Hello again :)

Welcome, April, and beautiful spring weather! My apologies, as it has been way too long since I have written about our little piece of the world. I have just not felt like writing, it has just been to difficult emotionally to do so. I guess I have just liked coming here and seeing Sheila at the top of the page :) I placed the final order for the marker for her place at Rose Hill yesterday, and went to visit her, and I guess I just feel at peace about things now. I will be very happy in the coming weeks when the weather is better and the marker comes in so we can honor her with it. It may sound funny but I am excited about it because we chose something that is very pretty and decorative and really honors her.

SO... today got me so excited and gave me inspiration to write again.

Today was simply gorgeous outside. We took Ethan to Fort Liberty Park to play. It was so different than the last time we went, which was last year... he was very indifferent to the swings last year. Well, today he had a BLAST! We started off going down the slide - he would climb up the steps with Dad and then slide down by himself and I would catch him. As soon as he got off, he would run back to the steps to climb back up again. Then he swung on the swings and giggled and said "eeeeeeee!!" the whole time. Ryan was swinging next to him, and he kept looking up at the swing chains and at Daddy's feet... it was like he was thinking "how's he doing that by himself?" We went for a walk on the walking path and Ethan actually managed to keep on his hat until we were heading back to the car! I was very impressed :) Most of the time it seems pointless to buy hats because he just rips them off his head. But he must love his new hat as much as I do :)

There is a smaller playground down the walking path that has this cool foam bottom that you walk on, which is great for Ethan to run around on. There is also some "old fashioned" playground gear... a metal slide, merry go round, swings, monkey bars... Ethan LOVED the merry go round. I don't know why it surprises me, because he loves anything adventurous. I held him at first and Ryan pushed us around and around. Anytime we would get off, Ethan would want to get right back on. He held on like a big boy and stood there as I *gently* pushed him around in circles. You would have thought he was in heaven :) This kid loves to be spun in circles, run around with you carrying him sideways, sitting up on your shoulders... he laughs uncontrollably! He is an amazing little boy.

He also had fun playing on the metal slide, and he kept trying to crawl back up it. He also loved beating on it like a drum, because drumming is still his ultimate favorite activity!

Just connected our camera to the computer and seeing the first photo on our memory card, I realize the last time I did this was the day before Sheila's funeral. There is so much I have missed out on keeping track of and writing down, but all the memories are there. I will start trying to write some updates on what has been going on with us and all the changes that have happened with Ethan :) For now, a few pics of our great day today: