Halloween

Louis was a dragon for Halloween.

We attended a party at his daycare in the afternoon. The second photo shows some of the kids and parents in front of the building where his daycare is located after a “parade.”

More excitement came later in the evening when Louis won 1st place in the Halloween costume contest at The Elizabeth (our building)!

I think 90% of the credit goes to Louis’s charm…

but 10% goes to Old Navy for making such cute costumes at such affordable prices.

Louis’s mom couldn’t be prouder.

In other Halloween activities, Louis painted a pumpkin.

Fall Harvest

This past weekend we traveled to New Jersey to visit our friends Christian and Meredith and their daughter Moira, who will be a big sister in a few short weeks. Even though Louis is several months younger than Moira, they got along very well together. It probably helped that Moira was very generous with her toys (including this small piano.)
One of the highlights of the weekend was visiting a nearby farm that had pumpkins, apples, and other fall produce for sale. We took lots of photos of Louis amid the pumpkins.
There were also farm animals to see: bunnies, goats, sheep, and a pig.
Louis and Moira had fun riding around on toy tractors.
We drove home the next morning, which was good timing because we made it home before Hurricane Sandy came up the coast. We spent the next night safe and warm in our apartment whereas, unfortunately, Christian and Meredith lost power just a few hours after we got home.

Photo Shoot

In honor of Louis turning one we set up a family photo shoot courtesy of Lindsey’s friend Hillary. We went to a park in Virginia on a beautiful day when the leaves were just turning bright colors.  Here are a couple favorites.

Louis’s 1st Birthday

 

Tonight we celebrated Louis’s first birthday. We started with some pizza.

Then we had a chocolate mousse cake. (Since we don’t know what kind is Louis’s favorite, we thought we’d start off with a cake that we knew we’d enjoy.)

At first it seemed like Louis’s preference was for the whipped cream…

But then it was clear he enjoyed the chocolate part too.

There was so much tomato sauce and chocolate on his clothes that we had to change into pajamas before opening presents.

Below is Louis with his gift from Julie and Ilon. It sounds like gifts will be arriving all week which will make every evening a fun surprise.Thanks to all our family and friends for the happy birthday cards and wishes.

 

Almost 1 and Walking

This video was taken this morning will a cell phone at a park near our house. This particular park has lots of donated plastic toys for kids to use. Louis loves the ones that he can push around. (We're eagerly awaiting his birthday gift so he can cruise around at home too.)

The second video is from later in the day. We went to a different playground and Louis was showing off his new walking skills.

Celebrate with Grandma and Grandpa Russell

Grandma and Grandpa Russell came to visit Louis for his 1st birthday. They arrived on a Saturday morning and we quickly headed off to the zoo. It turned out to be perfect weather for the zoo. The cooler temperatures meant that many of the animals were outside moving around, including the pandas, cheetahs, and elephants.
Louis saw every animal we pointed out to him, such as this red panda in the tree.
And this Andean bear.
The zoo recently completed an American section and we were really impressed by the wolves.
Louis enjoyed seeing the farm animals, especially the goats. He got very close to a goat and was almost close enough to this cow to pet it.

Later that day Louis opened birthday presents. Grandma and Grandpa Russell gave him clothes (including a Brown’s jersey), books, and toys. Thanks Grandma and Grandpa!
To add to the excitement of the day, Louis impressed everyone by taking a legitimate step. In the following couple of days we’ve been encouraging Louis to repeat the performance. He’s very close to walking!