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

New Start!

I have missed all of you lately. I feel like i've been in a complete whirlwind the last 4-6 weeks. The end of the semester push was upon us, my mother in law was in town for 3 weeks, we had a much needed 3 week break, and we moved!!!

My intention all along has been to update the blog at least every other day in an effort to catalogue our time hear and keep the memories saved. That has been really hard for me :(  I have like 10 drafts where i started to write and then got distracted, was most of the time just too tired, or didn't have time to finish the post.

We started our new semester today and boy does it feel a lot different than just 5 months ago.  We are in a much bigger cottage with room to cook breakfast, EAT breakfast, move around without bumping into each other, and find everything we need.  It's been a game changer so far. David feels considerably different this semester as well. After doing well his first semester he has a quite a bit more confidence in himself and his study habits and materials.  I am also feeling very positive because I am finally figuring out how to live and not just "survive" on this island. I'm sure there are varying degrees of "adjustment" time frames when it comes to transitioning from the states to Dominica but I felt like mine was somewhat long. It really has taken me 3-4 months to really get a grasp on how to be HAPPY here each and every day. I am not saying that i don't have daily frustrations but I think I can finally say I am happy to just BE! That's been a pretty big milestone for me and I hope I keep moving forward :)

Banks & Eloise are doing marvelous. We have a new neighbor, "Santi"ago, who is 2.5 years old and loves Banks. They play together every day and have a blast! Today was both of the girls first day in the preschool/day care on campus. They both did awesome. Not a peep out of Eloise and Banks fit in like a charm :)  (no surprise there).  The struggle we are having currently is letting Eloise cry it out at night. She was and is such an angel baby I seriously NEVER had to let her cry it out until now, at 8 months!! After her nighttime feeding I would lay her down and asleep she went...I was really hoping this day wouldn't come but once her little personality started peeking through I knew it was only a matter of time. She is about as smiley and bubbly of a little person as she can be but boy is she determined. You could say she might even be a little bit of a bully...I don't mind this because she has learned it as a means of survival against her 3 year old sister and her friends. The other night we had the Clyde's, Travis, Lindsey, Owen & Scarlett, over for dinner and the 4 kids were drawing on David's white board. Eloise kept stealing the markers and sitting in the middle of the white board smiling...it was like her little way of winning :) hilarious!

With both of the girls in school from 830-12 I hope to keep my blog updated, exercise, find a fun project, and have a little time to myself for whatever :)...oh and definitely start snorkeling with the spouses on Thursdays...super excited about that one!

Fun pictures below...

My next posts will be all about our adventures during the break, i.e., Seeing Leatherback Sea Turtles hatch and flee to the ocean, our trip to Rosalie Bay, Sunset Bay, time as a family, etc...

Love you and Miss you all!

Muah,

aej

 eating watermelon on our new front porch!!

this face cracks me up.

  this is Eloise to a T!!

Thanks Aunt Liz for the cutest swimsuit EVA!!

 her favorite past time...talking on the phone to the taxi drivers and going to "study" in her swimsuit!!!

 she looks identical to Kirkland right here!!!