Wednesday, July 31, 2024

When Chase and Mama got to Nanaw's house and dumped the bag of guys out on the bed, they realized they had forgotten one of the guys who comes every days: Sid the Snake. Nanaw said that when they went to get her newspaper, they could stop at Chase's house and pick up Sid. Chase said, "They?" And Nanaw said yes, he would come along and go into the house to get Sid. Chase agreed and that's what they did. When Nanaw got up from her nap, she noticed that Chase had created a cozy little nest in the dining room by the corner where they have school every day. He'd filled it up with pillows from his room and had arranged his guys and some of Nanaw's guys around the pillows. Nanaw told Chase she liked his nest and asked him if that's where he was going to be when they had school. For lunch, Chase had one of his favorites: Kraft Mac and Cheese and a garlic and cheese bread stick. Nanaw is going to ask Mama to get some more bread sticks when she goes to the grocery store because Chase likes them so much. Math at school went really well. Chase said for one set of problems that if he'd known how to do them during the school year he wouldn't have gotten a 65 on the chapter 7 math test. So Nanaw is going to make sure he knows how to do all of his math problems this year. She thought he did last year but she must have missed something along the way. Mama texted that Chase's ICS baseball practice had been cancelled because of the excessive heat so Chase didn't have to be home until five.

Tuesday, July 30, 2024

Tuesday was cleaning lady day so Nanaw was racing around getting the house ready. Chase helped by packing up his clothes and stuffed animals. He had an early lunch of his leftover mac and cheese bites from Outback. He ate all of them and really liked them. They went to Chase's house while the cleaning lady was there. Nanaw packed up their math pages for them to do at Chase's house. They divided the math problems into three parts, to do today, tomorrow and Thursday. Chase is doing really well with telling Nanaw how he's going to do the problems. Nanaw asked if he likes doing it that way, and he said he did. Nanaw also asked if he thought this would help him with math next year, and he said he thought it would. Nanaw really hopes it will. After Mama got home from work, she came to Nanaw's house to pick up Chase and Nanaw for them to go shopping for school supplies. It was lots of fun. Nanaw loves looking at school and office supplies. Chase was very helpful with picking out the supplies, and he also helped Mama check out the supplies and put them in bags and the cart. It was fun for Nanaw to watch.

Monday, July 29, 2024

Monday was an exciting day for Chase and also for Mama, Daddy and Nanaw. Chase didn't go to running club Monday morning because he slept late. They didn't get home from the Luke Bryan concert until after 11:03 p.m. Sunday night. It started to pour down rain during running club so Chase and Mama were glad he didn't go. The plan was to go out to the little house so Chase could go swimming and Daddy could go fishing. First, they stopped in Washington to get lunch. They went to Jack in the Box; Nanaw got Tiny Tacos and onion rings; Chase got a cheeseburger; Mama and Daddy got big tacos and burgers. After lunch, they all went for a walk down the road to the end of Aspenhof. About halfway through the walk, Mama went back because of the heat. Nanaw managed to power through the heat and the length of the walk. Probably Nanaw should have turned back also but she managed to do the whole walk. After the walk, they went down to the lake. Daddy walked over the dam to the fishing place with a dock. Chase and Mama swam out to one of the swimming docks. Chase wore one of the life jackets from the little house. It was a wonderful day at the little house, and Nanaw is happy they went. In the evening, they all went to Outback for dinner. It was a thank you dinner to Nanaw for loaning her new Bronco Sport to Mama when her car was in the shop for a blown head gasket. They shared a delicious Bloomin' Onion. They all remarked that it was smaller than it used to be. Chase had Mac and Cheese bites; Mama and Nanaw had steak; Daddy had some kind of fish dish. It was a great dinner and lots of fun.

