My So-Called Life

Do You Come Here Often?

"So...do you come here often? I would have remembered seeing you before" said the kitty to the puppy.



"Awww shucks...you're making me blush.  I'd love to stay and chat, but I'm SO tired...I'm having trouble just keeping my eyes open..." said the little dog.

"That's okay sweetie. I understand the need for a good nap," said the fluffy feline.


"Sweet dreams, Miss Mollie."

Good Golly Miss Mollie!

Many of you left such sweet comments about dear Hopper here (see the previous blog post) and on Facebook.  Thank you for those.  And as we all know, life does go on, and we often find ourselves in a place we didn't imagine being in just a few short weeks before.

For instance, if you would have asked me 6 weeks ago if I would have let Emma have a dog, I would have told you no way, not until she's older and more responsible.  But then Hopper came into our lives and Emma showed just how serious she was when she said she could take care of a pet.  And after poor Hopper died, Roland and I decided that maybe, just maybe, we were ready to get a dog.

There were certain requirements to be met however.   The dog had to be hypoallergenic because of mine and Emma's allergies, it had to be a small inside dog, it had to be a puppy as I wanted it to "grow" with Emma, and it had to be cute!  ;)

So we looked at Yorkies, toy Schnauzers, toy poodles...researched some more....and then this little girlie fell into our lap.


She's a teacup Maltipoo, a cross between a poodle and a maltese.  She's 8 weeks old and weighs just ounces now and will probably end up being between 3 and 4 lbs.  We are in love with her. 



She totally fits in an adult's palm.  Look how tiny she is even in Emma's little hands. 



She's very delicate, and we have to watch her carefully these first few weeks while she adjusts to her new home.  Emma (she and Mollie were pretty pooped last night when I took these photos) is definitely rising to the challenge.  Yay!!!

I'm sure we'll be taking more photos soon, and I'll be starting some puppy layouts, but in the meantime, here are some recent layouts. 


For a full list of credits, please visit My Sweetheart at Six.


For a full list of credts, please visit URLoved at Designer Digitals. 

Have a great weekend!

Breaking a Little Girl's Heart

Since I first posted about our new family member, Hopper, our daily routine changed to accommodate his needs.  Gone were the days when Emma would claim that her "eyes were broken" because they wouldn't open in the mornings.  Now, she was up as soon as she heard me puttering around.  She would quickly get herself ready for school so that she could go sweep up the bedding Hopper managed to kick out of his cage overnight, give him fresh hay, pellets and water.  Then she would take him out for a little exercise and fun before we rushed out the door for school and work. 




And that's exactly what Emma did last Thursday morning, exactly 2 weeks after Hopper came into our lives.  Later that day, about 1pm, I got a phone call from Roland.

"Linda....how was Hopper when you left this morning?"  His tone set my inner alarm blaring.

"He was fine.  Emma gave him food, I helped her get fresh water, she played with him and then we left." I said.

"Well, he's dead in his cage."  I could hear the sadness in his voice. 

Tears sprang to my eyes immediately.  How could our little Hopper be dead?  He was just fine this morning???  Roland and I talked more, trying to figure out what might have happened to the sweet bunny who had totally stolen our hearts in the 2 short weeks that we had known him.  Did he eat something that caused a blockage?  Did he jump around too crazily in his cage and get hurt (he could really go nuts in there sometimes)?  Was he not drinking enough water (I had been suspicious of this for a while)?  Or was he just too little to survive without his mother?  After all, he was only 3 1/2 weeks old when we got him.  I didn't find out until AFTER we got him that he shouldn't have been weaned from his mama until about 7 weeks the earliest.  :(  He seemed to be fine though....

But the biggest thought running through my mind was HOW IN THE WORLD WAS I GOING TO TELL EMMA THAT HER BUNNY WAS DEAD????

My coworkers were awesome as I tearfully made my way through the afternoon.  Roland suggested that we tell Emma that he had accidentally left the door open and that Hopper had run away.  No, I had told him.  Sad as it was, there was an important life lesson to be learned here.  Besides, I didn't want Emma always to be looking outdoors, wondering if Hopper would find his way back home. 

My MIL picked up Emma that afternoon and managed to keep the news from her.  Ryan had a game scheduled for later that afternoon, and Emma kept hinting to my MIL that Hopper couldn't be home that long by himself and that they should go pick him up.  I ended up leaving work about 30 minutes early so that I could pick her up before the game and break the news. 

