Corn Dogs with a Twist

If you love making new and fun foods, keep reading! For my birthday I got a Baby Cakes cake pop maker (as stated in my last post.) After a little research on how to use it, I found a TON of cute recipes...muffins, cake, and yes, even corn dogs. So today I thought I would do a quick little how to...

I started with my preheated and lightly greased baby cakes maker and...

 

a Cornbread mix. Of course, you could always use homemade cornbread. For the sake of time, I just used this. Follow the directions on the back of the package for mixing it up. When you are done the mix should still be lumpy. It is not a smooth batter.

The next step depends on what you want your corn dogs to be like. First you microwave any type of hot dog (here I used cheese hot dogs) until they are really warm. Here is the part that is up to you...you can either cut the hot dogs into big chunks like I did OR you can cut them into little bits and mix them in with the batter. If you cut them into chunks like I did, do NOT mix it in with the batter.

Next you pour a little less than a tablespoon of batter in and place a chuck of hot dog in the middle (unless you went for the little chunks mixed into the batter). Once all the little cups are full, shut the top and wait for about 3 minutes. When 3 minutes is over, open it up and you have some delicious corn dogs!! Take them out with the little fork that comes with the Baby Cakes maker and let them cool a little on the rack! YUM!

 

 

Um...I can't figure out how to rotate the picture (yeah, I'm that hopeless with computers) so you will have to look sideways for a bit :)

Happy Birthday to Me...and Woody :)

Wow! It has been a long time since I have posted anything on here! I finally got some help on getting pictures, so I am back in business.

October, besides being the beginning of my favorite season, is also the month of birthday excitement. Woody and I share a birthday month and our birthdays are only separated by 5 days. I just turned 17 and Woody turned 15. Both of us thoroughly enjoy our birthdays and we spent both of them very happily.

On my birthday I had a day out with Mrs. Potato Head. We got a relatively early start and headed to the nearest mall for a day of shopping. We took our time browsing clothes, crafts, and Bath and Body Works. We then headed to McAllisters Deli for a delicious sandwich and soup lunch, followed by a bowl of birthday cake ice cream...YUM! Of course, this was all done amid laughter and good conversation. Then that night I headed up to Minnesota with my church young group. Thankfully we only drove 4 hours that night! So besides the terrible hotel we stayed at that night, I had a fun filled birthday!

Since I was gone with the young group all weekend, I celebrated with my family on Monday night. That is when I got all my birthday presents...

I got a REALLY cool bulletin board made by my cousin (check out her blog: dancetothemusicbyjo.blogspot.com), a couple really cute picture frames, a pillow for my soon to be redecorated room, and a Baby Cakes cake pop maker!!!! (and more...I just realized I pretty much got spoiled this birthday!) Since our birthdays are so close together, Woody and I open presents together every year. Woody's favorite gift is the light saber he got from our aunt...he takes it with him everywhere!

 

 

One more birthday down the hatch! Thanks to all my family for the wonderful gifts, cards, and birthday wishes!

Rockin' the Extra Chromosome

My little brother, Woody, was born on October 10, 1997. He was by no means an ordinary newborn. Woody was born with Down Syndrome. Down Syndrome is caused by an extra 21st chromosome. In other words, Woody was an extraordinary newborn. Born five weeks early, he was teeny tiny, weighing only 3 pounds, 7.5 ounces.

He never let his size get in the way though! As a toddler he liked to run...run...and run some more! Curiousity was never lacking. Someone was always nearby to make sure he did not wander off, or get into something he shouldn't! Even though he can be a wild man, we all love him "heapies and gobbies," as he would say. :)

About Woody

 

 

Woody loves the beach, just like our whole family! This picture was taken in Florida in 2002. This is still where you will find him on the beach...right by the edge. He has never liked to go all the way into the water at the beach, but he loves to get his feet wet!

 

Obviously that doesn't effect him in the pool though! Woody could swim for hours nonstop and he loves to swim underwater.

 

As you can see, Woody and Jessie are really close in age. When they were this age they were often mistaken as twins! Even now they are the same height, weight and they still look similar.

This picture was take in 2007. Woody LOVES to ride the mower. He isn't allowed to drive, but he sure loves sitting on the front for a little ride down the street. Every time I mow he sits outside and waits for me to finish so I can take him wherever he wants to go.

 

This is obviously a more recent picture, taken last year. Woody and Slinky are the best of friends...or at least Woody would like to think so! Sometimes Slinky just endures the "lovies" that are dealt out by Woody.







 

 

The last little tidbit I will share about Woody is the most important, at least to him! This is a picture of "Barney." When he wears this hat, don't forget to call him Barney or there will be trouble!! He got the name Barney because the hat looks similar to that of Barney Fife's from the old TV show, Andy Griffith. Don't you see the similarities? :) Andy Griffith is another one of Isaac's favorite past times.

 

 

 

That all said, Woody is a huge blessing to our family. He has taught us so many lessons about love and acceptance. I don't know what we would do without him! He is truly rockin' that extra chromosome! :)

 

 

 





Summer "Funcation"

Laughter, craziness, last minute planning....all of those words would help you to better understand why this summer was the most amazing summer I have ever had. Let me start from the beginning...

