Happy New Year! Thursday, December 31, 2020

Mama and Chase came over to Nanaw's house again on Thursday. Mama brought her empty boxes and christmas wrapping paper to make Christmas decorations with Jack paper and dog paper. They sat at the dining room table while Mama wrapped her empty boxes and Nanaw made three more gift card tags from old Christmas cards. Chase played with the stuff from the Jurassic Volcano game. Then something exciting happened. The Mario figures came from Amazon. Nanaw wasn't expecting them until Sunday. Chase was so excited, and he spent most of the rest of the day playing with the figures. He got out his Legos, and Mama, Chase and Nanaw made levels for the figures to jump on. Chase had a ham and cheese sandwich, cauliflower and broccoli for lunch. Mama had leftover tacos from last night's dinner. Nanaw had Santa Fe Beans and Rice. Mama left about 3 p.m. so she could walk the dogs. Chase stayed at Nanaw's house till five. He wanted to play in the water in the sink with the Mario figures so Nanaw set it up for him. Mama dis-invited Nanaw for New Year's Eve because of Covid. 

Wednesday, December 30, 2020

Mama brought Chase over to Nanaw's house again on Wednesday to spend the day. Once again, Nanaw lit the balsam candle and built a fire to make a cozy place for everybody. Mama and Chase's project was putting together the roller coaster that Uncle Mike gave Chase for Christmas. They worked on it for a couple of hours but finally stopped because it was taking so long. While they worked on the roller coaster, Nanaw worked on her project -- making Christmas gift cards out of Christmas cards. Nanaw made four of them; three of them had dogs on them so they'll be for Mama. One had a Christmas tree on it so Nanaw told Chase that would be for him. Mama used Nanaw's computer to make Covid testing appointments at a Belleville Walgreen's for Saturday morning for Daddy, Mama, Chase and Grandma Pat. After Mama was finished with making the appointments, they had lunch. Mama brought a pizza to heat up in the oven, and Chase had a ham and cheese sandwich, cauliflower and broccoli. Mama decided not to have Nanaw over for New Year's Eve tomorrow night because of the Covid. After the Clue game, Nanaw got the Jurassic World Volcano game out of her closet, and the three of them played half a game. In the middle of game, Chase decided to he wanted to play with the game by himself, doing his own version of the game so that's what he did. Mama and Nanaw watched soap operas and then Hallmark movies. 

Tuesday, December 29, 2020

Mama and Chase came over to Nanaw's house on Tuesday morning to spend the day. Daddy is working at home, and Mama didn't want them to bother or distract him. Nanaw lit the balsam candle and built a fire to make a cozy place for everybody. Nanaw got the Clue game out of her closet and set it out on the dining room table. Mama had to do a little work for awhile but then she was ready to play with Chase and Nanaw. They went through the Clue game to learn or re-learn how to play. Finally, they played two games of Clue; Mama won the first one, and Chase won the second game. Nanaw was so impressed that on his own, all by himself, Chase won the game. And he had a wonderful time playing. He really likes the Clue game, and so do Mama and Nanaw. In the afternoon, Aunt Becca called Mama to tell her that Uncle Stan had tested positive for Covid. Mama was worried about Chase, Daddy and herself being exposed. 

Monday, December 28, 2020

Mama has the week off this week. She brought Chase over to Nanaw's house on Monday morning and then went back home. Before she left, Mama and Chase did the wishbone from the Christmas turkey. Once again, Mama and Chase tied in breaking the wishbone, just like at Thanksgiving. Mama's plans for the day are to work on cleaning Chase's closet and bookcase. Chase and Nanaw had a fun adventure. For his birthday, Nanaw gave Chase a painting rocks kit so that's what they did on Monday. In the kit is a big bag of rocks to paint. There also are the following: two groups of acrylic paint brushes; some cool glitter markers; and a page of tattoos to put on the rocks. Chase and Nanaw painted three rocks and had lots of fun together doing the painting. Nanaw wants to go hide the rocks in the park as surprises for people. But Chase doesn't want to hide the rocks or get rid of them. He wants to keep them. Nanaw told Chase that when they run out of rocks in the painting rocks kit. They can use the rocks in the rock garden in the front of Chase's house. Mama sent Mac n Cheese and ham for Chase's lunch, and he inhaled it, as Mama says. Nanaw's project for the day was making turkey soup for Uncle Mike, Mama and herself. When it was done, Nanaw gave Chase a bowl of soup as a snack. When Nanaw took Chase home, she went to Chase's room to see Mama's cleaning handiwork. Nanaw took a picture of the cleaned out closet and a picture of the straightened up bookcase. Nanaw was so proud.

