6 months already?!?!

Huck is 6 MONTHS! believe it.

things you LOVE at 6 months: YOUR SISTER. totally, completely enamored with your sissy. normally to get you to stop crying, she needs only to sing you a song. melt.my.heart. you like to jump! you are starting to like baby food...sweet potatoes and apples are #1 (following in Harper's foot steps!). you like to kick in your bouncy seat. and you like to screech really loud. ;-)

the mustache

i *had* to post this so that we remembered it in all it's glory. harper has never been attached to a blanket or a lovey. she loves to suck her thumb (even after the many attempts to make her a paci baby instead). and her favorite thing is her HAIR. her pulls her hair from either the front (her bangs) and brings it to a point over her nose. like this:

or she pulls it from the side and puts it over her mouth like a mustache. like so:

i'm not sure how we are ever going to get her to stop sucking her thumb. we may just have to give her a bob so that all that hair is gone!

st. louis

we went to st. louis the last week of july. my dad's extended family lives there. it was pretty fun to hang out on my aunt's farm. she has some really pretty horses and she made us a feast! we went to a cardinals game. excuse the sweat in the pictures, it was SUPER hot. harper is still wearing her cardinals shirt. we also got to spend some good time with my great aunt. she is a sweet sweet soul. she embodies god's grace to me. i'm so excited that she got to meet our little ones.

Angel Hair Pasta w/ Chicken and Black Beans

1/2 lb angel hair pasta
1 tbsp olive oil
1-2 cloves of garlic (minced)
1 can (14.5 oz) chicken broth or 1 1/2 cups
1 can petite diced tomatoes (undrained)
1 can black beans (drained)
2 cups chicken (cooked & shredded)
1/2 tsp chili powder
1/2 tsp cumin
chopped cilantro (optional)

don't be put off by that long list from this girl. you have a lot of those ingredients already and here are 2 things to make it easier. 1 - use a rotisserie chicken for the chicken. i buy a chicken and we use half for a meal, then i use the other half for this recipe. 2 meals out of it, awesome. 2 - buy this special stuff and leave it in your frig. then you always have garlic on hand AND it is always minced. love it.

in a large skillet over medium heat, heat oil and garlic. when garlic lightly goldens, stir in broth, tomatoes, beans and chicken. add spices and mix well.
heat to boiling; reduce heat and simmer 5 minutes.
break dry pasts and cook according to package. drain.
toss hot pasta and sauce; sprinkle with cilantro.
makes 6 servings.

where did my little baby girl go?

i can't believe harper is SO big. i was watching her play the other day. having a conversation with her stuffed animals. she is almost 2 1/2 and just seems so old. i was telling my friend that has a new 15 day old that it keeps getting harder but keeps getting better. there isn't much in life that you can say that about. the roaring 2's are also this fun stage of an exploding vocabulary and seeing some serious emotions. she told me the other day 'you look pretty mommy' and it melted me. of course it came the same day she made me get up from the seat next to her to let daddy sit down when he got home from work. 'get up mommy. get up. daddy sit down.' gee, thanks. she is a daddy's girl true and true. she is still filling our home with songs and dancing. we.can.not.get.enough.of.it.

whatever normal is...

Just here reporting from life that is supposed to be back to normal. Whatever normal is. David is back to work. Sad times. We are all very sad about that in the Ott house. Although HE was ready...we are still sad he isn't here all day with us. It has been a little bit of culture shock for me. It is the first time I have had to do 2 kids and work from home. I had to start another job to supplement the cut back on hours that my boss gave me. Luckily it came during David's sabbatical because the transition was harder than I thought it would be. I have been doing my other job in the music biz for almost 7 years. Wowza. So I can just do it...almost in my sleep sometimes. And now...add 1 more kid and 1 more thing for my brain to do. OVERLOAD. Needless to say...I am behind yet again on my blogging. I have some fun pictures to add and some recipes too! We had some fun happenings this summer, but I am currently putting in my 28ish hour work week where ever I can. ;-) Huck is close to being on a schedule, which has been helping a lot. The little booger is still screaming when he goes down some, but we are close. So close. Here's to hoping that it will cool off REALLY soon so that we can all get out our energy outside instead of the house looking like a tornado all day everyday. Thank you to the iPhone today for making my work day a little bit easier. The silver lining of all the stress jumping back into everyday is that we had such a fun summer as a family with lots of down time. And I'm just sitting here working / blogging while Huck is napping and Harper is quietly coloring. That is a BIG feat for Harp! I'll post new stuff soon. Happy almost weekend!