...and then the GRILL EXPLODED!! ROCK N ROLL!

well, our oktoberfest was pretty successful. I took the day off last friday to prepare our back yard. a little before and after on that: before, it was a jungle of weeds and this insidious vine mass that had seemed pretty nice at first, since it grew on our fence and hid the fact that it's hideous chain link. it then started covering the entire yard, including the patio and furniture and grill. we were afraid to leave our dog maggie out there for too long lest she be covered, too. after, sean had pulled out all those vines, and my dad came over and rototilled the entire thing. we had decided to start from scratch.

2 weeks ago, I reseeded the yard (after raking it and spreading fertilizer, what a pain in the goddamn ass) and though I thought I waited too long, I did it at exactly the right time, because it's been raining nonstop this whole week. and the little tiny grass is poking up through the weird matting stuff I had to lay down in order to keep the birds from eating the seed. success!

so anyway, friday, I excavated our backyard flowerbeds, which haven't been dug up in probably years, and mulched. I mulched my little heart out. I swept and I cleaned outside, for hours. and then it began to rain. and it didn't stop until sunday. all that work, and the only people who saw it were the dog and sean.

so oktoberfest was moved indoors. we had brats and burgers on the grill, nicole's famous german potato salad, sauerkraut, and soft pretzels. to keep the german thing going, I had bought pierogies. then sean said they were polish, not german...so after making a racially inappropriate joke, I made them anyway. there was pumpkin dip, tastykakes, pie...it was alot of food. and then the beer, of course. god knows I can't forget the beer. sam adams' oktoberfest and dogfish head pumpkin ale. I have mentioned that sean is a beer snob, have I not?

sean grilled outside in the cold rain. the grill was hot from all the, well, grilling. he was inside, and we all heard a "POP" and cracking. the glass front of the grill had shattered, I guess due to the cold and the hot. so...that does it for us for grilling for a while.

the babies had fun - noah was there, bella was there of course, and sean's coworker kevin's son connor was there. connor is just a little older than noah and bella, but he was like towering over the two of them. it's amazing what 2 months' difference looks like at that age. he was really sweet and cute and all the babies played well together.

all the grownups played well together, too. I have pictures to prove it. and I will post them "soon".

one last thing - bella had new socks on last night and for some reason, seeing her with socks on made her legs look bigger than I had remembered. older. she looked older. it could be because this is the first time she's had socks on since the winter, when she was a tiny little peanut who couldn't do anything but lay there and cry. but it made me sort of sad to think that she's growing up and out of babyhood and into toddlerhood. this is most likely going to be my last child, and each day that passes is a small chapter being closed. I'm never going to have a baby who is 11 months and 12 days old, never again. when she's weaned, I'll never breastfeed again. (which oddly doesn't make me feel as good as I thought it would.) when she talks, it'll be the last first words I hear as a mother. it's sad, but I guess in a way it's liberating too. because I was thrust into motherhood uninvited, I guess I've always longed for the days where I live my life solely for myself, and moving past this age for bella means that I get closer to those days. but when I saw her little chubby legs that looked more toddler than baby, I got emotional.

and then I wanted to take a big bite out of them. mmmm, baby legs.