When I picked her up, she was quite the happy mood.  When I asked her how school was, she told me that she had had a very happy day.  So happy, she said, that she almost forgot about Hopper.  And she couldn't believe that she was going to be able to take him for Show 'n Tell the next day (we had gotten special permission from her teacher). 

I couldn't bear letting her go on any longer, and while I didn't want to break the news in the car when I couldn't hug her close, I figured I out to start prepping her for the blow I was about to deliver. 

"Emma, I have sad news about Hopper," I said as I peered at her through the rearview mirror. 

"What?  Did he pee on the tile again?" she chuckled, her mood still playful.  She must have seen my face then as I glanced back at her because then she immediately said,

"Is Hopper gonna die?"  Her face crinkled in disbelief.

"Well, not exactly..." I started.  "Let's get home before I tell you." 

We drove up to our house and parked in the driveway. 

"Come here," I said.  Emma unbuckled herself and came to the front seat of the van.  I didn't know how to say it so I just said it.

"Hopper is dead, Emma." I don't think it really registered so I told her how Daddy had found Hopper not breathing or moving in his cage.  It was then that I think she really understood what I was trying to say.  I will never forget the look on her sweet face - poor thing.  She clung to me and asked for more details and then she scrambled to get out of the van and into the house so she could see him for herself. 

It was weird because Ryan had also suggested hiding the bunny and fabricating a story about Hopper escaping to tell Emma.  What is about the male persuasion?  Practice avoidance much?  Women just want to deal with things, no matter how bad they are, we want the truth.  And I think we're stronger because of it.

Anyway, I digress.  Suffice it to say that Emma said goodbye to Hopper, placed him very carefully in her ballet shoe box, and we buried him in the backyard.  A prayer was said for Hopper's bunny soul, and we all cried some more.  A little later, we printed several pictures of Hopper so that she could take them to school the next day for Show 'n Tell.  Emma spent the rest of the night crying off and on.  I gave her Tylenol before bed because if I had a headache from crying, I'm sure she did.  She still slept restlessly, and the first thing she said when she woke up was, "I STILL miss Hopper." 

I told her that it was okay to be sad and that she would probably always miss Hopper but that it wouldn't always hurt so badly.  It didn't help that his cage, his treats and other rabbit paraphernalia was still out.  Everytime we passed by the cage, we expected to see Hopper, begging to get out and play. We managed to pack up some stuff last weekend, and we'll finish the rest this weekend and take it to one of the animal rescue centers here in town.

Thankfully, time does heal all wounds, and Emma is having a better time of it. Yesterday she told me that I was right, and it doesn't hurt so much to think about Hopper as the days go by. She did have trouble going to sleep last night though; she said she kept dreaming that monsters were eating Hopper. :(  Poor thing.

And so here now, as a tribute to sweet bunny Hopper, are a layout and some photos of him and the kids that were taken just over a week ago.


I completed this layout for a template challenge at Designer Digitals  a week before Hopper's demise.  I would never have guessed that this would be the only layout I would complete while he was still alive. :(  For a full list of credits, please visit Meeting Hopper at Designer Digitals.



In those last few days, Hopper learned to scramble up Emma's shoulder in order to get a better viewpoint of the big world around him.  I love how he looked when he did that!




Emma loved to hold Hopper nose-to-nose! 


I had such a time trying to get a sharp photo of Hopper as his nose and ears were constantly twitching and/or he was trying to hop in the other direction!  He was a mover and a shaker, that Hopper!

I have to just smile at this last photo.  It's bittersweet, really.  Blurry, but fitting.


Goodbye Hopper, goodbye...

One Big Egg

Recently I recreated a paper layout I was never quite happy with.  Here's the original:


Something just wasn't right - maybe the patterned paper was too busy?  The focal photo was oddly cropped (didn't want to showcase baby Emma's girl parts, but I LOVE how *new* she looks here, lol), and had to create a little booklet in order to fit all of my journaling on the page. 

So I thought I would play around and try to recreate the layout digitally.  Using similar pictures and somewhat similar colors, this is what I came up with:

All products are from Designer Digitals.  For a full product list please see One Big Egg at Designer Digitals.

What do you think?  Which version do you like better?

