Max and his friend Athena play.

Aren't they cute?

Hmmm what's next?

Max wants to help all the time in the kitchen these days so I said he could help cutting the bread for the Thanksgiving stuffing. Yes, he has gotten quite good at saying cheese!

He was pretty excited about helping and very focused on cutting.

Then he realized the bread was pretty tasty....

And none of the pieces that got cut made it into the bowl:-)

Because I have the biggest table of my downtown friends I decided Max and I should host Thanksgiving. Unfortunately having a large table does not mean you have a large kitchen or oven for that matter, so my friend LaVonna (standing at far end of table) offered to make a turkey, which was delicious.

LaVonna's daughter Athena thinks about what she is Thankful for;-)

Mallory reads stories to Abby's kids.

Max, Athena, and Carson watch "Little Einsteins" and wander around.

As some of you may already know, Jay deployed this last week. We were sad to see him go, but hope that his brigade can do good work in Afghanistan and help to bring more peace to the Middle East.

Max and I are very proud of him.

And we made it in our local newspaper;-)

Sorry these are out of order. Here is our token gondola ride in Venice.

The view from the parking garage outside Venice....even the parking garages are lovely;-) And my new sunglasses Jay bought me as an early Christmas present. What a nice husband.

Jay and I spent a fabulous night in Venice while Lee and Barry stayed at our apt with Max. Jay was up early enough to see St. Marks square at the morning high tide.

The view from our hotel room;-)

St. Marks Basilica, yes it is amazing.

Somewhere else pretty.

We spent a day in fair Verona with Lee and Barry. Here are a few shots from inside churches and other beautiful places around the town.