Sunday, July 28, 2024

Chase had power skating again this morning, and Mama took him. When Nanaw came to visit, he demonstrated what power skating is and how it's done. Mama gave Nanaw a wonderful treat when she arrived at their house: Tiny Tacos from Jack in the Box. On their way home from power skating, Chase and Mama stopped at Jack in the Box, and Mama said they had to get Tiny Tacos for Nanaw. Nanaw was so happy, and she ate them all. Then Chase gave her his leftover onion rings and two Tiny Tacos he didn't eat. Nanaw plans to have Tiny Tacos again tomorrow when Mama, Daddy and Chase come to the little house for Chase to go swimming. They're going to pick Nanaw up at 10:30, and they'll get food in Washington -- KFC and Jack in the Box. Mama says Chase and Daddy might go fishing too. Chase hasn't been to the little house for a couple of years so Nanaw is happy he's coming and bringing his Mama and Daddy. After lunch today, Chase and Nanaw played in his room. Nanaw had brought Charlie the cicada with her and also the Arees and the Yings. Chase accidentally pulled a string on Charlie and left a hole. Nanaw fixed it when she got home. Mama, Daddy and Chase were having a major adventure Sunday night: They were going to a Luke Bryant concert at Hollywood Casino Amphitheater (which used to be Riverport). Mama sent Nanaw a picture of Chase there with a snow cone. 

Saturday, July 27, 2026

When Nanaw came to visit Chase on Saturday afternoon, she asked Chase if she could interview him about hockey practice and the sleepover at Hunter's house. He said Yep! Then he told Nanaw about what they did Friday night at Hunter's sleepover. He said he had to leave early Saturday morning because he had power skating again at hockey practice. When Nanaw got to his house on Saturday afternoon after getting home from the little house, Chase was watching the USA women's volleyball team playing the Canadian women's volleyball team play. The USA team won. Nanaw didn't stay very long because Chase, Daddy and Mama were going to Jackson's house. Jackson and Chase were supposed to go swimming but there was rain so they didn't go. Mama said they played Wiffle ball. Mama also said that Aunt Jen gave her some mouth tape to try with her CPAP. She also loaned Mama two books. Mama said she'd tell Nanaw what books tomorrow. She said Aunt Jen has a hose holder that she recommended to Mama. She also told Nanaw that Uncle Mike is at the Cardinals' game. There was a huge rain delay. The second photo below is one that Nanaw took to send to Chase.

Friday, July 26, 2024

On Friday morning, Nanaw ran some errands, including going to the library. She got some fruit strips out of the vending machine for Chase. He loves those things and whenever Nanaw goes to the library, she gets some for Chase. Nanaw keeps forgetting to look for them at the grocery store. Chase and Nanaw had planned to work on Nanaw's Roblox game but they ran out time before school started. So Chase said they would work on it on Monday. At school, the math was going well till they got to some problems neither of them liked and neither of them really knew how to do. The problems involved box and whisker, quartiles, interquartile range and mean absolute deviation. Nanaw said they could skip them for now. Then if they had time when they finished the 6th grade math, they could go back and learn how to do them. Or if the problems came up in 7th grade math, they could learn how to do them then. Nanaw had to have Chase home at 4:30 so he could go to hockey practice. He was going to do something called power skating. Originally, he was going to go to the demolition derby at the state fair with his friends Brady and Drew. But the hockey practice interfered with that. It turned out that Hunter had a sleepover for Chase and Cole. Chase said the played poker downstairs at the special poker table, and then they played Roblox games.

Thursday, July 25, 2024

Daddy took Chase to running club on Thursday morning, and Nanaw picked him up at the big park. Nanaw put a towel on the car seat in case he was wet but he said he didn't take part in the water fight. However, his shoes and socks were soaking wet. Back at Nanaw's house he changed into dry socks, and then said he would put the wet socks in the dryer. Nanaw followed Chase into the laundry room and watched as he tried to figure out how to use Nanaw's dryer. Mama had taught Chase how to use her washer and dryer. It was so cute to watch him figure it out. First, he asked Nanaw if there was a sheet in the dryer, meaning a dryer sheet. Nanaw and Chase put in a dryer sheet and managed to knock stuff off the shelf. Then Chase took out the lint trap and cleaned it off. Nanaw showed him how to set her timer and which button to push to start the dryer. Nanaw had a great time enjoying their dryer adventure. For their other adventure today, Chase and Nanaw played Words with Friends on Nanaw's iPad. Nanaw created a Practice game for Chase to play. Nanaw watched and helped him sometimes. He seemed to have fun with it. School was good, and they easily finished the math. Chase also did two English worksheets and one math page in the summer book. In the morning, Nanaw had gone to the library to make copies of the math study guides and chapter tests. She'd been doing them on her printer but it was time-consuming and awkward. Nanaw thought she would have to pay for the copies but the library gives everybody $5.00 a month to make copies or print documents. 

