the days are flying

 Today is Tim's 22nd birthday!

 Where does the time go?

Blink your eyes and your babies are grown.

Birthdays call for something more special than just cereal for breakfast.

Homemade breakfast sausages (ground pork mixed with pure maple syrup and spices)

 and biscuits filled the bill this morning.

I love my KitchenAid mixer. I use it all the time. It was a gift from my grandma

about 27 years ago. The only thing I've had to replace on it is the mixer paddle.

Made Tim a chocolate birthday cake ~ it's Hershey's deep, dark chocolate

cake recipe. My stand-by.

Ran out of cocoa powder after I made the cake, and I didn't want to run

out to the grocery store just for one item, so I waited until a friend got

home from work and she brought over some cocoa powder so that I could

make chocolate frosting.

Can it really be only six more days until Christmas? It sure doesn't seem like it.

I think the mild weather has something to do with it.

This morning while I was washing some pots and pans and staring out the kitchen 

window, I could've sworn I saw a dandelion in my neighbor's yard.

I had to do a double-take. I thought, "It can't be. Not in December in Illinois!"

I grabbed my camera and went outside.

Yep. A dandelion.

While I was walking around my house and past the living room window,

Monkey was watching me from inside the house.

He looks so contemplative, doesn't he?! 

Tim had some friends over this evening. (That's Tim on the left,

with the wavy hair and beard.)

We all sat around in the kitchen and talked and laughed while the

music blared from Tim's room. Yes, it was noisy and a bit crazy,

but I wouldn't trade it for the world. I want Tim's friends to feel welcome here

and like I said earlier - they grow up so fast.

I used to babysit that tall young man in the back row with the blue-striped

hoodie and the young man sitting down in front. *sigh*

Me, Brian, Tim, and my mom were supposed to go out to dinner

tonight to celebrate Tim's birthday, but Brian had to end up taking his

dad to the hospital and was gone all day and evening.

We'll go out another night.

Don't laugh, but this was my first hard cider ever. I never thought I'd

like it, but those young hooligans made me try it ~ and I liked it!