30T13:20:00.001-05:00

Collected from around the interwebz :)

Wordless Wednesday: X-mas Edition

2011-12-28T11:01:00.001-05:00

From my babies to yours..

2011-12-24T21:37:00.001-05:00

Recipe: Chocolate Toffee Crunch Bark

2011-12-22T21:43:00.001-05:00

This has got to be the easiest yummy dessert I've ever made. It took me like 20 minutes and was SO good!

You'll Need:
-Saltine crackers (amount will vary depending on the size of your pan. It took one and a half sleeves to cover my jelly roll pan)
-1 stick of butter + 1 tsp butter
- 1/2 cup packed brown sugar
-3 cups chocolate chips
-1 cup Heath bar pieces

Step 1: Preheat your oven for 400 degrees. Line a jelly roll pan with parchment paper. Grease the parchment paper with 1 tsp butter. Line the paper with saltine crackers (to achieve maximum salty/sweet flavor, place the crackers salt side down).

Step 2: In a small saucepan, melt butter and brown sugar. Bring to a boil and then immediately remove from heat. Continue mixing until combined. Pour mixture over the crackers and carefully spread with a spatula.

Step 3: Bake in preheated oven for 8 minutes. Remove from oven and immediately sprinkle chocolate chips over the hot caramel. Wait about three minutes for the chips to soften.

Step 4: Spread the melted chips over the entire pan with your spatula. Sprinkle melted chocolate with the Heath bar pieces. Refrigerate for 1 hour.

Step 5: lift the hardened slab out of the pan by the parchment paper. Using a large, flat knife, cut the bark into bars or small bite sized pieces. Enjoy!

I packed these up to give out with Christmas presents. If you need a last minute little something extra, these are so easy and are made using (mostly) pantry staple ingredients.

Friday iPhone photo dump

2011-12-16T09:18:00.001-05:00

Recent Projects

2011-12-10T21:25:00.001-05:00

THREE

2011-12-02T15:07:00.001-05:00

Wow. Can you believe it? My first sweet baby is already three years old. I think this particular birthday is especially hard because three seems like such a milestone. We have completely departed from all things baby. He is SO grown.

His next doctor's appointment isn't until Monday, but if I had to guess I'd say he is about 36-37" tall and weighs about 25-26 lbs. He says e v e r y t h I n g! I honestly don't think there is a word he can't say. He is so logical now it's incredible. It's funny now that he is starting to understand the concept of time. We can ask him about what he did yesterday or what he's going to do tomorrow. Even funnier, when he's talking about something that happened more than a couple days prior, he will sometimes say "last year". Or in the distant future might be "a hundred days". Hehe.

He is so smart. Another big development is that he now says things so well, he can communicate something we don't already know about. Man that sounds confusing... maybe I should have him write this post for me. You know how every mother "knows" what their child is saying, even when they aren't being clear? You can put their funny words together with the context of the situation to figure out the point they are trying to convey. Well, at this point we're graduating to speech that any random person can understand. He can tell me something that I've never said to him or heard him say and I totally "get it". For example, he told me the other day that he wanted to watch Kung Fu Panda. Clear as day. He has never watched Kung Fu Panda. He doesn't even watch the regular nickelodeon channel. Apparently another show he watched had a preview for Kung Fu Panda. I had no idea where that came from but there was no guessing on my part and no frustration on his part because I wasn't understanding him. He told me, and I found it on demand for him to watch. Easy as that. Friggin' Kung Fu Panda. Cracks me up.

He cracks himself up too. A comedian for sure. I was getting him dressed a few days ago and I said to him, " hold your shirt up so I can do your button." He gets this big grin across his face, covers his mouth with his hands and goes, "hehehehe... BUTT!" omg. And the life of a boy's mom begins. I am in trouble.

Gobble Gobble

2011-11-24T13:12:00.001-05:00

This year we are thankful for family, friends, and two beautiful children :)

Monday Funnies

2011-11-21T10:24:00.002-05:00

Friday iPhone photo dump!

2011-11-18T10:21:00.001-05:00

Three Month Update

2011-11-17T17:00:00.001-05:00

Little miss Isla is now three (and a half) months old! Wow. Time has flown so quickly. I feel like I just had her and already she is so big. Yesterday she was a tiny little newborn and today she takes up so much room in my lap.

