Mommy J's Journey

Thanksgiving Weekend

2010-11-29T10:29:00.001-06:00

Thanksgiving weekend was the best 5 day vacation I've had in a long time! Wednesday, Jiwoo and I spent the day getting groceries for Thanksgiving dinner and cleaning. I also had taken some time out of my day to go to Alien's Tattoo to take some pictures for him while Erica was getting her tattoo touched up. That was fun because it was the first time Jiwoo had been in a place like that. She was a hoot!

Thursday, the whole family spent the day cleaning the house and preparing the Thanksgiving feast for the next day. When we woke up that morning, Emma and I watched the Thanksgiving Day Parade which she enjoyed. She didn't get the chance to see Santa Clause, though, because she fell asleep on the couch towards the end of the parade.

Friday, we woke up and Grandma started off with the cooking and backing right away! We all stayed away from the craziness of the Black Friday shopping. No way was I going to get thrown in with that many coo coo people. Although, Emma and I did make a run to my work around ten so I could pick up a few things. We had a wonderful day celebrating Thanksgiving with all of our family that showed up. A house full of 22 people! Trust me it was a little crazy, haha. Later that night, Grandpa and Grandma took Emma to the Parade of Lights with Jiwoo, Amanda, Erica, and Blake. Emma had such a fun time there I heard. She looked sooo cute all bundled up in her snow pants, boots, and coat. I'm a little sad that I couldn't be there.

Saturday, this day was the day I was most looking forward to. CHRISTMAS DECORATIONS TIME!!! We woke up, ate breakfast, got ready, and brought down all the Christmas stuff to start decorating the house for Christmas. Emma was such a big help! She loved putting the ornaments on the Christmas tree. She took a special liking the "baby Jesus" from the nativity scene though. We've lost him a couple times since putting it up, lol, but currently he is safe and sound in his little bed. For the first time, that I remember since I was a little kid, we put up the little farm plantation and the train set this year. I made an attempt at putting the buildings together myself, but ended up having to be bailed out by Grandpa. I'm not too constructionally handy, haha. Emma helped me put all the little touches on the farm. The cows, fences, workers, riders, horses, and cars. She loves to watch the train circle the track around the farm. It was a great day!

Sunday, was an awesome day as well! We watched a handful of Christmas movies on the Hallmark channel. While we watched them, we (and when I say we, I really mean Grandma and Jiwoo) wrapped almost all of the Christmas presents and put them under the tree. I'm such a horrible wrapper, so Jiwoo wrapped my presents for me! :) Ryan and I also made some very yummy chocolate chip cookies too. Also, Grandma got started on all our Christmas cards we're going to send out this year to family and friends.

This weekend was a very fun and productive weekend for the family! I just wish we could have more weekends like this. Here are a few fun pictures to look at from our Thanksgiving weekend.

Emma holding Irelynn

I remember this picture from when I was a little girl

Grandpa Small with his coffee and 3 little girls playing

Grandpa throwing Emma

Emma had a special rough housing session with Uncle Mark

Grandma and Jiwoo

Erica and Jiwoo

Emma likes to try on new shoes!

Hobby Update :)

2010-11-15T10:02:00.000-06:00

Well I'm sure you guys aren't too interested in this but I decided to share with you a little update on some of my photo shoots I've been doing lately. One shoot was senior pictures for a girl named Jamie who is the sister of a friend. The other photo shoot was for Josh and Amber, who are the brother and sister-in-law to my "infamous" ex boyfriend Chris. I had a lot of fun with these shoots. Especially Josh's because, as usual, he was very entertaining! Well here are some of my favorite shots.

Bambi

2010-11-03T13:09:00.000-05:00

Just thought I'd share with everyone that my dear dog i was hoping to get in the spring, Brutus, has been adopted finally after being at the Humane Society for 11 months. Now, I have my heart set on the most adorable little puppy ever! His name is Bambi and he is the exact bread of dog that I have always wanted!!! I secretly hope he stays around until spring :))

Bambi

Halloween

2010-11-01T10:00:00.000-05:00

This Halloween was very fun and memorable. Emma, Grandpa, and Jiwoo carved up our pumpkin together while I went to go get my hair done for my Halloween costume. I was told that Emma did not really enjoy carving the pumpkin lol. Jiwoo, Grandma, and I took Emma out trick or treating after I got back home while Grandpa stayed home and took care of the other trick or treaters. Emma was very adorable in her angel costume! She was being very shy as we went door to door on the block. It took awhile for her to get use to saying "trick or treat" and "thank you". We had a lot of fun though! She was such a hoot when we got home from trick or treating. We were watching the yearly Ghost Hunters Halloween investigation and Emma kept running around the house talking about ghosts haha. Jiwoo was taking care of the little trick or treaters. When one of the trick or treaters came up to the door and Emma said that she was scared, Grandpa told her to go up to the trick or treaters next time they came to the door and yell "Boo!" Needless to say, my little pumpkin bear did what Grandpa had suggested. It was incredibly adorable hahah. Here are some pictures from yesterday.