Wednesday, July 24, 2024

Chase and Nanaw talked about the ICS baseball team again on Wednesday morning. It turns out that there are 16 boys on the team, 7th and 8th graders. Chase said the 8th graders will play most of the time so he doesn't expect to play that much on the ICS team. He hopes he'll be able to play more on his other baseball team, the Bears. Nanaw will want to hear about the ICS practice that he's having Wednesday night. Chase and Nanaw's adventure for the day was to work on a crazy jigsaw puzzle that Uncle Will-Bill gave to Chase's family. The second picture below is the puzzle and their attempts to put it together. It was so hard that they had to give up. So Mama is going to try it. School went well today. It was a little shorter than usual because Chase had to be home at 4:30 for ICS baseball practice. They finished the chapter test for chapter 5, and they'll start chapter 6 tomorrow. Chase did really well with the fraction problems. They brought Nanaw's laptop in so they could use the fraction calculator to check the answers to the fraction problems. The study guide pages have the answers in the back of the math book but the chapter tests don't have the answers. Chase told Nanaw that he thought he would do well on math when school starts.

Tuesday, July 23, 2024

On Tuesday morning, Chase helped Nanaw with her Roblox game, removing some of the objects she didn't want and adding ones that she did. For breakfast, he finally ate one of the banana nut muffins and said it was good. Nanaw said they could bake muffins again, and Chase suggested blueberry. He had seen a blueberry muffin mix at Schnuck's. Later in the morning, they had a game adventure with four games of Yeti My Spaghetti and the board game Words With Friends. Nanaw won 3 games of Yeti My Spaghetti, and Chase won their Words With Friends game 160 to 140. Disclaimer: Nanaw helped Chase a little. Chase told her that last night he had a hitting lesson at 6:30 and couldn't go to the first practice of the ICS baseball team. Two of his friends are on the team and went to practice: Drew and Will. That will be fun for Chase to have them on his team. He has another ICS practice tomorrow, Wednesday, at 5 p.m. and Nanaw has to have him home at 4:30, so they'll have to start school earlier than 2:30. School went well today. They got math done easily because they split the work into three days instead of two, Chase also did worksheets on geography; similes, metaphors and personification. Chase and Nanaw also listened to Kidnapped, book 2. Nanaw had a really good day with her buddy Chase.

Monday, July 22, 2024

Last night Nanaw asked Mama to bring a couple of games over for her and Chase to play, and she did. She also brought an unusual jigsaw puzzle. After Nanaw picked Chase up from running club, they went to Schnuck's to buy Nanaw's newspaper and a banana muffin mix to make for Mama. They also bought some Little Debbie Oatmeal Pies for Chase, along with some cheese garlic sticks.  Chase and Nanaw had lots of fun baking the muffins. Chase did most of the work except for spooning the batter into the cupcake pan. The muffins were delicious, and Nanaw hopes Mama likes them. They'll bake something for Mama again soon. Chase suggested blueberry muffins; he saw the mix at Schnuck's. School, and math especially, were great. Chase said something very important when Nanaw asked him if he was okay with doing so much math. He said he was because he didn't want to have another failing test. That is what Nanaw is trying to achieve for Chase with so much math. Nanaw forgot to take a picture of Chase baking so they faked one -- it's the first one below. The other one is of the muffins, minus the two that Chase and Nanaw ate. 