My friends and I really wanted to do something memorable to commemorate my last year in public school. After weeks of browsing vacation destinations on the web, talking over all the options, and checking each of our budgets, we decided to do something very unique. We decided to take a month long road trip with stops at well known tourist attractions, amusements parks, and cities. Of course, when we looked further into it, we found that none of us really had the money to finance this trip. Between the money it would take to fuel our car, staying at hotels each night, and the price to get into the amusement parks and tourist attractions, we were looking at a couple thousand dollars. With that, our dream died.

Disappointment doesn't begin to cover how we felt. We REALLY wanted to do this! About a week after each of us had given up, I got a call from a family friend. He said he could lend us his RV for the month, along with gas money (did I mention he is a really RICH family friends?),  but if it got damaged we would be held responsible. I immediately said yes and called all my friends.

So, a couple weeks later we were waving goodbye on our great adventure. We started out here in Indiana. Our first stop was in Sandusky. Ohio. The amusement park there, Cedar Point, has the more roller coasters (17!) than any other amusement parks. As a group, we decided to stay there for a few days so that we could really experience the whole park.

Then we headed to King's Island. We rode the world's longest wooden roller coaster, The Beast. Well, most of us, which leads me to the story of the one big mishap of the trip. We were stopped at a gas station to gas up and get dinner. One of my friends had just finished warming up one of the little "Cup of Soup" things and she bumped into someone behind her. She started to apologize and backed up quickly, but while she was backing up she tripped over her own feet and fell backwards. Trying to save herself from the steaming hot bowl of soup in her hands she quickly put her hand down to catch herself. She ended up with a broken wrist and a burn on her hand from the soup. What are the odds?! So, long story short, she wasn't able to go to the amusement park the next day with us, but still insisted that we go and have fun.

We filled up the rest of our trip with trips to Michigan Adventure, Six Flags Illinois, Disney World, Astroland, Hershey Park, a trip to the Big Apple, and Washington D.C. By the time we got home, most of us were a few dollars away from being broke, sleep deprived, or about to scream from the close quarters of 5 girls in one RV...or a combination of all three! But, I have got to say, this summer was the most memorable summer I think I will ever have.


....................................................................................................................................................
Did you believe me? Well if you did, you are really gullible. I mean, 16 year olds driving an RV on their own for a MONTH? Please tell me you didn't believe it. Well...it wasn't my idea. This (I'm being serious now) was Mrs. Potato Head's idea of an assignment! Pretty fun and easy assignment! If you are reading this...comment and tell Mrs. Potato Head that she needs to give me an A+ ;)

Introduction to the Extraordinary

As this is my first post to my blog, I will begin with an introduction.

Yeah, that would be me, Lulu. As you can probably tell I am a deep thinker. A philosopher. Or you may just wonder if I have gone crazy. Well...that's probably true. However, I do not accept the blame. All my craziness is inherited :)

That leads me to my family. My family is many things. First and foremost we are Christians with a deep faith in God. On other levels we are a family that loves a good time.

We love playing games, having weiner roasts, sitting in our new hot tub and many other things of course :)

It all starts with Mr. and Mrs. Potato Head.

Mrs. Potato Head is an amazing cook. She is also really good at anything artistic...something I did not inherit. However, I inherited most everything else from her. People say we talk, look, laugh, and act exactly alike. And, unfortunately, I received all her math skills...which equal ZERO!

Mr. Potato Head is a computer geek with a love of landscaping. A lot of people say I inherited his sense of humor which I will try to deny at any cost :)

Then comes Buzz...the big brother (21). This picture is a few years old...he has a beard now. Big brother Buzz specialized in torturing his siblings by tickling, poking, tackling, or pretty much anything else. Oh well...we still love him. He no longer lives at home so we have a LITTLE bit of peace and quiet :)

Next in line is...ME (16)! Since I already have a stunningly beautiful picture of myself at the top I will just move on.

Now we have Woody, my adorable little brother (14). Woody has Down Syndrome and none of us can imagine our lives without him. It would certainly be less exciting! He loves playing Talking Tom, listening and dancing to music, and helping me make "pup-cakes" or cupcakes :)

Then comes the baby of the family, Jessie, the rootin' tootin' cowgirl (13). She loves riding horses, exploring the great outdoors, and collecting lots of plastic horses or other animals.

Drum roll please...it's the Queen Mum herself, my grandma. She has been living with us for a couple years now and is a true blessing to my family. She likes skunking Mr. Potato head at scrabble, reading, and patiently playing Uno with Woody.

Last, but not least, we have the pets of our family. Slink is our faithful and funny looking weimerdoodle and His Royal Highness is our lazy cat. Slink is definitely the favorite. Us kids share food with him when Mr. and Mrs. Potato head aren't looking...shhh. Don't tell!

So there you are! That is my family. We aren't perfect, that is for sure, but we have a lot of good times together. I think this quote really sums my family up in a short sentence...

Families are like fudge-mostly sweet with a few nuts.