The Holidays

2010-10-28T08:13:00.000-05:00

So Mom and I have come up with an awesome idea of a couple things to do this holiday season for both sides of our extended family. I'm very excited to start working on this project. It's going to be a lot of fun! I'll need a couple things from some family members still, but ooooooooo I'm excited hahah!

Be ready because in the next couple days, I'm going to be posting a blog with some adorable pics!! :)

Really Excited!

2010-10-26T11:01:00.000-05:00

I bought my new photoshop program yesterday and I'll admit that I haven't been able to tear myself away from my computer much after I installed it. I am enjoying playing around with it different settings and my photos so much! Here are a few photos that I've gotten to play with :))

Ready to go out and take more photos!!

Apple Orchard 2010

2010-10-03T11:54:00.000-05:00

Not too long ago, I was lost. I got caught up with the wrong friends and the wrong boyfriend. I allowed them to take priority of the one person in my life that absolutely NO ONE and NO THING should take priority over, and that's Emma. In turn, I have missed out on quite a few things in my daughter's life that I regret missing.

I'm glad that these last few months, I have straightened myself out and started putting my life back together. I have been so much more happy not missing a day of Emma's life again and not missing any event in her life anymore. She's my little pumpkin and nothing will ever take priority over her again.

So yesterday Grandma, Grandpa, Amanda, Emma, and me went to the apple orchard. We had a great time! Emma had picked out three pumpkins for herself and had such a great time doing it. Although, by the end of the day, Emma lost one of her pumpkins because at some point a little kid came by and swiped one of her pumpkins without us noticing. Of course it wasn't such a big deal to her because she still had her other two pumpkins. We also attempted to start some of two year old pictures yesterday which ended up being not so successful because Emma got tired pretty quickly since she has a wonderful cold she's fighting right now. We did end up with some really great pictures though.

I also ordered Emma's Halloween costume last night! :)) It will be here on Friday. I can't wait to take her out trick-o-treating this year in her adorable costume. It's going to be great! She is going to have so much fun with her pumpkins too. Painting and decorating them will be a hoot of a time with that exciting little artistic daughter of mine! I'm so looking forward to this.

Here are a few pictures from the orchard yesterday........

Getting Back

2010-08-24T08:35:00.002-05:00

I'm finally getting back on the right track with everything in my life. An amazing full-time job that I really do enjoy, going back to school (hopefully for the last time :P lol), and getting my priorities straight where the #1 person in my life is all I am concerned about. I'm finally able to say that I'm at peace with everything in my life, loving everything in my life, and very happy with the life I have. I don't have everything in this world figured out yet, but everything happens in it's own time.

2009-12-11T17:13:00.003-06:00

Emma has become such a character! I LOVE IT!!! <3

YAY!

2009-10-17T20:25:00.002-05:00

I have just three updates for today:

I LOVE listening to Emma talk every day and hear her say new and different words!
I have a new job at Abercrombie!
I have it all figured out now! :D

Life Update.....

2009-10-05T07:53:00.002-05:00

School is going pretty good so far. Although, accounting is kind of kicking me in the ass a little lol. But overall I am liking Southeast Tech better than USF by far.

Emma has finally gotten over her week of being sick. Oh man! I have never seen her as cranky as she was last week while she was sick. But she still made her mommy smile :)

Jiwoo is finally done with Driver's Ed, well after her test tomorrow, so life has calmed down a little in that area. Her birthday is also coming up this week. That's pretty exciting! (For her that is lol.)

That's pretty much it for now.

2009-09-11T23:41:00.001-05:00

I HATE ALL MEN!!!

UGH!!

2009-08-28T07:57:00.002-05:00

All I have to say today is that i screwed myself over. I am so STRESSED! I need to find a healthy way to deal with all this stress.

Emma is one AMAZING fit thrower! :) She is so much better than her mom ever was at it. I love it! Finding a babysitter is craziness! I never thought it would be so difficult. Another thing I want to say is that I am tired of being screwed over by the government. Ugh!

