Ah, finally! Jon is 30! Now we have about 8 months where we are the same age and he can’t make fun of me for being older than him! I knew I wanted to do something special but subtle for my guy who doesn’t love to be the center of attention, and some super special custom cookies were just the ticket! But before we see those, let’s introduce Maria, your neighborhood cookie lady and Babywearing Baker:
We first met Maria as a part of the No Excuse Mom Culpeper group, and quickly started seeing her all around town, our daughters becoming friends (or as good of friends as you can be at 2 years old) – Layla is a little reserved, so having outgoing Charlotte around has been fun for her! Maria started baking as a hobby during the p*ndemic and it has taken off from “this could be fun to try” to a passionate business and staple to the community. As a mama of 3, her title as the Babywearing Baker came from her love of the closeness baby wearing brings her to her babies and the necessity to keep curious hands out of the cookies! She also is a baby wearing wizard and used to be an ambassador for a baby carrier company and still has quite an impressive collection; she lets me pick her brain with carrier questions rent free (thank you!)
You’ve seen me share Maria’s work before – the Easter Bunny left some of her custom Peeps cookies in the girls easter baskets and she made the amazing football stadium cookies at the Super Bowl party we attended. Maria is involved in the local community and you’ll frequently find her booth at community markets, back to school events, and she also catered the most beautiful dessert table at the Culpeper Adult Prom that raised thousands of dollars for Girls on the Run Piedmont! She always has decorated cookies you can order for the big holidays like Christmas or Halloween and the smaller events like the Super Bowl, Teacher Appreciation, Grandparents day, etc. or fun DIY kits for kids and adults alike. She has a variety of drop cookies that will blow your mind! My two favorites are her cookies & cream or these perfectly pink strawberry heart cookie sandwiches that she had in February.
Then of course, she will take custom orders for all kinds of events from birthday parties to baby showers or bachelorette parties (but you didn’t see those pictures from me lol). I took the theme of “Dirty 30” literally and gave Jon and older-than-dirt theme complete with a dirt cake and custom cookie toppers made to look like gummy worms writing out 3-0. We also had a few beautiful *happy birthday* cookies that I almost had to fight Layla for! Not only are they beautiful, but they are SO stinkin’ good! Jon’s birthday cookies were a classic vanilla that just can’t be beat (my all time favorite might be the fresh strawberry…which shocked my lemon girlie heart; don’t get me wrong I still ate all the lemon at Easter too!). She is the one that suggested adding the sticks so the cake toppers could be standing on the cake and it turned out even better than I could’ve imagined! Below find a few photos of the deliciousness, which I’m glad I got because they were all quickly gone:
Now that I’ve convinced you that you need some custom cookies too if you’re in the Culpeper area or are passing through anytime, here are several ways to get in touch and check her out:
Strength and Grits 
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