Catch-Up Time

We have actually had a bit of drama around the house lately, so I am woefully behind in my posting. First of all, we haven't updated our pictures in weeks now, courtesy of the broken power cord that belongs to our external hard drive. It took a dive about two weeks ago, so everything on there is trapped for the time being. One of these days we will get a new cord and then I will crash Flickr with a huge uber-upload. Promise.

In other news, Margot seems to have a bully at pre-school. This simultaneously breaks my heart and pisses me off. The girl is named is Carly and she has hit Margot, pushed her down, and told her "YOU ARE NOT PRETTY!" Um, ok. I have a few thoughts about this, obviously. When Margot told me about the hitting and pushing, I asked Ben to talk to the teacher and find out what the hell was going on. The teacher reassured Ben that Carly is just "a rough player" and that she has a few "issues" they are working on. Ok, I can buy that. She is a year older than Margot and has multiple brothers, so I can envision rough play. I still think hitting a classmate and then pushing her down and hitting her again crosses the "rough play" line, but whatever. It seemed to be handled. A few days later, Margot told me that Carly got mad at her and told her she was not pretty. What? I think playing rough and pushing a kid down in the process is quite different that purposely trying to hurt them with ugly words, don't you think? At first I was angry and felt like punching this kid out myself - but then Ben brought up a very good point. He said that it was heart breaking to him, because it speaks volumes about the way this child is treated at home if she knows at four years old how to hurt and belittle another with words. Wow. Sometimes Ben really takes my breath away with his intelligence, kindness and empathy. I am amazed that after ten years together, he is still teaching me how to be a better person. The good news about all of this is that Margot doesn't seem to be affected at all. She isn't afraid of this girl, states very matter-of-factly "I am pretty and smart and a good girl" and hasn't been hitting anyone herself, so I guess I just need to simmer down and roll with it. I knew the day was coming when other kids would be mean, but I was envisioning third grade or something, not pre-school. Gah.

Thanksgiving was a great day. It was very low key - just us and Grandma, then Uncle Mike and Aunt Jan. The food was awesome. Grandma made a killer huge turkey and stuffing, plus scalloped potatoes and pumpkin pie. I made mashed sweet potatoes, spanish green beans, chocolate mousse and a cheese ball. Ben made some thyme and beer hockey pucks - er, I mean biscuits. They were not good. We will just leave it at that. Not his fault, mind you, but kind of a weird recipe and maybe a little overcooked. We only had one little mishap, when I decided for no good reason to dump the entire skillet of tomatoey-green beans on the floor. Ben came to the rescue and we ate them anyway, but it did shoot tomato napalm all over my shoes, the wall, cabinets, etc. Oh well. It was good for a laugh! We played some Wii, fell into a food coma and had a nice day.

For some odd reason I am feeling unbelievably Christmas-like this year, and I am even ready to get a tree! This never happens - I am usually the one who is like "one more week, maybe next weekend, maybe tomorrow... Oh wait, it's December 20th!" We have about negative five dollars to spend on Christmas presents, so I have been knitting, crafting, scrap booking and doing all kinds of crazy stuff at home to get ready. Maybe this is why I am so excited - I don't feel daunted about shopping, but really feel as though I have put a bit of thought into my loved ones gifts this year. I am also ready to drag out the cookie supplies and get baking! I think Margot will have fun again this year decorating, and she may even get a few decorated instead of just eating. I am cautiously optimistic.

I hope you all have a great weekend!