Happy Easter. Sunday, March 31, 2024

On Easter Sunday morning, Daddy and Chase went to church early so they could be sure to get a seat. When Chase got home from church, he had his super Easter hung. Mama hid his basket and also plastic eggs with candy and toys in them. In the afternoon, Nanaw picked up Chase and took him to her house to hunt for candy and toys she'd hidden in the living room and dining room. There were ten things for him to find. Aunt Becky and Uncle Mike were there, and Aunt Becky and Nanaw gave him hints. There were 16 for Easter dinner. Nanaw sat across the table from Chase. He ate really well -- ham and delicious party potatoes made by Mama, two of Aunt Becky's wonderful homemade rolls and some of Nanaw's fruit salad. For dessert, Aunt Becky made two kinds of brownies, and Mama made an ice cream dessert that Chase invented -- with ice cream, whipped cream and crumpled chocolate chip cookies -- very good.

Saturday, March 30, 2024

Mama brought Chase over to Nanaw's house for a visit on Saturday morning. He told Nanaw he had a good time at Hunter's house playing with his friends. Brady and Drew had a sleepover with Hunter but Chase and Cole didn't. Mama said Chase had too much to do on Saturday but that next time he could do the sleepover. The first thing Chase and Nanaw did on Saturday morning was work on Chase's math assignment. Nanaw helped him understand how to do percentage problems using equations. You can also do percentage problems using proportions but Chase said he didn't know how to do proportions and didn't want to learn. But maybe on Monday Nanaw can try a few problems with him showing him how to do proportions. After they were done with math, Chase and Nanaw went downstairs so Chase could play on the big keyboard. It's amazing how he can figure out how to play songs just by listening to them and then trying out the notes. Maybe there will come a day when he would be interested in taking piano lessons but he isn't interested now. Perhaps he could use the piano lesson books Nanaw bought when she was trying to learn to play the piano. Chase was very excited about going to Aunt Becca's house today for Easter dinner because he would get to play with his cousin Elias.

Friday, March 29, 2024

Daddy had the day off today and brought Chase over to Nanaw's house at about 12:30. They had stopped at Taco Bell and got two cheese quesadillas for Chase. Nanaw gave him a Lactaid tablet. Chase had had a hockey lesson in the morning, and then he and Daddy went to the nearby driving range to hit gold balls. Daddy bought Chase a new golf bag and golf clubs. Daddy is going to take him golfing more often now that Chase is getting better at golf. Later in the afternoon, Chase had popcorn for a snack. He played with his phone for a while, then he and Nanaw went downstairs for Chase to play on the big keyboard for Nanaw. Then Chase decided to go upstairs and get all the stuffed lemurs and bring them downstairs and put them in the playpen. He watched PBS TV and played with the lemurs -- they were playing pickle ball. Before he went home, he had another snack of small amounts of several things: blueberries, strawberries, chocolate milk, whales and the red and yellow candy Nanaw bought for him yesterday at Schnuck's. Nanaw took Chase home at four so he could go for some hitting practice and catching fly balls with Hunter's dad. Then Chase went over to Hunter's house to play with Hunter, Cole, Drew and Brady, and Mama and Daddy went to Sunset Overlook. Mama forwarded some photos that Hunter's mom took of Chase and the guys -- or the gang or the posse or the pack. Chase is coming over to Nanaw's house at 9:30 tomorrow morning, even though Mama went grocery shopping after work today instead of tomorrow morning.

