Take It Or Leave It But It Ain't No Suggestion

I'd like you to meet Slim and Shady. Or at least that is how I like to think of the two boys that Eli, my oldest, has decided to become friends with at school. There is just something that can rub you the wrong way when you meet a person and/or child and these boys definitely possess that quality. A day later it all made sense when Kevin, my husband, asked Eli to tell me what happened when he and Shady were walking home from Shady's house. In his own words he said,

"Well Mom, I know you are not going to like this but this is what happened. On the way home from "Shady's" house

(the names in this story have been changed to protect the anonymity of the Slim and Shady, Eli doesn't actually refer to them the way I do and I have never referred to them as such in his presence because I know kids can say the darnedest things and I don't want to have to defend myself from an angry mob of English mothers later on, so back to the story)

and we stopped at the store

(which is very small and about the size of a postage stamp which is ironic because they are the local post office as well, again I diverge, so sorry)

and he said to me, 'Hey Eli, you wanna steal something?'

(all my worst fears coming into realization)

But I (again this is Eli telling the story) said 'No way.' And then we came here and played."

Uggg. So we talk about how he made a good decision not to steal and how he would think he would feel if he did steal something and all seemed to go pretty well. Then the next day he comes home from school and says,

"Hey Mom, this morning "Shady" wanted to steal some Pokemon balls from a kid that was younger than us and I said that wasn't a good idea."

And I said,

"Eli, maybe it is time to find some new friends at school. One's that won't ask you to do that kind of bad stuff."
And he said,

"Yeah, maybe."

Again just another parenting suggestion. Personally I am putting my valuables in a very high spot to keep them from Shady McStickyfingers.

Adeline on the other hand is faring much better with her friend making. She got off to a rough start claiming that she was shy. I told her no way she was shy and we went over a few friend making strategies. She ended up gravitating towards the other new girl in her class. And since Slim and Shady got a picture I thought it only fair that she did too.

Unfortunately she has no older brothers.

Everything Is A Little English

I live in England. There I said it. Now maybe one day I will actually start believing it. It's not that I don't want to live here I am very excited that I do. In fact I couldn't be happier, but it is just such an odd feeling to wake up every morning and think "I just woke up in a foreign country" or to be driving down the road and think " This is not America." It leaves a surreal taste in your mouth. But I am just going to have to accept the fact that I do and move on with my life. I only have three years here and I need to start seeing some things and doing things that I am going to look back on and think "Oh yeah, I did that while I lived in England." So let's just get it all out there at once and be done with it. "I live in a little English house in a little English village where my kids go to a little English school and I drive my big American vehicle (some things you just can't give up) on the wrong side of little English roads where other little English cars are going way too fast and I am loving every minute of my little English experience."