Sunday, December 31, 2023

Chase's hockey team had a consolation game on Sunday morning before the end of the tournament, and they lost the game. It turned out that two of the teams in the tournament should have been in a higher bracket. That might have been why Chase's team didn't do as well as they usually do. On Saturday, the boys swam once and played a lot of knee hockey in a room set aside for that. Mama, Daddy and Chase also visited the Notre Dame bookstore. Mama said they left South Bend about 11:45, and they got back to Columbia around four. Mama came to get Sam, Sylvester and Tyler, and they were so glad to see their Mama. Mama did a Facebook post about the trip to South Bend, and five of the photos are shown below. Mama told Nanaw to come over at about 6:30 for their New Year's Eve celebration. They had lots of yummy food, including shrimp, summer sausage and cheese, toasted ravioli, mini tacos, cheese buns, and taquitos. They all took their food downstairs because Mama wanted to watch the Vikings football game. They had to watch it downstairs because it was on NBC, and Direct TV wasn't carrying NBC. Daddy had hooked up an antenna to the downstairs TV so they could watch NBC. After they ate, Chase and Nanaw came upstairs to Mama's office so Nanaw could watch Chase play his new NHL24 game that he got for Christmas. Nanaw is so happy that Chase has something -- hockey -- that he's passionate about. When Chase was done playing the hockey game, they went into the living room to watch the dropping of the ball in New York City at midnight their time, 11 o'clock Columbia time. Mama and Daddy went to bed shortly after that, saying they didn't want to stay up till midnight. But Chase was determined to stay up till midnight. But at 10 to 12, he said he wanted to go to bed. Nanaw tucked him in and went home, one of only two cars on the road at midnight.

Saturday, December 30, 2023

Mama sent pictures of the mementos the boys on the hockey team received -- a door sign with their name and number and a knee hockey stick. Mama said Chase slept till 9 on Saturday morning, which is 8 Columbia time because South Bend is an hour ahead. On Friday night, he went to bed at about 11:45. Mama went to the fitness center around 7:45 Saturday morning to get on the treadmill. At breakfast, Chase didn't like his cinnamon roll. Mama tried it and said it was good. Mama had fruit and a bagel, and Daddy had eggs, bacon and hash browns. They ate in a café a couple of blocks from the hotel. Chase had a game at noon, and his team tied the game. The big news is that Chase scored a goal, and Mama got a video of it. Nanaw went to the Train House to see the Christmas train display before they take it down. Nanaw took lots of photos and sent them to Chase and Mama so they could pretend they were there at the Train House with Nanaw. Nanaw's friend Dave who volunteers there told Nanaw that the little red house with the guy that comes out when a train goes by was built in 1947, and it's still running perfectly. Mama and Nanaw love the little guy in his little red house. On the way home from the Train House, Nanaw did her grocery shopping at Walmart and then took Sam and Sylvester for a walk, making them very happy. In the evening there was a cat and dog fight the first ever,. Sylvester, with Sam trailing behind him, took after Taylor. Sylvester was the leader of the pack but Sam was right there with him. Charlie and Sidney came to Taylor's rescue, especially Charlie. He snarled and his fur stood on end. The dogs beat a quick retreat to the living room. Nanaw thought it was fierce but also

 funny.

Friday, December 29, 2023

Mama, Daddy and Chase left home about 7 a.m. on Friday morning for their trip to Notre Dame University in South Bend, Indiana for Chase's hockey tournament. (Uncle Mike left around noon to drive to Madison, Wisconsin to visit cousin Natalie and to do some electrical work for her in her basement.) So both Mama, Daddy and Chase and Uncle Mike are about 360 miles from home. Mama said Chase's hockey team lost their first game in the hockey tournament 5 to 2. Then they lost the second game badly. After the game, Chase was going to see if any of his teammates were swimming. If they were, he was going to join them. Mama texted that some of the people who came to the tournament brought their dogs to the hotel. Nanaw texted back that she could have brought Sam and Sly with her. But she said they would have hated the drive. For dinner, they ate at the hotel between hockey games. Mama had chicken strips, Chase had mac and cheese, and Daddy had sliders. Mama said they were all good. Chase is number 95 in the white uniform in the photo below. 