Thursday, March 28, 2024

Thursday was Chase's first day of Easter break, and he seemed happy to be out of school. He had a good time playing on the keyboard  for Nanaw and practicing all the songs he knows. Nanaw said that tomorrow they would go downstairs and play on the big keyboard. Chase worked on his persuasive essay for a while, and then Chase and Nanaw did math. That didn't go well with Chase. When he and Nanaw started comparing answers, Chase got the first four problems wrong. Nanaw thinks he needs to re-learn how to do percentages using proportions and equations. They're planning on working on math on Saturday. For lunch, Chase had one of the big Lunchables -- it was a sub sandwich and had some cheese on it. Halfway through him eating the sandwich, Nanaw remembered to give him a Lactaid tablet. Nobody knows if lactose has been causing all his stomach issues, the pains and the throwing up but it's been two weeks since he had any complaints. He played in his room with the two hockey rinks. In the afternoon,  Chase and Nanaw watched the Cardinals opening game with the Dodgers. It didn't go well at all, so Chase went in his room and watched another baseball game -- Nanaw thought it might have been Tampa Bay. When Nanaw took Chase home, he told Daddy that "the guys" -- that would be his ICS guys: Brady, Cole, Drew and Hunter wanted him to go to the little library park, and Daddy said he would take Chase. Nanaw learned later that the guys played pickle ball at the park. There are pickle ball courts where the tennis courts are. It turns out that Hunter's big brother Mason convinced the library to buy pickle ball paddles and balls to be checked out and used on the courts. Brady's mom Michelle checked out the paddles and balls for the guys. Chase said he had lots of fun, and Cole won.

Wednesday, March 27, 2024

On Wednesday morning, Nanaw was sure that Mama had packed the bag of Chase's guys because there were a bunch of the colorful little stuffed animals that are reversible. But Mama said Chase packed the bag, and Nanaw was surprised. Mama showed Nanaw her mood reversible little animal. It has a smile on one face; on the reversible side, the face has a grumpy look. Today was early dismissal, and the day before Easter break. Chase was so happy that he has minimal homework over the break. He was also happy because he declared today a homework-free day. He just has AR reading, a math assignment and finishing up his persuasive essay, which is due Wednesday, April 3. Chase gets three days off for Easter break. For a while after school, Chase played on the keyboard. He taught Nanaw a new song; he wrote down the notes so that Nanaw could follow them. He's really good at music, and he seems to enjoy it. Chase wanted popcorn for a snack after school; fortunately Nanaw had one more bag of microwave popcorn. Tomorrow morning when she goes to get her newspaper at Schnuck's, she'll buy another box of 12 bags of kettle corn. Chase said he'd go with Nanaw to Schnuck's in the morning. When Nanaw took him home, Chase went downstairs and was playing on his keyboard there. 

Tuesday, March 26, 2024

Nanaw took the picture of Chase and his tournament championship ring shown below first thing on Tuesday morning. He was excited to see on the school menu that lunch today was toasted ravioli. He said "Extra!," which means when the teacher asks about lunch orders first thing in the morning, he was going to say "Extra!" so he could get an extra serving of toasted ravioli. Today was cleaning lady day, and Nanaw decided to go over to Chase's house instead of downstairs. When Nanaw picked Chase up from school, he said his only homework was AR reading and studying with Daddy for tomorrow's religion test. He said he wanted to go to Red Roof and buy more of the $7 candy Daddy bought for him over the weekend. He told Nanaw he would pay her back. Instead, they went to Chase's house and picked up the money. At Red Roof, Chase said he got the last bag of $7 candy. He was excited about that. When they got to Nanaw's house, Chase took his phone and lay on the couch in the living room to play with it. For snacks, he had chocolate milk, strawberries, blueberries, a Sponge Bob popsicle and popcorn. He had a baseball lesson at about 6 p.m. Then he and Daddy brought home Chik Filet for dinner. Chase's phone had fallen out of his pocket to the floor in Nanaw's car on the way to his house so Mama came over to pick it up later in the evening.