And just in case you don't want to squint trying to read the journaling, here it is:

It was our last attempt at having another baby.  Well, our last “medically-assisted” attempt, I should say.  After 6 years of trying to conceive another child, after many many rounds of Clomid, progesterone and other hormones, after an undetected ectopic pregnancy and emergency laparotomy, after more HSG dye tests, more rounds of super-ovulating drugs, intrauterine inseminations, hCG shots, ultrasounds, a successful conception and then a heartbreaking miscarriage, and AFTER a year and a half break from living our lives in 2 week increments, we were finally ready to try again.  Actually, I was in a really good place at the time and had finally found some peace within myself to stop obsessing over getting pregnant every single minute of the day.  And let me tell you, that was NOT easy.  Not when I had been thinking about it constantly and living my life from one test, shot, ultrasound, drug to the next for so many years.  Actually it was Roland who urged me to head back to the doctor’s office.  I was so scared.  Scared of getting my hopes up again, scared of how the drugs made me feel, scared that I WOULD get pregnant and then lose the baby all over again.  

Finally, I was persuaded we had to give it one last try.  I had semi-convinced myself that being biological parents to another child wasn’t in our future.  But, deep down in the ittiest bittiest and most secret part of my heart, I knew that we were supposed to have another child.  I knew it in some part of me that’s always been there – embedded in my very soul.  So I got off my duff and headed to the doctor.  I had a PLAN.  A plan I had devised if this day should ever come.  I knew that I wanted to do another dye test to clean out my one good tube (the other was blocked with scar tissue from my ectopic pregnancy), I wanted to try taking the higher dose of Clomid that I’d had success on previously, I wanted to schedule a follicle scan sooner, I wanted to time everything just right.  I talked with my very compassionate, smart, caring doctor who had traveled this infertility road with us for the past 4 years, and we agreed on the plan. 

After suffering through the first round of drugs, with little side effects, I went to my first follicle scan.  No go, I had produced 3 mature follicles (or “eggs” as we liked to call them) on the blocked tube side and absolutely nothing worth mentioning on the unblocked side.  The cycle was a bust; Roland and I were very disappointed, but not defeated.  My ovaries tended to take turns in past cycles, so we waited oh-so-patiently until we could try again.  

Next cycle came, and it was time to take the Clomid again.  This time I had twitchy ovaries, hot flashes galore and enough mood swings to drive us all crazy!  Sure signs that the drugs were working, right?    Before I knew it, it was time to go in for my follicle scan.  I was so nervous waiting for the sonographer to call me in.  I watched two pregnant teens chatting animatedly about their boyfriends and how one had quit working at McDonald’s because he didn’t like his manager.  I stole furtive glances at them; my looks, I'm sure, were filled with disdain and envy.  How was it fair for their bellies to be ripe with babies, while mine was sadly empty? Oh Lord, I thought to myself, please, please, please let this work.

I was called in, and we quickly got to business.  The scan showed 3 mature follicles on the good side!!!  Of course, I didn’t take the sonographer’s word for it and asked as I always did about the measurements.  I had a 22mm, a 20mm and a 37.5mm follicle!  What???  Did I hear her right?  A 37.5mm follicle?  Was that a cyst?  Would it be dangerous to proceed with the insemination?  The sonographer was very pleased, said it wasn’t a cyst and then sent me on my way to talk with my doctor.  She was also very pleased with the results.  I was slightly freaking out, trying to remember everything I had read about follicles being TOO big.  After assurances from both the nurse and my doctor, I let them shoot me up with hCG to release any and all mature eggs within 24-36 hours.  A scary thought.  One, maybe two children would be a dream come true, three children would certainly be a mixed blessing!  

I went home and researched all I could on overripe follicles, and all I found was a tidbit of info regarding chromosomal problems in babies conceived via very “mature” follicles.  Of course I panicked, but decided that all I could do was leave it in God’s hands.  I went back the next morning for the actual insemination, and my doctor again reassured me that things were looking great so far.  I went home, feeling crampy and fragile, knowing that life could be indeed be HAPPENING right then.  After analyzing every real and phantom symptom over the next 10 days, I took a pregnancy test (no, it was not the first one I took that cycle) on the 11^th day.  It was an honest-to-goodness positive test!  Something had definitely worked!  After a difficult pregnancy, bed-rest and more (that’s another story!), Emma Grace was born on January 20, 2004.  She weighed 7lbs 11oz and was 21in tall, outweighing her brother by almost a pound.  The first time I held her, I kept thinking back to that very oversized follicle, and I just KNEW that was the egg that became our sweet baby girl.  Even now, as I watch her toddle around and play, I laugh inwardly and a smile escapes my lips.  Yup, that was one big egg!

