The One when I remember how precious and small they were.

Time flies my friends so all of you with small children out there, cherish every moment. Take lots of pictures and capture your memories. I wish we lived in a digital/computer world when my girls came along.


Nicole Ashley 21 years old.
I got her name from a package that was wrongly delivered to my door. The name on the package was Ashley Nicole. I was young and it sounded pretty! I don't know why I switched it around.

Jessica Aline 18 years old.

We first named her Jessie for a boy but then changed it to Jessica when she came and we still call her Jessie. Her middle name is her Grandma Lakin's middle name.

Karlee Jean 16 years old.

We had no name picked out for her because we were holding out to see if she was a boy. I tentatively liked Jake. When she arrived my mom was with me and suggested Carly as in Carly Simon. I changed the spelling and Dave picked out her middle name. She was the first baby born in Corona in '94.

See no evil, Hear no evil, Speak no evil...

One of their best Halloweens!

They were all Ballers! Cole and Jess still shoot around but Karlee switched to volleyball!

Hard to believe Nicole and Jessica are in college and Karlee is half way through high school. Yes friends... I am going to be a grandmother while your children are still in elementary school!

The One when Karlee graduated from the 8th grade; June 2008

Karlee's 8th grade graduation took place at Corona High School. Citrus Hills Intermediate can't house that many students and their families. We were very far away but I had a pretty good lens.
I will remember this day for two reasons; one, my last baby girl was now out of intermediate school and headed to scary, scary high school and two, right after she walked we got a phone call that my horse Lady had gotten loose and was headed toward a main road! No worries; she was saved!


If the students are getting any kind of recognition, rather than call each student and their award, they are given this envelope to open later.


Headed toward the Santiago Principal to shake hands.


When we got back to the house we ate, celebrated, and took lots of family pictures in the front yard.

He's in trouble...

My sister Jane with her nieces; they are more like sisters. They adore her and she them.

My Pops with us. They call him Papas.

My Ma with us. They call her Nannies(Cole), Nans (Jess), and Nanners (Kar).

Ice cream cake from Dairy Queen is the BOMB!

I can't believe my Karlee Q is growing so fast. Where does the time go? I love you my sweet Karlee Jean.

The One where I take too many pictures of a cake ball... cute though, huh?

I love me some cake balls and so one of my parents brought me a box of little chicks for Easter. They were so cute that now I am brainstorming what else I can make out of a cake ball; spiders, pumpkins, pigs... so cute!

And SO good!

The One when Jessie girl turned 18... AND got a nose ring; 8-9-09

Jessica wanted one thing for her 18th birthday; a nose ring. I did not want her to have one and said no every time she brought it up. She surprisingly was OK with my decision but I wondered if when she did turn 18 she'd go get it anyway.

More of our fun birthday tradition of enormous pancakes and loads of birthday decorations!

Whoa.. WAY too close to the flames! Is silly string flammable? I almost killed my kid on her 18th birthday.. well, Karlee almost killed her. Hmmm...

I hope your wish comes true, goose.

See that smile? Her wish did come true. She planned our day with the movies and BJ's for lunch. I made a pit stop at the Corona Swap Meet (Nicole told me to go there) and I didn't tell her what we were doing until we got out of the truck.

She immediately began to sweat. I secretly hoped she'd back out.

Still smiling!

Looks cute.. I guess! :)

Lunch...

Happy Birthday Jessie Girl! You are beautiful!

The One when Dave and I played hookie!

I took Friday off of work; thank you for subbing Jenna, and we headed to Newport for the weekend. We stayed at Newport Channel across from PCH. As soon as we settled into our room, we rented some bikes and rode to downtown Newport. It was so fun! Beach cruisers are surprisingly easy to ride!

Of course I can't go anywhere without "The Face."

I asked him to act cool... hmmmm. Goofy is more like it!

The first male doing "The Face" in the history of "The Face!" He needs some work.

So we rode our bikes for quite a while and got thirsty. We didn't have locks so we didn't have many places to choose from to stop. We see a liquor store along the main road that had some tables and chairs out front; no biggie. Let's go get a drink there!

Dave goes in to buy himself a beer and me a Smirnoff Ice. He comes out with "something" in his hand but didn't show me right away. He tells me that they don't sell Smirnoff Ice individually unless you buy it like this... and he holds up a Forty Ouncer of Smirnoff Ice in a paper bag.

I sat in the front of a liquor store with my husband chugging a forty ouncer of Smirnoff Ice concealed by a paper bag and I had a blast!

The One when Nicole turned 18; 7-30-06

So this is when the birthday breakfast tradition began. I always wake my girls up on their birthday singing Happy Birthday in a silly voice. They expect it every year! I wanted to do something goofy for Nicole's 18th. I couldn't believe that my first baby girl was turning 18! This is what I came up with.

I decorated the dining room in every bit of party decor I had. I made a CD of all kinds of kid birthday songs and had that playing as we led her out to the dining room while blindfolded. Jessica and Karlee attacked her with those confetti popping cans as we took off her blindfold! I made huge pancakes and the top ones were shaped like an 18! We had fun! What should I do for her 22nd birthday coming this summer?