My photography studio is moving along really slowly. I finally found a guy to kind of mentor me. But still the racking in the money is not happening yet. Oh the stress just keeps piling up!

She's Arrived!!

2009-08-11T20:03:00.004-05:00

My foreign sister has finally arrived back at home! I do not think I could possibly be any more excited about this. Although, there is no way that anyone was more happy to see Jiwoo than Emma. In all the 13 months that Emma has been here in my life, I have never seen her act as giddy and smilely and as happy as she did when Jiwoo walked through that airport door. From the minute Emma saw her, she was all smiles until we got home and constantly kept giving Jiwoo kisses. Jiwoo recieved more kisses than I get in a week in just an hour after she got here. Needless to say, Mommy was a little jealous. Lol...

In other news, I am currently working on getting some business cards made for my photography studio. Also, my photo shoots are getting to be more often. I am a little overwhelmed and very excited about this. I will be the first to admit though, that I get nervous before every photo shoot that I do. I'm always worried that clients will not like how the photos turn out. But i guess that those are just the "new professional photographer" jitters.

More school stuff on Thursday. More orientation for college and I get my laptop this week. I can't wait to start school. I was not expecting that I would actually ligitly miss school as much as I do. It is definitely a strange feeling. But super excited for everything to get rolling on Monday! :)

I make bad love life decisions. I need some standards. When I set these standards though, I need to make sure that I don't give in to something that doesn't meet them just because I'm tired of being single. My new way of thinking and I'm hoping that this works this time. I don't need a man but if one appears, he has a checklist to clear first.

Still Here........

2009-07-27T09:04:00.003-05:00

Well I really do suck at this whole blogging thing. Hahaha.... So here is a little bit of an update for you all.

Work is going great! I have been working for over a month now and I am enjoying my job. There are many people that work there that are wonderful and fun people to work with.

Emma's first birthday was AMAZING!! I had the best time. I can't believe my little girl is getting soo big. Time is going by so fast! It does not seem like she should be one already. She is such a blessing to me though.

Jiwoo comes back home in a couple weeks. I can't wait!! Emma and I are both excited. I'm just curious as to how Emma will react to Jiwoo when she returns. I hope she doesn't totally pull away from her because that will make Jiwoo feel so sad.

411

2009-06-25T14:52:00.003-05:00

So I have been pretty slack on updating my blog lately. It has been about two months since my last posting. Well here is a little 411 on what has been going on.

Emma's birthday is only a week away! I am super excited for it. I can't believe that my baby girl is turning one already. Time flew by so fast! She has also started eating table food more frequently. Her appetite has gotten much larger to the point that her jarred foods are more like snacks now. It is so exciting to watch her grow up and change. I absolutely love it!

I got a job!! Finally someone has let me get farther in my job search then just an interview. Actually, when I had my interview with JcPenney, they offered me the job right there at the interview. Which saved me from days of agony waiting to hear from them on whether or not I had gotten the job. This job came along right on time too because my money that I have left is just about all gone. I feel so much more less stressed now that I have finally gotten a job. Thank god it has finally happened! Lol

School is all set up and ready for the fall. As sad as it might be to say, I have really missed school. I'm glad to be going back this fall and I think that what I have planned for the next three years is going to be great. I can't wait!

Also, I have started taking my photography more seriously now. My parents went out and bought themselves a brand new camera because they were tired of their digital cameras breaking, and this camera is amazing. I have been using it and playing around with it quite a bit. I have been playing around and editing my photos on the computer more too. Working on making everything more professional I guess is what you could call it. Now I just need to get the logo figured out. My mom and I have been tossing around ideas. I came up with the name and she has been helping me with the look. It's much tougher than I thought it would be. If you have any ideas, feel free to let me know.

Ahhhhhh!

2009-04-10T09:43:00.006-05:00

One minute Emma is playing by her swing while I'm watching Fringe and the next, she is climbing the STAIRS!!!!!! She is growing up so fast!!

2009-04-02T11:15:00.005-05:00

..:::Here are a few new pictures:::..

I'm not too sure about what I should write about. I figured I should write something though since I have not been on in a long time. Well, life is life and I AM READY FOR SUMMER!

..:::And here is a video:::..

Start to a very LONG day!

