Look, Ma! No eyelashes!

Mom bought a new gas pizza oven. I set it up for her and was trying to see why it wasn't igniting when it decided to ignite bigly. My curled up eyelashes felt like velcro every time I blinked.

The pizza was pretty good in the oven, once we got it dialed in.

The couches are awesome.

Leo is jealous that everyone else can sleep on them but he still isn't allowed even though he is a resident of the house.

Vamos, Vamos! Hasta los finales!

It's a good thing DeA has Rock around to keep her picture posing grounded.

Ryker has made sure to have his Argentina jersey ready to go every matchday. He said the Mexican kids in his class have stopped teaching him new Mexican words and are now cheering for Messi.

Luca loves our tree, mostly because at Nama's the tree is behind a fence where he can't play with the bulbs.

I ordered alfajores to celebrate with, Luca enjoyed sorting them for Hampa.

I can never tell if Leo like attention or not. I think he likes attention, but wants it from adults and not little kids with sticky fingers that they try to poke in his eye.

 

Couches!!

DeA don't have a lot of conflicts in our marriage. I pretty much do what she says; it makes her happy and it keeps me safe. However, as silly as it sounds, we have had strong disagreements over couches. I prefer comfortable couches that you want to chill on. She prefers uncomfortable, but stylish and easy to clean couches to impress our many guests. Who are we entertaining? Mom, Dad, Leo, Max, and occasionally Poppy and Violet. She finally agreed to let me pick out the new couches after she realized that the vinyl is too hot and the couch was too not comfy.

We had hoped that they would get here before Thanksgiving, but I think it's a good thing that they didn't or we would have never gotten rid of our guests. Here are the boys helping the delivery guys sort through the cushions and pillows.

Marissa and Javi agreed that these couches are much more welcoming.

It didn't take DeA long to enjoy the enveloping comfort of the fluffy couch.

Jens' class is putting on a play and is one of the Cratchit kids. She was not sure about the makeup part.

She is the one wearing a white hat in the middle.

Nama helped sew her costume and hat.

She wasn't sure what to do with the flowers, so she just gave them away to her friends.

Javi had a birthday and Leo did his part by decorating the cake with dried spaghetti. 

I don't know what Rissa expected, but the dried noodles did not ignite.

The new couches continue to be a big hit.

The downside is that DeA might never come to bed again.

Christmas Tree!!

We tried to load up and go get our tree out of the woods, but there was so much ice and snow that we couldn't make it without chains (which we didn't have ready). Thankfully, Travis and Megan had a tree that they had planted but couldn't use so we traded some delicious goose meat for it.

It's a pretty cool tree.

Leo enjoyed the tree decorating, because it distracted DeA enough that she didn't notice that he was on the couch.

Pretty cozy way to watch football and to celebrate the holidays.

DeA made a turkey with a ball sack waddle for primary. Very appropriate. 

We are unabashedly hinchas de Argentina. The Mexican kids in Ryker's class were not happy about the Albiceleste knocking off the Tri, and they taught Ryker some very colorful words. He doubled down the next day by wearing his jersey.

Every kid on the hockey team has to play goalie at least once. Ryker did pretty well, considering that he didn't want to do it and hated every minute.

The pads didn't fit, the blocker had a tear in it, the mask stunk like someone else's sweat...basically what I'm saying is he never wants to play goalie again.

 

Thanksgiving

The Turkey Bowl is the best time of year. Leo came dressed as an elf and Luca came dressed as a baby.

We had a good turnout of 18. The snow was soft and not slick, so we had a lot of fun running around in it.

Luca enjoyed the Max-free time on the swings.

Max did not enjoy getting stepped on by Rock

Touchdown!!

What a crew

Somehow along the way DeA and I became the adults and started hosting. We enjoy it a lot. It felt like Sunday dinner but with different people. Good people, but distinct from the usually crowd thanks to some families traveling away and others coming into town to visit.

DeA took a well-earned sit on the couch.

Rissa's crew and Dad came over in the evening for leftovers and games. Leo made everyone sit in a train.

Luca kept begging me to feed him until he was ready to explode.

We had a little mix-up with the rolls, so I baked a batch of Aunt Fay's rolls. We then spent half an hour trying to figure out who Aunt Fay was and how was she related.

Dad, Javi, and Rissa enjoyed playing games with the kids.

DeA and I enjoyed being in the other, more quiet, room and enjoying football and a very, very stuffed Luca.

It was fun to spend Friday watching football (as much as the kids would let me) and DeA enjoyed making Leo cuddle with her.

Saturday morning I went out with Keith and shot two geese. Max was impressed, unfortunately DeA was not.