Gabriel Luke has a birthday--1 yr old!

Our darling son, Gabriel Luke Vautrot, celebrated his birthday with us in Alexandria (first) and then in Lafayette--at both of his grandparents' homes. Jennifer's parents had an adorable party that had a clown/circus theme: his cake was decorated with Circus clowns, and there were other accessories there that had clown and circus themes. He had a layered cake from the renowned Atwood's Fine Bakery in Alexandria.

We then had a 2nd party for our son in Lafayette--at my mom's home. Now, for this, I decided that I wanted a Cajun Bayou/Swamp theme. So, we had adorned the dining room with authentic Spanish moss, real Cypress knees from my property, imitation Crawfish, Turtles, Crabs and Alligators. We decorated the 20 foot dining room table with camouflaged table cloth, and matching plates. We hung a Happy Birthday banner in the same room, and from each letter of Happy Birthday, we used a clothes line pin to attach a picture of Gabe from each month of life: so, we has about 12 pictures of him, each picture hanging from each letter...all in sequential, chronological order--showing his growth over his 1st year of life. Jennifer and my brother, Philippe, did a fantastic job putting all of that up. We also had a special made cake for him, and it was decorated with Camouflaged icing--green, olive drab, and light brown colors. Moreover, all of the attendees had to wear camouflaged outfits, including little Gabriel. LOL. All of the children that attended his party (i.e. his cousins) were provided "critter candy"--in the line with the  Bayou/Swamp theme. So, we had Swiss fish, and gummy fish and turtles, Robin's eggs, chocolate turtles, etc. I also purchased some water bottles, and added green food coloring to each one, and made labels that read "Swamp Water" for the kids. They thought that was so cool and loved it! We had a huge turn-out for his party in Lafayette: all of my family and most of Jennifer's family came, as well as Gabe's cousins. It was a memorable day!

Gabriel Luke in such excitement at his birthday
party at Jennifer's parent's house: he had
a Clown/Circus-themed party!!!!

a truly wonderful backdrop for his 1st birthday party

Gabe wearing his special-made shirt, too!

Special-made 2 tier cake from Atwood's Bakery with
circus and clown themes

 

Gabriel loves his cousin Hannah!

 

Jennifer at my mom's house preparing our 2nd party for him
in Lafayette

His second birthday cake--camouflaged for our
bayou/swamp/Cajun themed party!

Gabriel Luke wearing his little camo shirt!

Playing at his grandma's house in Alexandria

Gabe wearing some denim coveralls for his 11 month
pictures

such a handsome, adorable little fellow: Gabriel Luke Vautrot

 

holding my son at Don's Seafood Hut in Lafayette;
he is wearing a little fedora Jennifer and I bought him
at Old Navy.

a typical evening at home: Gabe sitting in my lap, working on
my laptop together with me

Our family. Blessed.