Show Me!

Background Info: There are members of the Artis household who have yet to develop an appreciation for undergarments, well to be more specific, underwear. Why? I'm not exactly sure. I make it a daily practice to wear them under my clothing, and my husband strives to wear them everyday also. We have made several attempts to make sure that the non-schoolers develop this same appreciation for underwear, but for some reason they have yet to really "catch on" to the idea of wearing underwear everyday. Take Ike, who is 4. He prefers "decorated" underwear, usually covered in Power Rangers or Spiderman. For awhile he would put them on backwards so he could see the characters that are printed on the rear of the underwear. If there are no "decorated" underwear that he prefers for that day, he opts for freedom. Sarah who is a "semi-practicing pottyer" switches between pull-ups and underwear, but she likes her freedom also. She is our little streaker. Drew, the lone "non-practicing pottyer" simply does not like underwear at all. So needless to say, it is not uncommon to hear me asking "Do you have on underwear?" And of course I can't just ask, I have to always follow up with, "Let me see." And just another tid-bit that you may need for clarification later on, per Sarah, "girls wear panties and boys wear draws."

The Incident: The entire Artis 6 spent the night with their Papa and Grandma Sat. Sunday morning my dad strolls downstairs in his robe to enjoy his morning coffee. He is greeted by his beloved grand-babies. They love their Papa and they know that telling him how much they love him, earns them more "brownie points" and stuff. In the mist of this Sarah yells, "Papa, do you have on draws?" Now, I am sure you can only imagine what went through my dad's mind. In shock he answers, "Yes! I have on draws." Sarah responds quickly with, "No, you don't!" At this point my dad should have taken on the role of a parent and decided not to argue, but noooo, he chooses the path of a grandparent and decides to argue with the two year old, who by the way speaks extremely clear. So there was no mistaken what she was asking. My step-mother at this point is "hollering" in laughter. I am now wondering why didn't she rescue him. Her laughter only encourages my dad to continue this argument which leads to Sarah saying, "Well, show me!"
My step-mother is still "hollering" laughing at the two year old requiring that her Papa prove that he has on draws and my dad is still horrified! While speaking with him today, several days later, he informed me that he has yet to put that robe back on. And to answer the question you're wondering, No, he didn't show her.

Its My Birthday!!!!

I will be having my first child-free birthday party!!! I am so excited! I have planned it to my liking with the help of some very special, and might I add creative ladies.....Thanks Rhonda, Talexis, and Kim so that means lots of cheesecake and no birthday cake. There will chocolate everywhere and children no where! What a day! My birthday isn't until Sun. but I will be celebrating all weekend. I'll be back Mon. with lots of pictures of the fabulous event.......(singing in my best hip hop voice, "Its my birthday, birthday! uh huh It's my birthday, birthday!"

Equipped to Succeed

For as long as I can remember, I remember my father sharing stories of my family's rich history. My father has gone to great lengths and spent many hours educating my sisters and I on the triumphs and accomplishments of our family. He told stories of my grandfather who refused to work as a sharecropper and worked endlessly to give his children the future of hope and success. My grandfather taught his children that education and hard work were the keys to success. He was able to purchase land from his father and later give land to his children. That land still belongs to our family. Because of that work ethic and determination, my grandparents were able to proudly watch all six of their children attend college, bringing forth teachers,superintendents, chancellors, supervisors, business owners, and principles. Those six children married and begin to pass on the same keys to success in life.
My sisters and I grew up knowing that college was a requirement in our household. My father, mother, many aunts and uncles had gone to college. When my father retired at the age of 50 he began to drill entrepreneurship. He would constantly tell us that ownership was apart of who we were. My sisters and I have always been Daddy's girls, thinking that our father could do no wrong. In our minds, Daddy is ALMOST always right. So when my father said we could be entrepreneurs, we believed him. My father helped me start a thriving hair salon while, he opened a residential care facility for adolescent boys. He tried in every way possible to get us involved in his ventures. My sister, who is a nurse, is the resident nurse, my sister "the techie" handles all of our technological issues, and most recently I have begun going a few days a week to assist with administrative duties. On the days when I go to work for my father, I sometimes take the non-schoolers. I have convinced them that it is necessary for us all to go to work to help "Papa" with his business. My four year old has really taken to this idea. In preparing for the next day, if he knows we are going to work, he takes out his "work clothes." Usually khakis and a button down shirt, I noticed he is mimicking what he sees my husband and my father wear to work. He walks in the business with confidence because he knows his "Papa" owns the place.
My sister called today to tell me that she had begun talking to her little ones about entrepreneurship. During that conversation her little ones informed her that "Lil Ike", my four year old is an entrepreneur. In our visits to the business he has convinced himself that he too is a business owner and he proudly tells everyone that he goes to work. It dawned on me that he is taking work very serious because he views it as his own, and some day it shall be.
This is what parenting is about. I think of parenting as kind of a learn as you go experience. There are things I will get right, but there are tons of things I will get wrong. But it is those moments when you realize that your words and actions are shaping the lives of the people of the future. The decisions I make now to educate or not to educate them on certain things impact their thoughts and ultimately their actions and decisions in the future. I sit here with a big grin on my face as I happily tap away at the keyboard chronicling this story, all because I know that I am equipping my little ones to successfully grab hold to their prosperous futures. I know that one day these very same lessons will be passed on to my grandchildren, great-grands, and many other generations to come, and that I feel good about!

