Acksjay: The Jacks Home Page

Sunday, April 6, 2008 Gary "Grumps" Jacks passed away after a short 61 years. This silly man brought joy to so many and in the end we hope that he did not suffer. He went quickly, waiting till my Mother left the room. When she returned he had passed away.

Now we will see him everywhere, from the flowers to the sky.

You will be missed.

Well, the Superbowl was a big party for the girls, we had lots of friends over (who all ran out at halftime, guess getting kids to bed out weighs watching FOOTBALL!!!!!). The kids all ran about while most of us watched the game and carried on.

There were a few casualties, the doll house's garage was broken, but a little wood glue easily repaired that and everyone was worn out by the end of the day.

In the last few weeks, or days, we have had a snow, hail, a day where the temperature dropped at least 50 degrees in four hours, thunderstorms to put spring to shame, and crazy warm days. With all that change the girls have found themselves inside a lot and from visiting Logan's class on Tuesday it appears that every kid there has not been outside in months! They were crazy energetic.

No photo this time, unless I can find a picture of Tom Brady crying. Which amuses us all. Or maybe a picture of Huckabee after winning West Virginia, come on... his name is "Huckabee!"

Anyway, some birthday parties coming up, Bridget and I have a run on Saturday and the party at the toddler house is this Friday. Its all a blur by the end of the day!

Over the weekend Bridget and I took Logan to the art museum, her favorite part was Art Hill. She also enjoyed walking on the frozen lake (although Bridget did not enjoy that part at all). The ice was about three inches thick so there was not much concern of Logan going in and I was holding her hand from the steps so I could yank her to safety.

Inside the museum Logan wanted to see the Bingham painting that had the “Caps for Sale” guy. Who happens to be a character in one of Bingham’s paintings who has three hats on his head. After that it was on to the mummies then right back out the door to play on the hill.


Outside we found a shoelace and Logan really wanted to fly a kite so I ran the lace through a large leaf and she ran around as happy as could be with the leaf “flying” behind her. We walked around the Grand Basin and played tag on Art Hill.



Last week Logan, Nora, and I went to the Magic House with Adam and Julia. There we met Clifford, explored the trail in the basement, and tried on some Native American garb. The highlight of the trip had to be getting to have a picture taken with Clifford, Logan hugged him so many times that the fur on his suit might have worn thin.

Over the past week we have been painting the first floor of the house a nice soft brown (kind of like a mid brownish leather color if that describes anything other than about 1000 shades of brown). We decided on this color because it was felt that most of the dirt spots on the wall were already that color so future ones would likely be as well. This we decided to go with the flow!

During the painting process I painted a smiley face on the wall which Logan liked. Nora was not so sure about it. Although it has been painted over she still comments that it was “not scary.” I guess it has entered a bit of the lore of the house now.
This weekend we are going to be installing some new electrical boxes and moving the phone line. It promises to be such fun! I’ve even suckered my father into helping with the process. I lured him in with promises of getting to see the girls. A man has to do what a man has to do.

Nora also got to take a ride with the boy down the street in his new 4X4. After a quick tour around the ‘hood she was ready to get behind the wheel herself but she restrained herself and settled for checking out the knobs and turning the wheel.
She did have a lot of fun on the ride, Logan got stuck watching though… Maybe one day her Jeep will come!

Hello again! I have decided to start updating the page at least every Friday, that seems like a much better plan then my randomly dropping updates here and everyone loves Friday anyway. Now we just have one more reason to be excited about TGIF.

I do not really have much of an update today since I just posted and the girls have been getting (Logan) and getting over (Nora) colds. The big difference is that everything stops for Logan, Nora just keeps going, sometimes leaving her mark thanks to her runny nose. Other than a bit of the common cold running through the house, the broken fridge (which sometimes dispenses water but no longer dispenses ice) with its clicking, and the exciting news that we are painting the first floor of the house, see I knew you would be excited, there is not much going on. At this point, that is a good thing since we had plenty to do over the last few weeks and everyone needs a rest.

So check out the new photo album I posted the other day and then get back to whatever your suppose to be doing and check back again next week for the continuing adventures of Logan and Nora.

Oh, and for those of you that visit my blog, or for those of you who never have, I posted my 20 resolutions for this year. Go check it out! (The link is on the right side of this page).

Now that it is January and I have redeemed myself with a new birthday cake (that actually looked like a cake and did not fall apart) I have started to plan out some fun cakes (such as a 3D elephant cake for Logan, a new Christmas tree cake for next year (I must build one now!) and maybe a cake that bounces around for Nora’s birthday.

It was an interesting holiday complete with people spilling red liquid (I assume juice) on photographs (which we had to find out about on our own because whoever did it either did not know about it or just “forgot” to tell us). Next year we are inviting people over and were going to a movie. They can have fun outside on the lawn!

Logan and Nora made a big haul again this year complete with some nicely made gifts from their Grandma and from Julia while we all worked together to make gifts for almost all of our family. Calendars were given out, cookie mix was delivered, and overall a good time was had by at least most if not all.

Nora has gotten insane in the pool and started leaping off the side. A few times I was not totally ready for her and had to throw my arms up and grab her more out of self preservation then any concern for her safety! She is so stubborn she would probably drink all the pool water instead of drowning.

We took Nora and Logan skating on the 28th. It was Nora’s first trip around the rink and she was very excited about it. She “skated” by hanging from our arms and spent about 80% of the time trying to skate and the other 20% of the time trying to get a snack, which is about the appropriate average for Nora and food. Logan, of course, was showing off her skills and skating better than most of the people out on the ice. She was also practicing her pratfalls along with Julia, who was, unfortunatly, falling for real.