Here are some updates on what is going on in the life of our second baby:

Growth- As of today she weighs 14 lbs 6 oz, up about 7 1/2 lbs from birth (she weighed 6 lbs 15 oz). This girl LOVES to eat, which really means nurse, as there is no actual 'eating' going on. Speaking of that...

Breastfeeding- I am so so so happy/proud to say that my sweet girl has grown on 100% breastmilk. Not a drop of formula and still going strong! I know this can be a little controversial and I definitely don't want to knock those mothers who choose to use formula, but it was a personal goal of mine to avoid it. I did breastfeed my first baby too, but because of being a first time mom and questioning everything I did supplement a little with him in the beginning. I was so worried I was starving him if he wanted to eat an hour after I nursed him! When I did end up going back to work when he was 4.5 months old I ended up putting him on formula. We had so many issues it was terrible. By the time we realized just how bad he was doing with it, my milk supply was totally gone. Hindsight is 20/20. I decided then that I would do everything I could to avoid giving another child formula. Of course I know this is NOT typical. Most children do perfectly fine with it. But I knew that breastmilk was probably the best choice for my family. So, when Isla came along I decided that supplementing would not be an option unless it was a dire emergency. There were some long loooong nights and tests of patience for sure, but here we are- on the other side. I say that because we are now in a "smooth sailing phase". My supply is well-established, she is growing well, and we have a good nursing relationship. My goal is to exclusively nurse her until 6 months and then start her on purees and other soft foods I prepare, along with continued nursing of course. I am committed to the full year, for reasons above. My ultimate goal is to have her go straight from the breast to whole milk in a cup. Fingers crossed that all goes according to plan!

Solids- none yet! In 2 1/2 months we will try :)

Sibling love- Oh my she loves her big brother! Dominic has really impressed us as of lately with his behavior towards Isla. He is so sweet and gentle to her. The cutest thing in the world is when she's sitting in her bouncy seat. He will come sit in front of her and lightly bounce her seat. She just laughs and smiles at him. So cute.

Clothes- She is now in almost all 6 month clothing. There are a few 3 month items that run a little big that I can still squeeze her into, but for the most part it's all 6 month stuff at this point.

Ears (hehe)- Yep! We did it. We got her ears pierced! We took her when she was 10 weeks old. I was so nervous but she did SO well. She only cried for a minute and it never seemed to bother her when I cleaned them. Now they are totally healed and so cute! She looks so much like her brother that we joke it's the only way we're going to know which one is which when we look back in pictures.

Mobile- Not yet! She has yet to roll, though she does scoot backwards a little. She does have incredibly strong head control and will even sit unassisted for a few seconds.

My pretty girl :)

General Chang's Chicken- at home

2011-11-16T14:49:00.002-05:00

Ever find yourself with a leftover veggie tray after a party? I had my Shutterfly holiday cards house party on Saturday and had a ton of leftover veggies. I had mostly carrots and celery, perfect for a version of General Tso's chicken.

You'll Need:
- 1 large boneless skinless chicken breast
- 2 tbs flour
- 1/4 cup vegetable oil
- 3 cups chopped veggies, carrots, celery, broccoli, onion
- 2 chicken bullion cubes
- 1/4 cup hot water
- 1/8 cup honey
- 2 tsp soy sauce
- 1/2 tsp crushed red pepper

Step 1: Chop chicken breast into small bite sized pieces. Toss with flour. Heat oil in a large sauté pan on high. Pan fry chicken until golden and cooked through.

Step 2: Dissolve bullion cubes in hot water and set aside. Add chopped vegetables to pan. Stir fry until just cooked, leaving vegetables crisp.

Step 3: Pour water with dissolved bullion over chicken and vegetables. Add honey, soy sauce, and crushed red pepper. Toss all together.

Step 4: Serve over brown rice. Enjoy!

Recent projects

2011-11-14T14:36:00.001-05:00

I've been pretty busy lately keeping up with my crochet projects. I've had the opportunity to make some really cute stuff! Just some select favorites...

Happy Four Years!

2011-11-10T11:30:00.000-05:00

Jeff and I were married four years ago today!! We have so much to celebrate. More important than anything material, we have two gorgeous kids that keep us smiling every day :) Love you hub!

Us on our wedding day...

And now :)

Photo Book

2011-11-08T01:20:00.001-05:00

Click here to view this photo book larger

Shutterfly baby photo books are the perfect way to preserve your baby's precious moments.

