Happy Halloween! Tuesday, October 31, 2023

On Halloween, Mama had the day off from work so she took Chase to school. And that meant Nanaw could sleep late. She went to bed after midnight and slept till 10. So for a change, she got enough sleep. Nanaw was not happy that Homework Central showed that Chase has a math quiz tomorrow. Who schedules a test for the day after Halloween 🎃 trick or treating?  Chase and Nanaw took Cole home after school. Then they studied for his math quiz. He went through his study guide math worksheets and then Nanaw gave him some practice problems to do. Nanaw went home with Chase for a chili and cornbread Halloween dinner. Chase and Mama had a Papa Murphy's pizza shaped like a pumpkin. Mama also got delicious money bread from Papa Murphy's. After dinner, Chase’s buddies, (Brady, Hunter, Cole, and Mason came over for trick or treating, along with their parents. The boys all had scary costumes: Chase was a hockey player slasher with a blood-stained hatchet; Brady was a scary clown for the third year in a row -- different clowns each year; Cole was the Screamp; Hunter started out as a dinosaur but the costume was difficult to walk in so he changed into a scary clown costume; and Mason had a Michael Myers-looking costume. Brady's sister Emma had a cool costume -- she was a zombie fearleader -- very frightening. For the first time, Nanaw went along for all of the trek, instead of just half. It was great fun and the kids had a wonderful time. It was fun going to the principal’s house and hearing everyone tease him. He seems to be an awesome guy. The third picture is the guys with the principal. When they got home from trick or treating, the boys played hide and seek in the backyard and then knee hockey in the living room. Chase's neighborhood was really busy with trick-or-treaters, even past 8 p.m.

Monday, October 30, 2023

Chase had his Halloween jammies on this morning, and Mama took them home to wash them so he can wear them again tonight. Nanaw won't be able to take a picture of him in the jammies tomorrow morning because Mama has the day off, and she's taking Chase to school. After school, Chase and Nanaw had the first of their sessions about Chase's writing and his projects. They went over the Unteachables book report and the Restarted project. On several items, Chase didn't follow the directions. So Nanaw impressed on him how important it is to read the directions carefully and to make sure he follows all of them. He promised that he and Nanaw would go over the directions on future projects. That was the only schoolwork for Chase except for his AR reading. He was very happy, of course, to spend the rest of the afternoon on the computer. Just before he went home, he got his Jason mask out of his room and scared Nanaw with it. He said he wants to wear it with his hockey uniform tomorrow night to go trick or treating. He'll be the hockey slasher. He looked for a rubber sword or knife but couldn't find any. Nanaw went to Dollar Tree and bought the only things she could find -- two collapsible LED swords at Dollar Tree. But then Nanaw found a treasure trove in a bag in Chase's closet. As shown in the pictures below, she found a sword, several knives, and best of all, a bloodstained hatchet (a toy, of course).

Sunday, October 29, 2023

At church Sunday morning, Chase saw his friend Owen. Daddy saw AJ, Connor and Knox. Nanaw came over to Chase’s house at four. She looked through his homework and liked his “newspaper” article about the trip to Memphis. Nanaw also looked at Chase’s book report (he got an 88) and his restart project (he got a 90) and told him they were going to start a project about how to write and follow directions in his homework. Mama, Daddy, Chase and Nanaw went to Outback for Mama and Daddy’s 13th wedding anniversary. They had a Blooming onion and dark bread to start out. Chase had Mac and Cheese bites; Mama and Nanaw had sirloin steak, Aussie fries with cheese and salad with ranch dressing; Daddy had salmon. Everything was delicious. After dinner, Nanaw watched Chase play a game he made up with a knee hockey net, a hockey stick, Hot Wheels and the little creepy plastic hands Nanaw doesn’t like.

Saturday, October 28, 2023

Chase and Nanaw woke up at 7:30 on Saturday morning when the alarm went off. They had to get up early because Cousin Robbie and his friend Bret , who’s a plumber, were coming to put in a new water heater for Nanaw. Chase played on the computer for a few minutes, then he played knee hockey. During the sleepover, Chase didn't spend much time on the computer, and Nanaw was happy about this. After knee hockey, he played with his hockey Playmobil. Nanaw went downstairs to clean up the paper towels around the water heater, and she found a whistle down there. She brought it up to Chase for him to use with his hockey game. He had a great time with blowing the whistle. But he said he wouldn't blow it around Sam and Sylvester because it would scare them. In the afternoon, Chase had a hockey game. Mama said the score was 3 to 2 and Chase scored a goal and tied it up. Then Chase’s team scored again, making it 4 to 32. But the other team scored and tied it up. And that’s how the game ended, at 4 to 4. 