The Boyets spent the night and helped us ring in the New Year, which as it turns out is done by Erica sleeping with Elise upstairs, Bridget falling asleep by 10:30 on the chair and Adam and I watching Ghost Rider (which really should be used to punish parole violators.

As it turned out the Chicken Fettuccine, which was actually Chicken and Broccoli Alfredo with Fettuccine noodles, came out quite well and breakfast (which always comes out tasty) was tasty once again! I guess if your going to be good at a meal it should be Breakfast, that is the most important meal of the day!

So December was packed with new kittens, visits from NeNe, sleepovers, holidays, fallen cakes, Blue’s games, and more. Now that it, and 2007, are over we can look forward to more fun with friends and family in 2008.

As we put a wrap on 2007 I think we should all reflect on what is important; and by that I mean “DON’T TAZE ME BRO!”

Well, this year I decided to create a Christmas tree cake for the birthdays in December and lets just say it did not quite work out as expected.

First, the cake seemed to come dry, now that I think back on it I may not have put enough oil in but I cannot be sure (possibly 1/3 cup to little... such is life).

Anyway here are some pictures:


Once decorated the cake had a ominous "volcano" look to it.

Once cut open we discovered that the cake just fell apart.

Tasty.

Well, Thursday night was hockey night here. 15 of us went to the Blues game including Bridget and I. The girls opted, ok... were sent, to the Bubster and Zadamister's where I am sure they had a lot of fun.

The Blues game events included some intresting things, I lost a check that was given to me at the game. Erica might have lost something of greater value, Most everyone got there late, Misha brought along someone new, and of the 12 adults there I was the only one who ordered beer!

Guess we will have to try again later and see if someone will join me for a toast!

Anyway, with Christmas right around the corner I will be posting again after the fun and excitement is over and updating the pictures, there are plenty to post!

Check back next week!

December 20, 2007 Speed Bump by Dave Coverly

New to the world of "Noraisms" is the word "Mangled" which is used to discribe when things are not quite right, such as the day when she first said it.

Nora was sledding; and after reaching the bottom of the hill she was walking back up the hill and ended up getting the sled cord around her leg. She then let us know that she had become "mangled."

The good news is that she has been unmangled and is now living a fully functional life.

A related comment was given to us by Claire who came over for breakfast with her Mum (lovely English word!) one day. When I asked if anyone wanted bacon with breakfast we were all standing around and suddenly, after a bit of a pause we heard "I WANT BACON!" being "barked" down the stairs from Claire. The best way I can discribe the voice is to compare it to the dog voice from the Bacon Bits commerical where the dog yells "It's BACON!" (As noted in the entry from last month, I guess I should have read what I had already posted before posting something new!)

So these have both become common phrases around the old household and constantly get giggles when they are said, usualy followed by someone (or everyone) saying "I WANT BACON!"

Check out Bridget's blog at: http://monkeyroos.blogspot.com/

Well, it has been quite a while since I have posted any updates here; but Bridget has been posting in her blog so I do not feel as bad. Actually I don’t feel bad at all so nahhhhh!

Thanksgiving was a lot of fun, although the girls were totally wiped out by the end of the weekend, between the family get-together, swimming, Logan’s second “race,” a birthday party, paintball, hanging out with friends, and getting to bed late at least four nights in a row they certainly have every right to be sleepy.

While I was dominating our group of paintball players, Logan and Nora got to go to the bird sanctuary and see the birds of prey with Grandma and Grumps. They were very excited; and if you have never been close to some of those birds you simply do not realize how big they are. Several of them could probably carry off Nora if they elected too.

Our favorite quote of the weekend comes from Claire, when I was asking what people wanted for breakfast and if anyone was going to eat bacon Claire yelled out “I WANT BACON!!” Now to get the full effect you have to say bacon like the dog from the Beggin Strips commercial, “it’s Baccconn!”

Of course, what would be a month without someone getting hurt around our house, so this month’s winner is Bridget who due to a mystery pain is wearing a walking cast (one of those big black soft brace-like casts you see people hobbling around stores in. She is getting an MRI done today so lets hope they figure out what is wrong (and that she doesn’t flip out inside the tube).

Logan and Nora were both very excited to get the outdoor snow globe up over the weekend. The tree is up too but still needs to be decorated (it, like so many other projects, never gets completed in one sitting).

All that being said we had a good month of November and I’m sure Christmas will be a load (of fun) as well as we expect a lot of relatives to be visiting!
So keep your fingers crossed that we can survive without injury and check out Bridget’s blog for anything I forgot to post here!

Oh, and apparently the link I have to Bridget's blog is incorrect so I might be wrong about her blogging at all...

This month has been rather busy around here with trips to the Manchester Homecoming, camping (at Trail of Tears State Park), Logan's gymnastics classes, trips to Chicago (for myself), field trips, and family get togethers. We even had princess wiffleball!



While I don't have many good pictures (if there are any good pictures) of the camping trip we headed down Friday night when a breastfeeding friend suprised the waitress at Sonic and we discovered that the campsites we had reserved had enough space to put a small dog house on.

Fortunatly we were able to move to another group of sites and even the dogs did not try to kill each other (too often).

We did a little hiking and lots of playing on the trip and everyone seemed to have a good time.

The girls did get to do some swimming earlier in the month at Mat and Beth's house.


At some point we even made it to the Manchester Homecoming to visit with Grumps and Grandma! The girls got to try out being cowgirls:



I'm sure October will have just as much fun!