Pinspired! [Fall arts and crafts]

2011-11-03T12:55:00.000-04:00

I saw this awesome idea the other day on Pinterest and thought I'd give it a try. I'm always looking for cute arts and crafts ideas for Dominic to do during the day. I like the idea of a paint that is cheap and easy to make and most importantly- totally non toxic. It's edible, in fact... though I doubt it would taste very good!

Source: theberry.com via Jessica on Pinterest

So that was the 'real' paint, and this is mine:

It turned out pretty well! I was going for orange, red, and purple (fall colors) but ended up with more of a redish oragne, pink, and purple.

And this is what we did with it:

Which was 'pinspired' by this:

Source: myblessedlife.net via Jessica on Pinterest

so.. not exactly like the picture, but Dominic enjoyed it :)

Friday iPhone photo dump!

2011-10-28T10:03:00.001-04:00

Bowles Farm

2011-10-18T10:27:00.000-04:00

Sunday we took the babies to the pumpkin patch! We went to Bowles Farm in St.Mary's, MD and had a blast. We went to the same farm two years ago and after trying out a different one last year, we decided to return. Although there is an absolute ton of stuff to do there, we really only visited the hay stacks, petting zoo, and the cornbox. Dominic is going through a "scared" phase right now and didn't want to ride the barrel train or go on a hay ride. They also have a HUGE corn maze. We didn't go very far into it though, we didn't want to have to call 9-1-1!! Ha.

His favorite thing was the huge cornbox (sort of like a sandbox, except with dried corn). He did not want to leave that thing and when we came home I found several kernels of corn in his shoes.

We had a great time!

Happy Babywearing Week

2011-10-13T12:38:00.000-04:00

It's international babywearing week October 10-16, 2011. Many of you know I love to wear my babies. I'm so happy to share with you a couple pictures and also an incredibly sweet video that contains several clips of John Lennon wearing his son :)

so sweet..

Crafty!

2011-10-12T09:19:00.001-04:00

Last Saturday I participated in an annual local craft fair for the second time. I went about things a bit differently this time and the turnout was fantastic! Last year I only brought a small stock and mostly advertised that I did custom orders. That was true and all, but basically I didn't sell much there and instead was bogged down through Christmas with custom orders. The hats I did make for the fair were pretty much useless. This year I decided to bust my butt and build up a stock of several hats in a range of sizes. I was also debuting hats with flowers and hats with ears.

Success! I had awesome feedback about my specialty hats. By the time the fair was over I had no flowered or eared hats left. I am now considering doing another fair next month. It will be a lot of work to build my stock back up, but I think it will be worth it.

If you are a friend of mine and already placed an order for a custom hat, they should be all ready by early next week. I will contact you when your hat is complete. If any of my readers would like to place an order, please contact me at jesscarbone@gmail.com. Also, I have a limited number of hats left over from the fair, including Eskimo style. If you would like to see what I have (for sale at reduced rates) please "like" my FB page (box to the right of my posts). I have an album entitled "For Sale".

Happy Fall!!

Wordless Wednesday: Rub-a-dub

2011-10-05T11:25:00.000-04:00

Recipe: Mashed Sweet Potatoes

2011-10-03T09:13:00.005-04:00

A perfect fall recipe! These mashed sweet potatoes are great for any day of the week, not just for holidays because they are SO simple to make. I make mine pretty sweet because my husband likes them that way, but you can adjust the sweetness level easily.

You'll Need:
- Four (4) large sweet potatoes, peeled and cubed
- Dash of salt
- 1/3 cup reduced fat milk
- 1/3 cup brown sugar
- 1/4 cup honey
- 2 TBS butter
- 1 Tsp ground cinnamon

Step 1: Place the peeled and cubed potatoes in a med/large pot and cover with water. Add a dash of salt and place over high heat. Once the potatoes are boiling, reduce heat to medium and continue boiling for 20-30 minutes, depending on the size of your cubes. You will know when they are done because they will be fork tender.

Step 2: Drain and let air dry for a minute or two before returning to the pot. Add the remaining ingredients (milk, butter, brown sugar, honey, and cinnamon) and mash together with a whisk.

Step 3: Enjoy!

It's Friday I'm in LOVE

2011-09-30T09:48:00.000-04:00

with this coffee combo..

fall baby fashion: crochet hats (by me), boots (by Target)

tie dyed onesies (by me), and leg warmers (by Target)

nude nail polish..

socks. because my pregnant feet had been in flip flops since like March..

flip flop pinot grigio.. seriously. try it.

and sweet 'taters :)

What are you loving this Friday?