Sunday July 21, 2024

Chase had another adventurous day on Sunday. First, Mama took him to mass so he could serve. Daddy was playing golf out in Troy so he couldn't take Chase. Later, Chase and Mama played miniature golf at the place on Tesson Ferry that has all the sand. After miniature golf, where Chase got two holes in one, he and Mama had lunch at Wendy's. Then, when Daddy got home from golf, they took a long bike ride down the trail that goes all the way across Columbia. Chase had been wanting to do this since he started riding his bike all over Columbia. Chase said he had a great time riding the trail on his new bike. Unfortunately, Daddy had a harder ride. Both of his tires were almost flat and the back brake was on. Next time, it will be better. Nanaw came over to visit Chase around five. For awhile, they watched TV in the living room with Mama and Daddy. They talked about the Cardinals game being so good, with four homeruns, and the Cards winning 6 to 2. Nanaw had taken a nap in the afternoon and slept through the game and also President Biden's announcement that he wasn't running for re-election. Mama and Uncle Mike sent her lots of texts about both things. Chase and Nanaw went to Chase's room to play with the guys. It turned out that Nanaw had packed up two of her lemurs with Chase's guys: Waino and Link. So they had an unexpected sleepover. Then Chase and Nanaw played Word Connect on her phone for a little while. Mama had suggested that Chase and Nanaw play board games during the week so Nanaw asked Mama to send Words with Friends and Yeti My Spaghetti with Chase tomorrow. Chase and Nanaw are going to bake something for Mama -- probably banana bread or banana cupcakes. 

Saturday, July 20, 2024

Chase had a busy, adventurous day on Saturday. In the morning, Mama took him to the eye doctor for an eye exam. He got new glasses and contacts, and Mama says he ordered the exact blue glasses that he already had. After the eye doctor, Chase and Daddy went to Walmart and bought Chase a new blue Huffy bike. Chase is all about blue things. Mama called Nanaw to tell her about the bike and how excited Chase was about it. In the afternoon, Mama, Daddy and Chase went to a surprise birthday party for Kelly, one of Mama's friends. Jackson C. was there, along with two other boys close to their ages. There was a swimming pool at the house where the party was. Chase spent most of the time they were there swimming with the other three boys, having a fun and wonderful time. Mama said there was all kinds of food and lots of it. They stayed five hours and got home about 7:30 p.m. Mama texted Nanaw when they were home, and Nanaw went over to Chase's house to visit. When Nanaw got there and was walking up the stairs to the kitchen, Chase was walking behind her and he told her he was right behind her. When they got to the kitchen, Chase told Nanaw to come with him to the back yard because there was something she had to see. Nanaw followed Chase outside, and he showed her his new bike. He rode it around the back yard for a minute, and then Nanaw took pictures of him on the bike. Next, they went out front, and Chase rode up and down the street to show Nanaw what a great bike it is. Chase wanted Nanaw to set the stop watch while he rode around the block as fast as he could. He did it in 2 minutes and 26 seconds. The last picture below is of a huge branch across the road at the little house. Uncle Mike is going to go out there sometime next week to move the branch.

Friday, July 19, 2024

Chase really likes his butter bread, especially for breakfast. Nanaw asked him what kind of bread he wanted Mama to get him at the grocery store for next week, and he said the same kind he had this week. So Nanaw wrote soft French bread on the Chase's Vittles list for Mama. Nanaw is also going to give her the wrapper from the bread so she know which one it is. Chase spent a lot of time watching YouTube today. It's one of his favorite things to do, along with Roblox. Chase and Nanaw still haven't successfully created a Roblox game for the summer. Nanaw did the Roblox Studio tutorial the other day and started building a game but still has a long way to go. Nanaw asked Chase if he and Daddy were going to the golf driving range again tonight but Chase said no, two nights in a row was enough. Nanaw fixed the Cheetos Mac and Cheese for Chase's lunch, along with butter bread, not cheese garlic bread. Nanaw had some errands to run: picking up a prescription for flecainide at Walgreen's that she'd been waiting for since Monday; getting gas in the Escape; and getting a newspaper at Telegraph Road Schnuck's. School went really well. They listened to Kidnapped for half an hour, then spent almost all of the rest of the school on math. Chase did really well with the rest of the study review questions and the chapter test for Chapter 4 of the math book. He even remembered how to do the questions they skipped yesterday. Nanaw was so proud of him and is hopeful that math will go well in 7th grade. Nanaw forgot to write about seeing Mr. Gregson yesterday when she returned Debbie's potato salad container to Brady's mom at the church. Nanaw told Mr. Gregson about summer school with Chase and how they were concentrating on math. Nanaw decided not to go to the little house after she took Chase home. She decided to go tomorrow for a few hours.