Friday, October 27, 2023

Mama told Nanaw that last night Chase asked if he could have a sleepover with Nanaw on Friday night. Nanaw was so excited about that because Chase had never requested a sleepover before. Mama said he had to be in bed, asleep, by 10:30. (Unfortunately, Nanaw sometimes lets him stay up till 11 or later. Mama said he has a hockey game on Saturday, and if he doesn't get enough sleep, he's sluggish and doesn't play well. )On Friday, Mama and Daddy were off work so in the morning, they all went to the Zoo. They went to see the lemurs twice, and Mama said they were very active. They also went to see the seals and the penguins. In the gift shop, Chase and Mama picked out a small lemur for Nanaw -- just like Lars and Dylan. Chase named him Waino for the Cardinals' pitcher Adam Wainwright. They had a wonderful time at the Zoo. In the afternoon, Chase's friend Hunter came over to play video games. Mama said they were really loud, as usual. They dropped Hunter off on their way over to Nanaw's house for his sleepover. For a while, after he got there, Chase played knee hockey in the hall with his lemurs and Nanaw's lemurs. Chase's lemurs won, of course. For dinner, Chase and Nanaw went to Sonic for Chase's usual pretzel twists, mozzarella sticks and a Sonic blast. Nanaw got some onion rings to eat with the Tiny Tacos she got from the Jack in the Box in Washington, on the way home from the little house. Chase played with his Playmobil while watching the World Series. Then at nine, the Blues hockey game was on, and he watched that. As Mama directed, Chase was in bed and asleep at 10:30.

Thursday, October 26, 2023

Mama had a 6:30 a.m. conference call meeting on Thursday morning so Nanaw picked Chase up rather than Mama bringing him over to Nanaw's house. Chase had early dismissal at 2 p.m. because of parent-teacher conferences. He had some homework but said he didn't want to do any at Nanaw's house. He said he would do it over the weekend. Uncle Mike came over to cut the beautiful new grass he created in Nanaw's front yard. He brought his lawn mower with him rather than using Nanaw's riding mower. He wanted to cut the grass gently. LOL  Nanaw had to have Chase home by 4:45 because they were going to Grant's Farm. Their Wells Fargo financial advisers were having a special night there for their clients. After Chase went home, Uncle Mike took Nanaw to Goodwill to give them two rocking chairs, two small tables and a laundry hamper. Nanaw was also going to donate a sewing machine she bought a couple of years ago that she had trouble making it work. Uncle Mike said he would take it home and see if Aunt Becky or cousin Nichole could make it work. Mama texted the last two pictures below: one of Chase feeding the goats at Grant's Farm and a selfie of Chase and his friend Jackson. Jackson and his parents were there also, which made Chase very happy. 

Wednesday, October 25, 2023

Cole's mom Tanya asked Nanaw to take Cole home from school on Wednesday. Later in the day, Tanya texted that Cole lollygags coming out of school, and she asked him to hurry up. Nanaw texted back that Chase was also a lollygagger and was one of the last out of school. So at the end of the day, Cole and Chase were among the last ones to come out of school, along with Hunter and Brady. Brady asked if Chase could go to the park so Nanaw said yes that Cole and Chase would come to the park. Hunter also came, and later Hunter's brother Mason came. Brady's sister Emma was there, too. The boys played on the playground and then they played hide-and-seek for a long while. At the end of their time in the park, they played football with a tiny football, and Nanaw came over to watch them. When Brady's dad and Nanaw told the boys it was time to go home, the boys ignored them. Eventually, the boys gave in and went home. At Nanaw's house, Chase did his math homework. He and Nanaw didn't have time to study for tomorrow's vocab test so he was going to study with Mama. He also had to get his Science Fair report ready to turn in tomorrow, and the review of literature paper in English.

