SURPRISE!!- warning this is a long post :)

So its been awhile since I last posted...it has been a busy couple of weeks for us with the Tropical Storm Ida and a mild case of pneumonia in our house plus I knew this post was going to take me awhile to complete because it deserves the time. So I will start from the beginning, as I mentioned before the weekend after my birthday Chad had planned a weekend away for the 2 of us. Probably about a month before we left he kept talking about all these surprises he had planned for me for the weekend so that got me excited! He kept saying you are going to love the surprises I have planned. I think he mentioned the word surprise everyday that month. And for those of you who do not know this about Chad he was the kid that had to wear his new shoes out of the store because he was so excited and it benefits him to buy my Christmas presents just a few days before Christmas that way he doesnt have to keep them a secret too long!! So the night before we left I could just tell by his face he was so flipping excited about our trip he couldnt stand it. He went to sleep early the night before because he said that way tomorrow will come faster. I love that he is like this by the way! Ok this is starting to get long winded...So we are off to the beach. On the way he explains to me that when we arrive I am going to think that the place we are staying is way too large for just us but the lady who owns the house really wanted to rent it out so she gave him this unbelievable deal that he couldn't pass up. So I buy it until we pull up on this...

So yes my mind starts thinking...this is WAY too much space we dont need all this! But it could be fun. The house was great very well decorated with a contemporary beachy style. Well as I am taking a few pics of the house before our stuff takes over I hear the doorbell!! Surprise #1 Lorie and Jody! Yay! And then a few minutes later Jeanna and Jennifer!! Yay! And Lorie brought this delicious cake below (from Edgar's yes strawberry cake!!)

Chad has the biggest grin on his face. He was so proud of himself and I was so proud of him too! And it was not over yet. the four girls before dinner...

The 6 of us head to dinner at the Old Florida Fish House in Seagrove. Great place by the way!! After dinner we decided to hang out at the bar and listen to their house band and around 10:30 Julie, Corey, Lea and Russ arrive. I was completely shocked. I now had all my closest friends with me to celebrate my birthday!! How perfect!! The picture below is from that night shortly after Julie and Lea arrived. Not the best pic of me (apparently I thought something was pretty funny) but I thought it captured how much fun we had that night.

All of the girls!!

The handsome boys!

Saturday Seaside was hosting the Seeing Red Wine Festival (the main reason why Chad and I wanted to go this particular weekend). Jeanna, Lorie, Chad and myself bought tickets and the rest of the gang watched the AL vs LSU game at a local pizza place. The wine festival was so much fun!! The weather could not have been more perfect, we tasted lots of really good wine, the food was delicious and we met some funny people. This day was definitely the highlight of the weekend. A few pics from the festival below...

This is the weather we had the entire weekend. It was absolutely perfect!! Who wouldnt want to go to the beach in November when it looks like this!

This was definitely the best birthday celebration I have ever had and the memories we made will never be forgotten. I owe it completely to my thoughtful husband. He planned this trip with all of my closest friends just for me. He said in his initial email to the group that he has thought about what he could get me for my birthday and the only thing he knows I love but do not have is lots of time with my friends. How sweet is that!! I am the luckiest girl in the world. He spent the time searching for a place and coordinating all the details with everyone and I had NO clue!! Kind of scary when you think about it :) Chad, anything else I need to know...

Also this weekend would not have been possible if my friends had not made the effort to come. I am so grateful to you all for leaving your babies behind, taking time off work and making the long drive to the beach to celebrate my birthday. Words cannot express how much it meant to me that you all were there! It goes to show you that distance and time apart doesn't change a thing when you have such wonderful friendships. That weekend it felt like Auburn and Bham again and we never left :)

And one last little story...On our way out on Sunday poor Corey was taking out the trash and a glass bottle sliced open his leg and they had to make a trip to the local ER before heading home. 11 staples!! Sorry Corey but I guess you will have a small scar that will always remind you of this trip!!

Happy Halloween 2009

To start off the Halloween festivities, James' class at day care had a little Halloween party Friday afternoon. It was so much fun to see him interact with the other kids in his class. They had so much fun and thoroughly enjoyed the Halloween cup cakes. It was a real treat for James!

Then Saturday was the day. We had such great weather and enjoyed watching Auburn football especially since they won a game!! Oh and Meme, Papop, and Nana came to visit to celebrate mine and Anna's birthday. We celebrated by going to dinner Friday night and then enjoying some Italian cream cake for dessert. We opened presents and since I was already in my pajamas we did not take any pictures of the night :). But back to Saturday...I first wanted to include a picture of James last year on Halloween. It is amazing how much he has changed in just one year :)

Our little Pirate!

James does not like wearing anything on his head so it was very hard to find a costume that did not have significant head attire. We did try real hard to get a few pictures of the different head accessories individually even though they are supposed to be all worn together...that was NEVER going to happen with him...

Nana participating in the festivities :)

We took James around "the loop" for some trick or treating and he loved it. He has never eaten candy before but he still got excited about putting treats in his little bag and I will say at times he was selective about his candy choices :) It was a great Halloween!



And yes now I am officially 30! It is not too terrible. Chad is taking me on a little getaway trip this weekend to celebrate while KK and Pop stay home with James. Chad claims he has several surprises in store (I love surprises!). We do not get away very often so we are really looking forward to it!!