Thursday, December 28, 2023

Mama and Chase came over to Nanaw's house about 10:30 on Thursday morning. Mama had lots of errands to run, and Nanaw and Chase were going along with her. First, they tried to go to Five Below on Lemay Ferry but it wasn't open yet. Chase wanted some candy called Toxic Waste from there so his sweet Mama agreed to drive to the Five Below in Fenton to buy it for him. He got other candy plus the Toxic Waste. Mama also bought some Bazooka bubble gum for Nanaw. Next, Mama went to get money from the ATM and then to get gas. Their next stop was the library for Mama to return and get books. Chase and Nanaw looked up books that he's going to be reading in class in the third quarter and put one of them on request. Next, they went to Dierberg's to buy baked Lay's potato chips for the trip to South Bend, Indiana for Chase's hockey tournament. Their last stop before going home was Jersey Mike's for sandwiches for Mama and Chase's lunches, which they ate at Nanaw's house. Mama had a ham and cheese sandwich, and Chase had roast beef and provolone. After lunch, they played three games of Uno. Everybody won a game, which was fun. Mama went home to pack for the trip to South Bend, and Chase and Nanaw made bookmarks for Mama. She had found some dog stickers and requested that Chase and Nanaw make bookmarks for her. Nanaw cut out pictures of baby Chase and put those on the bookmarks along with the dog stickers. Then Nanaw made a bookmark for Chase with a picture of him with Mama. She also made a bookmark for herself with a picture of Chase and Nanaw. In the evening, Mama brought Sam, Sylvester and Tyler to stay with Nanaw till Sunday night while they're at the South Bend hockey tournament. 

Wednesday, December 27, 2023

Mama and Chase came over to Nanaw’s house at about 10 a.m. on Wednesday morning. Mama wanted to go to Hallmark and Walgreen’s, but Chase wanted to stay at Nanaw's house. Nanaw wished he would go along with them but he wanted to stay at Nanaw’s and play on his phone and the computer. At Hallmark, Mama looked for the same light-up ornament she gave Uncle Mike for Christmas but they were sold out. She bought a soft blanket with all the different Hallmark plush pals on it, plus candy canes. Next, they went to Walgreen’s where Mama bought all kinds of things, including medicine for Chase’s stomach, plus a Jack Skellington and Zero reading light for Chase and other little toys for him. Their last stop was Mickey D’s where Mama got an adult Happy Meal for herself and a cheeseburger for Chase. After lunch, they played two games — Yeti My Spaghetti and Exploding Kittens, which were a lot of fun. Mama and Chase went home at about 3 p.m. to work on Chase’s room. They cleaned off a storage chest in Chase’s room so he could have his TV in there. Mama sent Nanaw a picture of the Jacks watching The Nightmare Before Christmas on the TV (they also watch Law and Order of course), plus a couple pictures of the cleaning process.  She says she still has to clean out his bookcase, his chest, 2 shelves and the closet. She says this will take a lot of time. 