Tuesday, October 24, 2023

The cleaning lady came to Nanaw's house today, and she found part of Chase's eyeglasses on the floor (the first picture). Chase was so happy that she found it, and asked Nanaw to thank her for finding it. He said that fortunately, he hadn't needed his glasses for anything today. He said he thinks he did well on today's religion test. He's been doing a lot of work on his Science Fair report, and it's due on Thursday. Mama and Daddy are going to Auntie LaLa's Friday evening. Chase was going to stay home by himself, and Nanaw was going to go to a mystery program at the library. But Nanaw changed her mind about going to the library because she'd rather spend time with Chase. So he's coming over to Nanaw's, and he'll have Sonic for dinner, and Nanaw will have Tiny Tacos from Jack in the Box. Chase stayed later with Nanaw after school because Mama and Daddy had parent-teacher conferences with two of Chase's sixth-grade teachers. Both of them said Chase is "a fine young man." His math teacher said he's almost at the top of the math class. His homeroom teacher said her advice to him was to slow down in doing his schoolwork, take his time, and practice doing his best writing. She said one of the seventh-grade teachers counts off on grades when the writing isn't clear and easy to read. Mama, Daddy and Chase were having Dairy Queen for dinner. 

Monday, October 23, 2023

When Chase got to Nanaw’s house on Monday morning, he was carrying Gibby, the stuffed gibbon. Chase had a sad face and Nanaw knew what was wrong: Gibby needed a red truck ribbon like all the lemurs have. So Nanaw made Gibby a ribbon. She said she would have to go to the various Dollar Trees to find more red truck ribbon. Mama, Daddy and Chase are going to the Zoo on Friday. Mama said she would get Nanaw a small lemur like Lars and Dylan. Nanaw picked Chase up from school and made sure he remembered his lunch bag. On the way home they stopped at Chase’s house to pick up his science fair poster board so he could retype some of the pages for his report. As a start to the writing tutoring project Nanaw wants to do with him, Nanaw read his restaurant review and was pleased with it. Chase got his pictures today, and he’s very cute. He also got his report card, and he got all As except for a B in reading. His GPA was 3.89, almost a 4.0. After Nanaw took Chase home, she went to a couple of Dollar Tree stores to get red truck ribbon. And she found some. Yay! (The last four photos are more Memphis photos.)

Sunday, October 22, 2023

When Nanaw went over to Chase’s house for dinner on Sunday, Chase and Mama reported on their adventure out at Silex last night. Uncle Will-Bill watched Elias and Chase while everybody went to the dinner auction. Chase and Elias had a good time up in the loft. They played on their devices. One of the things they played was 20 Questions on the Game Bunny app. They also talked to Chase’s friend from school Joey for 30 minutes. Then they fell asleep in the loft without putting on their pajamas or brushing their teeth. At the dinner auction, Mama won the bid on a quilt and an elegant bar cart. Mama and Chase worked on his Science Fair project poster. Chase showed it to Nanaw, and it was really good. He also showed Nanaw the socks he decorated. One is for a charity project at school. It’s a yellow sock he drew on and named Socky and filled with coins. Mama was sad that the sock was going away so she asked Chase to make a decorated sock for her and so he did. And he named it Fred. Nanaw brought over the Linked book she bought on Amazon to read along with Chase and gave it to him for his library. For dinner, Mama fixed chicken Alfredo on her crockpot. It was really good. For dessert, Chase had Cosmic Brownie ice cream. Mama, Daddy and Nanaw had delicious cheesecake.

Saturday, October 21, 2023

Nanaw thought Chase might sleep late on Saturday morning because it was late when he got to bed, and he didn't get much sleep on Friday. But Mama said he woke up at 7:20 a.m. Chase had hockey practice in the morning and then Nanaw came to visit in the afternoon. They had toasted ravioli for lunch, and Mama gave some to Nanaw. After lunch, everybody went into the living room to hear Chase talk about the trip to Memphis. He said he had a really good time except for the Civil Rights Museum. He said that was really sad hearing about the Ku Klux Klan and people having slaves. He doesn't think he wants to go back there because it's so sad. He would like to go back to Graceland sometime. He talked about Elvis's TV room, his cars, his airplanes and the pool table room. Chase said he took lots of pictures of Graceland but forgot to send them to Mama, Daddy and Nanaw. From the pictures of Chase with his friends, it looks like he had a good time hanging out with them. On Saturday evening, Mama and Daddy were going to the dinner auction for Elias's school out in Silex. Chase was going to have a sleepover with his cousin Elias, and he was happy and excited about that. After Nanaw went home, Mama brought Sam and Sylvester over to Nanaw's for their sleepover. Those pups really love to be brushed, especially Sam.