Thursday, July 18, 2024

When Nanaw picked Chase up from running club, she took along towels because he's usually soaking wet from the water fights they have at the end of the club. But this morning he was only a little bit wet. His shoes were soaked, however. His socks were, too. Nanaw washed the socks along with the rest of her laundry. She sort of tied the socks together, and later in the day, Chase showed her how to roll the socks like Mama taught him to do when she taught him how to do his laundry. It's very neat and very easy, and Nanaw is so glad he taught her. The second picture below is the socks. Chase said that they did a scavenger hunt at running club, and it was really fun. Of course, they had to run from one thing to another. Some of the things on the scavenger hunt that they had to find were the scoreboard, the hockey net, the monkey bars and the tennis courts. In the afternoon Chase told me he and Daddy were going to go to the golf driving range again this evening. They went last night, and Chase said he had fun. He looked up the driving range on Nanaw's computer, and Nanaw saw that it's named Jefferson Barracks Driving Range -- she didn't know that. Mama says she might take Chase there to play miniature golf on Sunday while Daddy plays golf. Chase did two really cool things today that Nanaw was proud of. The first one was that he didn't eat his strawberries at lunchtime but told Nanaw that he would eat them later, and he did. Mama says she asks him every day if he ate strawberries. She wants him to eat fruit every day. The second thing was major and happened during school. They were doing math and came across six problems that they didn't know how to do. Nanaw said they would skip them. But Chase said tomorrow after they finished math, they would go back in the math book and look for instructions on how to do the problems and then do them. Nanaw was so proud of him for doing that. The last picture is Sylvester with his scarf from the groomer.

Wednesday, July 17, 2024

Nanaw went to get her newspaper at Schnuck's on Wednesday morning, she asked Chase if he wanted her to buy him some bread because he loves it so much. He said an enthusiastic yes! At first ,Nanaw was going to by Chase some of the little bread croissants she used to eat. But unfortunately they didn't have any. She found an extremely long loaf of soft French bread  so she bought that. She also bought him a little container of Apple Jacks. Chase was so excited about the bread. And he ate the heels first. In one of them, he put some Whales crackers. In the other one, he put some Ritz's Bits. He loved both of them. For lunch, he had spaghetti, and Nanaw made cheese garlic bread for him, which he said was awesome. For school, Chase and Nanaw did math first, so that they would get it done before Mama came to pick them up. Jeep had called to tell her that her car was done, and she could come pick it up. She also had a chiropractor's appointment at 3:30 for her back pain. Nanaw was excited that she would be getting her car back. 

Tuesday, July 16, 2025

It rained really hard on Tuesday, almost all day. They were saying there would be two to four inches of rain. Nanaw didn't go to get her newspaper till Chase went home at a little before 5. Then she went to Telegraph Road Schnuck's. Mama texted Nanaw earlier in the day to tell her that her subdivision was blocked off by flood waters and not to try to go anywhere. She said she and Daddy would pick Chase up on their way home from work. Chase and Nanaw had a great day. He's been wonderful this summer, just like he used to be when he was a little boy. He smiles all the time and talks to Nanaw and seems really happy. There were a few years when all that wasn't true. He seemed unhappy and never had any fun. But it's all good now. Mama sent along some Domino's pizza for Chase's lunch today. He really liked it and ate all of two slices except one little piece of crust. Surprisingly enough, he didn't have any snacks in the afternoon, a first for him. For school, they listened to Kidnapped over by the sliding glass door instead of in the kitchen. Then they did 39 decimal math problems -- part of the study review. Tomorrow they'll do the other 39 problems, which includes the chapter test. Chase did really well, and Nanaw is very happy about their new way of doing math with Chase telling Nanaw problem by problem how he's doing them. Nanaw is hoping that this helps Chase avoid a C in math next year.