I believe I've created just one other page dealing with my secondary infertility.  I hope to create some others so that I can complete a "Journey to Motherhood" album.  It was a long tough road but definitely a story I want to remember. 

I'm hoping to really make an effort to tell the important stories of my life and the lives of my children.  Losing friends and family members recently and learning what an impact their scrapbook pages made on those they left behind has reinforced this for me.  I know not every page will be significant, but I certainly hope some will be. 

Happy Thursday!

Here Comes Peter Cottontail!

Well, first of all, Happy Easter!  It was a jam-packed weekend full of preparing for our family Easter celebration this afternoon.  I have to give a big shout out to my sister Josie, my sil Kristene and brother Louis who helped with most if not all of the Easter services Bay Area Fellowship was providing the past few days.  I'm proud of you all! 

Our Easter celebration began on Friday when little miss Emma got quite the surprise.

I've been pretty adamant with the "no pets" rule for many reasons in our household.  In a moment of insanity, however, I bought Emma a bunny.  A coworker's daughter who lost her bunny about 3 months ago, offered me all of her bunny gear, including a 2-story cage, toys, food, bedding material, etc.  We still needed a few more things that we were able to pick up at Petco yesterday.  But little bunny (Emma named him Hopper) is happily adapting to his new home.  He is a friendly little thing, and already hops back to Emma as if he knows she's his adopted mama. 

Hopper also celebrated like a little king today and was much admired and loved.  You don't know how thrilled I am to see Emma so happy.  She had confetti in her hair and forehead as we had just finished smashing cascarones or confetti eggs. 


Speaking of being happy and Easter, I'll leave you with this layout showcasing some photos of last Easter.  All products are from Designer Digitals.

For a full list of credits, please see Laughter at Designer Digitals.

Happy Monday!

Sadness and Sea World

Holy Toledo!  Where did the time go?  Eeeeek!  I was doing well there for a while as far as updating my blog, but then, as often happens, life gets in the way of the *fun* stuff.  :( 

Sadly, since I last wrote, 3 very lovely ladies succumbed to their various illnesses and passed on.  The first, Erin, lost her battle with breast cancer at a very young 32 years of age.  She left behind her husband and two young children, and I am just heartbroken for her family. 

The second lady, Bonnie, was also a member of the Designer Digitals Creative Team.  After having gone through a really tough time and the end of her marriage, she spent the last year rediscovering herself through her faith, a wonderful new relationship and meditation/yoga.  Very suddenly and unexpectedly, she lost her life due to complications from pneumonia.  I am heartbroken as well for the loved ones she left behind. 

And finally, about 2.5 weeks ago, I lost an incredibly special lady, my Godmother, Sally.  After being sick with pneumonia since last Fall, she was finally diagnosed with lung cancer in February.  She had one round of chemotherapy and sadly just could not fight anymore.  I know that she is in a far better place now, and I'm so happy that she is not suffering anymore, yet I know how much her children ache for her...I know what a hole she has left in all our lives. 

And as sad as all this has been, life has continued to go on... work, car problems, baseball games, track meets, laundry, cooking, field trips, etc., etc.  We actually took a little time off at the tail end of the kids' Spring Break and headed to San Antonio for a visit to Sea World and then to San Marcos for some outlet mall shopping.  Unfortunately, the beautiful Spring Break weather we'd been having rather quickly disappeared the morning we were heading out to Sea World.  A thunderstorm woke us up and though it stopped mid-morning, the weather turned quite chilly.  BRRRRRR!  We'd brought some light jackets and sweaters, but we were NOT prepared for a 38 degree wind chill when we were going to be outdoors all day!

So off to Academy we went to raid the clearance racks for winter weather gear.  Though Emma had on leggings, a long-sleeve shirt and a light sweater, it still wasn't enough.  We found some biker tights which she wore over her leggings and an oversized Nike sweatshirt that she wore over her sweater.  She was a stuffed sausage!  We also found a cute pink hat to keep her head warm.  Ryan got a pair of thermal underwear and wore one of Roland's jackets.  And we were STILL cold!!  Here are some photos of the day:

 

Emma got up the courage to ride the kiddie Shamu coaster with her big brother. 
 