Tuesday, December 26, 2023

Mama and Daddy both had the day off on Tuesday. In fact, Mama is off all this week. In the morning, Daddy took Chase to a lab in Waterloo to get his blood drawn for the gastroenterologist. Daddy reported that it took a little while for Chase to calm down but then it went okay. Later, when Nanaw was over visiting Chase, he said it hardly hurt at all, just a little prick. He said what hurt was the thing they ties around his arm to make the veins pop. He said that really hurt and it still hurt later on. Mama, Daddy, and Nanaw were all really proud of Chase for how handled the blood draw. When Nanaw got to Chase's house to visit, Chase was out in the garage using his Play Ball toy. Nanaw brought over the keyboard and two TV tables, one for the keyboard and one for the TV. Daddy helped Nanaw get the stuff in the house and downstairs. After Chase was finished with Play Ball, he came downstairs while Daddy and Nanaw set the stuff up. He played with the keyboard for a long time, while Nanaw worked on the TV. She couldn't get the WiFi to connect -- she even texted Roku for help. It turned out that Mama had given Nanaw a password with a capital letter in it but the actual password didn't have a capital letter. Once the TV was set up, Chase went into the Direct TV app and opened up the National Hockey League channel. He watched that for a while, and then Nanaw changed it to the YouTube channel, and he and Nanaw watched funny videos. Before she left, Nanaw went outside to watch Chase playing Play Ball in the garage. He said his hockey swings had gotten better from using Play Ball. He posed for Nanaw, and she got a good picture of him. Chase and Daddy were planning to go ice skating again at Steinberg at 3 p.m. but Chase didn't feel too well. Mama thinks it's because he didn't sit up for two hours after lunch like he's supposed to.  Later in the day, he felt better and was able to go to his baseball hitting lesson. 

Merry Christmas! Monday, December 25, 2023

Chase and Daddy went to church on Christmas morning, after Chase opened his presents. Nanaw was very glad she'd done a lot of the food preparation for Christmas dinner on Christmas Eve, even though it meant staying up much too late. She prepared the stuffing, the fruit salad, the seafoam salad, and the green beans. She got the turkey ready to go in the oven, and Mama came over at 12:20 to put it in. It' was pretty heavy and hard for Nanaw to lift into the oven. And Mama was gracious enough to offer to help Nanaw. After that, Mama and Nanaw went to Walgreens for their traditional Walgreens Christmas Day visit. Nanaw needed to get Kool-Aid  Jammers for the boys to drink at Christmas dinner. Mama had to get medicine for Chase's face -- he's broken out with pimples -- the boy is growing up, bless his heart. After Walgreens, Mama and Nanaw went back to Chase's house so she could see his Christmas presents. His favorite present was the video game NHL 2024. Mama said it was one of the first presents he opened. Another favorite was something called Play Ball. It's a hockey stick with a curved bottom that balls fit into. Chase had a goal target set up in the garage that he could use to hit the ball into. Daddy said he thinks Chase will improve his hockey skills with the stick. Nanaw's granddaughter Kris was the first one to arrive for dinner. Then came Uncle Mike, Aunt Becky, Irina, and Nyeal. Next, was cousin Nichole and her husband Jon Jon. Next, was cousin Joe with his girlfriend Julia and her two children Jeremy and Hudson. Cousin Lindsey and her boyfriend Dylan were next to arrive. Cousin Robbie and his girlfriend Claudia arrived almost at the end of dinner. There were 18 for dinner, with Hudson in a high chair. There wasn't room for everybody at the long table so they set up a card table off to the side for Chase and Jeremy. The presents and dessert were wonderful. Chase was excited and happy about his TV and keyboard. He played with the new keyboard in his room for a long while. The second picture is of Mama sitting in the kitchen with the new chair Daddy bought for her. She's very excited about it because it has a cooler on one side and a table on the other.

Merry Christmas Eve! Sunday, December 24, 2023

Chase and Daddy went to church on Christmas Eve morning. Later in the day, they went skating at the Steinberg Ice Rink in Forest Park in St. Louis. Chase really likes skating there, and Daddy said they could go again during Chase's Christmas break if Chase wanted to. The first picture below is one Daddy took of Chase skating. Daddy skated also. In the afternoon, Mama got KFC (which Nanaw still calls Kentucky Fried Chicken) for dinner. Nanaw had bought summer sausage and cheese at Walmart so she brought a plate of sausage, cheese, and crackers for appetizers. The chicken was delicious and so was the slaw. Chase couldn't have any chicken because of what the doctor said so he had mac and cheese, a biscuit, and mashed potatoes and gravy. After dinner, Mama, Daddy, Chase, and Nanaw went on their Christmas Eve adventure. They drove around Columbia looking at Christmas lights. A few times before, they'd gone on Chase's birthday but it was really fun to go on Christmas Eve. Daddy did a great job of driving to all the places that had special lights. First, they drove through Chase's neighborhood and then Lakeside. Then they worked their way through Columbia's ritzy subdivisions -- Wernings, Briar Lakes, Brellinger, Gedern Estates, and Gedern Village. Next, they drove through Main Street Columbia so they could see the massively decorated house across from the Columbia Library. The last stop on their adventure was a tradition -- the house up the street from Wilson, which is the most massively decorated -- and it even has music -- the perfect end to a perfect Christmas Eve.

