Lesson Learned

Last weekend was Jeff's 30th Birthday party…Jeff’s actual birthday is this weekend May 23rd, but it's also Memorial weekend so Lisa had his party last weekend. After Field Day, I loaded the kids up and we rushed back to Dallas, picked up the cake and made it to Lisa's just in time to welcome Jeff home for his 'big day'! Lisa catered one of our favorite Mexican food places, Blue Goose, and it was scrumptious! We ate, we played, we jumped on the trampoline, we had cake, we hung out with superheroes...all in all good times. That is...until...Jeff insisted on giving Mason 'the floor' to tell us 5 funny things. So, as most of Lisa's immediate family gathers around the table to listen to Mason and his 'top 5 list', he is beaming and you can see him mind working...which is NEVER good. I have no idea what his first funny thing was, but the 2nd one, i remember all too clearly. He proceeds to tell everyone that "Kellie toots in her sleep"...yes, a little humiliation for good ol' aunt kelbel! Fortunately, i know Lisa’s family VERY well or i may have washed mason's mouth out with soap and taught him a lesson or two about messin' with me!! They've all heard plenty of mason stories to know that this kid is CRAZY...and he'll admit it! It was hilarious though and we all cracked up.

BUT Lesson Learned: never give a 5 year old…especially one named mason…the floor. Somebody please pass that on to Jeff.

This picture does not do Lisa's very cool sign justice...it was awesome!

Field Day – No Longer a Competitive Sport??

Last Friday, I took off work to go to Megan and Mason's Field Day. I was so excited! I love Field Day! I have some great memories from 'back in the day'. I remember doing the 3-legged-race with Jamie Fannin…and one year with Lisa Little. So fun! There were some great competitive events...relay races, potato sack races, tug-of-war...and lots of practice and preparation went into this big day of the year. In high school, since it was during our off-season of sports, we even got to go 'work' a few of the stations our Junior/Senior year. It was so fun. I remember Lisa Little and I working the potato sack event and we raced each other before everyone else got to the track. Anyway, things have changed. And not for the better. I was so disappointed. I would say that Field Day is no longer any kind of a competitive event. The events have changed drastically and now include...15 minutes in a blow-up bounce house, 15 min on the playground, a less-than impressive obstacle course, parachute activity in the gym (sitting/standing in a circle with your class holding the sides of a big parachute and making waves, etc), wet sponge toss (over your head to a person standing behind you), short class/team relay and a very non-competitive tug-of-war game. Yes, it was a bit boring to watch. Don’t get me wrong, the kids had a good time, they all seemed to enjoy themselves...but let's be honest, they don't know any better. I do know better. It was boring on all accounts.

Besides the fact that it was boring, I think it now deprives the kids of what field day is all about. Work hard=Win big=Feel accomplished. When I was a kid, there were actual competitions, races, winners and losers. There were 1st, 2nd and 3rd place ribbons given out. I'm pretty sure if I looked hard enough I could find a ribbon or two now. Yes, if you lose, you may be sad. But, if you don't teach kids now that there are winners and losers in life, when are they going to learn? I think it's a mistake to take competition out of school functions like field day. Those kids need to learn the value of putting out extra effort and working hard to get what they want...you may not always win even if you give your best effort, but that is a valuable lesson. As adults, we sometimes lose. We may try our hardest, we may work long hours, we may stress over something in order to be successful...and we may fail. The presentation may not go as well as planned. We may not get the job, the position, or the recognition that we feel we deserve...but that's life. At dinner last night, we were discussing the same type of thing. One of the girls was talking about how her manager said that she has started seeing young adults coming in for a job interviews…with their parents! What the crap?! Seriously? If you walk into an interview that I am the interviewer...and you bring your mom...you can walk right back out. Not interested. It’s stuff like this that makes me think we have gone way too soft on kids these days. Let them go alone to an interview. Let them compete at field day and lose if that's what it takes! Teach them independence and how to work hard and compete against others to win! Stepping off soapbox...I may not have been impressed with the events, but i did enjoy seeing the kids having fun...and have pics to prove it.

Field Day activity...really???

Part of the obstacle course

Choose Your Battles

A couple of weeks ago Brad and Megan came to town to spend the weekend with me. Megan loves to come to Dallas and even more so, loves to go through my closet in search of 'THE PINK HIGH HEELS' and go through my jewelry box looking for my most gaudy jewelry. So, this time was no different. She immediately walks in and asks "Can I go get the heels?" So, she proceeds to find them and wear them the rest of the weekend. Saturday night as we are getting ready to go out to dinner, she asks if she can talk to me in 'privat-cy'. We walk to the back room and she starts with, 'Please don't say no, please don't say no'. Of course, when anything starts like that, the anticipation of what might be circulating in that little head of hers cracks me up. She asks if she can wear the heels to dinner. Keep in mind, I wear a size 9 1/2 and she's wearing a kids 3...so needless to say, my shoes are way too big for her. But, the moment is priceless and her sweet face is just too hard to say no to. It's times like this that I think...or hope...that she'll always remember. I want her to remember the fun visits to Dallas to hang out with her Aunt Kellie...cool places to go, cool friends to hang out with, cool jewelry, cool high heeled shoes...and the memories of getting to wear those shoes to dinner even though they look ridiculous. Plus, i figure if Davis can wear his 'cooker' hat to school, Megan can wear ridiculously big 'high heels' to dinner...choose your battles, right Lis??

I’m back…again…for now...

Wow! Yes, it has been a long time. I have a continuous blog list that I keep as ideas come to me to blog about except I never really get around to it. And actually, eventually I just stop keeping a list altogether once i realize that list is not making it to my 'priority list'. Here's what my most current list says: Eye Surgery/Passing out at pre-surgery appt; Napa Valley Trip; Lisa's strobe light/dance party; Mica's bday party; San Antonio 1/2 Marathon. As you can see all of these things are old news by now and most of you have heard my story from them...so let's just skip ahead 6 months and get more current. With that said, I really don't have much to write about these days! Dang, should have told those stories when they were fresh...maybe I'll get to them one of these days...

I know that all of my friends that currently have blogs…and busy life with kids…and sporting events…and traveling with their jobs…and long hours at work…somehow manage to keep up with blogging on a somewhat regular basis…so why shouldn't I be able to? No, I do not have kids...no, I do not work long hours...no, i no longer travel for work...but let's be honest, I'm a busy girl! I am FUN Kellie after all! I have been continually reminded by Mica that i can even blog and upload straight from my phone now...and we all know how addicted i am to my iPhone...so no excuses right? Wrong. I have plenty. Mostly just laziness.

Now that most of my tv shows are going on summer break, I'm hoping to dedicate a little more time to things like my passion for photography…and blogging. We'll see how that goes. For now, let me catch you up on a few more recent things that are somewhat blog worthy.