Favorite Christmas Cookies

I've already resigned myself to the fact that I'm going to eat too much over the next week and that Quinn and I will be walking around the neighborhood A LOT once the weather clears up!  Here are two of my favorite Christmas cookie recipes, one from childhood and one from college days:

Gingerbread Cookies
3 c. flour
1 1/2 t. baking powder
3/4 t. salt
1 T. ground ginger
1 3/4 t. cinnamon
1/4 t. ground cloves
3/4 stick (6 T.) unsalted butter, softened
3/4 c. packed dark-brown sugar
1 large egg
1/2 c. unsulfured molasses
2 t. vanilla
1 t. finely grated lemon peel (I omitted this)

1. In a medium bowl, mix flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, & spices.
2. In a large bowl, beat butter, sugar and egg with mixer on medium speed until creamy.
Add molasses, vanilla and lemon peel and beat about 1 minute until smooth.
3. Gradually beat in about 1/2 the flour mixture.  With a large wooden spoon, stir in remaining flour mixture until blended.  Divide dough in half.  Wrap and refrigerate at least 2 hours until firm or up to 4 days.
4. Place 1 rack in upper third of oven.  Heat to 375.  Coat cookie sheets with nonstick cooking spray.  Have ready assorted cookie cutters.
5. Place 1 portion of dough (if dough is too stiff, let stand at room temperature 20 minutes before rolling) on a lightly floured surface.  Lightly dust dough and rolling pin with flour.  Roll out dough to 1/4 inch thickness.
6. Cut out cookies and place 1 inch apart on prepared cookie sheets.  Repeat with remaining dough.  Reroll and cut out scraps.
7. Bake in upper third of oven 7 to 10 minutes until edges of cookies are slightly darker than centers.  Cool on cookie sheets 2 minutes before removing to wire racks to cool completely.

*I didn't make icing for these since we were working with a two year old but I found a simple icing recipe that you could try: 1 c. powdered sugar (sifted), 1/4 c. milk, and 10 drops of food coloring

Rachel, one of my college roommates, and her little girl, Ava, came over to help make the cookies.  I learned that you have to move fast to keep the gingerbread men from having lopped off heads and limbs. ;)

Ava & Quinn listening to Rachel read a story (and Ava helping rock Quinn).

And the other recipe has probably been my favorite since college.  Another college roommate, Rebekah, introduced these to me at a tailgate.  These are her mom's famous "Chocolate Mint Candies Cookies" or "Andes Cookies" as we affectionately call them.

3/4 c. butter

1 1/2 c. brown sugar

2 T. water

2 c. semisweet chocolate chips

2 eggs

2 1/2 c. all-purpose flour

1 1/4 t. baking soda

1/2 t. salt

3 (4.5 oz) packages Andes mints (I just used one package of Andes baking chips)

1. In a saucepan over medium heat, cook the sugar, butter and water, stirring occasionally until melted.  Remove from heat, stir in the chocolate chips until melted and set aside to cool for 10 minutes.

2. Pour the chocolate mixture into a large bowl, and beat in the eggs, one at a time.  Combine the flour, baking soda and salt, stir into chocolate mixture.  Cover and refrigerate dough for at least 1 hour.

3. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Grease cookie sheets.  Roll cookie dough into walnut sized balls and place 2 inches apart onto the prepared cookie sheets.

4. Bake for 8-10 minutes in the preheated oven, be careful not to overbake.  When cookies come out of the oven, press one mint wafer into the top of each cookie and let sit for 1 minute.  When the mint is softened, swirl with the back of a spoon to make a pattern with the green filling of the mint wafer.  For smaller cookies, break mints in half.

Mmm...chocolate and mint!

Thankful

Quinn was baptized the Sunday before Thanksgiving, and it was a really special time to celebrate with our family.  We're so thankful for the reminder of God's goodness, faithfulness, and covenant promises to His people.  "For the promise is for you and for your children and for all who are far off, everyone whom the Lord our God calls to himself." Acts 2:39

Quinn's Nona (Rob's mom) made Quinn's gown- so special!

 My mom found the gown that I and my four siblings wore for our baptisms so I made sure to take some pictures of Quinn in it as well.

We're thankful we could share the day with these sweet friends, the Olejniks, and our little girls are only about a month apart!

The Martin family

The Hall family

We're so thankful everyone was able to come!

4 months

Happy 4 months to our little "sweet cheeks", "sweetums", "Q"!  We love you, Quinn Edie Martin!

