January at the Beach!

This little Monkey has been giving me a run for my money. She is still an exceptional baby but has very different challenges than Banks did. She has been drinking water out of a sippy for months now but ABSOLUTELY REFUSES to drink Milk from a sippy. Today, I made the decision to cut the bottles cold turkey. Sadly she drank a little milk this morning but not much sense. Plenty of water though :) The milk is another thing in itself living in a "developing country" in that we don't get milk regularly so it's powder we go...blah. She doesn't love it and it's doing a serious number on her tummy. She didn't have a problem with whole milk while we were in the states. IDK...plus she has had a little nagging cold for over a week and then today while she was screaming at me I realized she is getting ALL 4 Molars in...I felt so bad for her, Sooooooooooo....This picture is how I like to think of her and not the ever crying, pulling everything in God's country out of my cabinets 47,000 times per day. Don't even say childproof them to me..."developing country"...enough said.

This was Banks and Eloise first day back to school. Banks is attending a homeschool coop started by mom's of kindergardeners here on the island. She loves it!!! Every Friday is an excursion day. Last Friday they went to the home of a local cocoa farmer, named Cocoa, and participated in making chocolate, and learning about the cocoa plant. She still exclaims...IT WAS AWESOME! Sadly, I couldn't attend but will hopefully be chaperoning many of there excursions.

Homeschool coop. I'm super super proud of Banks she is the youngest by over a year but is "rising to the occasion", said by her teacher Mrs Womack, and learning exceptionally!

Whale Watching...The whales forgot to mention they would be attending a reggae festival in St. Kitts that weekend :(...wha wha waaaaaaa. So no whales for us but a nice 4 hour boat ride with great friends!

 Snoozing

 Dominica is an exceptionally beautiful island!

 Banks and her friend Mae Lynn. I was the totally over cautious "safety first" Mom and wouldn't let her take her life jacket off. I couldn't handle the nerves and what if's!

 Don't know why these are in super fast mode but Banks rolled down this hill for 30 min and had so many strawberries on her shoulders and knees. She gets it honestly

  Somebody is walking...when she feels like it!!! She can literally dance, do squats, and pick up anything while standing but only chooses to walk occasionally. When not sick, teething and pissed about not getting her bottle she's so chill natured...just like her Mom...ha! Hope you caught the sarcasm there! ;)

 In our old place she napped in the tents on the front porch. Here she stacks couch cushions in the kitchen for a quick snooze. I was washing dishes and literally turned around to see her asleep on these cushions.

We miss you all so much!!!

Love you

Amberly, David, Banks & Eloise

New Things in the New Year!

As I mentioned in my last post we are super happy in our new place. This week is our first week back to school and routine and we're loving the place even more. It's larger than our old place, 30 sec from the pool a 5 min walk from the beach and 7-8 minutes from school!

Banks and David got much needed hair, and thankfully beard, CUTS...not trims :)  Picture of both of them below.  There hair is super curly bc of the humidity here and so is mine if you can believe that, although I'm not in picture taking condition today ;). Banks' doesn't look that drastic but I actually took about 3 inches off and even gave her a graduated bob with layers. I like to act like I can cut hair but in reality I'm just lucky that my clients have curly hair and you can't tell :).

My attention was brought to the condition of everyone's hair because when we arrived back on the island there was a lice outbreak among the kids. :/  Luckily and with fingers still crossed, we have not been infected. Another issue we are facing returning to school this week is that the Prep School and Early Learning Center are undergoing MUCH NEEDED renovations, however to know one's surprise they are not finished in time. Not only are they not finished it will be weeks before the kids can enter the new space. The alternative is 3 trailers at the back of the school grounds, with terrible AC and absolutely no toys or space for kids to learn or play. I sent the kids 1 day but have decided to keep them at home with me until the new facility is complete. To give you a better idea...they have babies...I mean 3-9 month babies in a trailer with no cribs and a few mats on the floor. It's not acceptable at all and we mother's have voiced our opinions loud and clear. I'm sure no one is surprised by that :)

I am also considering a new school for Banks. One of the spouses who formerly taught at the prep school here and was a teacher in the U.S. has started an at home pre-K and Kindergarten.  I am working with Banks at home but she really loves to be in a structured environment with peers...Peers being the operative word!  The early learning center on campus is great and she loves her teachers but I worry it's not challenging enough for her. Since we are in a more relaxed environment the option to start her in Pre-K early has presented itself so I plan to take it!!! We go for a visit on Friday...wish Banks good luck!!