Friday, October 20, 2023

Mama and Daddy took Chase up to school at 3:30 for his bus trip to Memphis. Two students were late getting there. One finally got there and the bus left, without the other student. That student's mom followed the bus till it stopped at a gas station, and her child got on the bus then. The first picture Chase sent to Mama, Daddy and Nanaw was of an Elvis statue from their first stop at a welcome center. The pictures below are all ones that Chase took and sent to Mama, Daddy and Nanaw. In the next few days, pictures that other people took will be added to the post, especially ones of Graceland. Chase didn't sent any Graceland pictures. Mama and Nanaw went to the school around 9:30 to pick Chase up. He said he had a really good time. He liked the Civil Rights Museum, the Lorraine Motel and Graceland. He bought some key chains as souvenirs at Graceland. They had dinner t one of the Graceland restaurants, and Chase had chicken tenders, rice and mac and cheese. He said they watched the Remember the Titans movie on the way back home. He slept part of the time and took along his Blues pillow and his Minecraft blanket.

Thursday, October 19, 2023

Chase got a 98 on his math test and an 88 on his book report, which is a B. Mama says that because he has to do a book report every quarter, he needs to figure out how to make them better. When Nanaw picked Chase up from school, he said he didn't have the energy to work on his religion study guide so he would do it over the weekend. LOL He was very interested in finding out which group he’ll be in for the Memphis trip and who he'll be sitting with on the bus. The school sent out an email around five with the information, and Chase is really happy about how it turned out. He's in Brady's mom's group with Brady and Grady, and he's sitting with William on the bus. William is in his desk group in the classroom, and they're friends. After Chase got home from Nanaw's, Chase and Mama were going to Red Roof to get snacks and drinks for him to take with him. Chase said he was going to bed at 8 p.m. because he has to get up at 3 a.m. in order to be at school by 3:30 a.m. Both Mama and Daddy are taking Chase up to school. The bus leaves at 3:45 a.m. and they're supposed to get back by 9:30 tomorrow night.

Wednesday, October 18, 2023

When Nanaw dropped Chase off at school on Wednesday morning, she wished him good luck on his math test. Today was early dismissal at 2 p.m., which was a good thing because Nanaw had to have Chase home by 4 p.m. because he had hockey practice. Chase told Nanaw that he had turned in his book report and his Restart project. He turned both of them in early: the book report was due tomorrow and the Restart project was due Monday. Chase told Nanaw she could look at part of his Restart project on his Chromebook. For the report, Chase did a PSA poster about bullying and research notes about brain damage causing amnesia. Chase and Nanaw have been listening to Mama's Elvis Presley CD to get Chase ready for his trip to Graceland on Friday. They're also going to the Civil Rights Museum and the Lorraine Motel where Martin Luther King was assassinated. They're leaving at 3:30 in the morning on Friday, and they'll be back at about 9:30 Friday night. What a long day for them!

Tuesday, October 17, 2023

When Nanaw took Chase to school, she reminded him to bring home the paper he got a 50 on, and she wished him good luck on his history and science tests. And when Nanaw picked him up in the afternoon, he said he'd found the paper with a score of 50 in his desk; he made corrections on the paper and turned it in, something they do. He said it would raise the grade on the paper from an F to D. After school, Nanaw helped Chase study for tomorrow's math test. They both did the sample chapter 2 test in the math book and then compared their answers. Chase got everything right, and Nanaw missed a couple because she didn't know how to solve the problems. Chase explained to her how to do them. He also printed out several pages of his book report, which is due Thursday. They had trouble printing out the last page so Chase was going to do it at home. Brady's mom told Mama that the sixth-grade class would be doing a book report during each of the remaining quarters. Chase didn't have any practices tonight. He and Daddy were having Pizza Hut for dinner; it was ICS night at Pizza Hut, which means that the school gets a percentage of all the food bills of its parents and children who ordered food there tonight. Mama was at Queen of Hearts for the evening and would have her pizza when she got home.

Monday, October 16, 2023

When Nanaw picked Chase up from school, he said he had all the notes and study guides for his history and science tests tomorrow. He also had his math worksheet. On the drive home, Nanaw asked Chased what flavor ice cream he wanted her to buy for him this week at the grocery store. Chase said mint chocolate chip, and Nanaw said definitely. At Nanaw's house, Chase worked on his math worksheet. It was a chapter review, probably in preparation for an upcoming test. Speaking of tests, Chase has two tests tomorrow: history and science. After he finished his math, Chase wanted to study his science on his own. Nanaw had to keep an eye on him because he has a tendency to mess around and not study when he's supposed to be studying. He seems to know the science material well -- he has a head for science. He started studying the history but didn't get very far going through the notes so he'll have to do more studying tonight. His history test is an open notes test so he needs to know where to find the information to answer the questions. In the evening, Chase had hockey practice.