Here's what our chubby-cheeked baby is up to these days:
-Weight: 12 lbs. 13.5 oz.
-Length: 25 inches
-still looking like daddy (or so most people say)
-happy baby, especially in the mornings
-seems to have been going through a looooong growth-spurt (as in the past month, she's been waking up at least twice during the night to eat)
-not a great sleeper; most naps are about 45 minutes long but once or twice a week she'll take a two hour nap
-likes to grab anything within her reach
-likes to look at herself in mirrors
-very observant; she's been good in the nursery so far, we think because she loves to watch all the other babies around her

A can of pumpkin

I really wanted to try a new granola recipe a couple of weeks ago, and I found one that I love!  The only problem is that it called for less than a whole can of pumpkin so I found other recipes to use the rest of the pumpkin.  I kind of felt like I was in the children's book, "If you Give a Mouse a Cookie"...except it was a can of pumpkin instead of a cookie that led to the mess in my kitchen. ;)

The only thing I changed in the pumpkin maple pecan granola was to substitute walnuts for the pepitas (pumpkin seeds).  I might try the recipe with pumpkin seeds once I'm finished with the pumpkins on our front steps. ;)

There was plenty of pumpkin left after this recipe so I decided to try a pumpkin spice creamer...and just to warn you, it makes A LOT!  But who doesn't love pumpkin spice creamer in their coffee this time of year?

And there was still about half a can of pumpkin left after these two recipes so I made half a recipe of this pumpkin bread. (I used about a cup of sugar instead of 1 1/2 c.)

Little Sweet Cheeks likes to watch me cook when she's not napping.  Maybe she'll be my little helper in the kitchen one day.

A Quick 3 Month Update

Our little punkin' is three months old!

She loves to "talk" (cooing when she's really happy), puts her hands together, focuses on objects- especially her hands, and grabs more objects.  She is sleeping between 7 & 8 hours at night usually, and her morning naps are still better than her afternoon naps.  She weighs about 12 pounds and is about 25 inches long.  She no longer has to wear her hip harness as of October 31st!

Two months!!...a few weeks late

Quinn turned two months old on September 27th so I'm pretty behind!  We've been busy with football games and another family wedding.

We tailgated with college friends and families before the Clemson-UNC game.  It was fun to catch up with everyone and not worry about making it to the game.

Sophomore Year roommates and kids

College friends...seven years after graduation!  Really?!  Has it already been 7 years?!

Junior and Senior Year Roommates and kids

Rob and I went to the Clemson vs. Louisville game this Saturday while his parents kept Quinn.  We really appreciate Nona and Papa being willing to keep Quinn for several hours (the longest time this nervous mom has been away from her), and apparently she was really good for them!  It was fun to go to an actual game, and my Carolina husband will be allowed to come back since he wore orange and Clemson won (unlike last year when we went to the FSU game).

During late September, Rob and I took Quinn up to Skytop for the first time.  We went on a Monday since Rob had a couple of vacation days to use up, and this worked out well with our little one since it wasn't as crowded or busy.

The apples rode in the stroller since Quinn refused to.

My little sister, Mary, got married October 4th!!  All 5 of us are now married (within 5 years)!

Sadly, I didn't get many pictures from the wedding weekend since my hands were a little full, but congratulations to Jonathon & Mary McKay!

Their getaway car that the guys enjoyed test-driving.

And...this is what happened at the house on Sunday.

Uncle Samuel finally got to hold Quinn!

Lastly, here's what Quinn is was up to at 2 months:

-Weight: 10 lbs. 4 oz. (22nd %ile)

-Length: 23 in. (72nd %ile)

-Head: (82nd %ile)

-Eyes are still bluish grey (much to our surprise)

-She smiles a lot, especially in the mornings.

-She likes to play on her playmat, kicking her legs and swinging her arms.

-She does NOT like tummy time but likes to hold her head up and look around when we hold her.

-She's usually sleeping 7 hours straight at night, taking at least one long nap in the morning, and several short naps in the afternoon.

looking at Mama and the camera...

looking at Daddy...I think someone is going to be a Daddy's girl! :)

What would you do with one free hour?

