A Day Late And A Dollar Short...

Okay! So I am always late these days and much more than ONE day!

(and let's not talk about how short those dollars are!)

But heck...can you forgive me? Please? PLEASE?

I have a lot of catching up to do so let's start here...Mother's Day/Bill's birthday.

The day was beautiful! Truly. One of those Spring days you long for all Winter.

We all went to church and after services we headed to Madison Bistro.

They have a yummy brunch on special days and yes. We all left feeling quite satisfied!

It was all you could eat...all kinds of breakfast goodies from omelets and casseroles to waffles and pancakes. There was fruit of all sorts, and do not even get me started on the luncheon part of the buffet! *sigh*

Mom and Grace...after lunch and just before Grace changed shirts in the van! She had to be attired in her Dragon's gear for a trip into Dayton!

After brunch we headed downtown to Fifth Third Field

to see The Dayton Dragons play ball!

Grace and Gem, The Dayton Dragon's Mascot

Grace and Heater, the Dayton Dragon's mascot

Gem is Heater's sister for those of you wonderin'...*grin*

Grace and her Daddy, the Birthday Boy

Dreamin' of the big leagues...

Hi Heater! After the game we all had dinner at Mom's. Lots of great food

and an ice cream birthday cake to boot!

Grace and her Auntie

Grace and Grandma

Dan's no surgeon but he cut pretty good chunks of cake for each of us! Dan isn't crazy about having his picture on blog, and I respect that, but

he usually allows me to add one now and then!

Notice the blue icing on his face and fingers? I think he liked the cake! My nephew Boo wanted to play outside so off we went...

Boo and his Mommy

Run Boo! Daddy's coming!

Havin' fun with Mommy and Daddy I know I am so, so late. Late in posting this an even later in getting around to see everyone.

I think about each of you all the time...and I know you understand

about life getting busy. Still, please always remember that each one of you is a joy to me

and I cherish your friendship. Thank you for being here even

when I am one rotten blogger...

*Oh, and Kipper would like me to tell you that he is late with his Ritter's Dog Night post but it is hard to type with little paws. He will have it up and ready to go this weekend!

Have a sweet weekend!

Love and Hugs,

Susie Q

A Kiss Is Just A Kiss...

....a sigh is just a sigh. Oh go ahead.

You KNOW you wanna sigh...it IS adorable!

I just discovered a wonderful web site I want to share

with all of you. It's called Zoo Borns and

is not only precious but also educational and down right fun.

If you have a few spare moments, hop on over to Zoo Borns!

You will be delighted!

I will be back posting and visiting soon. It has been oh so busy

here of late and there are just not enough hours in the day! Or, to be truthful, old Susie Q does not have enough brain cells left at the end of the day to do all she needs to do!

I hope you are all well and enjoying a sweet week!

Love,

Susie Q

Me?? Little, Old ME??

Photos and silliness will be posted later this evening but, for now, I wanted to let you know my exciting news!

Little old me, Susie Q herself, was chosen as Mother of the Year for 2009! Just click on the words Mother of the Year to see the news clip!

I SO wanted to share this with all of you!

Hmmm...does anyone think Brian has heard the news? He just might wish to congratulate me...right?

More soon...

Love to you all,

Susie Q

Blessed Women

Yes I HAVE been an awful bloggy friend...not getting around to

leave comments as I like and as I should. But each of you is in my

heart and thoughts as always!

I popped in here today to send each one of you ladies...each of you who has been a blessing and joy to a young person...be you a Mom, an Auntie, a Grandma, a special friend, a step-Mom or mom in law...a sweet and happy Mother's Day weekend. These lovely lilacs are for each one of you. Bless you all and please know how special you are to me.

Love and Hugs,

Susie Q

"I'm Ready To Play..."

"....today; put me in coach, I'm ready to play today; look at me, I can be centerfield"...

...um...wait....catcher? Oh! Catcher!

So I tweaked John Fogerty's lyrics a wee bit...just a bit!

Our girl with her BFF and her BFF's dad...the Coach!

She is good as catcher, the coach wants her to be

catcher but she HATES being catcher. *laugh*

"Well beat the drums and hold the phone the sun came out today-

we're born again, there's new grass on the field.

A-roundin' third and headed for home, it's a brown eyed beautiful girl;

Anyone can understand the way I feel..."

Night Lights

Gosh! I am so behind again! Okay, as USUAL right? *sigh* So true but I will try to play a little catch up today! Last Friday I took Mom to a performance of the Dayton Philharmonic at the Schuster Center downtown. It was an evening of Beethoven and featured a remarkable guest violinist, Stephanie Chase.