Monday, July 15, 2024

Before he went to running club on Monday morning, Chase asked Nanaw for some almonds and water. Nanaw had forgotten about giving him his almonds before running club.  When Nanaw picked Chase up, he said they'd had water a fight but he wasn't soaked like he gets on Thursdays at the big park where they have huge water guns. He asked Nanaw to bring two towels on Thursday. Before Nanaw picked Chase up, she went to Columbia Schnuck's for a newspaper but they hadn't come yet so Nanaw went to Telegraph Road Schnuck's. She took Gator Ade to Chase when she picked him up, and he was very happy about that -- he loves Gator Ade. Chase and Nanaw had a surprise, courtesy of the Merry Maids cleaners. They were supposed to come at noon but they showed up early, at 10:45. Nanaw didn't have everything picked up and put away so she rushed around doing everything. She did it all in 20 minutes, which was a miracle. When it was all done, they went over to Chase's house. They had school over there. They listened to the Kidnapped book, then spent the rest of the time working on math. They did the Chapter 2 study review and the Chapter 2 test; it was a lot of work but very easy. They did all the math problems in their heads. They're going to do the Chapter 3 study review tomorrow. It covers decimals, which means that they can't do the math in their heads. They probably won't be able to do the chapter test till Wednesday because there won't be enough time. 

Sunday, July 14, 2024

Nanaw went over to visit Chase on Sunday afternoon. Just Chase and Daddy were there. Mama was over at Auntie LaLa 's house for a day with her best friend. They went shopping at Ollie's, a store that Auntie LaLa says is very much like Big Lots. Mama says she bought a lot of random stuff, including a pack of eight pickle ball balls. Nanaw asked Chase if he saw any of his friends at church on Sunday morning, and he said he saw Owen. After church, Brady came over to ride bikes. Daddy had fixed the pedal on the bike they share. They're going to buy a new bike in the next few days, at Target or Walmart. When Nanaw got to Chase's house, they watched TV in Chase's room for a while, then went downstairs for Chase to play floor hockey and knee hockey, and to watch more TV. When Chase was finished playing hockey, they went outside for Chase to show Nanaw his new pickle ball net, paddles and balls. Daddy and Chase put on a pickle ball demonstration for Nanaw but it only lasted five minutes because it was so hot outside. Mama called Nanaw on the drive home from Auntie LaLa 's house. Nanaw didn't bring home Chase's groceries so Mama is going to bring them tomorrow morning when she drops Chase off at Nanaw's house.

Saturday, July 13, 2024

As part of last night's sleepover, Chase had a long bath in Nanaw's garden tub. He took in one of Marc Andre's hockey sticks, a hockey ball and an eyeball to play with. Mama had sent along a bath ball for him to put in the bath. It had a toy inside -- a darling little owl. Nanaw made Chase a Pop-Tart for breakfast but he didn't want it. Mama had brought a big box of Pop Tarts, which Nanaw is keeping in the freezer. But Nanaw isn't sure if Chase is ever going to eat them. Nanaw took Chase home at nine. He and Daddy were going to go running. Nanaw asked Chase if he likes running with Daddy, and he said yes, he did. Mama had a big plan for Chase later in the day. She'd decided that since Daddy taught Chase how to cut the front lawn, she would teach him how to wash, dry, and fold his laundry. Nanaw asked Mama if Chase liked doing laundry, but Mama said she didn't know. She said Daddy put the pickle-ball net up in the driveway, and Chase and Brady played. Brady and Cole had showed up, and they went to the park to play. Brady had to leave because he had to serve at mass so Chase came home. Then Brady came back later when he was done serving.

