Thanksgiving!

Ever since Jessica and I were newlyweds, it has always been our dream to host a major holiday with our family--our whole family--all under one roof... our own. The Lord has been more than generous with us, and this year that dream became a reality when we held Thanksgiving at our new home in Kingsport.

Here's a picture of our hostess, who aside from being very talented in the kitchen is also ravishingly beautiful.

There were tantalizing aromas wafting from the kitchen for several days leading up to the actual feast. There were of course the very American Thanksgiving staples: mashed potatoes, sweet potato casserole, green beans, fried chick, fresh bread rolls, cornbread stuffing, pumpkin pies... etc. But since this was a Puerto Rican get-together, we also had pasteles, guineitos in escavéche, arroz con guandulez and other such delicacies. My mouth is watering again just talking about it!

Emma Rae had a fabulous time being bounced around from family member to family member, as did all the cousins. She's has also become quite accomplished at using her walker, though, in the last few days. You really have to watch your toes as she zooms around the kitchen or she will run into them at warp speed.

Many thanks to all many cooks in our family that made such a marvelous feast for us. Many thanks most of all the Lord, who allowed us all to celebrate His goodness again this year.

"It is good to give thanks to the Lord

And to sing praises to Your name, O Most Hight;

To declare Your lovingkindness in the morning

And Your faithfulness by night..."

Psalms 92:1-2 (NASB)

Fall in Kingsport

At long last... an update. This is the Korzyniowski's 6th month living in beautiful Kingsport, Tennessee. The mountains are beautiful, especially this time of year, and the pace of life in East Tennessee is certainly much slower than it was in Nashville.
Aeva turned 3 years old in September and got a big girl bike for her birthday, which she adores.
Little Emma Rae will be 8 months old this month. She has a sweet and bubbly personality and will no doubt be the peacemaker of the household.
The Lord has been good to all of us in more ways than we can count. More updates later. We wish you all a blessing this Thanksgiving season!

Project AK

Firearms have been a passion and hobby of mine ever since I was a boy. I guess the real trouble began at the age of 12 when I begged my folks relentlessly for a bolt-action .22 rifle until Santa finally stashed one under the tree the Christmas of '92. It has been a downhill slide ever since.

This spring I decided to attempt a AK47 build project from a spare parts kit. I had all the information I needed to pull it off... google and YouTube. I didn't have many tools and certainly no special training. What I did have was a reluctantly tolerant wife and a handful of people that told telling me that laypeople shouldn't really try this at home. So, why not.

At this point let me officially state that you should NOT attempt a kit build of any sort without first reviewing your state, local, and federal laws as defined by the BATF. In addition, kits such as this one have to meet 922 compliance laws. There... I said it. Anyway, here is the finished product. It is legal. Its really fun to shot. If you'd like to see how this was put together, you can view the complete process in photos on my Flickr page.

Special thanks to my father-in-law for his technical assistance and to my wife for allowing me to spend many late night hours in our chilly garage when I should have been in bed asleep.

The summer is quickly getting underway here in Nashville, and at the current rate I am afraid it will soon be over before I am able to post again. So here are a few quick updates from the Korzyniowski family from the month of May:

Aeva has acquired a passion for tea parties. Truth be known, hot chocolate is much more to her liking than her Papa's herbal tea. More important that the beverage itself, however, is the guest list (as evidenced by photo above) and the appropriate table setting.

Emma Rae is eating like a champ, growing like a weed, and getting cuter every day. She is now becoming very verbal, as all fashionable baby's her age are. Thankfully she still enjoys a good 16 hours of sleep per day which frees up Mami and Papa to keep up with her delightful sister.

Ice cream is the number one hit of the summer. I had previously not though anything could surpass homemade grape juice Popsicles as Aeva's favorite treat, but oh how I was mistaken.

Papa turned 31 on Cinco de Mayo. Aeva was quite proud of having made and decorated the cake herself.

The K family is moving to Kingsport, Tennessee over the 4rth of July weekend to start Andrew's new job. A new home and life await them there.

Summer time with the Watkins is awesome! Our family just spent a wonderful week of vacation in lovely Chesnee, SC with Jessica's folks, Wendy, and cousins Cooper and Morgan.

Cooper met his cousin Emmy for the very first time. Looks like they're going to be good friends.

At home Emma Rae is subject to Aeva's constant attending and handling. Fortunately she's none to worse for wear. Also, Aeva is showing promising signs of pursing a career in medicine.

That's about all for now. Hopefully there will be time for more news soon before the big moving day. God bless you all and may you have a safe summer!

Tortugita Tortugita!

So here's the story... Last Friday Jessica took Aeva and Emma Rae to the Park near our house, and on the way there they found a critter. Actually it was a baby turtle, which I later found out to be a red ear slider, to be exact. Aeva was ecstatic! Of course it had to come home! All she wanted to do that afternoon was play with the turtle; pick it up, drop it, throw it in the sandbox, pet it, give it food to eat, talk to it, etc...

The story becomes more complex, however, when Sabbath afternoon I was charged with watching the girls while my wife took a much needed nap. Aeva had the turtle in the sandbox and was busy making pretend turtle houses and roads for "Sandy." After a while Aeva decided she wanted to take her tricycle for a spin. Sure, why not? The turtle should be safe in a sandbox right? Wrong.

Upon returning to the house with the girls, Sandy was gone and Aeva was heartbroken. Furthermore, my wife had me in the hotseat as well for my grossly irresponsible behavior with such a valuable member of the family. The only available recourse was to mail order a look-alike red slider immediately, which arrived today. But oh no! We couldn't buy just one... we had to buy them in threes.