Saturday, December 23, 2023

Chase wasn't feeling well on Saturday morning so he didn't play in the hockey game. But he and Mama and Daddy went to watch the game and participate in the Secret Santa event with the hockey team. Mama said it was really funny because the boys ran the Secret Santa all by themselves with no adult help, and they sort of messed it up. Two of the boys put their names in twice so the gifts weren't right. That's what you get when 12-year-olds do something like that. Chase got the coolest necklace from his Secret Santa: a black necklace with the number 95, Chase's hockey number. Chase bought a remote-controlled car at Five Below for his Secret Santa. In the evening Chase's good friend Jackson and his parents came over to celebrate Christmas. Nanaw came, too. For dinner, they had Papa Murphy's pizza and cheese garlic bread. Yummy! Chase and Jackson had a great time playing knee hockey together. They also played air hockey,  Xbox and with Chase's VR. Jackson was really excited to play Chase's VR. He liked it a lot and wishes he had one. On the VR, Jackson played a baseball game, and Chase played a hockey game. Nanaw watched Jackson play on her phone on the Meta Quest 2 app. She tried to watch Chase the other day, and the app never would connect. The first picture is Chase with his 95 necklace. The second picture is Chase and Jackson playing with the VR. 

Friday, December 22, 2023

On Friday, Mama had the day off so in the morning she took Chase to the gastroenterologist, whose office is located at Butler Hill Road and Tesson Ferry Road. It turned out to be a lady doctor; Chase told Nanaw she has an accent. They're going to draw blood next week, then do a barium test in January, plus some other tests. They gave Mama a list of foods Chase can't have, like chocolate, berries, oranges, tomato sauce, plus others. After the doctor's appointment, Chase came over to Nanaw's house to play. In addition to playing on his phone and the computer, he played knee hockey, played with the Rubix Cube, and played on the keyboard. Nanaw took Chase home at 4 p.m., then came back at 5:30 p.m. because Auntie LaLa and her family were visiting. Nanaw hadn't seen Phoebe for a really long time. Nanaw interviewed Phoebe about her UK degree in forensics. She's now working on her master's degree in forensic archeology. She's engaged to someone named Reese, and they're getting married in 2025. He's studying to be a mechanical engineer. Mama fixed tacos for dinner, and a cheese quesadilla for Chase. It was a fun evening, and Nanaw told everyone that Auntie LaLa's family were Mama's most interesting friends. In the second photo below, Chase did a silly pose -- maybe protesting the photo.

Thursday, December 21, 2023

Chase came over to Nanaw's house on Thursday morning for the first day of his 13-day Christmas break. He ate his regular breakfast and didn't throw up. He's brought his Playmobil with him and played with it for a long time on the bed in the computer lab, having a lot of fun. He also played with the dice game he got for his birthday. Then he played on his phone and then on the computer. Before lunch, they went to the Lemay Ferry Road Dollar Tree to get Hot Wheels for Jeremy and Hudson. Chase also got himself a bunch of stuff, and Nanaw bought Bazooka bubble gum for both of them. Nanaw had also wanted to go to the Columbia Dollar Tree to show Chase the toys they had but he said he didn’t feel like it, that his stomach didn't feel too good. Nanaw never knows if he really means that or just doesn't want to do something. On the drive home, the little red oil light on the dash went on. So Nanaw decided that after she gave Chase his lunch, she'd have to go to Dobb's. She heated up Chase's Pizza Hut pizza and breadstick from last night. Then Nanaw went to Dobb's. The red oil light didn't light up on her drive there, and the Dobb's man said without the red light he couldn't reset anything. He said to come back if it came on again. A while after Nanaw got home, Chase came and told her he'd thrown up again, a lot, he said. In the evening, Mama said he threw up again, and he didn't go to his baseball lesson. Thank heavens he's going to the doctor tomorrow. 

