Over several years I have been told by quite a few people that I just MUST go to IKEA.   After receiving several catalogs in the mail, I decided I must NOT go to IKEA because it wasn’t my style.  And I had a bit of philosophy that ran contrary to IKEA.

Then my friend recommended I go take a look as she has some things in her home that looked like good deals from the place.  Well, OK, maybe someday I’ll check it out.

Then my eldest daughter asked to go on her birthday so the pressure was on.  I figured it would be a sad day anyway since I miss when she was a little baby so many years ago.

On July 1st, off we went with a van load of people to the massive blue and yellow store.   On the way we picked up our tour guide, Mr. Joshua Blanchard.  Here he is waiting for us to reorganize ourselves for the tour.

He was a great tour guide, particularly with all of his giggles when twirled in a circle.

So, what did I think of IKEA?  It’s a mixed bag.  Within a few minutes I wondered if anything in the store would make it to the status of antique.  It seemed like it would all be disposable within a few short years.  Shortly thereafter I wondered if there was craftsmanship in anything – either by hand or even one piece of turned wood.  Everything was straight.  Everything right angles.   Everything fit into a grid.  Not too long after that I wondered if there was anything that exhibited multiple colors on a single item and then I found this … !!!!!!   I am sure that James will want one of these for his birthday.

Amid this socialistic furniture bonanza, however, I found oodles of organizational ideas and better ways to do things.   The trip ended up being a smashing success for space-saving, stream-lining, and brainstorming.  And the 250 square foot apartment, complete with living room, kitchen, bedroom, and bath convinced me that I can convert anything into compact living space.   Actually, I figured out some new ideas for dog kennels based upon these compact ideas.  I’ll just have to convince the dogs that running in a small circle is just as satisfying as running across a field. 

I was so impressed with the quantity of ideas (not the furniture so much) that two days later I took my husband there to take a walk.  He said some interesting things.  In the kitchens he said, “Hmmm.”   In the living rooms he said, “Hmmm.”   In the children’s section he said, “Hmmm.”   In the bookshelves-carts-cabinets section he said, “Hmmm.” 

Finally I said, “Why hmmm?”

“Because I can’t believe that you would like anything in this store.  Where are the aesthetics?”

Well, there weren’t any aesthetics but we found great ideas to aid the functioning of our home.  It reminded me of music.  It used to be that composers really wrote music.  They breathed it.  They lived it.  They had all of the turns and trills and intricacies.  There was such pathos.  But nowdays, so much of music is stream-lined, computer-driven, and aesthetic-deficient.  Neat little grids to fill our ears.

But, I’ll be back to IKEA when we need those grids for organization.  

As to the rest of the day, we kidnapped our adorable, and I mean adorable, tour guide for the day.  He never fell asleep all day.  He was absolutely precious.  And he helped soothe a mama’s heart who misses having her babies.  They are growing up too fast.

A garden tea party…

A beautiful birthday girl!  Happy birthday to sweet Elizabeth, our new friend!

Well, it was just buggin’ me that I had a list of errands and deliveries to make and I was going to miss all the action.   In my absence, I asked my resident photographer to log the fondant cake that Kathy started about 9:00 this morning.  Well, by started I mean that she already had the cake made, the icing made, and supplies purchased.  This cake was a three unit cake which made a sheet cake and three baby circular cakes.  Today was reserved for decorating.  

Here she is covering a miniature cake that will become the big yellow “bump” on the top of the cake.

Fondant is basically edible play dough, although most people discard it because of texture and taste.  It really is more of a decorating fancy.  It puts the cost of a cake up considerably too.  Fondant and marzipan are used mostly in the United Kingdom.  It has caught on in the United States over the past few years.  Buttercream has been popular for decades in the U.S. but unheard of in the U.K.  Kathy has received instruction from a British cake maker that detailed other differences. 

More fondant.  This is royal blue.  She also used regal purple, egg yellow, teal, super red, and leaf green.

This is the baby circular cake pan that is used for the bump, the fondant circles, and the additional two layer baby cake you will soon see.  All these circles made the project proportional and well matched.  We have learned over the years that proportion is everything …. especially when making wedding cakes.  There’s kind of a knack to it and sometimes we get it right, and sometimes we don’t get it right.

Kneading purple fondant.  It takes a long time to get the color through even a small lump.

And the teal.

These are bowls of buttercream icing matched to the fondant colors.  These will trim the cake which has been frosted in white buttercream.  In the right lower corner you can see the two layer baby cake which has not yet been frosted with the yellow and two fondant circles.

By now you may guess who this is.

The yellow bump with a fondant smile and antennae.

All done!  This was an all day project.

It was a humid and warm day so a fan cooled and dried the cake before it melted away.  The two layer baby cake also has a fondant smile on yellow buttercream.

You are right! It is Baby Einstein….

and baby cake Einstein!

What a buggy day!

What does a 12th birthday look like?  Well, it starts by honoring the request to learn how to make Pennsylvania Dutch Apple Dumplings.   This tradition was handed down from my Aunt Irene to me and I passed it to Karen and Kathy.  Karen turned around and passed it to Em.  The added plus was that company was coming the next day so we were able to share dumplings with another family.

Emily requested a day in historic McKinney square so off we went to the Pantry after a short stop for a haircut and a trip to Hobby Lobby for beads which were 50% off that day.  Emily loves to bead on a loom so we found some gorgeous colors and blends.  Here is the Pantry.  This restaurant has been around for a long time and is in one of the historic buildings in McKinney.    Open only for lunch, and famous for their chocolate chip pie, we had a great time.