This morning Sandy magically reappeared in the sandbox to Aeva's delight. Astonishingly, two additional turtle were soon after discovered hidden in Mami and Papa's bedroom. Now there are three of these things. We'll certainly have to pawn off two of them as soon as possible on some other set of naive parents. As for Sandy, we are just hoping and praying that Aeva loses interest soon and we can return the turtle to her rightful place in nature.

Happy Birthday Emma Rae !!!

Welcome to our world Emma Rae Korzyniowski. Born March 29th, 12:06pm. 8lbs 7oz. 19.5 inches long.

SXM 2011

Jessica and I recently had the blessing of attending an anesthesia conference in St. Maarten in the Carribean.

Jessica was 28 weeks pregnant and we figured this might be the last opportunity for a little fun in the sun before the baby comes.

Here's our hotel in the cove of San Marcel.

Look at that Hottie hiking out to the beach!

The beaches on St. Maarten are beautiful and many of them secluded as well. After we hiked an hour to get to this one, we were the only ones there.

Seasons Greetings!

Seasons greetings from the Korzyniowski family! Hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving, full of family, blessings recounted, and grateful hearts!

Que Cara!

Its always hard to capture that single expression that says this is my child's personality. Here are a few of Aeva's many colorful sides.

Hanging on to Summer

Last Sabbath, Aeva's Nani though her granddaughter might enjoy making chocolate cookies.

She was not mistaken. This little girl loves to be in the center of any and every activity around the house, especially if it involves cooking and the potential to help stir batter, dump ingredients into a bowl, and best of all break a few eggs.

After lunch, Aeva was introduced to the feminine world of tea parties by her Nannie. I wasn't sure if Aeva would take to this, but I couldn't have more wrong. Aeva is all girl, afterall, and it shows. After only a minute or two of introduction, Aeva was soon pouring dainty serving of tea with cream in miniature cups to her family, one by one, and making the appropriate "shhhhh" sounds as she poured refills.

It's starting to finally cool down at night here in Nashville, but last Sunday I was determined to stretch summer out to the bitter end with one last boat ride. Here Jessica is idling the boat to shore to pick me up.

It was only about 8 o'clock in the morning and the water looked like smooth glass

starting out. Aeva insisted on riding in the bough with her dolls even though the air temp was only 55F. That didn't seem to matter much to Aeva or her diminutive companions, but her Mami bundled her up tight anyway, as the two of us were freezing with the wind chill. Oh well, it was sunny and cloudless, and absolutely gorgeous outside. What's a little nip in the air in exchange for one last boat ride before the winter?

Life....

Sonia and Brad Tito's wedding in beautiful Central Park, New York.

Central Park's Boat House, where the Tito's had their wedding.

Aeva's love for ice cream becomes more apparent with each passing day.

Carriage ride through downtown Nashville with Nani, Papi, Mami, and Papa.

Jessic'as surprise 31st birthday party at Mark and Guisella's house.

Nice looking rifle, huh? It was gathering rust on Dad's wall, so Andrew had to take matter's into his own hands and restore the darn thing. You'll have to ask Buffalo Bob how it shoots. That .54 cal packs a good wallup!

Curt shoots the ultimate tool of defiance... the AK! Avanza La Revolución!

Jessica in NYC

Nice Rolls! It rode a little rough, though. Could use a little refinement.

Aeva has taken to dressing herself and is especially fond of panties.

Indoctrination begins early. We bought Aeva a toy dyson which she uses when her Mami is busy vacuuming.

Guess who loves Bible stories? Favorites: Baby Moses and Jabel the Shepherd.

Looks who's pregnant with little girl #2?

Look at these mannerisms. See any similarities?

Aeva meets her great-grandpa.

The other Korzyniowskis: Sydney, Katrina, Ryan, and McKenzie. Chilling on the boat after Eric and Betsy's Wedding.

Jessica, her cousing Israel, and Isreal's mom Madeline relaxing at the beach house in Rincón Puerto Rico, during the week leading up to Isreal's wedding.

This little flower girl did a great job with the rose petals. There was lots of practice at home with bits of shredded paper towel leading up to this day, and she did great!

Isreal and Stacy's beach wedding in Puerto Rico. No shoes allowed.

Aeva saying "cheese!"

"Baby Mogin" Aeva's cousin.

Betsy reading her wedding vows to Eric. I'm pretty sure this tough guy even shed a tear or two.

Aeva's 2nd birthday at Sabbath School. Yeah! We get to gradual to craderoll B now!

Blow, Blow, Blow!

Aeva's Birthday party at the Children's museum. Favorite part of the day: the treats!

"Bla Bla" and "Papi"

Andrew and Jessica on their way to Andrew's poster presentation at the American Society of Anesthesiologists convention in San Diego, California.This was a heavy one.

Fun in the corn bin at Lucky Ladd Farms in Mufreesboro. We were there for over an hour!

Baby Chickens $3. Takers?

San Diego coast line at dusk in La Jolla.

Part of a seal colony we visited by kayak off San Diego's coast. Come on... Who wouldn't?

A lot has happened since my last post at the beginning of summer. Don't know really where to begin. Somewhere between three big summer weddings, Jessica's second pregnancy, Aeva's second birthday, potty training, 90+ hour work weeks, looking for a job... oh, and I guess trips to New York, San Diego, and Puerto Rico... things have just sort of piled up with little time to breath. Here are a few photo highlights just for a rapid getting-you-up-to-speed. And no... I don't know how to use Flickr yet. But yes, I do have intentions of eventually learning.