Last but not least...David has been in the pool at 6:30 a.m. every morning for the last 9 days swimming for 30 minutes. I am pretty proud of him!!!

 the view from my kitchen window...not bad

If you look in the middle of the picture and see some brown rice looking things...those are the clips hanging on 2 clothes lines that my landlord hung just for me at the bottom of my backdoor steps!! This is a big deal! This spot is feet from my apartment, not in the mud and gets full sun and tons of breeze until 3 pm. Oh and this is our landlord's son and apt complex manager, Marley.

My full size fridge. The pink towels stays there bc the fridge leaks really bad but i refuse to tell the landlord in fear she will replace it. It is unheard of to have a full size fridge in Dominica!!!

clean, white and tons of counter space!

Putting my new rug to use...I love it Bam

The built in closets in both bedrooms...Banks demonstrating her time out chair, although she's not really in time out :)

David and I's bedroom. We have an extra twin mattress in our room bc we moved it out of the front room/bathroom, below, to make room for storage and a very spacious laundry room :)

Sorry David, just realized your drawers, or sundries as you may say, are hanging from the ceiling!! It looks junky but it's the only storage space we have.

hallway...sorry sideways

other view of the laundry room. The landlord calls this a 3rd bedroom with a bath in the room. very weird. makes a great utility room for me :) I just have a twin bed as my side table now.

huge shower & bath with lots of closed storage

Den...that's the front door. 

other view of the Den...kitchen to the left and the front door is to the right of the fan.

another view of Den :)

front porch

view of Banks on stairs and our apartment.  Uncle Julvet, David's best friend, moved with us and lives down stairs :)

pretty girl :)

Her hair was about 3 in longer...it was soooo long

it looks better in person...i promise :)

I can't find the pic of David's trimmed up Do and don't have one of the girls bedroom but that'll just get you to come back again :)

love and miss everyone!! 

The Joneses

Not a resolution!

I'm not making a New Year's Resolution to update my blog everyday because part of my resolutions was to not have something I "had" to do everyday. I mean, taking care of my kids, cooking, cleaning, bathing, is a given.  I really want to spend the rest of my time on the Island enjoying the things I "like" to do and honestly figuring out what it is I like to do. This is starting to sound a little EAT, PRAY, LOVE, soooooo Namaste ;)... What I'm saying is I will do my best to update as often as possible. I'll keep it short and fun! :) 

We had one of our dear friends and driver on the island Kenny move our belongings while we were gone...I got a text message from him while in the states, it read..."OMG...that's a lot of shit...I get why you overpaid me ;)" 

I LOVE our new place. At first we had a few issues with the hot water, kitchen sink, fridge, etc... but now that we are almost all unpacked and settling in it feels more like home than Kootney did. The layout has a hallway that leads to the bedrooms and the bathroom. We also are on the terrace level so we don't get any direct sun on our roof so the place seems to stay a great deal cooler. We also have fabulous air conditioners in the bedrooms that we use at night. We can set them on a temp and the unit kicks on and off quietly to cool the room. It's worth every penny...but actually we're saving a decent amount of money from our last place. We are a 1 min walk to the pool and a 5 min walk to the beach, which is invaluable. We also have a so called "3rd bedroom". I can't imagine anyone actually living in that room but it makes the perfect storage, utility, laundry and twin bed home for us. Pictures to come...I want to wait until we have completely unpacked and organized. 

More to come soon.

Love you all and it was so great to see most all of you over the break. For those of you we didn't get to see please understand our time was so short and a lot more hectic than we imagined with the holidays. We'll be back home in April for Michael & Catey's wedding and hope to see you then...especially you Valerie Brantley, Bethany Hale & Brandon & Shawnee Evans...we miss y'all terribly!!!

Mmmm Mmmm Good...and Fishy!!!

Today has been mmm mmm good because I have cooked some really great meals but also because I went snorkeling with the Ross Spouses Group for the first time. I have been here for 5 months but until I was able to put the girls in daycare part-time I haven't been able to see much of the island above or under water :).  We went to Cabrits and we saw FISH!! Tons of fish. I wasn't very smart to come to the best underwater life Island of Dominica without an underwater camera, however I hope to remedy that at Christmas...wink wink...anyone in my family ;)  From what I can remember we saw:

Sandiver's, Peacock Flounders (this fish was SUPER cool and was camouflaged at the bottom of the sea with the sand but had a small blue and green diamond pattern, hence the peacock), we saw hundreds of needle fish (they sit about 5 in below the surface of the water in huge schools just moving with the current), lion fish (this fish has feathers!!!), trumpet fish, puffer fish and red snapper. I know we saw plenty more fish but I don't know what there called...I've downloaded a Caribbean fish identification chart.  http://www.printondemandltd.com/iwave/posters/pho/fish.jpg  This shows most all of the fish we saw. We also saw green, purple and blue sea anemone's, which were beautiful.