Monday, March 25,2024

On Monday morning, Chase brought his tournament championship ring over to Nanaw's house to show it to her. Nanaw forgot to take a picture of it for Days of Chase but she'll remember to do it tomorrow. When Nanaw picked Chase up from school in the afternoon, she asked him how his chicken patty lunch was. He said it was so good because he put cinnamon-sugar on the patty. Nanaw couldn't understand how that could be good, and neither could Mama when Nanaw told her about it on the pick-up call. They all had a discussion on the way to Nanaw's about Chase's homework assignments and when everything was due. Nanaw thinks everybody now understands when the due dates are. Chase answered the questions on his religion study guide; he says there's a religion test on Wednesday. He also worked on his persuasive essay assignment. His topic is that everybody should play hockey. The rough draft of the essay is due in English tomorrow. The finished copy is due Wednesday. Chase doesn't have any baseball practice till later in the week, and it's at 7 p.m. so Nanaw doesn't have to have him home early. For snacks after school, Chase had two of the Sponge Bob popsicles that Mama bought for him at Schnuck's on Saturday. He said he liked them a lot.

Sunday, March 24, 2024

Chase had a major baseball day on Sunday with the continuation of the baseball tournament. It started with another baseball game in the morning, which Chase's team won. Then in their next game in the afternoon, they won that also. That meant that Chase's team won the silver level of the tournament. Mama sent pictures to Nanaw of Chase getting his tournament ring and one picture of the team. Mama said, that Chase pitched a lot today and that he was happy that his team won the tournament. Unfortunately, Chase's classmate and teammate Cole had a volleyball game today and couldn't play in the baseball tournament. Nanaw sent Chase a text congratulating him on his three wins: a great report card with one B and the rest all As; being selected for his Crusader Character; and his team winning the baseball tournament. Chase sent Nanaw a text telling her that Daddy was grilling burgers for dinner, and Nanaw was invited. When Nanaw got to Chase's house, Chase and Daddy weren't home from the park yet but they got there a little bit later. Chase played outside on the trampoline with the little green helicopters off the trees while Nanaw reviewed his math homework assignment. 

Saturday, March 23, 2024

Mama brought Chase over to Nanaw's house on Saturday morning while she went to the grocery store. She told Chase not to play on his phone the whole time he was there. He played on the phone for a little while then did a typing program thing with Nanaw. Then he said he wanted to play with the kinetic sand so they did that for a while. Next, he said he wanted to play knee hockey. When Mama came to pick up Chase, Nanaw reported to her all the things Chase had done and how he hadn't played too much on the phone. Chase had a baseball tournament this weekend, and his first game was at 2 p.m. They tied the game 7 to 7. The next game was at 4 p.m. and they lost that one 14 to 4. He has another game tomorrow morning at 10:30 a.m. Mama said he played a few positions today, struck someone out, and got hit in the back with a pitch. Mama said Chase didn’t' mention his back hurting so hopefully it's okay. In the evening, the boys and the parents went to Hot Shots for dinner and playing. Mama said Chase was having fun with the boys. For dinner, Chase had toasted ravioli and parmesan fries.

Friday, March 22, 2024

On Friday, Chase sent an emergency email to Mama and Nanaw that he couldn't find his glasses. Nanaw looked around her house and in the car but couldn't find them Mama took his contacts up to him at school, and she said he easily put them in. He had looked everywhere for the glasses: his backpack, his locker, and his desk but couldn't find them, He also went to the office and asked if anyone had turned them in. When Nanaw picked Chase up from school, he said that when he came out of school yesterday, he had the glasses in the pocket of his hoodie. So he asked Nanaw if she had searched the car, and she said yes but she would do it again. At home, she moved the seats around, looking under them, then took everything out of the car. When she was in the back seat to get things out, she looked over at the cup holder, and there at the bottom of the cup holder were Chase's glasses -- a miracle had happened! Nanaw took a picture of the glasses in the cup holder and sent it to Chase and Mama. (It’s the first picture below.) The third picture below shows Pawpaw's Easter decorations at the cemetery. Nanaw was happy to discover that the shortcut from the VA hospital into the cemetery might be available again. They had closed it off, which meant Nanaw had to go the long way to get to the cemetery. She would like to have the shortcut again so maybe that will happen.