 

Wednesday, December 20, 2023

Mama, Daddy and Nanaw were all very happy Wednesday morning when Chase decided that despite his stomach not feeling great he could go to school for his birthday. Daddy said Chase could have extra device time today because he toughed it out at school. Mama sent Nanaw a picture Mr. Gregson took of Chase in his pajamas at school. Everybody could wear pajamas or a Christmas shirt/sweater. After school, Will came over to play with Chase. They had lunch together and then played knee hockey, soccer, and football. After Will left, Chase played on his phone and on the computer. For his birthday dinner, Chase wanted Pizza Hut. Mama ordered a pepperoni/sausage thick crust pizza and ten breadsticks — five cheese garlic and five garlic. Nanaw gave Chase a Playmobil hockey arena, four players, and a hockey guys set that will live at Nanaw's house. Mama and Daddy filled a large gift bag with what Nanaw estimated to be 20 wrapped gifts, including baseball cards, hockey figures, socks for a 12-year-old, a hockey tee shirt, Christmas tree ornaments, a drone (Nanaw wants to play with that because her drone has stopped working), and lots more that Nanaw can't remember. She'll ask Mama what else they gave Chase and report back tomorrow. Instead of a regular birthday cake or an ice cream birthday cake, Chase asked for a cookie cake, and it was absolutely delicious. Chase got out the Playmobil from Nanaw and put it together. He carefully placed the hockey-related stickers on the hockey figures and the arena. He told Mama and Nanaw that due to time constraints (LOL), he was going to keep the new Playmobil overnight and then take it over to Nanaw's house tomorrow where it will live.

Tuesday, December 19, 2023

Chase threw up on Tuesday morning so he had to stay home from school. After a while, he ate some Honey-nut Cheerios. He kept them down and seemed to feel better. He did his hour on a device on his phone. Today was cleaning lady day but Nanaw hadn't read the text from Merry Maids saying they'd be here between 8 and 9 on Tuesday morning. Nanaw had thought it would be the regular between 12 and 2 time. So Nanaw only had a short time to get everything picked up and put away. She managed to do it in 40 minutes. Then she and Chase gathered up their stuff and went downstairs. But the cleaning lady didn't come. So Nanaw texted Merry Maids to find out when she was coming. They said the person scheduled to come between 8 and 9 was sick so somebody else would be there between 12 and 1. Chase and Nanaw ate lunch downstairs, and Chase gave Nanaw a concert on the keyboard. He had a lot of fun, and Nanaw was extremely happy she bought a keyboard for him for Christmas. He's going to really like having one at his house. Nanaw went up to school to get Chase's homework, and he worked on it during the afternoon. After dinner, Chase and Nanaw went downstairs so he could give Nanaw another concert on the keyboard. Mama and Daddy were working at Queen of Hearts this evening so Nanaw got to have Chase till 7 p.m., which made her very happy. 

Monday, December 18, 2023

Chase went to school on Monday morning even though he said his stomach did n’t feel good. Before he went to school, he took a Pepto pill and a Lactaid pill. He might be lactose intolerant. Maybe he’ll find out Friday at the doctor. All day, Nanaw was sure she’d hear from Mama, saying Chase had gotten sick at school. But fortunately, no call from Mama came. When Nanaw picked Chase up from school, he was walking out with Brady and Drew and was smiling. When he came up to Nanaw, he had on his sad face. Nanaw asked how his stomach felt and he said not too good. Nanaw jokingly told him he was a faker. He asked if she meant he was faking about being sick. But she said no, he was faking being sad because she saw him smiling with his friends. LOL. At Nanaw’s house, Chase got out his Chromebook so he could email his history teacher. He wanted to clarify the history quiz that she said he hadn’t turned in. Then he played football games on the Chromebook. In the evening, Chase had hockey practice. And there was no homework!! Yay!!