Our church recently restarted the fall semester of "Mentor Moms", but this is my first time being involved in it.  It was so refreshing to be able to get out of the house on a Tuesday morning and gather with other moms to eat an amazing breakfast and begin to get to know each other around our table.  We'll be going through the book The Envy of Eve this semester and so far I've only read the first chapter but I highly recommend it already!  The author uses Scripture to point out our struggle with discontentment and envy and the heart of the issue in not truly delighting in Christ most of all.  Anyway, I'm really looking forward to this study and to getting to know other young moms.  Last week my table's sweet mentor mom asked each of us to share a little about ourselves and to answer the question, "What would you do with one free hour?"  Never was this such an exciting question until becoming a mom!  I love Quinn very very much, but I also savor free time more now.  After Rob and I just celebrated our 2 year anniversary a couple of weeks ago (Labor Day actually), and were able to go out to the Peddler to eat, just the two of us, I knew that's what my response would be....one free hour for Rob and I just to go out together.  I'm realizing how rare that will be but also that we can and should make it work.  By the way, after going out to eat, we just drove around town for at least thirty minutes, just because we could...it's odd how refreshing that is after being cooped up in the house for a few days.
Of course when I've had free time by myself, especially when Quinn is napping, then I've been napping.  She's started to take longer afternoon naps so I've also been able to do a little more in the kitchen, which I've missed.  Rob's parents came into town this weekend so that Rob and his dad could go to the South Carolina/UGA game, and his mom stayed with me and Quinn.  Since Rob was gone (and he doesn't like tomatoes), I decided I'd try a "girly" recipe and it was a winner!  My sister-in-law, Lindsey, included it in the latest Bush-N-Vine email that she regularly sends out, and I conveniently had some Bush-N-Vine grape tomatoes on hand.  The pastry part of this recipe requires some time, but my mother-in-law, Marian, and I thought it was well worth the time.

Rob and I are so thankful for our family and how they love to spend time with Quinn so that we can have a few "free" minutes or hours!

We're just thankful for family...PERIOD!!

One Month!

Our little one already doesn't seem as little anymore!  Quinn turned one month old Wednesday so I took a few pictures until she let me know that she'd had enough.

 At one month:

• 8 lbs. 8 oz. (38th percentile)
• 21 3/4 inches long (87th percentile)
• head circumference is in the 63rd percentile (these stats were all from her doctor's appointment last week so not exactly month stats)
• She is much more alert!  She doesn't sleep for very long periods of time during the day, and the past few days she has wanted to be held all the time.  She likes taking naps during the day on Mama or Daddy.  At night she has started to sleep a little longer- she'll sometimes have a 4 1/2 to 5 hour stretch of sleep, but most of the time it's still about every three hours that she wants to eat at night.
• She loves to bounce.  (I bought an exercise ball about a month before Quinn was born to help with laboring at home, but it has been most useful now!)  If she's not hungry, she'll usually be pacified by being held & bounced on the exercise ball.  Mama & Daddy's backs and arms are getting a work out!
• She makes funny faces, especially when she's sleeping.  We love watching her gassy smiles. ;)  When she's awake she often furrows her eyebrows and looks a lot like her daddy.
• Since she was breech, our pediatrician found out the day after she was born that she has hip dysplasia, which means the ball and socket of her hips are not deep set.  She was fitted for a harness when she was about a week old, and she hasn't seemed to mind it at all.  (It was harder on Mama than it was on her.)  She has three more weeks full time in the harness before she'll go to wearing it just during naps and night.

We can't believe how much she's changing!  We love you, Sweet Cheeks!!

"Hmm...am I really one month old already?"

And....this is real life.  She was just done with Mama taking pictures. :)

Quinn Edie Martin has arrived!

I really should update more often, especially seeing that our baby girl will be one month old next week!!  Time really is flying by, and even though the sleepless nights and sometimes fussy hours have been difficult, I don't want to wish the time away.

Here's Quinn's birth story:
I woke up at 2:30 am Sunday, July 27th with contractions.  I figured it was the real thing since I hadn't felt any contractions up until that point in the pregnancy.  I labored at home until about 7:00 am when my contractions were about 4 1/2- 5 minutes apart and were lasting between 45 and 60 seconds.  (Rob was an awesome coach during the whole process!)

We packed up our stuff and drove to Greenville Memorial.  Of course when I laid down on the bed in the triage room my contractions slowed down and weren't as intense.  My doctor checked me and said I was only 2 cm!  Thankfully she didn't send us home but told us to walk around the hospital for at least an hour.  Well, that definitely brought the intensity and frequency back!  When Rob and I got back to the triage room, my doctor checked me again and I was only 3 cm dilated and 90 % effaced...needless to say I was disheartened since I thought surely I was dilated more than that.  She went ahead and admitted me to labor and delivery and I received an epidural at about 11:00.

I progressed to 8 cm by about 3:30 pm.  This time when my doctor checked me, she said, "Uh oh, that doesn't feel right."  Um, not what you want to hear!  She realized that Quinn was breech, so proceeded to tell me that I'd be having a c-section.  At the time I was just glad that we'd be meeting our daughter very soon.  

Quinn Edie Martin was born at 4:15 pm, weighing 7 pounds, 13 ounces and 19 3/4 inches long.  "Quinn" is from my grandmother's maiden name (My dad's mom, Granny), and "Edie" is from Rob's grandmother's nickname in high school (his dad's mom).  We are in love and thank God for this beautiful gift!