Sunday, December 27, 2020

Mama said Chase and Daddy played outside on Sunday. She said Aunt Becca and Uncle Stan came to visit yesterday and stayed several hours. They brought presents for every body. Nanaw came over to Chase's house about 4:45 so she could see Chase before he went to hockey practice. Practice was at 5:40. Mama and Nanaw went to the two Walgreen's on Telegraph road to get birthday presents for Mama. When they got home and Daddy and Chase got home from hockey practice, they all had dinner. Mama made chili in the crock pot, along with gluten-free corn bread. Chase is not a fan of chili and corn bread but Mama told him he had to eat it. She put extra cheese on his chili, and he seemed to like that. He stalled on eating the corn bread, much to Mama's and Daddy's distress. Finally, he ate most of it, and Mama let him come into his room to play with Nanaw. He wasn't in a very good mood, and when Nanaw tried to tell him a story about Tee Tee, he didn't want to listen so Nanaw stopped telling the story. Then he asked if it was a good story or a bad story. Nanaw said it was a good story so Chase wanted to listen. It was a story about Tee Tee getting money for Christmas and wanting to go to Amazon to buy something. Chase tried to tell Tee Tee that you go online to buy something from Amazon bot Tee Tee wanted to go there. So first they went to the Amazon River in South America. Then they went to Seattle, Washington where Amazon has 40 buildings. But Tee Tee didn't buy anything.

Saturday, December 26, 2020

Mama brought Chase over to Nanaw's house on Saturday morning while she went to the grocery store. Chase had a plan when he got there. He wanted to play with the Mario figure from the Mario Monopoly game. He knew exactly where downstairs the game was located so he and Nanaw went downstairs to find it. Unfortunately, both the Mario and the Luigi figures are missing. They brought the game upstairs anyway, and Chase spread it out on the dining room table. He got his boxes of toy soldiers from his room, along with his big yellow box of Legos. He invented a game where the remaining game figures walked on the Legos bases and came to the end and jumped off a plank. It was very cute. Chase is quite creative and always full of ideas. He played on the computer for a little while but not the whole time he was over at Nanaw's, which was her plan. Uncle Stan and Aunt Becca were coming over to visit in the afternoon -- maybe with Christmas presents. 

Merry Christmas, Friday, December 25, 2020

On Christmas morning, Mama put pictures of Chase on Christmas on Facebook. He was really excited about the ping pong table. In the afternoon, Nanaw brought over Chase, Mama, and Daddy's Christmas presents. Nanaw got pecans, a sweater ornament, a cat calendar, an ornament with her picture and Chase's picture from the sunflower patch, a Cardinals calendar, a black bag with Chase's artwork, a rose-smelling candle, and a package of straws like Arby's straws. Uncle Mike, Joey, Robbie and Michaela joined Mama, Daddy, Chase and Nanaw for Christmas dinner. They had the same dinner as the one they had on Thanksgiving. They called cousin Mike in Okinawa, and everyone talked to him. Nanaw got an Ed & Ed magic maple syrup light-up Christmas house. Kristie is still quarantining with Jerome, and Lindsey went to dinner at the home of a Florissant policeman's family. Kristie had asked Nanaw to take a picture of the family so Nanaw did, with Michaela's excellent help.

Thursday, December 24, 2020

The cleaning lady came early on Christmas Eve morning so Chase and Nanaw went downstairs once Nanaw had everything picked up and put away. Chase made Christmas cards for Mama and Daddy in the craft area downstairs, using the dog stickers Mama had provided. The cards were wonderful, and Mama and Daddy are really going to like them. Chase also practiced his piano work -- Nanaw had brought the little piano downstairs. He played with Nanaw's fire tablet for awhile; Nanaw discovered that one-click buying was activated so she has to find a way to disable it. Later in the day, Nanaw baked butter cookies -- the little Christmas trees. Chase helped her decorate the cookies with red and green sprinkles. Uncle Mike and Aunt Becky came over about 4 p.m. and so did Mama. Mama gave them their Christmas presents because aunt Becky won't be there tomorrow. Nanaw had saved cookie dough for Uncle Mike and Mama, just like when they were little. Nanaw went over to Chase's house for KFC for Christmas Eve dinner, a tradition they had when Uncle Mike and Mama were growing up. After dinner, Mama, Chase and Nanaw went downstairs and read The Nightmare Before Christmas.

Wednesday, December 23, 2020

Chase had an orthodontist appointment on Wednesday afternoon so he got dressed rather than staying in his jammies all day. Once again, he had toasted ravioli, cauliflower and broccoli for lunch. For awhile, he played with Nanaw's Fire tablet. He practiced Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer on the keyboard he might do a concert for Mama and Daddy on Christmas Day, playing Angels We Have Heard on High and Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer. Chase and Nanaw read White Fox and they both cried when the daddy and Mama fox were killed by the hunter. Mama said Chase inhaled his dinner -- Kraft Mac n Cheese and a baby ham so she's going to send some over for his lunch on Thursday, Christmas Eve. White Fox had a sleepover. Nanaw forgot to take pictures so she asked Mama to take one. She took a picture of Chase downstairs on his tablet, talking to his friend Brady.

