Shooting for the Stars party with American Girl McKenna

An American Girl: McKenna shoots for the stars arrives on Blu-ray and DVD on July 3,2012 at American Girl^®retail stores, Wal-Mart and online. The film will also air on July 14, 2012 at 8pm/7pm central on NBC.
My children and I enjoyed watching this movie.  We made our favourite strawberry banana smoothie and star shaped butter cookies inspired by the movie.  

For the butter cookies, we need...
12 oz flour
a pinch of salt
8 oz butter chilled and cut into cubes
4 oz sugar


Mix the flour, salt and butter until it makes a breadcrumb like mixture.  Add the sugar and mix until it forms a dough.  I found having a wet hand helped making the dough, make sure not to wet the hands too much :)
Press the dough to 1/2" thickness.  Cut desired shapes and place it in a greased baking tray.  
Bake for 10 to 15 minutes until the cookies are golden in a preheated 400F oven.  Leave the cookies on a wire rack and let it cool before enjoying.  
Don't over bake as the bottom of the cookies will burn.  The cookies will harden once it cools.
This recipe is adapted from the Kids' cookbook.


After enjoying the movie and having our party, we talked about some good points that were raised in the movie.  

• One situation is learning that there's nothing wrong with needing a little help.
• Trying to do what is taught and taking risks carefully because my daughter likes trying some gymnastics tricks that could be very risky.
• Talking about how reading should make sense and that we need to talk about it afterwards so we understand what we are reading.  Reading all types of literature is important, I try to make it a point that reading isn't just from books but it is everywhere.

Hope you enjoy making these butter cookies and watching American Girl McKenna.


Here is a synopsis of the movie.  This movie will keep children and adults engaged at the same time make us think.
McKenna is a determined and confident young gymnast who is trying to make the regional competitive gymnastics team.  She goes off track and is not able to keep up with school.  Her teacher suggests a tutor, however McKenna is embarrassed and desperate to keep it a secret from her friends. Then a bad fall at the gym sidetracks her from her favourite sport and forces her to concentrate on her studies.  The movie is about all the things that happen and everything she learns while recovering from her injury.

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