Thursday, March 21, 2024

Mama, Daddy, Chase and Nanaw had a wonderful surprise on Thursday. Chase was selected for a very special award: The Crusader of Character award. The posting for the award says: "Look who got the crusader of character award! Chase Southerland is a good friend to everyone. He is a hard worker who can always be relied on to do his very best. He embodies the ICS Mission Statement." The award was present at mass on Thursday morning. Chase got a tee shirt, a Yeti cup, and a $25 bank account, along with an award certificate. Chase only had to do a little homework on Thursday afternoon -- study for a vocab quiz and the DLR quiz, and finish his math homework assignment. In the evening, his friends Hunter and Mason came over to play. Mama says they spent a lot of time outside in the backyard playing on the trampoline. 

Wednesday, March 20, 2024

Chase was happy to see Creeper when he got to Nanaw's house on Wednesday morning. Nanaw forgot to put Creeper in the bag of guys yesterday so he had an unplanned sleepover at Nanaw's house last night. When Nanaw picked Chase up from school, he gave the following report to Mama and Nanaw: He said the chicken fajitas he had for lunch were good. He said he thinks he did well on his science test -- maybe a grade of 101 with the bonus points. He said he wanted to join his friends at the library park at 4:45, and Mama said that was okay and to let her know if she should pick Chase up from the park when he was finished playing. Chase said he didn't have any homework, and Nanaw suggested they do the vocab for Friday's quiz and do some of the questions for the two books his class is reading. They did a few words and a few questions. Chase had brought his clarinet home from school, and he played some of the songs they're going to perform at the spring band concert. Nanaw took Chase to the park to play with Brady and Hunter but Drew and Cole weren't able to come. Mama said to have Chase home by 6:30 for dinner so Nanaw did. The third photo is one that Mama sent to Nanaw today of baby Chase in his reindeer jammies. Nanaw misses that butt-in-the-air baby.

Tuesday, March 19, 2024

Mama was mad at Chase Tuesday morning because of one of his papers she found that she didn't know about. It was a Roll of Thunder quiz that he got a 50 on -- which is a very low D. She told him he couldn't have his phone today or any devices at Nanaw's. Chase said he was sorry and would try to do better. Chase and Nanaw will go over the paper tomorrow; they didn't have time today. Chase hasn't been sick, hasn't thrown up and hasn't had stomach pains for over a week. Nanaw asked him if he thought it was the lactose but he said maybe it was just luck. He's been in such a good mood, smiling like his old self, and making Nanaw very happy. She hopes that it keeps up. Mama texted Nanaw that the report cards are out, and Chase got all As except for the B in math. Mama also said he got two nice comments from teachers but Nanaw won't know what those are until Mama gives her a copy of the report card. After school, Nanaw looked at Chase's math, and then studied with him for the science quiz tomorrow. Then she quizzed him for his vocabulary test on Friday. Chase told her that last night he and Daddy went to Dick's, and Chase borrowed $35 from Daddy to buy a new set of helmets. He's going to bring his old set over to Nanaw's house to paper helmet hockey with. Tonight while Mama is at her hair appointment, Chase and Daddy are going to the big park to rollerblade and play hockey.

Monday, March 18, 2024

Today was one of the early days, with Mama bringing Chase over to Nanaw's house at 6:45. Nanaw had three People magazines ready for Mama's friend Becky; Mama and Becky carpool most days when they go into the office. When Nanaw picked Chase up from school, he said he had no homework. He'd forgotten to bring his math home and said he was so sorry. He played on his phone most of the afternoon, which isn't really a good thing for him to do. Nanaw went through his papers and found a quiz that he'd gotten a D on. It was for one of the new books they're reading this quarter -- Where the Red Fern Grows. Nanaw went through the quiz with him, and they figured out the correct answers. Nanaw suggested that each day Chase re-read what the teacher had already read in class. He didn't like that idea too much. Then, to Nanaw's shock, he said he should have used his book for the quiz. It turned out that it was an open-book quiz, and Chase didn't use his book for the quiz. Nanaw tried to tell Chase how important it was to use his book when he could for a quiz, but he didn't seem to think it was that important. Nanaw decided she'd have to talk to Mama and Daddy to see if they thought they should start doing Chase's homework with him rather than Nanaw because Chase seems to listen to them more than to her. Nanaw would be sad about that but what it's important is what's best for Chase.

