How exciting to be six years old and find a birthday fish waiting for you on the morning of your birthday.  This photo of my six-year old grandson, Asher, with his new birthday fish (officialloy named Fishy Friend Workman) fills me with joy every time I see it. He went downstairs to find that Mom had even baked him a blue ‘Lego’ cake.

Looking back with my own children, I remember a special Barbie Doll birthday cake for Allison when she was ten ~ where we cut into the back of the cake so as not to spoil Barbie’s beautiful pink and white poofy dress, only to discover that Barbie had forgotten her underwear.  Oh, my goodness! It just seemed … shocking. Funny, but shocking. I don’t know what I expected, but somehow I didn’t expect to see a nude little body inside of the cake. Allison tells me that now Barbie comes with painted on underwear.

I also remember a School Bus birthday cake for Phil when he was ten, complete with his picture in the bus driver’s window of the bus. Now I ask you, do you know anyone who has ever tried to bake a cake in the shape of a school bus? That one kept me up a few nights!

Looking back even more, I think of all of the cakes I did bake when the kids were small. We had Easter bunny cakes and heart-shaped Valentine’s cakes and others simply because it was Spring or Summer or Winter of Fall .. and speaking of Fall … the birch and the aspen tree saplings in our yard are turning yellow, the maple is turning red. Fall is upon us here in Spokane. If you ask me it’s time for another cake. And lucky me, I can just pencil this onto the bottom of the grocery list I made out earlier. Looks like I’ll be busy baking up a storm this afternoon.  I think it will be chocolate.