[ellis]

Hey Nikki... missed you there... I AM smiling! And I'm sorry about you losing your Mom... so young...
And you, too, Opera. I'm grateful to still have my Mom and Dad.

Good luck with the party, Nikki!

[dentrassi]

Anna and Ellis-YES!! It is a VERY cozy couch too, good for a brief cat nap between books!!!!!

Nikkiloo-You know, for a BBQ brownies would be PERFECT!!! I bet your son would prefer them too. My son (now 16 1/2) would have been too embarrased by a birthday cake with candles etc.!!! (Or more to the point, he would have wanted brownies at the party and a birthday cake with the family the next day....He wants to have his cake and eat brownies too. AND he is thin! Looks to be taking after DH.)

Lizzie-The muffin recipe looked TASTY! I want to try that out.....

MeganGloria and everybody else I may have missed-HI!!! Hope you all have a great weekend!!!

[frannymae]

For sflake, Nikki, and Opera....my sympathies are with you all. Both my parents are gone, and not a day goes by that I don't miss them. It has been 28 years since my DD died and 13 since I lost my mom. There are some days that the terrible loss really hits home...others it isn't as bad. But is is never easy.

I am the photographer in our family so staying out of family snapshots is, well, a snap! The pics I take of me are of the digital, taken on the sly, hidden on the computer, for "my eyes only" variety! The pic I use as my avatar is the only fairly recent one that I like at all. But hopefully that will change. Maybe one day when I get really brave I will share all my "before" and "after" pics with you. Maybe.