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.