Well, it is settled then, I will see how close I can come to Michel's. Won't be exactly like his but as close as I can get it. I am going to put it in the photo book I am doing for Alexis. Thank you all for your wonderful help.

Suzi it truely is a precious picture.

Suzi i came up with a similar effect using the virtual photographer plug in. (glamour). I know it is a free plugin cant remember where i got it. If you dont have it . I will try to locate it.

Suzi,
I am glad you found your own way with this rare moment picture!
This common challenge shows why the people in this forum are so different from others... They pre-visualize the wanted result and find ways to achieve it, instead of trying mysterious tricks at random hoping that one will be magical.

About colour:
None of my edits were about color correction or enhancements. If it has a warm effect (just like Christell's), it's because we kept the natural colours and made them stand out by darkening the background tone. (Framing is important also). Painters know it: to make color spots stand out (saturation), play on the adjacent colours by contrast.

Great picture! Suzi, have you tried cropping to include the birthday cake? I think it looks good that way, and gives a reason for the light playing on their faces. Like this:

suzib copy.jpg (154.04 KiB) Viewed 762 times

Otherwise I just selected them, put them on their own layer, then hit the background layer with a 20px Gaussian blur.

Yes, Judy, I do have that filter, will try it.
Michel, you are so right, the input I have received for this image is priceless.
Reka, you are also right more of the cake should be in the final picture
Thank you all so much...will post a hopefully a final later today.

Suzi,
I like your crops but because of the expressions & light on their face I would still crop with some of the candles & candle light to see exactly what they are looking at. With some candles showing it actually looks like it is the candle light glowing on their faces. I really like the natural light glowing on their faces.
Good luck. Any way will make a nice print.
Christell