 

Tuesday, December 22, 2020

Chase stayed in his jammies all day long; when Nanaw took him home, he still had his jammies on. At 8 o'clock in the morning, Nanaw and Chase started on his school work, He got it all done. He did two pages of multiplication problems. Nanaw was surprised at how well Chase does with his multiplication tables. He did his Religion assignment, and the reading assignment about building a snowman that the little boy's dog then knocked down. He did his Physical Education and sent an email to Mrs. Whelan telling her he'd done his PE. The guys (aka Chase's stuffed animals) had PE also. At Chase's request, he had Music. He played Angels We Have Heard on High on the big piano in his room and brought in his recorders and ukulele. For lunch, Chase had toasted ravioli, cauliflower and broccoli. After school, Chase and Nanaw read Rocket Writes a Story.

Monday, December 21, 2020

On Monday morning, Nanaw had an appointment to go to St. Mary's for a follow-up mammogram and ultra sound so Chase stayed home until Nanaw could go pick him up. When Nanaw got to Chase's house to get him, Mama sent three pieces of Pizza Hut pizza and a bread stick for Chase's lunch. Chase had two days of what the school called asynchronous study this week on Monday and Tuesday, rather than in-person school. Chase's school work included PE, a math page and a holiday reading assignment about Hanukkah, Christmas and Kwanzaa. Then he had to read and study vocabulary words and answer questions about what he read. After the schoolwork was done, Chase and Nanaw read from Chase's book --White Fox -- Chase said the Daddy fox dies, which is very sad. Nanaw forgot to take pictures of Chase on Monday so she asked Mama to take one. Mama took a picture of Chase eating dinner. They had something that was like chicken pot pie -- chicken, sauce and peas and carrots served on biscuits. At first, Chase didn't want to eat it; he said he no longer liked peas. Mama and Daddy said if he didn't eat it, he couldn't have any biscuits. Daddy said he would eat all the biscuits. So Chase finally ate his dinner so he could have biscuits. What a boy he is!

Happy 9th Birthday, Chase -- Sunday, December 20, 2020

For Chase's birthday breakfast, Mama went to Dunkin donuts and got donuts for him. Usually, they go inside to eat but couldn't this year because of Covid, although Mama did get to go inside to order the donuts rather than going through the drive-thru. For lunch, Chase wanted Subway so that's what they had. He got lots of wonderful presents from Mama and Daddy: a science kit, a crystal growing kit, and lots of other things. Nanaw came over while Chase and Daddy were at hockey practice. It was Chase's first practice this go-around, and he had lots of new, wonderful equipment. When he got home, he said he had a great time. Chase had requested Pizza Hut for his birthday dinner. So he had a pizza with Italian sausage and pepperoni and light sauce. Mama, Daddy and Nanaw had Italian sausage and mushrooms. There were also bread sticks. After dinner, Chase opened Nanaw's presents: a 4x4 speedy Rubik's cube, a science kit, a book on how to solve Rubik's cubes, a CatKid book, a robot, a rock painting kit, and a pillow pad for his tablet. Next, they sang Happy Birthday, and Chase blew out the candle on the ice cream cake. The cake was delicious. It was a wonderful and perfect birthday celebration.

Saturday, December 19, 2020

Mama brought Chase over to Nanaw's house on Saturday morning while she went to the grocery store. Nanaw and Chase played with his kinetic sand, and then Chase played on the laptop. Uncle Mike called Nanaw and told her that cousin Kristie's boyfriend Jerome has been diagnosed with Covid so they're both quarantining in their apartment. Nanaw asked Uncle Mike if he would take Kristie and Jerome's Christmas money and cards and candy to their apartment if Nanaw drove up to Ferguson to Uncle Mike's house. Uncle Mike said yes so Nanaw drove up there. Uncle Mike showed Nanaw all of his Christmas decorations. In the evening, Jen, Joe and Jackson came over to Chase's house for an outdoor (because of Covid) birthday and Christmas celebration so Nanaw came too. Aunt Kristen had stopped by earlier and gave Chase a really cool rocket set. Chase and Jackson were out in the field launching the rocket to Nanaw went out there to do it, too. Grand fun! Then the boys jumped on the trampoline and had lots of fun there, too. Next, they went inside to play with the Xbox. Nanaw was very cold being outside so she said good-bye and Merry Christmas to everybody and went home.