Happy St. Patrick's Day! Sunday, March 17, 2024

Chase wore his new green Polo shirt that Mama got on Amazon to church today. He also served at the mass. In the early evening, Nanaw came over to visit Chase and have dinner. Dinner was an arm roast that Mama fixed like pot roast. It was okay but Mama, Chase and Nanaw like chuck roast better. Nanaw brought a list of questions for the Gordon Korman book that Chase si reading for AR. He isn't quite finished with the book yet, so Nanaw asked only the questions about the part he's read. When he finishes the book and before he takes the AR test on the book, Nanaw will ask him all the questions. Mama said they had a really good time at Jackson's house last night. After dinner, Chase and Nanaw went outside to play with helicopter leaves that fell from the trees. Lars went with them. They gathered up a bunch of them, and Chase put them on the floor of the trampoline. Then he poked them with a stick to make water come out of them. He had a great time, and Nanaw and Lars had a great time watching him. Mama had made cupcakes for work tomorrow -- they're having a food day. She also made little baby cupcakes for the family; Chase ate one, and Nanaw took one home and ate it. They were really good.The second picture below is from six years ago on St. Pat's Day; Chase is next to some green snake bread and is wearing Cars jammies. The third picture is also from six years ago at a Blues hockey game with Jackson and their families on St. Pat's Day weekend.

Saturday, March 16, 2024

Mama brought Chase over to Nanaw's house on Saturday morning while she went to Schnuck's to do her grocery shopping. For a while, Chase played on the keyboard in the living room while Nanaw watched and listened. Then they went into the computer lab. Chas played on his computer, and Nanaw played on hers. Chase was very happy about his plans for the evening. He, Mama and Daddy were going over to his friend Jackson's house to visit with them. In the afternoon, Chase did his science notes, and then he an Mama took his science book over to Hunter's house. Hunter forgot to bring his science book home. Mama put a note on it and left it on the front porch because Hunter and his family weren't home. Nanaw said Mama was much cuter than the Amazon delivery people. Also in the afternoon, Nanaw went out to the little house to check on things. She hadn't been out there all winter and felt guilty about that. She took the turkey carcass from Christmas for animals. She also took the kitten food her cats didn't like but she saved it for later for the animals. Mama sent Nanaw a picture from Jackson's house where they were taking Chase's blood pressure. Everyone but Chase had their blood pressure taken correctly. His blood pressure didn't work on the machine. There will be more to report tomorrow about the visit to Jackson's house.

Friday, March 15, 2024

Mama had the day off from work on Friday so she took Chase to school. Nanaw got a text from Cole's mom asking if she could give Cole a ride home from school. Nanaw said yes, of course, and that Chase would like that. And he did! Chase and Cole sat together in the back seat of Nanaw's car and played on their phones, mostly asking Siri to do weird things. Nanaw had come up with a plan for after school with Chase. They would sit together in the living room to watch the rest of the Roll of Thunder movie, and Nanaw would put together a snack for Chase consisting of chocolate milk, strawberries and blueberries. After he ate that, he would get a few Girl Scout cookies and a few Tootsie Rolls. But Chase reminded Nanaw that one of his Lent things was not to eat candy after school. The other one was to eat fruit each day, so the strawberries and blueberries took care of that. Chase was in a grumpy mood and didn't want to come in the living room or sit with Nanaw to watch the end of the Roll of Thunder movie. But then, amazingly, he seemed to change his mind and be in a better mood. He unplugged the keyboard from the computer lab and brought it into the living room. Nanaw plugged it in for him, and he began to play all kinds of music on it, having a wonderful time. That made Nanaw so happy. When Nanaw took Chase home, Mama wasn't there. She had gone to a happy hour with some of the moms from Chase's hockey team. Chase had a baseball hitting session at 5:30.

