Ingram the Conqueror: Wednesday November 7th, An Outdoor Kind Of Day!

Mimi was in town today because Madison had a field trip and I got to tag-a-long! We were especially excited because I haven't been able to do much at the girls school due to always being at St. Jude. Even though it seems like we're always there to check out the girls for different things, I never really get to hang out with them during the school day. It was sooo much fun to go on a field trip and know that Ingram was perfectly fine at home with my mom...even if it meant I was going to a graveyard!

All the fifth graders read Graveyard Girl as part of their Language Arts class this Fall and it was based on Elmwood Cemetery in Memphis! It was actually a fun trip (despite the cold weather) and it was comical as a bunch of the kids, my Madison included, were scared to walk on top of the ground thinking they would step on someone. I guess I thought the same thing because I found myself walking very cautiously through the cemetery. We did learn a lot of interesting information while we were there and the kids had fun tracing words and pictures off the tombstones with carbon paper and tennis balls. After the buses left, I enjoyed a super quick lunch at The Trolley Stop restaurant and sort of "relived" some of the emotions of the only other time I had been there. A bunch of "my girls" took me to lunch there during our hospital stay at Lebonheur when Ingram had his brain surgery. I was there surrounded by my sweet girls when I got the phone call from Craig saying that we were being discharged from Lebonheur and officially becoming a St. Jude patient family.

As the emotions started to surface, I was glad that I had somewhere to go and fast too! It's always an emotional roller coaster and today I just wasn't ready to be a fountain of tears. I was supposed to meet Craig and Ingram at St. Jude for a balloon release with Jenna Bush and Marlo Thomas. Because of logistics of the field trip, Mimi got Ingram ready and took him to lunch then to Craig's office; then Craig drove him to St. Jude and got him to the right spot while I was finishing up with the field trip. As the kids were waiting for their special time, they were decorating their balloons with stickers and drawing on them with markers (until they started popping from the markers) and having a great time. Ingram's girls were there too and he had fun sitting at the table and playing with Mae and Bailey. Craig on the other hand was too funny; I looked up and he was sitting right next to Marlo Thomas and Jenna Bush chatting up a storm! While most of the parents (myself included) were staring and thinking "I would love to talk to them," he was actually talking to them. I asked him what all he said and he just said that it wasn't much, just thanking them for all the things they do there and a little about Ingram.

Once we finally got outside for the balloon release, it was just all the kids and Marlo and Jenna with the moms and dads on the side. It was pretty funny though because they were trying to get all these kids to pay attention and everyone was cold and it was windy. In the end, they counted "1, 2, 3" and all the kids released the balloons and it looked so beautiful! Ingram's balloon was a butterfly and it looked like it was literally flying away. It was also being video taped as part of the "Thanks and Giving" Campaign and will air on The Today Show the Monday of Thanksgiving week. The rest of the afternoon and evening was definitely not as eventful as we studied for two tests for each of the girls and entertained Ingram at the same time. Tomorrow will be a very calm day of hanging out at home with my little man and I may just stay in my pajamas...that is unless anything else comes up!

Madison And Her Carbon Paper From Elmwood Cemetery.
She Found A Cross, Flowers, A Bible Verse, And Pieced Together Her Birthday From Different Stones.