Weekend Recap

Sorry for the long post but there were too many great pictures documenting our weekend I couldn't help but share :) We had a fantastic weekend!! The weather was perfect and we spent alot of good quality family time together. Saturday consisted of a little bit of our own football game outside. Maybe James should start receiving for Auburn...they apparently need all the help they can get. James did start saying "Awborn" this weekend and actually recognizes the orange and blue and AU symbol. Last night Auburn was on the news and it only showed a picture of the AU and he shouted "Awborn"! He also knows which pacifier is his "Awborn" pacifier :)

The "Fork"

On Sunday we decided to make our first official fort or "fork" as James called it. He LOVED it!! He couldnt stop laughing. There was alot of the faces you see below under the fork...we were dying laughing with him. Such a great idea and it only took using a flat sheet to make him SO happy!! I wish we would have thought of this one before now :)

And here is a picture of the outside of our make shift "fork". Nothing too complicated...and I had to get outside of the fort to take this quick picture before I was shoved back in by James...


And then we enjoyed a nice walk down by the bay. What a gorgeous day!

Late Sunday afternoon James had his first popsicle with Daddy. I think he loved it. Everytime he took a lick he would say "hmmmmm" and then rub his tongue on his lips.

So even though we hardly left the house this past weekend we had a great time!! After the weekend was over I realized we even ate every meal at home...that is a record for us!!

Looking forward to Halloween this weekend. Can't wait to share the pics of James in his costume if he will wear it long enough...

My Last 10 Days

There they are those infamous 2 numbers when combined together make every late twenty year old cringe. I have been dreading this birthday for several years now hoping it would take awhile for this birthday to come and now it is only 10 short days away...I only have 10 days left in my twenties!! In the last couple of months I have really been thinking about turning 30 more often I guess because it is so close. When you are 30 people think you really are an adult, people think you are really mature and people think you really should no longer be dependent on your parents. Your youth is gone and you will never see it again :). And I have been struggling with these thoughts. I have thought I should make a list of things I want to accomplish before I turn 30 maybe even things I could do in my last 10 days. But then I started thinking what I am talking about...I am not dying...my life is not officially over when I am 30. The reality is I have been an adult for quite some time (probably becoming a parent made it really official) and I haven't been dependent on my parents since the day Chad and I married. I have been completely blessed with my life thus far. I was raised by wonderful supporting parents (both sets :)), I graduated from college with a very small amount of a student loan, I have had great jobs, I was able to really enjoy my twenties and still act irresponsible at times and now I have married the only person that truly "gets" me and loves me for who I am (even with all my flaws) and I have been even more blessed to be given the gift of a healthy happy child who could not be more perfect. So I have already accomplished the things that are most important to me. And even though I am turning 30 my life will continue and I will continue to enjoy it! I still feel young at heart and that is all that matters. The age you are stamped with doesn't really mean all that much. I am turning 30 in 10 days and I am going to embrace it with a smile!

P.S. For those of you that know me, my birthday is always a BIG deal and usually lasts more than 1 day. Therefore, the purpose of this post is NOT to down play my birthday and act like this year it is not a big deal...hint hint

P.S.S. Some of you are probably wondering how I already I have a picture of a cake for me. This past weekend my wonderful in-laws had a small celebration for me while we were in town. The cake was a strawberry cake from Edgar's Bakery in bham. My absolute favorite!! I told you the celebration always lasts longer than 1 day :)

18 Month Photos

This past weekend while we were in Birmingham we had James' 18 mo photo session. The photos are now on the website!! I am so thrilled with how they turned out. This was our 1st on location session and I think it is my favorite. Here is the link and go to client proofing and the password is bstracener57

www.amandatraywick.com

More on this past weekend soon!

Major Milestone

James is no longer begging for the American Idol Final Results show!! We are working on the 3rd week. For those of you who do not know I will give you a little background...James loves music, dancing and performances so we had recorded the American Idol Final results show back in May because it had so many great performances and great music. Well we made the mistake of letting him watch it one time and he loved it!! His 1st favorite performance was "Boom Boom Pow" by the Black Eyed Peas so he referred to show as Boom Boom. So every afternoon when we would get home he would go to the tv and point to it and say "Boom Boom Pease (please)". We watched the show every night for 4 months. He would never watch the show in its entirety thank goodness. One day a few weeks ago we came home and he didn't ask for it so I didn't turn it on and now we are working on the 3rd week!! Yay!! I will say even though I am glad he has moved on, we did get some really good laughs out of it. He now thinks every time a song ends on the radio, on the tv, from one his toys that he should clap and say "yay!!" because that is what you do after a good performance you know :) He also knew exactly when Allison would do a punch kick during the "So What' by Pink performance and he would also do his version of the kick at the same time. I thought since this show became a part of our daily routine for so long it was blog worthy to announce this major milestone.

I also feel the need to write about my morning today. It was terrible! As I am backing out of the garage James distracted me and I ran right into the side of our house!!! Yes I hit the corner because I turned too quickly. Awesome! It left a huge scrape and dented the side panel behind the rear door. Luckily there was no damage to house because that would have been way worse. I am just not having good luck with my current car. This will be the 3rd time it will be in the body shop and I have only had it for a year and half. The first 2 times were not my fault so we didn't have to pay anything but still. It is the trouble you have to go through. Oh well nothing I can do about it now but laugh. Fortunately James didn't repeat the word I said when I realize I had hit the house :)

I do not have any pictures that relate to this post so I will post this one of James and Baxter because it makes me smile!

HOT!

Am I going to be wearing summer clothes during the holidays??? Could it please go below 90 anytime soon!! The heat and humidity are killing me, it is October right?? I guess James can go as a lifeguard for Halloween so all he would have to wear is a bathing suit maybe too hot for anything else...which by the way I am way behind on the Halloween stuff this year...no pumpkins, no decorations, and no Halloween costume...YET! It is on the to do list this weekend hopefully it will get checked off :)

Happy Friday everyone and War Eagle!!