Evelyn and Olivia's First Birthday!

Since we were on holiday in Naftalan the day of the girls' actual birthday, we held their party the following Sunday afternoon. I had so much fun planning all the small details and was fortunate to have a sweet friend's husband bring me some supplies from the US to make it complete. It was a wonderful party and we are grateful to all our new friends that came to celebrate with our family!

I used the daily pictures I had taken of each of the girls (Evelyn and Olivia - via Collect) to make the large 1 on the background. Since Olivia is allergic to eggs, I used a new recipe that a friend in Norway passed along and was pleasantly surprised at how delicious the cupcakes turned out! I made them and the girls' smash cakes myself along with the cake and high chair banners.

I made the First Birthday chalkboards for each of the girls and modeled them after the one I made for Madi at her first birthday party. It's totally out of my comfort zone to do something so artistic (and honestly stressful - I much prefer excel!), but I am happy with how they turned out and I love seeing all three girls' next to each other in their playroom.

We took pictures the evening before when everything was setup so that it was out of the way on party day and because it was dark so the lighting was better. However, we made sure to capture a family picture at the party and then pictures of the food setup.

And what would a first birthday be without smash cakes! Evelyn (as expected) made a hot mess of hers and was slapping the cake with her hand. Olivia was dainty and refined as she took small pieces of icing and restrained herself.

But overall they both loved it and went straight to the bath afterwards!

Happy First Birthday precious girls! :-D

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Holiday Weekend in Naftalan

Last week was the end of Ramadan and a couple days off of work for Jason. We decided to take advantage of the long weekend and explore a different city in Azerbaijan. There are quite a few mountain and ski and other holiday resorts within just a few hours of Baku that we've heard good things about. We did some research and decided to go to the Garabaq Resort and Spa in Naftalan. It was a 3.5-4 hour drive from the city and the girls started to get a bit restless (and didn't sleep as long as we'd hoped despite leaving at their naptime), but we arrived and met up with the Knox family who had decided to join us for the weekend!

Madi and Cooper have quickly become bff's and Madi also loves Cooper's older brothers, Connor and Logan. Madi affectionately refers to them as "my boys" and spent the weekend asking where her boys were the little time they were apart.

The hotel itself was beautiful and had a lovely outdoor pool, a nice spa that Kathleen and I visited, all-inclusive meals, and loads of stuff for the kids to do - play area for babies, arcade for older kids, playground nearby, mini golf, and bikes to ride around. There was no shortage of fun during our stay!

We had a two-bedroom family suite that included a living room / dining area. And if you look behind the dining area there's a door. That led to the Knox family suite which was a mirror image of our setup. It was great to just open the doors in the morning when the kids were up and to visit after they'd gone to bed.

The hotel staff found out that the twins would be turning one during our stay there and surprised them with a cake Saturday evening (since we were checking out on Sunday, their actual birthday). The girls didn't quite know what to think of the sparklers on the cake!

We had a bit of trouble and delay getting home on Sunday...the AC wasn't working in the van when we started to leave and the check engine light was on. Jason discovered the engine belt was gone and we ended up having to wait an additional seven hours at the hotel for a new ride to come. It was definitely not ideal, but the hotel was incredibly accommodating and let us use our same room for the twins' nap and didn't charge us anything additional even though we stayed well past check out.

We finally made it home late Sunday night with loads of amazing memories with the Knox family. Looking forward to our next adventure together with them!

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A Year of Olivia Ann

Since I captured a picture every day for Madi's first year, I obviously had to do the same for the twins! It was fun and I'm glad I did and these beauties will be displayed at their first birthday party this weekend. :-)

Here's July 2015 - July 2016 capturing a picture each day of Olivia Ann Stingerie! :-)

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A Year of Evelyn Grace

Since I captured a picture every day for Madi's first year, I obviously had to do the same for the twins! It was fun and I'm glad I did and these beauties will be displayed at their first birthday party this weekend. :-)

Here's July 2015 - July 2016 capturing a picture each day of Evelyn Grace Stingerie! :-)

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