The next day....

For some reason Grammy and I were moving a little slow the day after Thanksgiving... it may have something to do with shopping ALL night?

We did have enough energy to prepare a traditional turkey with stuffing and green beans dinner and we even had the energy to do some MORE shopping at our favorite thrift store where everything was 25% off wooo hoooo! She found a Mountaineers sweatshirt for Pnut and a Seminole windbreaker for Spud..SCORE!! (I'm going to have to dedicate and entire post to our thrift store finds one day soon!)

The boys were happy to turn the yard into a racetrack and practice their swings.

One last look at my craftiness :o)

Giving Thanks the Mercer Way

Thanksgiving Day was a rowdy good time...a little less rowdy this year since we were missing our Northernmost Mercers (who are the really rowdy ones in the family, especially the newly retired one!! he he he) So, in true Mercer Tradition, the turkey was thawing for Friday and the CRAB LEGS were being prepared for our feast today. (The story behind the tradition is the Great Pop is not a fan of chicken, and since turkeys are basically overgrown chickens he prefers to eat seafood on Thanksgiving instead, and so we ALL get to enjoy seafood for our Thanksgiving feast.)

Mmmmm crabbies!!

Grammy, the head "chef" with 4 pounds of shrimpies behind her.

Our pretty table.

The boys made place mats in their CBS classes last week.

Since Andrew was working this week our dinner was on hold until he was able to find out the River schedule... he had a ships to move in the morning and afternoon which meant he was able to run home for an hour around 1pm. We had an early dinner this year!
The boys were SO happy to see their Daddy... he barely got out of his jeep and he was tackled. Even Dieterdog was excited to see him!

Great Pop got new headphones so he can listen to the TV as LOUD as he wants!
(and the rest of us don't have to hear it)

The boys insisted on wearing their ties to dinner.

I started a NEW tradition this year... a THANKFUL TREE. Everyone received a "leaf" and was required to write inside what they were thankful for and then put it on the "tree" before they could eat. Pop was REALLY excited about it (but he participated!) It was a lovely dinner and I am so happy that Andrew was able to come home and we could all be together.

Would you like some pie with your whipped cream?

Our Thankful Tree.

Because we had dinner so early it left the rest of the day for football and CHRISTMAS trees!! Grammy bought a new 9 foot tree so we were dying to take it out of the box and put it up. Spud came through and kept repeating "wow, pretty tree Grammy." We realized that this is the first year that he is aware of it all..he was too young to notice last year. SO exciting, for him... and for us!!

"So pretty"

Mmm pop corn for dinner!

First official ornament on the new tree!

We did chips and dip and shrimps for dinner in front of the TV..and more pie of course! Grammy and I then chilled out until 11:30pm when we left to go SHOPPING!! We were out ALL NIGHT and did not get home until 6am! We initially went to BestBuy but the line was around the plaza so we headed over to Old Navy where she stood in line while I ran home and ordered the BestBuy goods online and returned with hot coffee to continue waiting in the checkout line to get out $15 jeans. Then it was off to the rest of the Tanger outlet stores and Belk. GOOD TIMES!!! Sorry, no photos to share since we were too busy to take any!

All in all it was a wonderful day full of food, family and sunshine. I am most thankful to be a part of this amazing family...which is what I wrote in my thankful tree leaf :o)

They think we're just Fishing

Another beautiful fall day in one of the prettiest places I have ever been...I still can't believe I actually live here! We took the boat out in the hopes of catching shrimp for our Thanksgiving feast but sadly the shrimp were all hiding. 37 cast net throws filled the live well with 4 shrimp...not exactly productive. When Andrew finally netted the first shrimp the boys erupted with a "YAY DADDY YOU GOT ONE!!" cheer that caused all of the other boats around us to bust out laughing. They were SO excited over the one shrimp and who got to pick it up and who got to turn on the live well. I was just sitting there thinking about the memories that we create daily and how this was just "one more day out on the boat" but it is oh SO much more than that.

My first fish!!!

The Craftiness Continues....

There were a few wood pallets at the husbands work so he brought them home, cut them up and this is what I did with them...

He likes to be crafty with his Momma :o)

The palm fronds were an afterthought when we were at Edisto beach. I painted shells for the nose and eyes and used spanish moss on top.

Go Go Go Cart?

When the husband mentioned that a guy at work had a GoCart frame in his yard growing weeds and that he would sell it to him for next to nothing I thought "Yea, sure honey, just what the boys need." Fast forward a few weeks and THIS is what I find in the garage one evening.....

 

Look at those little faces! Are they happy or what?
The engine was not running as well as it should so Mr. Fixit took an old pressure washer motor and replaced the old motor on the go cart. Being the skilled and knowledgeable mechanic that he is (not to mention a good Daddy and sensible husband too) he fixed the gas pedal so that Pnut can not go any faster than 3 mph..ok, maybe 5mph. It is a temporary fix that can be removed easily so that he can tear through the neighborhood pushing 30 mph, scaring the hell out of the UPS guy..or was it the Hargray guy.. or both?

One Beachy Mother!

I have neglected this blog recently since I have been busy being "One Beachy Mother"...that is what I am calling my crafty business. I had an idea to create oyster shell Santas and one thing led to another and before I knew it I was registered to be a crafter at the Hilton Head Oyster Festival Nov 12 & 13. That left very little time to follow through so for the past week I have done little else but paint, paint, paint. This is what I created to sell at the OysterFest....

Ho Ho Ho Ho Ho!!!

This is what the shells looked like to begin with....

Salvaged from Edisto Beach where the shells are ankle deep!!

Cleaned and sun bleached in the back yard.

Organized and ready to be painted...they already look like Santas..sort of.

I painted 187 shells in one week!!! I met my deadline. This is what my vendor tent and set up looked like...

Pretty rough view behind my tent...Broad Creek LOVE IT!!

Pnut and Grammy stopped by to visit :o)

So you will notice that I sold snowman pots too...or should I say, I had snowman pots available for sale. I did not sell a single one which was truly disappointing...I thought they were super cute. On the first day I did not arrange them very well (as you can see in the photo above they are just placed on the table) so on day two, with creative suggestions and fancy boxes from Pop, I thought for sure they would be noticed and sell better...NOPE!!! Here is my day 2 set up...

Terra cotta pots with character!!

Oh well! If anyone looking at this blog needs gift ideas, I have a few pots and shells I can sell you!!
I was able to cover the vendor fees and the materials costs and have a little spending money left over not to mention a happy heart that I was able to create something that other people enjoy and are willing to give me money for. I am working on an Etsy listing in order to make the shells available online WORLDWIDE and will share the site soon... maybe even a facebook page too?

Now that the OysterFest is over I promise to get the Edisto Beach camping trip photos and story up soon!!