2009-03-18T09:17:00.003-05:00

Well my day is not going to turn out the way I wanted it to. I am definitely not going to get anything I need to do done today. My little lovebug is very sick. She has a runny nose, can barely breathe out her nose, has a cough, and is refusing any sleep. Last night, we were up every two hours just for her to cry for about 20 minutes and then we went back to sleep. Today is going to be a long day!

.::.Summer Dreams.::.

2009-03-17T15:09:00.002-05:00

This is probably one overly ambitious dreams for me to do this summer because of everything from the last couple months but hey, who knows what could happen. Well, Friday I will be looking at a few apartments that are near the house with my mom. I am stongly hoping to be able to move out this summer with one of my friends. There's a very likely chance that this might not be able to happen this year since I have been out of a job for a couple months. But if it's suppose to happen, then somehow it will. I will admitt though, I am super excited for the possibility of being able to do it. This is something that I feel like I have been waiting to do forever. Man, my independence is such a pain in the butt sometimes. Lol!

Emma! My little lovebug! She now has a mouthful of teeth and they are still coming in strong. We bought teddy puffs, a cereal like cherrios, for her now that she has all these teeth and she abolutely loves them. Snack time is much more fun and entertaining now that is consists of more then just a bottle. Oh, she is growing up so fast! I am so excited to celebrate her first birthday! :)

2009-03-12T16:25:00.002-05:00

Yay! I can't wait to start going back to school in the fall. STI here I come!! Lol... I am so excited for everything that is to come in my life. I am totally anxious!

On another note, Emma is not having such a good day. Actually it's been more like a few bad days lately. It is seems like my little angel is coming down with something. She has a little cough, runny nose, and she actually had a little bit of a bloody nose today. Oh and let's add to why she's been cranky those 4 teeth that she is cutting right now. My poor baby girl :( Hopefully she starts feeling better soon.

Outside the Box....

2009-03-10T13:15:00.002-05:00

I think it is about time that I start thinking outside the box when it comes to looking for a job. Everything is a whole lot tougher than I thought it would be.

In other news, Emma got her new carseat! She is a big girl now! :D

Craziness!!

2009-03-04T10:48:00.002-06:00

Call me crazy but I am going! I have decided I am going to go back to school. Who ever thought the day would come where I said that I miss school? HA! Yeah right! But honestly I am pretty excited about going back this time. I actually know what it is that I want to do and I have a plan. Plans, they are a life saver! So, hopefully this fall I will be enrolled back in school.

Update....

2009-03-03T10:44:00.005-06:00

Well Emma is still working on her teeth. She is much more pleasent this week compared to last week though. I have started taking her to great grandma's house once a week now so she can get use to being over there again since sooner or later I will be going back to work. It's taking awhile but she is warming back up to great grandma and being over there. The time has come for Emma to switch from the infant carrier to a car seat. She is a big girl now and definitely too big for that carrier. Needless to say I am very happy about not having to carry her around in that carrier pretty soon. It seems to get heavier by the day.

Yesterday was my interview and it seemed to have gone pretty good. Although I am still in awe that the owners who are opening this coffee shop are two guys and a girl all under the age of 25. Honestly, it makes me think of that tv show. Anyways, within the next week or two I should be finding out about the job. In the mean time, I'll still be looking for a job because you never know what might happen.

I royally suck at making decisions. I'm not a big fan of change when I don't know what to expect. Sadly, there are quite a few slightly large decisions I am going to have to be making in the very near future. Honestly I am not looking forward to this, so my procrasting side is going to show itself when the time comes to make these decisions. Who knows, maybe they will be easier then I'm expecting.

Teething Monster!

2009-02-27T08:40:00.002-06:00

For awhile there, I was wondering if Emma was going to have any more teeth coming. She got her first two teeth when she was around four months old and we haven't seen any action since. Well that all changed this week! Now she has three maybe four teeth coming in. My poor little girl. So needless to say, she has be somewhat of a crankster this week.

As for me, the job hunt is still on. I do have another interview on Monday though. So I am pretty stoaked and definitely looking forward to that. Hope it goes well!

A Little About Me....

2009-02-24T15:58:00.003-06:00

My name is Jessi. Last year I graduated high school and currently I am not attending college. However, I do plan on attending college when the time is right to pursue my dream of owning a photography studio. I have the most amazing daughter I could ever ask for! Her name is Emma Christine. Right now, I am spending my time at home with her while I am looking for a job. I love spending time with my little snuggler, so it is definently going to be hard to go back to working full-time once I do find a job. Now just a warning, I am not much of a blogger, so don't be too disappointed when I don't update my blog every day.