Putting Sam to bed

Everett has been slacking on his elf-owner responsibilities. Lately, when asked if he's ready to put Sam to bed, he's been telling me "You do it, Mama".

Tonight he was exploring the pantry when I asked if he was going to put Sam to bed. He quickly told me he was busy and that I should do it. When I asked him if that meant that I got to keep any special treats that Sam brings in the morning, he sighed and said "Come on Mama, Let's Go" and led me into the living room to tell Sam goodnight. He even blew him a kiss goodnight and then rushed back to his important job of inspecting everything in the pantry and asking "Mama, what's this?" ... "Mama, what's this - I smell it?" ... "Mama what's this? Can I have it?" Mama, mama, mama, mama .....

Hard to believe there was a time when I wondered if he'd ever start talking!!

Got Chocolate?

Pryce Playing

Reindeer Games

More Sam Adventures

Sam likes to leave Everett candy canes. And Everett LOVES candy canes. However, we think Sam is concerned about the toll all these holiday treats are playing on Everett's teeth. There have been two mornings recently where he's been found with a new toothbrush and toothpaste for Everett. One morning he even left E a note reminding him to brush his teeth more often.

Silly Sam, we found him one morning riding E's stick horse and watching Toy Story.

An Evening in the Life of Everett "Grizzly" Rankin

It is with great pleasure, that I introduce my guest writer, Grandad Ray Rankin, who is making his blogging debut with us today!

An Evening in the Life of Everett "Grizzly" Rankin
Dear Davey Crockett,
Your successor as the world’s greatest bear hunter may have just been discovered. Saturday, December 6, 2008, Everett Ray Rankin, along with his brother, Pryce, spent the afternoon with his grandparents in Chico, Texas. His Grandma and Mother went shopping and his Dad was recovering from a stomach bug. Cousin Hayley, not quite two years old, brother Pryce, about one and a half and Everett, three plus were doomed to spend the afternoon with Grandad.

Grandma and Grandad’s yard is only three quarters of an acre but has a huge elm tree with limbs drooping almost to the ground. Grandad has a shop and a lot of garden pots, barrels, tresses and other junk piled around the shop. Just moved in, and the various items don’t have a home yet. However, there are a lot of spooky places to find booger bears.

Everett has developed a recent fascination with ropes and, having grown up on a ranch, I understand his delight in roping everything sticking up and anything that moves. I, therefore, lost no time in finding Everett a rope. During the course of the afternoon, Everett roped just about everything inside the backyard fence except his brother and cousin. I warned him pretty sternly about that. He explored every inch of the yard and especially the hidden cubby holes in the junk. I occasionally warned him about watching out for bears that might be hiding there.
While Everett was roping and tying, Brother Pryce and Cousin Hayley were playing with me, digging in the dirt, playing with the gravel in the new walkway, playing ball with Lefty and playing in Lefty’s dog house. I had no agenda but just let all three of them roam. Play without supervision or structure. What a treat!!! I did make them a temporary swing in the big elm tree. I borrowed one of Everett’s ropes and threw one end of it over a limb, put a two-by- four through the loop on the end, pulled the board about two feet off the ground and made a swing. Hayley loved it and stayed for several minutes. Pryce was too small and was unable to hold himself on the board so I got a plastic five gallon bucket, removed the board, tied the rope to the bucket handle and set Price in the bucket. Worked great until he started leaning back. Soon his feet and head were the same distance from the ground but he was still hanging on, swinging and smiling.

By the time the girls got home, all three were so dirty, we had to wash them to see who was who. It was getting dark anyway, so we terminated the "freestyle" playing and cleaned the three tired little ones.

However, after supper, Everett decided he wanted to go back to the shop and see if any of the bears were still out there. I agreed to go with him and suggested he get his pistol while I got a flash light. I was going to scare the bear out and Everett was going to shoot him. About half way to the shop, Everett stopped. I asked him what was wrong. He promptly replied that he would stay there and I should go on out to the shop and check for bears. After a brief discussion, we agreed that I would go scare the bears out, he would shoot them with his pistol and Grandma (who had started all the bear-mania) would skin the bear. I turned the flash light off and headed for the shop. On the way, I passed the plastic platform for the basketball goal and gave it a big kick. It was hollow and the kick made a terrific noise. Immediately, Everett yelled "DON’T MAKE NOISE". I was having a hard time controlling myself so I turned toward him and asked him, "What?" Again he immediately responded in a hushed voice, "Don’t make noise." My control vanished and I had to put my hands on my knees I was laughing so hard. I put my arm around him and suggested we go back in the house. I thought the bears had gone back to Alaska.