Thursday, March 14, 2024

When Chase came over to Nanaw's house on Thursday morning, Chase said he didn't feel too well so Nanaw gave him an anti-nausea pill, and he said that helped. When Nanaw picked Chase up from school, he said he felt pretty well and that the English test was okay. They went over his list of homework, and it was a lot. He had to study for two quizzes on Friday: DLR (that's correcting mistakes like spelling, punctuation and grammar; and vocabulary from the book The Giver. He also had math homework and a religion study guide to complete. Earlier in the day he had sent Nanaw an email telling her that the deadline for the history Revolutionary War scrapbook was moved to Monday from Friday. Then Mama updated them saying the deadline was now Tuesday. Chase has finished the scrapbook so it's all fine with him. He decided to fine-tune the colors of the slides in his scrapbook LOL. Daddy picked Chase up at about 5:30 to take him for a hitting lesson. Then they were picking up Mama and meeting Uncle Stan and Aunt Becca at Home Depot to pick out lumber, etc. for the replacement deck at Chase's house. Then they were going to La Fiesta for dinner. Nanaw still hasn’t been there and really wants to go. The second picture below is Chase with his friend Cole in 2018 when they were in kindergarten -- so cute. The third picture is hail on Nanaw's deck. There were terrible thunderstorms -- rain, wind, hail and tornado warnings.

Wednesday, March 13, 2024

Mama called Nanaw around noon to tell her that Chase had gone to the office with stomach pains. The school secretary gave him Pepto and that seemed to help. The secretary encouraged Chase to try to stick it out, and he did. He took his math quiz and went to lunch, although he said he didn't eat much of his Mexican Haystack. Mama got a doctor's note that permitted Chase to take his anti-nausea medicine at school, and Mama took the note and the medicine to the school secretary. When Nanaw picked Chase up, he said he felt better. He had forgotten the study guide for his English test tomorrow but didn't want to go back in. He said he could study the worksheets they'd done for class. Mama texted one of the moms and asked her to take pictures of the study guide, and she did. Mama took Chase to get his hair cut, and Nanaw waited at his house for him to return. Then they went to Nanaw's house. At Nanaw's house, Chase did his science and then took a "10-minute power nap," as he called it. When Nanaw took Chase home, he played a short while outside before the rain started. He studied for his English test with Mama.

Tuesday, March 12, 2024

Chase got a text from one of his friends Tuesday morning, saying he didn't feel well and wouldn’t be in school today. Somehow Chase started feeling bad. Nanaw said he was going to school, and he did and everything was fine. When Nanaw picked Chase up from school, it turned out that he hadn't brought his math book home, which was bad, because he has a math quiz tomorrow. Nanaw talked to Mama about it on the pickup call, and she told Chase he had to go back in the school and get his math book -- which he did, unhappily and unwillingly, but he did it. When they got to Nanaw's house, Chase worked on his history scrapbook about the Revolutionary War. He's almost done with it; he only has two more slides to do. Nanaw read through it and sat with Chase to made edits to it on punctuation, spelling and grammar. He did an excellent job on the scrapbook. Nanaw was very proud. For his math, Nanaw made up some problems for him, which he did perfectly on. Tonight he was going to go through the chapters in the math book and read through the worksheets they did in class. The 100 he got on his book report brought his reading grade up to an A from a B. But Mama and Nanaw weren't going to say anything to Chase about it because they don’t want to pressure him about grades.