Sunday, December 17, 2023

Chase's team lost the Sunday 8 a.m. hockey game badly. Chase said they stopped keeping score because it was so bad. After the game, Mama, Daddy and Chase packed up and drove home by Jefferson City. Mama texted Nanaw that she would come pick up Sylvester and Sam about 1:30 and would bring Chase with her so he and Nanaw could visit and do homework. However, when Mama got to Nanaw's house, Chase wasn't with her. He didn't feel well again and would visit with her later. A couple of hours later, Mama texted to say that Chase would like it if Nanaw came over at 4:30. Nanaw had been reading the Devil's Arithmetic summary that she printed out so she could help Chase study and learn about what might be on the test. Nanaw brought the summary along because she hadn’t finished it yet. They went into Chase's room to study, and Chase went through the Devil's Arithmetic packets and read it. They studied the math, and Chase did two pages of study pages to reinforce his memory of them. Then they went over the vocab words, even though he had told Nanaw earlier that he wanted to go over them with Mama in the evening. He knew them pretty well except for outright. Nanaw said he probably didn't have to study them anymore. Nanaw asked Chase if he would be able to go to school tomorrow, and he said yes, because my parents said I have to. I told Mama about that, and she laughed and thought it was funny. She told Daddy, and he thought it was funny, too.

Saturday, December 16, 2023

Mama brought Sylvester and Sam over to Nanaw's house around 1:30 on Saturday. Chase came with them to visit with Nanaw before his hockey game and trip to Jefferson City. Nanaw told Chase good luck in his 4 p.m. game and in going to Jefferson City for his Saturday, 8 a.m. game. She was so glad that he was feeling better and could play hockey and go to Jeff City. Nanaw loves Sylvester and Sam but worries about them out in her front yard since last summer when Sylvester pulled his leash from the post on Nanaw's front porch. She's worried that somehow he'll manage to get loose again. Chase's hockey team lost their 4 p.m. game on Saturday but the score was close -- 4 to 3 -- and Chase said they played well. The hockey family ate at the arena and then headed to Jeff City. They got there in time for the boys to swim in the hotel pool but unfortunately, the water was too cold to swim in. The rest of the boys got in trouble with the hotel because they were making so much noise and being so rowdy. The hotel manager came up to the room and said this was their third warning and if it happened again, they would be thrown out of the hotel. Mama said Chase wasn't involved in it so that was good. Nanaw sent the second picture below to Mama with the caption of Night-night.

Friday, December 15, 2023

Chase stayed home from school again on Friday with stomach problems. Daddy took him to the doctor again, and she recommended that Mama and Daddy take Chase to a gastroenterologist. So Mama made an appointment for next Friday. His office is located near Butler Hill Road, on Tesson Ferry Road close to Esse Health where Chase's pediatrician is located. The pediatrician talked to Daddy about possibilities. One of them was lactose intolerance. Another one was intestinal problems. Hopefully, the gastroenterologist will figure it out and quickly. Nanaw had a doctor's appointment late on Friday morning so she couldn't take care of Chase till about 1 o'clock, when she picked Chase up at his house. Mama had picked up Chase's homework from the black box in front of school and put it in Chase's backpack for them to work on. Back at Nanaw's house, Chase and Nanaw went into the computer lab to do his homework. Much of it Chase did on his own. Nanaw said they would study for the Devil's Arithmetic test on Monday over the weekend. So on Monday Chase has tests on The Devil's Arithmetic, vocab and math. Chase couldn’t play in the hockey game on Friday night, and Mama and Daddy weren't sure if he'll be able to play in Saturday's 4 p.m. game and then go to Jefferson City for Saturday morning's game.

