Sunday Gone Awry

I admit, I had ambitious Sunday plans. I wanted to get the laundry finished and folded, I wanted to start packing for our trip to NOLA later this week, and I wanted to make a casserole for our neighbor who is finally home after a long stint in the hospital. All of this on a day when Patrick has to work all day. Not to mention that Peyton seems to be teething again, which always puts him in such a peachy mood.

Initially, I felt like I was handling it just fine. A little motrin here, a little orajal there, lots of episodes of Word World and the Micky Mouse Clubhouse, and somehow I was managing to survive. I was making two pans of King Ranch Chicken Casserole, one for the neighbor and one for us. I usually try to make a few things on Sunday to help us get through dinner during the week. Based on my calculations, I figured that a pan of this casserole could easily get us two nights of dinner this week. I managed to cook and cut up the chicken, chop the bell peppers and onions, and make the sauce while Peyton was taking his nap. Then I realized that I had forgotten to buy cheese for the casserole, a rather essential ingredient. A trip to the grocery store and back, with a side trip to Rita's Italian Ice for a gelati, was pretty uneventful once Peyton woke up from his nap. I even remembered to go green and brought my own bag with me. While I assembled the casseroles side by side, I put Peyton in his high chair to color. I obviously wasn't paying very close attention to him because the next thing I knew, his high chair tray was covered in marker, his face had splotches all over it, pieces of his hair were green, his clothes had marker all over them, and when I shrieked when I saw him, he stuck his tongue out at me to show me exactly what else he'd been coloring besides the paper.


Just after I took this snapshot, I cleaned Peyton up, took him out of the high chair, and signed his name to the picture he had just colored to bring next door to our neighbor, Emily. While I had my back turned for a brief minute to sign his name, I heard something crash to the floor accompanied by a small whimper from Peyton. And this is what I saw.....




Yep, a casserole all over the floor. I'm pretty sure I was fighting back tears.

I had already promised dinner to the neighbors so Peyton and I brought the only intact casserole left over to their house. I was tempted to ask if we could stay for dinner.

Uncle Paul's Visit

Uncle Paul recently made a last-minute quick trip to North Carolina. He spent the entire day on a plane from California and drove down to Fort Bragg the next day, but he had enough time in between to squeeze in a visit with us and it was great to see him!



He has a few other friends in the area, so we all got together at the Rishers to have dinner together.


Peyton likes going over to the Rishers because they have CARS and TRUCKS! It was very nice of Brett to share all of his stuff with Peyton.

Peyton and Brett Risher

Sal's family also came by. It's hard to believe that Ryan was just a little older than Peyton when we first moved here. I think that means two things 1) Kids grow up really fast and 2) I've been in graduate school way too long.

Ryan and Taylor Cammarata

Mommy and Peyton's Weekend of Fun!

Peyton and I just had a fantastic weekend together. Patrick hit the road Thursday morning bound for Florida and a weekend of catching up with old friends. While he was having a great time, Peyton and I had some fun of our own.

Thursday evening, we caught a few innings of the Durham Bull's baseball game with some friends. Peyton looked like such a big boy in his seat. As the crowd clapped and cheered for the game, Peyton got very excited (I think he thought the crowd was cheering for him!) He checked the player stats in the program and marked the progress of the game on the score sheet.







On Friday, I brought Peyton in for his much-needed haircut. I obviously have a lot to learn about boy haircut terminology. When the lady asked me if I wanted it cut around his ears, I said yes because I wanted it to be trimmed around his ears, not left so long. Apparently, she took that to mean (and rightly so I'm told) that I wanted it short around his ears. Once she made the first cut, it was clear that we were not on the same page, but it was too late. Sniff, sniff.... He does look handsome, but I miss the shaggy curls. Hopefully they will grow back!
Surprisingly, Peyton was a very good boy during his haircut. I went to a place that specializes in kids haircuts. He got to sit in a car while the lady cut his hair and she even put on the movie Cars on a little screen right in front of him. Peyton got so excited about the movie that he stood up and pointed a few times at the screen. (I immediately went to Target and bought the DVD.)


On Saturday, Peyton and I went blueberry picking with some friends. At first, he'd pick the berries and put them in his bucket. But it didn't take long for him to realize that these were edible and the next thing I knew there weren't any berries left in his bucket. From there, he would just pull right off of the bush and eat them. Forget the bucket. As I paid for the berries that I picked (and kept far away from Peyton), I gave the man some extra money to cover the cost off all of the ones Peyton ate. He didn't seem to think he could have possibly eaten that many berries to make a difference, but he's never seen my son eat. I was somewhat concerned that Peyton would have a stomach ache or something that afternoon, but he seemed fine, thankfully.

Saturday evening, we went to a 4th of July BBQ at our friends, the Rishers. They live in Cary, a few miles away, in a neighborhood full of kids. One of the moms set up a blanket and brought out two buckets full of cars, trucks, and airplanes. Peyton was in heaven. It occupied him for the entire 3 hours we were there. He barely even stopped to eat. That tells you how much fun he was having. He didn't make it long enough to stay for the fireworks, however. He let me know in no uncertain terms that he had enough and was ready for bed.






Sunday morning, it was a bit rainy outside, so we scrapped the plans for the park and opted to make cookies instead. Yum, yum!
We also sat down and watch Cars together. "Car!" "Truck!"











Sunday afternoon we took a trip to the Museum of Life and Science with Peyton's pal Kalina. The museum is always a great place to play and explore. Peyton especially loves putting balls down a shute. He also got to get close up to a cow and hear it moooooooooooooooo! Once the kids were sufficiently worn out, we called it a day and headed home.








So, Peyton and I had a great weekend together. I'm completely exhausted!