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.