Cookies and Milk Party!

Kendall's party was this past Saturday and it was so much fun! She told us this year that she wanted a chocolate chip cookie party! I loved the idea and was excited about planning it. This year was extra fun because Kendall was very involved with wanting to plan her party, talk about it, make things for it - she was all about it. Several weeks out, she would tell me, "Mom, we need to get started on my party!" So I would sit down with her with my notebook, asking her questions. "Who do you want to invite?" "What do you want to eat?" "What should we do?" "What kind of decorations do you want?" She had answers for all of it. She told me she wanted to have all girls, except for Daddy, her grandpas, and Oliver, her cousin. She said she wanted chocolate chip cookies, milk, and a chocolate cake with a cookie on the top. I threw out the idea of a cookie cake, but she was determined to have an actual cake that was decorated to look like a cookie. And no ice cream (I vetoed that one). We talked about what we would do, and I said something about baking cookies together. She thought that sounded fun, but I thought twice about it and decided I couldn't really figure out how to make that work with 10-15 girls. Then I came up with the idea for them to fill up their own jars with the dry cookie ingredients, give them the recipe, and send them home to make their own cookies at home! Kendall loved this idea, and when I told her, she said, "Yes, and then when they make them, they have to call me and have me over to eat them." Love it!

And yes - there were presents. Thank goodness. :)

We have chosen an author for each girl and each year on their birthday, we get them a new book by their author and have everyone that comes to the party sign it. Kendall's author is Dr. Seuss, and this year I chose Hop on Pop, because it's an easy reader and she has learned to read this year!

You can see the girls' cookie jars they made in this picture, too. They really turned out so cute and they had fun making them.

Kendall and I also came up with the idea to make aprons for each girl. I was going to cut their names out of fabric and sew them on, but then I talked to Amy and she gave me the great idea of ironing their initial on! So much easier and I was able to learn something new! I talked to Erin about it some, too, and had fun the week before personalizing these aprons I found at Hobby Lobby.

Me and my girls!

All the girls, minus Evy. We are so thankful for such sweet friends for our Kendall-girl!

 

All her grandparents came, except for Papas, who had to stay home because he was sick. Great Granny even came with Pops and Kiki and Kendall loved seeing her! Val also came with Gracie, Oliver, and Evy. It was a party all weekend!

Ms. Woodward even came to the party! She was like a rock star when she walked in the house - Kendall, the other three girls in her class, and Sarah, who had her last year, all came running and attacked her. She was so sweet to come by!

We had so much fun getting ready for her party and then the actual party was a blast! It was a good balance of having stuff to do and then just letting them hang out and play and even jump on the trampoline because the weather was pretty. I love that Kendall is already noticing how it is important to our family to celebrate big and little things, and love watching her with her friends and extended family. Happy 6th birthday, Kendall-Bendall!!