The rest of the day was pretty normal until we go to dinner. I bought red snapper at the Portsmouth market on Sat and paid an extra 5EC to have it filleted. I laid it upon onions and tomatoes, drizzled with olive oil, lime juice, salt, pepper and a little italian seasoning mix. Wrapped in tinfoil and baked on 375 for 12 min. My new fave is yellow squash crisps!!!  I cut yellow squash into madeline size pieces laid barely overlapping on cookie sheet, drizzled with coconut or olive oil, light salt and pepper and tons of parmesan. Baked for 20 min. It was AMAZING!!!  Then, I got the girls to sleep. Poor Eloise went to bed at 6:15 p.m. because she was so tired. She napped as normal today but is cutting her 3th & 4th tooth, top middle :), so I think that was bothering her today.

My neighbor Jen Pierce, this is actually not the Jen Jen neighbor I have referrenced before but another awesome new neighbor also named Jen. She and her husband Stephen are two of the nicest people we've met! They are a newlywed couple from Utah. Aaannnyway...she made some insanely good cinnamon rolls last week and was kind enough to share with us. I am doing my best to replicate them.

You know...I have a problem with baking...I swear I follow the directions the best I can...it's a little hard trust me. I have realized I am a little more of a scientist cooker. I never follow the exact same recipe twice, I usually mixed 2 or 3 different recipes together and that's if I actually use a recipe. Most of the time I think it's fun to come up with it myself or challenge myself to see if I have cooked long enough to kind of get it.  But with baking, Ai Yi Yi, I have attempted my hand at bread 4 times and it just doesn't work. It's to doughy, not light and fluffy, doesn't rise enough...who knows...sooooo I am again trying to bake...cinnamon rolls...my absolute favorite!!! We'll see. I'll take a pic and post on my next blog.

I have committed not to pressure myself to write a great blog with lots of pictures and good stories every time but more of a journal of our lives here. Hopefully, our lives will be full of good picts and stories that I can share.

Oh, and my neighbor, not Jen but Ali, introduced me to a really good wine that is not too terribly expensive here in Dominica...many of you will be happy to know I'm back on the wagon tonight.  I have had a glass of wine about 4 times over the last 2 months....unheard of I know...what did you do with Amberly...believe I know what your thinking...that's what happens when your broke and can't find decent wine.

I have two special congratulations...to Michael & Catey who just closed on there first home located in Decatur, GA. I'm super excited for you two and all the wonderful things in your immediate future!!!!

Second, my sister, Cristina is having a baby and it's a BOY!!! I'm super excited obviously because I get to be an Aunt again but also because the babies a boy...so excited and so is Banks!!

Love you and miss you all!!

AEJ...Muah!

Photo Roundup 2

A little more photo roundup!

  Banks is an aspiring designer...I promise I didn't help her make this play-doh watch...she was watching me cook and saw my watch and replicated it. she even drew two little hands and dots for the numbers. Smart little cookie!

 

  Big girl in her chair feeding herself. 9 months old...

 Ok, so this is a funny story. I was walking down Moo Cow road and saw the same pumpkin, squash looking vines with the yellow flowers that eventually turn into squash and pumpkins that I always see. Then I spotted something a little different. Walked up into the "brush" a little ways and was scared out of my mind by a huge COW...who da thunk it!  Ok, but that's not what I saw...I saw a giant pumpkin...Wahoo! I got it...then was scared once again when a farmer/gardner shouted at me holding a machete. He wasn't yelling at me to get out but asking if I wanted the machete to cut the root of the pumpkin. It was funny looking back bc I felt like i was running through a haunted house to get this pumpkin.  There are a ton more but I've got to find some tall boots to get them.  Then...I made a seriously yummy pumpkin pie, pumpkin, apple and banana baby food and pumpkin soup!!!