Afterwards though, she said she didn't like the way it made her tummy feel.  Poor thing!

Next to seeing Shamu, Emma liked playing in the kids' area where she could climb a big net and slide back down. 



 

Fun, but cold!


There was a nice little water area where many beautiful birds, flamingos and ducks were hanging out.


We managed to catch a fun Sesame Street show called "Big Bird's Day at the Beach."  Snort!  The opening song was all about how hot it was...  Well, normally it would have been....



With Shamu...


And the highlight of the trip for Emma:


There weren't many people sitting in the "Splash Zone" thank goodness! 



The show was certainly a different one now that the trainers are not allowed to get in the water with the killer whales.  After the tragic death of that one trainer in Orlando, the Shamu shows at all three locations are now conducted from the sidelines.  Definitely not as exciting, but certainly safer, and of course, safety is first!

I can't believe we hadn't visited Sea World since Emma was under 2!  She's been wanting to go for a while now, but it just hasn't worked out.  I'm glad we went - and at least it wasn't hot, right?  ;)

I hope to be back posting more regularly.  I have lots of layouts and photos to post!  Happy Wednesday (yay, the work is halfway over)!

Baby, It's Cold Outside!

Goodness gracious!  I thought the worst of winter was over, and then we get hit with another cold, wet day. The wind chill this morning is in the high teens.  I know, I know, it's nothing like the winter weather everyone else north of us is getting, but it's all relative, right?  I WISH it were snowing, but we haven't been that lucky this season. :( 

Ryan used to bug us all the time to see snow, but after Christmas Eve/Day of 2004 when we had an unheard of 6-8 inches of snow (it hadn't snowed like that in our neck of the woods in a hundred years!), he got his fill. 



Of course, it might have helped if we'd actually had appropriate snow gear.  Leather jackets and knit gloves don't work out too well in snow.  ;)

And miss Em doesn't remember this

as she was just a wee thing (poor baby - no gloves, I'd be crying too!) so she's still very anxious to see snow.  She doesn't remember Daddy having to take her inside and watch the rest of us whoop it up outside like little kids either.



It WOULD be nice to wake up to this again:


Never thought I would see my Birds of Paradise covered in snow!

Well, we are hoping that we get some Spring weather ASAP and that this was winter's last hurrah.  So as a send-off, here are a couple of cold weather layouts that I've done.



All products are from Designer Digitals.  Click Baby, It's Cold Outside for the full credits. 



Again, all products are from Designer Digitals.  Click I Love Winter Weather for the full credit list. 

Have a great Wednesday!  Friday is getting closer..yay!

"S" is for Sarcastic...

Last week, as we were having dinner, I asked Emma how school was.  As we were going over the day and what she had learned, she told me that her teacher had asked the class to think of words that started with the letter S.  Emma said she raised her hand, and when Mrs. Heintze called on her, she said, "Sarcastic." 

As she told me this, I totally cracked up inside.  She went on to say that Mrs. Heintze had to explain to the class what sarcastic meant.  Bet the teacher just LOVED explaining that one!  And don't ask me where she got that word...hmmm...wouldn't be because anyone in our house IS actually sarcastic....or accuses someone else of being sarcastic...hmmmm...  ;)

Get Your Digi On!

Don't miss out on the Designer Digitals Quarterly Sale; there's one day left (until Tuesday, 6am EST) to grab items at 30% off. 

I'm so diggin' this kit by Katie Pertiet:


I used papers, buttons and the alpha from it to create this page:


I had seen these "toddler laws" on a t-shirt years ago, and finally captured the perfect photo to illustrate them when Emma was 2, almost 3 years old.  I actually scrapped the photo in 2007 but redid it recently as I thought it needed an update.

And check out these scalloped border masks and stitches by Anna Aspnes:


And these cool distressed papers from Lynn Grieveson:


I used these products to create this layout of a 4 month old Emma Lou:


What a sweet baby!  Miss those cheeks! 

Lots to be inspired by at Designer Digitals so definitely check it out.  Have a great Monday!

This Is What Six Looks Like. . .