Emily with her haircut and her chocolate chip pie.  Oh, that happens to be a baked potato and a Coke on the side.  A soft drink is a treat on birthdays, although some of our children prefer strawberry lemonade or raspberry lemonade for a treat. 

Off to shop.  And we shopped ’til Mom dropped – a total of 7 hours on our feet.  Here Emily is in front of The Book Gallery, her first pick of the day.  This store has rare and old books.  Spanglers love books.  There are signed first editions of Marguerite Henry’s books in this store along with some Tasha Tudors that I would like to own myself.  We did not buy a thing, but we had so much fun.  I also favor the checkerboard old-fashioned floor of this store and the wonderful, wonderful smell of old books.  I could do without the resident Schnauzer.  I love dogs but not terrorists, er, I mean terriers.

We did shop and shop and shop.  But it was more of an historic experience than anything which was what Emily had hoped for.  Although our family appreciates the great names and places and events in all eras of history, we find great value in knowing our local history.  Even when we vacation somewhere away from home, we delve into the local history with fervor.  It is the little person, and the everyday families that weave the fabric of a town, a region, a state, and a nation.  So we find much interest in knowing what has happened in our hometowns of Fairview, Allen, and McKinney. We have visited old creeks, buildings, and read quite a bit.  Recently the McKinney Square has been made over and I found it of great interest how different the square is from 17 years ago when we first moved here.  I remember the antique stores, the old timers, the fountain bar at ol’ Smith’s Drug Store, the wonderful junk in Clydes, and so forth.  The 2008 make-over reflects a different style, a different attitude, and a different appetite.  It is turning into upscale restaurants, spas, elite cosmetics, and so forth.  And the music has changed.  Boy, has it changed.  I was glad that there were enough of the ol’ little spots to make it more historic for Emily and me.  At the same time, the new doll shop was pleasant along with its owner.  A mixed blend of many things on the Square.

Upon returning home, we had homemade four-cheese calzones courtesy of Karen which is Emily’s favorite.  Kathy had made a homemade butter cake with REAL buttercream icing.  By this I mean there was no 10x sugar in it and no Crisco.  (We Yankees call it 10x.)  Instead she had made a syrup out of cane sugar and added butter and who knows what.  The color of the yellow frosting is the natural color of the butter.  Emily likes pansies so the flowers were varying buds and full bloom pansies.  Yum!   

While up on the Square we had purchased an old-fashioned treat at the old-fashioned candy store: Bazooka bubble gum.  It has been a frequent request over the past year from our children that they learn to blow bubble gum.  We had not had bubble gum in our home to this point as I don’t favor it much, but here was a part of history for me.  Bazooka was a staple in my childhood so I bought a piece for each child and after the birthday cake ceremoniously had them unwrap the Bazooka to reveal the Bazooka Joe comic.  I was surprised that the gum piece was much smaller than my childhood yet cost so much more.  

Like a good mother who is trying to train her children in all good things, I dutifully instructed them in how to get all the flavor and juice out so that the wad is ready to blow.  Then much instruction on how to get it in the right place and then how to put air into it.    Kimberly was amazed.

Matthew discovered that sometimes a bubble has a sticky ending.

 We finished a 12th birthday with lots of hugs and kisses, a few presents, and praise to God for our “bonus.”   After having Karen and Kathy, everyone said … don’t have more kids because you are too high risk medically and you get too sick and you will destroy your lives.   Miraculously we then had Matthew, but after his birth I was still quite ill for months in addition to experiencing a thyroid deficiency that caused postpartum depression.  Emily was conceived in the middle of that when Matthew was only was only  5 months old and so again we went into pregnancy crisis.  I asked James what was God doing?  He said he was giving us a bonus.  So here is my sweet 12 year old bonus.  Happy birthday Emmy.  I would do it all over just to have you.  And thank you to my husband, who never flinched but walked in total confidence whenever I said, “Dear, I have something to tell you about why I’m feeling funny ….”

Now she is five.  Our baby is five.  She did not want presents.  She wanted balloons.  So we did balloons. 

And she asked for a cake.  A jungle cake.  So we did an elephant-gorilla-cheetah-snake cake.  Recently Kimberly lost her first tooth as shown in this smiling face when we cut the cake.

We had sold boxes and boxes of materials to Half Price Books.  The proceeds from that with some help from Grandpa and Grandma produced a new sandbox.  Kimberly loves her new play area and has reminded me continually that this sandbox has a lid.  She has been so enthralled with the lid that I told James that next time let’s just buy a lid!   When we were discussing where to locate the sandbox in the yard, James teasingly told me we could put the sandbox in the living room.  When it is cold outside, Kimberly reminds me that Daddy said we could put it in the living room and couldn’t we move it inside?  She’s serious.  James wasn’t.  At least I don’t think he was.

Kimmy was born when I was 45 years old***.  Besides having gestational diabetes, high blood pressure, and other medical complications during my pregnancies and deliveries, Kimberly presented another twist in childbearing.  When Kimberly was born we found out that her umbilical cord was knotted close to her body.   This meant that sometime before the half way mark of the pregnancy, the cord formed a loop and she swam through it.  For all those months God’s hand was upon her and this knot did not cause complications, nor death.  At her birth, the attending midwives gasped when she arrived and they saw the cord.  James had the insight to name her Kimberly (from the royal fortress) and Joy.  So Kimberly Joy  means “God joyfully extends His protection.”  We pray this upon her life every day.

Happy Birthday to my little caboose.

*** The research used in modern medicine that states women age 35 and older are high risk is based upon statistics collected from women in the slum areas of New York and groups of women who had poor nutritional health and exposure to heavily polluted areas prior to their pregnancies and during their pregnancies.