Monday, March 11, 2024

On Monday morning, Mama brought Chase's baseball gear because he has baseball practice this afternoon. Daddy is picking him up at four thirty, and Chase has to be ready by then, including putting his contacts in. Chase brought his penguin Berry and his flamingo Fred with him to Nanaw's house Monday morning, and they rode to school with Chase. When Nanaw picked Chase up from school, he said he had bad news for her. Nanaw always panics when he says that. This time, it was about a scrape on his elbow. He got the scrape Saturday at Jackson's birthday party. Chase said it wasn't so bad on Saturday but it got worse today. When they got to Nanaw's house, she put antibiotic cream and a Band-Aid on the scrape, and Chase said it felt better. Chase worked diligently on his American Revolutionary War scrapbook that's due Friday. At first, the scrapbook was supposed to feature 20 top events of the war but the history teacher changed that today to the top 15 events. Chase didn't show Nanaw what he'd done so far on the scrapbook but he said he would tomorrow. Chase was happy that he and Daddy were having leftover spaghetti (from last night's dinner) for dinner tonight; he loves Mama's spaghetti.

Sunday, March 10, 2024

Mama said they stayed at Brady's birthday party at Urban Air for four hours last night, and Chase had a great time. Cole rode with them to and from the party, and Chase liked that. Mama said Chase spent a lot of time with his friend Joey at the party. They had pizza, so Chase took one of his Lactaid pills because of the cheese. According to Mama, Chase did a lot of running at the party, and today his arms and legs hurt a lot, and he was exhausted. When Nanaw saw the pictures of Chase climbing, she thought it looked really dangerous. But Mama said the kids were strapped in when they climbed so it was safe. Chase had told Mama that when Nanaw came over to visit, they would work on his history online scrapbook project that's due Friday. They sat on the loveseat in the living to work on the scrapbook. Chase worked on the framework design of the scrapbook, and Nanaw started looking at possible events to include in the scrapbook. Once Chase completed his design of the framework, he was ready to go outside and play field/ball hockey with Daddy in the backyard. Mama gave Nanaw a lesson on how to use the Magic Bullet she gave Nanaw for her birthday. Mama was making spaghetti for dinner, one of Chase's favorites.

Saturday, March 9, 2024

Nanaw went over to visit Chase at about 9:30 on Saturday morning. He was downstairs playing knee hockey. Nanaw told him she had two things she wanted to do: watch him play the keyboard and learn about the history Revolutionary War scrapbook that's due next Friday. When Chase was done playing knee hockey, they went into the blue room and Chase played the keyboard for Nanaw. Then he got out one of the guitars (he and Daddy have three guitars) and played with it for a while. Then Chase and Nanaw looked at his Chromebook with the information about the history scrapbook. What he has to do is find 20 important things about the Revolutionary War and make a scrapbook out of them, with a description of the 20 things, along with pictures, maps, etc. It sounds like a fun project. Speaking of fun, Chase had a really fun afternoon and evening. He went to two birthday parties in fun places. First, noonish, he went to Jackson C's party at Power Haus Then at 4 p.m. he went to Brady's party at Urban Air. Mama sent Nanaw three photos for each party. The first two pictures are of Chase at the keyboard and holding the guitar.