Thursday, December 14, 2023

When Nanaw picked Chase up from school on Thursday afternoon, she had him open his backpack and show her his vocabulary book. Yesterday, he thought he'd brought it home so they could study for Friday's quiz but he hadn't. So Nanaw said she would require proof on Thursday that the vocab book was coming home. In addition to the vocab quiz on Friday, Chase also has a math test. They studied for the math test first. Nanaw did most of the problems with Chase but there were a few she didn't want to mess with, and Chase said he knew how to do them, and he had the right answers, courtesy of Alexa or ChatGPT or his math teacher who posted the answers to the practice test. He didn't seem to know the vocabulary words as well as he needed to for the test so Nanaw said that on the drive home, Chase should ask her the words. She only missed one. At Chase's house, they went over the words again while Mama was making delicious tacos for dinner, and he did much better than before and got them all right. Tonight was the Band Concert at Chase's school, and Nanaw was very excited about going to see Chase play the clarinet. However, shortly before dinner, Chase  threw up. So there was no Band Concert for Chase's family, Nanaw was very disappointed. Hopefully, he'll be able to go to school tomorrow. 

Wednesday, December 13, 2023

It was fun Wednesday morning watching Chase mess with his hair. Nanaw doesn't like the way it looks at the moment but it's none of her business. When Nanaw picked Chase up from school, she went over the list of homework he needed to bring home. She asked him about the vocab book, and he said he had it. But it turned out that he didn't have it. Tomorrow, when Nanaw picks Chase up from school, she'll have him show her the vocab book to make sure he has it. He has a vocab quiz on Friday on the past two weeks of vocabulary. So he really needs to study for the quiz after school. Tomorrow night is the Christmas band concert so he won't have much time to study in the evening. Before the band concert, Mama is fixing a taco bar for dinner, and Nanaw is very excited about that. She loves tacos. Pawpaw used to fix tacos for the family. After school today, Chase worked on his book report and got it completed. He did really good job, and Nanaw was very proud of his work. He also did his math homework and a religion assignment. 

Tuesday, December 12, 2023

When Nanaw did the pick-up phone call to Mama on Tuesday afternoon, Chase reported that he had taken the science test and the English test today and turned in some of his homework that he did while he was home sick. Mama told him to be sure to turn in the rest of the homework tomorrow. At Nanaw's house, they did the photo shoot for the picture that Nanaw includes with her Christmas cards. They did one with the Jacks and one for Mama with Tee Tee, Lars and Sid the Snake, both shown below. Chase and Nanaw worked on his book report that's due on Thursday, December 14. He's doing the report on Linked by Gordon Korman. It's the story of how a 13-year-old boy thought it would be funny to draw a swastika on the wall at school, which led to someone drawing more a swastikas everywhere, which led to the students making paper chains, with each chain representing one of the 6,000,000 Jews who died in Holocaust. For the book report, the students have to choose five activities to do. Chase is doing the following five things: 1. Drawing pictures of three events in the story and writing 2 or 3 sentences about each event; 2. Writing a different ending to the story; 3. Writing a to-do list of ten items for one of the characters; 4. Creating a Word Cloud of at least 15 words that describe the main character; 5. Using the title of the book to make an acrostic poem about the book. 

Monday, December 11, 2023

Chase went back to school on Monday morning -- Yay! After days of hardly eating anything, this morning, he ate honey nut Cheerios, yogurt, a banana and chocolate milk for breakfast and only coughed once, very briefly. At drop-off at school, when the PE teacher doing crossing guard duty saw him, she grinned and waved at him, evidently happy to see he was back at school. Here's an update on the Spanish adjectives Chase used to describe himself in the Spanish Word Art assignment. The two out of the six that were missing are Intelligente (Intelligent) and Tímido (Shy). The other four are Rubio (Blond), Simpatico (Nice), Feliz (Happy), Alto (Tall). Chase said everybody was happy to see him back at school. He didn't take any of the tests he was supposed to take today, and didn't turn in very much of the homework he did last week. He said nobody asked for it. So Mama and Nanaw are hoping everything gets straightened out because the little fellow did a lot of work last week despite being sick. After school, Chase and Nanaw studied for his English verbs test tomorrow. He seems to know the material so Nanaw is hoping he does well on the test. He was going to hockey practice tonight so that's good. The first picture below is a funny one that Chase staged. He took Lars the lemur and put his hands behind his head and sat him down with the Creeper pillow. That's another sign that Chase isn't sick anymore. Last week, he had no sense of humor and never smiled.

