Jodi’s World of Motherhood

Grandma Marilyn bought these cute little shirts for the kids from Alcatraz in San Francisco. I was trying to get some good mug shots but Mikey was NOT cooperating.

Yesterday I went to throw a stinky diaper in the trash can and I flipped open the lid and all these tiny white wormies flung out at me.  I shrieked and slammed down the lid and ran away to call my husband.  Mike informed me that they are MAGGOTS.  I wanted to cry and puke all at the same time.  He is out of town so I am leaving the can undisturbed until he gets home to take care of it. However I did prop it open with a stick so that I could take this picture without getting to close.  EW EW EW!

Luckily, we keep this trash can on our deck outside. I use it for non-recyclable items as well as poopy diapers and nasty kitchen scraps.  I like having it there so I don’t have to walk all the way down and out to our big garbage can.  But can you imagine if this was in my KITCHEN garbage in my house!!!!  BLAH!

This cake was DELICIOUS even though mine didn’t turn out very pretty

Ingredients
3 (14.5) ounce cans tart pitted cherries, undrained
1 cup granulated sugar
1/4 cup cornstarch
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
2 (9-inch) chocolate cake layers, baked and cooled
3 cups cold whipping craem
1/3 cup confectioners’ sugar

Directions

• Drain cherries, reserving 1/2 cup juice. Combine reserved cherry juice, cherries, granulated sugar and cornstarch in saucepan. Cook and stir over low heat until thickened. Add vanilla and stir.
• Split each cake layer in half horizontally. Crumble one half layer; set aside.
• Beat cold whipping cream and the confectioners’ sugar in large bowl with an electric mixer set at high speed until stiff peaks form. Reserve 1 1/2 cups whipped cream for decorative piping.
• Place one cake layer on serving plate. Spread with 1 cup whipped cream; top with 3/4 cup cherry topping. Top with second cake layer, 1 cup whipped cream and 3/4 cup cherry topping; top with third cake layer.
• Frost cake sides with remaining whipped cream; pat gently with reserved cake crumbs.
• Spoon reserved 1 1/2 cups whipped cream into pastry bag fitted with star tip; pipe around top and bottom edges of cake. Spoon remaining cherry topping over top of cake.

JODI’S WORDS OF WISDOM:
- Cool the cherry mixture BEFORE adding it to whipped cream
- Cut the top layer of cake so that it is not a mound shape
- Don’t make it Sunday morning before church when you don’t have time to let the layers set
- DON’T make it for a special Father’s Day dinner where lots of extended family will be there UNLESS you have tried it first and know it won’t look like mine!

Here is Lexi at Universal Studios Islands of Adventure. There were tons of fun rides but the highlight of her day was playing in the splash fountains.

Video was taken on a cell phone so the quality is bad. But she’s still such a cutie!

Mikey gave his first talk in church today. He was so excited and we practiced the talk several times. He got up to the podium and I told him the first words to say. He leaned right up to the microphone and said it REALLY loud. All the primary children laughed at him and he got really sad and embarrassed and he wouldn’t say anything else. So I just started reading the talk for him. I was feeling bad because he had been so excited. But halfway through he just started saying the words after me and he did it for the rest of the talk and did a great job. It was so cute!

So in light of learning this new word … today I was getting out of the shower and trying to get dressed. Lexi comes in and starts chasing me around going “he-hine, he-hine” and trying to pat me on the behind. Being a mom causes you to lose all sense of privacy in your own home …

So I had hockey practice today and the kids were going to be tended by our neighbor who has boys that are Mikey’s age (and he loves playing with them). I told Mikey we were going to go to his friends’ house but first we had to go to Walmart. So we get packed all up in the car and head out. Well his friends’ house is on the way to Walmart and I drove past kind of slowly because part of the street was closed off. As we passed the house Mikey yells out,

“Mom! You FREAKING IDIOT!!! You just drove RIGHT past my FRIENDS’ house. What were you THINKING just then?”

I was so stunned by this outburst I couldn’t come up with a good response to him. Unfortunately I recalled calling Bubba (our dog) a freaking idiot last night when he pooped on the floor. So how can I be too critical of Mikey. I just explained to him that he is NOT allowed to say that to PEOPLE. Hopefully he will obey that rule …

My family went to Jackson Hole this weekend for a hockey tournament. I was playing so my mom and little sister were tending the kids. Well at the rink they were selling cups of beer and almost everyone in the whole rink had a cup of it in their hands. After the game before ours ended, some people left a cup of beer that was about half-way gone sitting on the bleachers. When my mom came over my sister Jasmine made a joke and said, “We got some beer for you, Mom.” They were all laughing while Mikey was trying to tell Jasmine something. She couldn’t hear him, but once they all stopped laughing he said, “Jasmine, I asked you very nicely for a drink of your beer!”

Mikey: Mom my throat hurts!
Me: Oh no, what happened to it?
Mikey: I drank all the sugar …
Me: WHAT???? (heads upstairs to check out the damage)

Brand new canister of SALT poured all over the counter, floor, and a glass of water that was left on the counter.

You get dressed in the morning and don’t realize that you put your shirt on inside-out until 12:30 in the afternoon.