My little girlie celebrated her 6th birthday in January.  Seriously, I can't believe that she is 6 already!!  I swear she was just a baby. 

Though we didn't have a big party this year (I'm still worn out from last year's Webkinz party!), we did celebrate in grand style.  Emma invited her cousins to have a slumber party on a Friday night, and party kid-style they did!  McDonald's, giggling, playing, singing, more giggling, Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs DVD, sleeping bags, even more giggling, shopping with the Barbie cash register were all involved.  Thankfully, they were so tuckered out, they slept until about 9am.  After a breakfast of Cheerios, we got dressed and headed with Roland and Ryan to see The Tooth Fairy at the theater.  Too too funny - we all loved it.  And it was oh-so-perfect, as Emma had just lost her 2nd tooth the day before (she waited until the next night to put it under her pillow because of the sleepover).

When we came back from the movies, Roland, Ryan and the kids decorated while I finished frosting the cake.  By then it was time to order pizza as my mom, inlaws and my aunt came over. 



Yum!  Our favorite - Peter Piper Pizza! 

After we ate, I brought out the little foam core houses I'd hot glued together the day before.  I set out frosting, and all kinds of goodies for the kids to make Valentine's Day houses.

   

 

They had such a blast creating their houses.  I didn't get shots of their finished projects as we had to head outside for the pinata before it got any later.  They did add more to their houses later; they were quite fantastic!

So then we headed outside to hit the pinata.  Emma had wanted a unicorn pinata (it was pure coincidence that Emma decided to do a unicorn party just days before all the fairy/unicorn Gymboree clothes I had ordered online came in), and we found this little one at Party City.  It was perfect for just the 3 of them. 



I stuffed it with candy, small toys, nail polish, cars, slimy dinosaur putty and more.  Guess which was my daughter's favorite?  Yes, the slimy dinosaur putty!  Ugh....  The poor little unicorn's body was so heavy that at the first hit by Emma, the neck separated from the body, and we had a headless unicorn on the ground.  Roland ended up tying the rope around the midsection, and we were good to go. 



See his little legs sticking up at the bottom of the photo?  That's when Emma decapitated him.  Oops.



After the kids scrambled for the candy and toys, I brought out a special surprise - silly string!





Alas, the silly string ran out way too soon for the kids, but they were excited when they heard rumors that it was time for cake. 



Okay, I must confess that I ended up loving the cake.  Emma really wanted an orange-flavored unicorn cake. Hmmm...tall order, but I thought I could take on the challenge.  I used Duncan Hines Orange Supreme cake mix and then made my cream cheese icing with orange-flavored extract in place of the vanilla.  Yummy!! 

Here's another view:


I couldn't get a good photo in which the colors were true.  The pink was a lovely deep pink, and the purple was so pretty.  The unicorn horn was made with a shimmery pink gel, and the black accents were made with a black shimmery gel.  Emma was suitably impressed, and that made me very happy. 

I modeled the unicorn head after the unicorn on her shirt.  Not great, but not too bad, I think.


Time to sing Happy Birthday!



After Em made her wish (I wonder what she wished for??), I lit the candles a second time so Andrew and Sara could blow out the candles.  Why not, right?  Who doesn't like blowing out candles???

And here are a few highlights of the present-opening.  I think the Webkinz Jaguar from Grandma Connie was a huge hit.  Of course, there were Barbies and puzzles and lots of other fun treats. 

     

Days before on her actual birthday, she got her presents from us and Grandma Margie.  We gave her a Leapster 2 with the pet and dinosaur games (she LOVES them), some clothes, a Webkinz Triceratops, and Grandma and Grandpa gave her her own 19" flat screen TV/DVD player.  The kids are lucky they have grandparents who love to spoil them...that's all I'll say about that, lol. 

So it was a great bday even though it was on the small side.  I think next year we may have to break down and let Emma have the Chuck E. Cheese party she's been begging for.  We've been to quite a few Chuck E. Cheese parties over the years, and while they are always fun, I just feel like it's Las Vegas for kids, you know?  I love home birthday parties where the kids actually have to interact with one another rather than with a video game.  Of course, the kids always have a blast anyway so we'll see.  I think Ryan was 6 or 7 when he had his first Peter Piper Pizza party so it's that age I guess. 

Thanks for sharing in our birthday memories!  I'll be back soon with some more layouts.