ANNOUNCING THE FUTURE MARIA SHARAPOVA:

AMELIA BANKS JONES 

She is gonna be good...I hope :) Seriously, she can grip the racquet correctly and hit the ball when I throw it to her :)  We had so much fun...she loved it. This is her "balance beaming"!!!

 What i'm amazed with is how much she's grown! She is seriously the size of a 5 year old, easy.

  5 months ago, while living in the good ol' US of A...I would have thought that this meal looked very good but very achievable!!! Not so fast George Banks...soft sandwich bread, turkey, cheese, cheezits, pickled okra and Reese's all together at the same time are just about unheard of in good old' Dominica!  This was our "post-mini" lunch. I have recently found that one of the local restaurants gets there food flown in from Cisco Miami and will sell there deli meat, bread and cheese just like a prepared meal. IGA also got in a shipment of Cheezit's and Pickled Okra that week and I had just recently taken a trip to the capital city Roseau, where i stocked up on a few choice sweets.  The crazy thing about this super yummy but albeit ordinary meal is that it probably cost me around $11 US/plate.  The box of cheezit's alone cost me $8 US. I won't normally buy the cheezits nor the pickled okra which costs me about $6.75 US but sometimes the thought of a little bit of home and good old turkey sandwich with crackers is too good to pass up. no matter the cost! Also, we never eat out. Mostly because we are trying to save every ounce of money we have and there are not many kid friendly restaurants around so this is like going out to lunch to celebrate David's first mini down!

  Poor Eloise, the only pictures I have of her are her eating, drinking or NAKED!! Thank you Lindsey Clyde who lit a fire under my behind to capture this awesome moment at the pool!!! What a chunk...she's my little chunk!!

  The girls go to school from 8-12 every day, eat lunch at 1230 nap from 1-3 and then to the pool!!! This is our daily ritual and we're usually accompanied by some of my awesome friends who also have kids similar ages to Banks and Eloise. The sad part is that some of these awesome friends are leaving in December because their time here on the island is over :( We are going to miss them a whole lot. 

Cheers!

AEJ

Picture Roundup

The best way I know to say sorry for the really long blog hiatus is with pict, pict, pict, pict...pictures!!! (You gotta say that like a JT half rap, half high pitch singing voice)

  Anyone who knows Banks knows that GayGace is never far behind...her behind ;)

  This is the new lightning McQueen on a bike. Rides it for at least 2 hours every day racing around our little neighborhood.

 Our new home fit with a clothesline! I bought my own washer, which made it's home in my shower :)

 I realized putting the clothes on hangers then putting them on the line takes up a lot less room!

  WOW!!! Black Bean Burgers...I'll post the recipe. They are absolutely amazing. This particular day I used half black bean and half black eyed peas.

 Daddy is home almost every night for dinner and story time...We couldn't be happier. This semester is so much friendlier to the Jones' girls :)

 My baby who is growing like a weed. More of her to come...

  This is not her particular snorkel gear but she has them and can snorkel well because she is a total fish...can even dive for dive sticks now!!! One amazing little 3.5 year old.

 We received a spooky package from Banks...notice the belt and later the hair tye...the girls had just as fun with the orange seasonal ribbon tied on the package as the package itself...kids...

 So scary!

 Meet Dr. Banks...she is obsessed

  Bought as sweet as it gets...I can see this pict shown when she graduates from Med School one day :)

 I love these babies!!!

 Banks using an otoscope to look in her ears :) I absolutely LOVE this picture...look at Elli's face..she's saying "Ya Suspect"!!!! That one's for you Pappa G!

 This is the sweetest little nugget ever...

 One thing is for darn sure...at least for now...these two LOVE each other!!! 

 Found the girl some play-doh...thank heavens...she's our future designer...watch for her picture of a watch she made out of play-doh...so good.

 Our attempt to wear red and black for the first UGA game...poor Elli looks a little constipated ;) Oh, and yes, this very accurately displays Banks' personality most days!!!!!

 She got a baby walker car thing and loves it except she clips our ankles and it kills. The funniest thing is not watching her scoot her little car around the house like a bumper car but watching Banks, David and I literally running and dodging her bc it hurts so bad when she runs into you...it's truly hysterical.

  Banks has been begging to go on a date with Pop Pop to IHOP so instead Daddy and Banksy went on a date to the only place in Picard that sells breakfast food. They both had there favorites...bet you can guess...Pancakes and Bacon!

I love and miss you all...Oh, and Way to GO DAWGS!!!...I wish I could have been there.  UGA 44-LSU 41

Amberly