The babysitting venture was truly a memory-making treat.

Sam visits Sissy (A letter from Les)

Dear Everett,
Sam and I had so much fun last night!! Thank you for letting him spend the night with me!! We started our evening making candy for all our friends and family. We had fun stirring in the flavor. Sam said it smelled really good and can't wait to have some. After we made our candy we had to clean up the kitchen. Sam was a really good helper with the dishes but was soon feeling mischievous. He threw soap bubbles all over my face!! Sam was very nice though and helped me wipe off all those bubbles.

After all that excitement we decided to watch a movie. Sam asked what my favorite movie was and I told him it was The Princess Bride. So Sam, Jeff, and I watched it and Sam said he really liked it and said he thought he saw that movie at your house. He thinks you might like it too.

I fell asleep during the movie from all our hard work and Sam was gone!! I couldn't find him and thought "Oh no!! Everett will be so upset with me if I lost his magic elf." Jeff and I looked and looked everywhere and do you know where Jeff found him? He was hiding in my stocking!! He jumped out of the stocking and gave Jeff quite a fright. He tried it again by hiding in my Christmas tree but I saw him up there so he couldn't scare us this time.
After all that it was time to get ready for bed. Sam helped Jeff and me brush our teeth so we don't get cavities from eating all that Christmas candy. And do you know what? We didn't have a sleeping bag for Sam to sleep in, or any crackers, or Sam's magic snow. So Sam got to sleep in the big bed and we sprinkled him with marshmallows and gave him cashews to eat as a snack.
I guess Sam was tired from our busy night because he slept all through the night. I was very thankful that I didn't have a big mess to clean up in the morning. However, we were very hungry when we woke up. I had heard that magic elves liked to make pancakes for breakfast, but Sam didn't feel like cooking again. I found him looking through my Entertainment Passbook that Gigi and Baba gave me for a coupon so we could eat breakfast. We had so much fun all night, but Sam said he's ready to come back home to see you and show you the pictures that we took. Thank you for letting me play with your magic elf, Everett.
Love,

Leslie

Sam's adventures continue

Everett spent Friday night with BaBa and GiGi, but he remembered to put Sam to bed and sprinkle him with magic snow before he left. I guess Sam missed Everett because he played in his room all night. When E came home, he found Sam flying around his room in a fish kite!

David and I caught Sam in the act on Monday night. Just before we went to bed, we found him zip-lining through the kitchen! What a crazy elf he is. Here's a short little video.

Make video montages at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Christmas Photo

OH, the joy that comes with taking our annual Christmas card photo (sarcasm). At what age do kids actually start cooperating when you're trying to get that perfect photo? I'm guessing I'm in for a few more years of drama when taking on this dreaded task. We did settle on a photo for our Christmas card (although not entirely happy with it). Here's a look at a few of the pics that you won't see when you open our card this year.

Naughty Elf

Oh MY did Sam get into mischief last night! When we woke up this morning, just look what Everett found.

For those of you who are environmentally conscientious, I will have you know that all paper was gathered and is now in a big pile in the bathroom ready to be used. No wasting in this house! LOL.

Trimming the Tree

Everett was very eager to help us trim the tree this year. We decided to forego stringing beads, as we knew it would only take one grab for Pryce to pull them all down at once ... along with any ornaments that got in the way. We also purchased a lot of shatterproof ornaments this year. We learned the hard way with Everett that ornaments look like they might actually taste good. Didn't want a repeat of that experience!

Everett took great pride in his work. I told him to find a spot that didn't have any ornaments and hang his ornament there. Well, he did EXACTLY as he was told. He found a spot and he hung ALL his ornaments there!

Stepping back to admire his work.
We had a lot of fun. It sure is nice to experience Christmas throught the eyes of a three year old. :)