Sunday, December 10, 2023

Chase was feeling much better on Sunday morning so he and Daddy went to church. Then he decided he could go for his baseball pitching lesson. Then he decided he could play in his hockey game tonight. Mama and Daddy were so happy that he was feeling good enough to get back into doing his regular activities. And hopefully, he'll go back to school tomorrow. Nanaw came over at three to help Chase study for his tests and finish up his homework assignments. He did the IXL computer assignment in English on his Chromebook. Then he did his Spanish Word Art assignment. The words he chose to describe himself are Rubio (Blond), Simpatico (Nice), Feliz (Happy), Alto (Tall). That's only four adjectives. And Nanaw can't remember the other two. She'll check with Chase tomorrow on the other two and report back. Chase and Nanaw studied for his religion test, his DLR test and his science test. Then they studied for his verb test on Tuesday but that didn't go too well because Nanaw wasn't sure about the verbs. They tried asking Alexa but that got sort of loud so they're going to do it at Nanaw's house tomorrow afternoon. Nanaw stayed for a dinner of ham and carrots. In the evening, she watched Chase's hockey game online at Livebarn.com but she was never sure which player was Chase. But it made her feel like she was at his game. Mama sent a picture of a blue blanket she paid one of the hockey moms to embroider Chase's hockey number and name on it. 

Saturday, December 9, 2023

Today was Uncle Mike's annual Christmas party. Sadly, Chase is still sick and is not able to go to the party so Daddy is going to stay home with him. Nanaw came over at 12:30 to help Chase with his homework and studying. He has a test in English on Tuesday over verbs -- helping, linking, main, transitive and intransitive. He has to complete study guides on them. Two of the study guides are double-sided. The other one is just on one side. Chase completed all of them but they didn't go over them yet. Nanaw wants to review all the verbs so she's sure she knows the answers. Chase also had to do one of the IXL computer programs in English. He has a Spanish assignment to describe himself in six adjectives and to put it into a program called Word Art. It's a really fun program that takes words and makes a design out of them. He used it on his book report with adjectives on one of the characters. Chase is still coughing a lot but hasn't thrown up recently so that's good. Mama and Nanaw left for Uncle Mike's Christmas party at 2:30. They had a really good time. All the decorations were beautiful, especially all the outside decorations Uncle Mike did. The food was delicious, and Nanaw ate lots of cookies. Mama, Nanaw, Uncle Mike and Nanaw's grandkids spent a lot of time together downstairs, and that was grand fun. Mama and Nanaw got home about 8 o'clock after a wonderful party.

Friday, December 8, 2023

Chase was home from school again today. That's a whole week of school that he's missed. Mama had called the doctor yesterday to see if there was anything else they could do for Chase but the doctor said not really. She said if it continued they could do some breathing tests. This morning, Chase told Nanaw that he and Daddy had gone for a walk because Daddy wanted Chase to get up and move around. Daddy decided the doctor should take another look at Chase so he scheduled an appointment. The doctor prescribed an anti-nausea medication to help with the throwing up. She said there wasn't anything they could do; it just had to run its course. Nanaw went up to Chase's school to pick up his homework, and this time there wasn't quite as much as the past four days. Chase did his math and read a chapter in The Devil's Arithmetic and answered the questions for the book. He also did his AR reading. For dinner, Mama said Chase wanted Sonic so she got pretzel bites for him. In the evening, Nanaw went grocery shopping at Waterloo Walmart. She sent a text to Mama and Daddy asking about the presents she wanted to buy Chase for Christmas. They okayed her choices, and Nanaw was happy about that.