Lovin' the skin she's In

Its always interesting to watch little ones grow and mature. My little niece recently celebrated her 8th birthday. My sister decided to give her the most fabulous sleepover a little girl could dream of, set up in a very swanky hotel room, complete with tons of junk food, loud music, and too many happy, screaming little girls.......well too many for my patience. My nine year old daughter informed me that my sister is MUCH cooler than I am so I guess that means she has more patience than I do. But as I sat there watching the little ladies jump around, singing and dancing I felt so proud of my little niece. She was prancing around in her swimwear proudly parading her beautiful deep chocolate skin and gorgeous afro-puffs. My sister has managed to teach my niece to be proud of how she was created. I proudly sport a natural but I am having a hard teaching my daughters to love their hair. It goes against the standards of beauty they see everyday in school, or on TV. Yes, brown skin and big or short beautiful naturals are becoming more common on TV but not celebrated. My 9 year old should not have to endure teasing at school because her hair isn't straight and hanging down her back. I teach my daughters to we are all beautiful. Our differences are beautiful. I want to teach them to feel comfortable with who they are, not feeling a need to change their appearance to look like anyone else. I want my daughters to know the self-love and proper self-image my sister has managed to instill in my niece, b/c she is lovin' the skin she's in.

Color that Lasts and Lasts and Lasts

For anyone who's wondering.....I'm a MAC makeup junky. There are few things I love and truly indulge in, well other than good food, and that's a whole nother subject, but the one thing I have a hard time resisting is new colors to add to my MAC collection. I have been building it for years and I proudly display it whenever someone says, "Your makeup looks great!" Well everyone in the house knows that my MAC is the one thing you don't touch, just like everyone knows if you wanna send my husband over the edge, drink the last swallow of Coke......and yesterday the twins dared to touch my MAC lip colors. Not only did they touch them but they too decided indulging in my MAC makeup was the thing to do. I had properly laid them down for nap (thanks for the advice from the moms on overcoming bedtime/naptime drama). I have been following the instructions given to me by pros, I checked on them. They appeared to be sleep so I decided to retire to the couch for a little nappy nap myself. I awoke to 2 sticky, greasy, colorful little monsters. Sarah and Drew decided to paint one another with MY lip color. They stripped down to undies and pull-ups and carefully painted one another on the back, stomach, legs, head, face.....and the list goes on. They touched EVERY lip color I had, whether it was lipstick or the wonderful gooey lipglass that I Love so dearly. After coming out of shock, I took them to the shower and began to scrub, and scrub, and scrub, and after more than enough effort and time they were still sticky, greasy, and slightly colorful. One of the reasons I love MAC colors is because they last, and last, and last. Even this morning the twins skin looks so shiny and moisturized. Actually the lipglass appears to be working much better than the many lotions I have tried on their dry skin. I just caught a glimpse of little Drew running through the room, with his chest shining like one of the guys in a Tyler Perry play, shirtless of course (only because he is following the example of my teen-age son who thinks his little muscles are growing bigger everyday). I guess I will just have to start over with new colors.....and to anyone wondering where to start to let me know just how much you love me on my birthday, the MAC store is a great place to start!