Ingram the Conqueror: Thursday November 8th, I Loved Today!

For the first time on a school morning, I heard giggling through the monitor as Ingram and Madison woke up around 6:45am this morning and started playing with his cars and trucks in his room. Soon after I heard the two of them, a third giggle was added to the noise and all three of them were playing and happy even though it wasn't even 7am! Did I mention that I usually let them sleep till 7:30 or 7:45 before I wake them up for school?? But this morning was different and there was so much love in the air that we decided not to rush out the door for the bus and instead I drove them to school with Ingram AND Beau in the car too!

When we got back, Ingram was ready to go back upstairs to his room and play "Follow The Leader" like he had been playing with his girls. Before we did that, he helped me clean the kitchen, unload and reload the dishwasher, and start dinner in the crock pot. That's right, move over Martha Stewart, Ashley Dismuke cooked three meals in four days...spaghetti, tacos, and pork tenderloin! To add to that, we even vacuumed the whole downstairs and painted pictures, and played more games all before noon! I felt a little back to normal doing regular "mom" type stuff and it was nice. We were both still in our pajamas and enjoying being home and not having to go anywhere; I think Beau likes it when we're home too although he got kicked out a few times for bad behavior. Imagine that!

Since we started our day earlier than normal, we decided that nap time could be a little earlier than normal too! We hopped in the bed and took Beau with us; unfortunately that didn't last long and we sent Beau to his crate for his afternoon nap while we took one in Ingram's bed. It was dark and cold and we snuggled in the bed and took almost a 2 hour nap! We were both a little tired still when we got up and Ingram sat in his chair with his blanket watching a cartoon while we waited for the girls to get home from school.

Tonight we split up and Craig took Lindsey to her soccer game and Madison caught a ride with the Ditter's to soccer practice. We picked up Madison from practice and headed to Barnes and Noble for our school's Book Fair and were in and out in about 30 minutes...which if you know us is totally amazing!!! While we were at the book fair, Craig was peppering my phone with pictures of Lindsey's game. She scored 4 goals in her game and they won the game too! This is a new thing for her team and she came in with a huge grin on her face from ear to ear; she was still so excited about it that we had a hard time getting her to settle down for bed.

Speaking of bedtime, Craig put Ingram to bed tonight and I guess Ingram taught him a lesson while he was saying his prayers. I know, this always seems to happen; God loves His children and sometimes we adults need a gentle nudge from our kids to remind us of the day to day things and of the memories we make with each other. Here was Ingram's prayer tonight...

"Dear God, Thank you for today. And for mommy. And that I got to play a game today. And that I got to watch a power rangers today, with a bad guy. And thank you that I ate a corn dog today. And a quesadilla. And I think I like corn now. And that I like to drink. And thank you for our boat. Whose name is Bob. And it likes me to drive it. And Uncle Len. And one time we were on the boat with Uncle Len and Brett. And I like to ride the tube. And one time we were on the tube and then Aunt Amye fell in. And we went back and got her."

I feel so privileged to be on this road with Craig and the kids and wouldn't change it for anything; granted it's a hard road with a lot of uncertainty and it's a road I wouldn't choose myself. But God is using our road to teach us a little more about Himself every day...today's lesson I believe would be to enjoy the little, ordinary, everyday things AND the things that our kids are going to remember for a lifetime.

Just One Of The Many Things We Did Around The House This Morning!
Ingram Helped Hang These Canvases That Have Been Stacked On The Floor For Quite A Long Time.
The Top Six Are Ones That The Kids Did At St. Jude And The Bottom Six Were Done At Our House And A Friends House.

At Home Tennessee November 2012 Issue Has Pictures From The "Hey St. Jude" Video!
Check Out Ingy And His Beautiful Smile...I Know, I'm Biased!
Thanks Rachel Bishop For Sharing The News!