It was also Light Up Dayton night. All the buildings downtown were asked to leave their lights on until 11pm to give area photographers the unique opportunity to create images of Dayton's skyline. There is a contest for the best new skyline photo as well as awards going to those who have the most unique images of the downtown buildings and attractions.

We didn't get out of the performance until almost 10:30pm and it was such a rainy night.

Still, I drove around a bit and took some photos that I thought would make interesting images.

Just for fun, here they are!~

I waited until most of the audience had left the top portion of the auditorium so I could get this shot...

I had a lot of fun taking and processing these pictures. The Dayton Daily website has so many submitted images that are just beautiful. There were some truly gifted photographers out in force that evening, refusing to let the rain keep them from getting that one perfect shot! I will be interested in seeing which of them enters the contest and wins!

Kip has a little blog post he is working on for you. We all attended Ritter's May Dog Night and took our new, and oh so wonderful, new buddy, Sue

from Sullivan and Murphy

so she could experience her first official Dog Night!

There was a bevy of adorable doggies of every shape and size! Look for Kip's post later this week! We are SO glad you came along with is Sue!

I am hopping around bloggy world to visit each of you as I can! It has been such a busy few weeks and this old girl's head gets fuzzy from all the activity! I don't always leave a comment but I DO pop in on you all...and, as always, I am inspired, delighted, enriched and tickled by your stories, photos, ideas and activities!

Love and Hugs,

Susie Q

Oh What A Week...

...late May back in '09, what a very special, special time, 'cause I remember what a week...to badly paraphrase Frankie Valli. It all started last Sunday after church. Mom, Bill , Grace and I went to Carillon Park, a showcase for the area's rich and varied history, in Dayton. We had lunch at Culp's Cafe a new establishment which is reminiscent of the Culp's that was a Dayton staple in the 1930's and 40's.

The food was so good...and I had a perfect Vanilla Phosphate to drink! Yum.

Just across from our table was this sweet sight...old Newcom Tavern, a true Dayton landmark. Built in 1796, it is the oldest area building still standing today.

Then it was off to Wegerzyn Gardens, part of Dayton's Metro Park system.

Wegerzyn is a 1,000 park filled with formal gardens, a children's discovery section, flowering trees and meadows.

Two pretty ladies enjoying the lovely day!

A Girl and her Dad in the shade...

The sweetest flower in all the garden...

Grace and her Dad talk strategy with Grace's BFF.

On Wednesday Grace had a practice softball game. The team uniforms had just arrived so our girls wore their regular clothes. The other team, from out of the city, had theirs on. Our girls were a little intimidated by that and the fact that this team had a roster filled with 5th graders (Our team is all 3rd and 4th graders) who have been playing awhile (our team is made up mostly of new players). Yes, they beat us handily but our girls held their own and got some valuable learning and playing experience.

My girl hits that ball...

Lands on first base...

Then steals second!

Running for home after a ball is dropped...

Grace was at catcher position in this game and her coach would love to keep here there. She was great at it! Unfortunately, SHE hates that position. *smile* But she agreed to serve as catcher for 2 innings each game so all are happy! We were also celebrating our son's "Gotcha Day". In the world of adoption, the "Gotcha Day" ranks right up there with the birthday in importance. 19 years ago our son Daniel came into our lives. We could not be more proud of him than we are...he is a wonderful son and a great big brother.

He chose Sima, a local Korean restaurant and we ate well! TOO well! *smile*

Now you can see why I am such a proud Mama...these are my treasures.

Some of our delicious Korean side dishes Last night was the year's last chorus and orchestra recital. Grace is in both so had to wear her chorus T shirt and hop back and forth between each! The kids all performed so well and it is always a joy to see the arts in action!

Grace and her BFF, Miss K. No, my girl was not wearing a huge butterfly on her shirt! I added it to cover up the name of the school...I know you will understand... : )

Tonight my mother and I are going to the Schuster Center in Dayton to listen

to the Philharmonic Orchestra's tribute to Beethoven. It should be magical....

Tomorrow is Grace's softball team's official picture day followed by their first REAL game! Should be exciting! they now have their uniforms, black and gold, a sponsor and a lot of energy!

And...*drum roll if you please* Monday is Ritter's Dog Night AND the day we celebrate our Kipper's 8th birthday! Whoo Hoo! Kip would like me to invite any of you who live in the area to meet us there...in fact, there is a certain blogger who we would be glad to take with us if she would like to go! *smile*

Yes, I WILL have pictures to share! But of course! Kip would have in to other way!

Have a sweet weekend dear friends...

Love and Hugs,

Susie Q