avery's party...

avery had her friend birthday party this past weekend...it was a lot of fun. we did it at a pool by her grandma's house and we started at 9 am...because it was already 100 degrees at that time! yuck! any other people born to our family have to have a birthdate between february and april...i could maybe do may but that's it! no more summer birthdays in arizona ( mine is may, ethan's is in july, kendall and avery both in august and blake in october)! it's stinking hot.

i digress.

the party was lots of fun! kids swam and played. we had a pinata, muffins and fruit, fish cupcakes and cookies to take home! thank you to everyone that was able to come and help us celebrate our little girl! we love you for doing that for us on such a hot day and we love our girl!

i made the cookies as take home gifts and i used the CD envelope idea to package them and of course made some stickers for them because sticker paper is now my new favorite thing...ever! i used this recipe {it's betty crocker}

3/4 C. granulated sugar

3/4 C. packed brown sugar

1 C. margarine or butter (can decrease, and i did, to 3/4 C)

1 tsp. vanilla

1 lg. egg

2 1/4 C. flour

1 tsp. baking soda

1/2 tsp. salt

1 bag (2 cups) chocolate chips

mix sugars, butter, vanilla and egg, beat until creamy. this is an important step, the sugars need to be beat and mixed well, it really makes a difference! stir in flour, baking soda, and salt. stir in chocolate chips. drop about 2 inches apart on ungreased cookie sheet, bake 8-10 minutes, centers will be soft, cool 1-2 minutes on cookie sheet then remove to wire rack.

i did three different kinds of cookies: chocolate chip (2 cups), white chocolate chip macadamia nut (1 bag white chocolate chips (2 cups), 1/2 c. bag of macadamia nuts, chopped up), and m & m's (2 cups).

i used my ice cream scoop to make these that has the little lever that pushes the ice cream (or dough in this case) out of the scoop. much easier and more uniform! the bigger cookies need to bake longer, 12-14 minutes, will vary by oven i am sure.