Happy Birthday, Nanaw! Friday. March 8, 2024

Mama took the day off work for Nanaw's birthday so Mama took Chase to school, without issues she said. Mama and Nanaw had a day of adventures. They did Mama's usual Telegraph Road activities of getting money at the bank and gas next door. Then they went to the Cliff Cave library where Mama checked out six or more books, and Nanaw picked up an audiobook by one of her favorite soap opera stars. Next, they went to Walgreens for prescriptions but the pharmacist was on a meal break so they went to El Paso on Main Street for lunch. They both had chimichangas and ate lots of chips, salsa, and cheese dip. There was also a delicious mystery dip. They should have asked the waiter what kind it was. They went back to Walgreens and then to Target where Nanaw bought a wireless Bluetooth lavender mouse for her new laptop. Next, they went to Marshall's because Mama was looking for a green Polo shirt for Chase to wear to church for St. Patrick's Day on March 17 but no luck so she's going to order one from Amazon. She's also going to order 4-slot USB things for her and Nanaw. Their new laptops only have three USB slots. Nanaw picked Chase up from school, and he gave her a very colorful bookmark he made her for her birthday. Back at Nanaw's house, they sat together in the living room while Nanaw watched soap operas. Nanaw set up her new laptop for Chase to play Roblox on. The laptop is speedy, and Chase really liked playing on it. They went to dinner at Applebee's in the evening with Mama, Daddy, Uncle Mike and Aunt Becky. Then they had cake and ice cream at Nanaw's house. Uncle Mike and Aunt Becky gave Nanaw an UMSL sweatshirt and a wonderful, colorful, music-playing lighthouse. Mama gave Nanaw a Magic Bullet smoothie maker and two purple Vineyard Yankee candles. It was a wonderful birthday and a wonderful day.

Thursday, March 7, 2024

When Mama dropped Chase off at Nanaw's house on Thursday morning, Nanaw took Chase into the dining room and showed him a foot-high stack of school papers that he'd done this year. It was just amazing how much schoolwork he has in 6th grade. In the afternoon, Mama called Nanaw to tell her the school secretary had called Mama to tell her that Chase was in the office because his stomach didn't feel good. Nanaw went to pick Chase up, and he seemed better. Back at Nanaw's house, Chase and Nanaw studied for Chase's tests tomorrow; they studied for history and vocab but not DLR and science. They also finished his book report that's due tomorrow. Chase did his math assignment and completed the study guides for science and history; Nanaw wanted Chase to study the study guides but he insisted he'd already studied enough. He said he'd study for the DLR test at home. Nanaw told Mama about Chase not wanting to study the study guides, and Mama said she would have him do the studying, and he did. Mama also told him he had to respect Nanaw, listen to her and do what she says.

Wednesday, March 6, 2024

Another miracle happened at drop-off again this morning. Chase felt fine, no stomach problems, and he went to school with no issues. Yay! After school, Chase and Nanaw did a lot of studying for his four tests on Friday. Nanaw looked at his grades, and now he only has two Bs and the rest are As. First, Nanaw went through his vocabulary workbook, and he only missed two. Then Nanaw quizzed him on the vocabulary words, and he only had trouble with one word: prevail. He changed the size of the font on his book report and also changed the part where he said Will's leg was cut off. Nanaw put a color cartridge in her printer, and Chase printed out the book report pages. His Word Cloud looks cool in color. He still has to draw three pictures, and then he'll be done with the book report. They studied about half of his history vocabulary, and he and Mama finished it in the evening. Nanaw will go over it again tomorrow. Mama came and picked Chase up at five. He and Daddy went to the park to work on catching fly balls.

Tuesday, March 5, 2024

A miracle happened at drop-off time on Tuesday morning. Chase went into school with no complaints, no stomach pains, no vomiting, nothing -- just going into school. Nanaw was so happy. She reported the miracle to Mama on the drop-off call, and Mama was very happy also. Nanaw made a mess in the dining room today, trying to sort through Chase's school papers for the ones she wanted to save to use for school this summer. She had the papers spread all over the floor and got some of the sorting done. Then she decided to stack everything under the computer hutch and work on it some other time. Her new laptop came today, and she spent a lot of time setting it up. She's decided that it's a birthday present for herself for her birthday this Friday. After school, Chase worked on his homework. He had math, religion and science. He didn't bring his vocab assignments home today like Nanaw asked but he promised to bring them home tomorrow and Thursday. He has four out of the five parts of the book report that's due Friday done. There will be a lot of studying on Wednesday after school and in the evening, and Thursday after school and in the evening.