Olive's {Heilman} Family

It is always fun to watch cousins interact at our gatherings.

 Olive is getting to the age where she wants to play with her cousins and see what they are up to.  They always seem to have the best toys and make her laugh the hardest.  She seems to just enjoy watching them.  They are all very sweet to her and it's fun to see them together.

We never ended up getting a picture of all the cousins because of naps so next time I'd know to take a group shot as soon as everyone arrives.  Eleanor and Austin didn't make it in the pictures.

 It was not surprising that Olive wasn't that excited about opening gifts.

So we tried to open them quickly letting her play with the bows and open boxes.

 Funny picture:

The Indy 500 happened to be on at the same time we had Olive's party.  We had it on in the background but the final lap happened during presents.  I don't think Olive was excited to have to share her celebration with Ryan Hunter-Reay :)  Since her birthday is so close to Memorial Day, I'm thinking it's going to be an ongoing pairing of her birthday and the 500.

 Olive has gotten to see her Mimi and Papaw every few weeks now that we live in Arkansas.  She definitely recognizes them and loves them to pieces!  It was fun to celebrate together.

 Happy 1st Birthday Olive!!

 Special shout outs:

Kevin:

his birthday weekend phrase was "What can I do to help you?" 

and it made all the difference.

My brother:

who said I should be a party planner after seeing her party all set up!!

My sister:

who took lots of pictures for me during the party, 

gave me icing tips and got the cute cousin pictures.

My Dad:

Did loads of dishes and a lot of the behind the scenes work!

My Mom:

This party would not have been possible without her help!

She did grocery shopping, planning, decorating, cleaning, made a mad rush to Party City to seek out the ellusive gold #1 balloon and a million other little details.  Her house is a dreamy place to host an event because she's got the best serving pieces, tableware and table cloths and she's got a good eye for things.  She helped me so much with the cooking, baking and setting up.  She put together peony bouquets for me and worked her tail off to celebrate my little girl!!  I'm sure lucky to have her.

Thanks for making Olive's party so wonderful!!