Friday, July 12, 2024

Nanaw had a doctor's appointment on Friday, and Chase stayed by himself. He always does well (except for the time he made oobleck and coated Nanaw's kitchen with cornstarch LOL). When Nanaw got home, Chase had fixed his lunch. He wanted to fix the Kraft Mac and Cheese but they were out of it. So he heated up the cheeseburger and mac frozen dinner in the microwave. Nanaw was so impressed and proud that he did it all by himself, reading the directions and doing it all perfectly. Nanaw took Chase home at four so he could visit with Mama and Daddy before Chase's sleepover at Nanaw's house. Mama and Daddy were going to a birthday celebration for Brady's dad. Then on their way home, Nanaw and Chase went to Sonic to get their dinner. Chase got two pretzel twists with cheese sauce, cheddar bites and a mini Sonic blast with M&Ms. Nanaw got jumbo popcorn chicken. After dinner, Chase and Nanaw worked on the Roblox soccer game that they decided would be their sleepover project. Chase was excited because the two new plastic cicadas they ordered came while he was there. They put red fingernail polish on the new ones so they could tell them apart from Aree and Ying. Chase named the new ones Aree Jr. and Ying Jr. Unfortunately, before he went to bed, Chase threw up.Nanaw didn't know why it happened. But Chase felt fine afterwards.

Thursday, July 11, 2024

Daddy took Chase to running club this morning, as he usually does on Thursdays because he's working at home. When Nanaw picked Chase up, he was soaking wet. He said they played sponge ball again. That means they threw soaking wet sponges at each other. Fortunately, Nanaw had a towel in the back of her car and dry clothes for him at home. Nanaw had a dentist appointment at noon, and Chase had one at 3:30 so their time for school was cut short. They finished listening to Slugfest, and of course, it had a happy ending so that made Chase and Nanaw happy. They're going to start listening to Kidnapped tomorrow. If Nanaw can figure out how to do it, they'll start back at the beginning because Nanaw wants a refresher. Math went well. Chase zoomed through the problems in the book. It took Nanaw a little longer because she had to copy the problems out of the book. They've gone back to chapter 1 of the math book and finished up the study review today. Tomorrow they will do the chapter test. Chase only had to have one tooth pulled at the dentist. The other one fell out a couple of weeks ago, and Chase got $5 from the tooth fairy for it. Mama said the hygienist told Chase he has to do a better job brushing his teeth so Nanaw will make sure he brushes his teeth every day.

Wednesday, July 10, 2024

Chase wasn't too interested in doing his pitching and batting practice on Wednesday so they postponed it to Thursday. Chase and Nanaw had a conversation about working on their planned Roblox game on Friday night at the sleepover. Chase is interested in creating their own Roblox baseball game. In school, they're almost done listening to Slugfest, and Chase really likes the book and so does Nanaw. Having Alexa read the book to them has been wonderful. Chase wants to go  back to reading Kidnapped, the one they started with at the beginning of the summer. Kidnapped is the first book in a three-book series. Nanaw bought the second two Kindle books so now they're set for Kidnapped. They finished the extra practice section in the 6th math book and started back at the beginning of the book. They're going to do the study review and the chapter test for all 9 chapters. In the evening, Daddy and Chase went to Play It Again to look for a bike for Chase but didn't find anything. They found one at Target; they're going to wait till Prime Day and see what the price is then,

Tuesday, July 9, 2024

Nanaw had a meeting at church on Tuesday so Chase decided they wouldn't have school today. But he promised to have one hour of school in the morning tomorrow and two hours in the afternoon. Chase and Nanaw talked about the sleepover they're going to have on Friday night, and Chase said he's gong to change his Sonic order. He's going to have mozzarella sticks, in addition to his pretzel twists.  Chase watched all kinds of sports events on various TVs today, including a Pittsburgh Penguins/Chicago Blackhawks game from the 1992 Stanley Cup and a random soccer game. It rained all day today so they couldn't do their baseball swings and pitches. Chase was disappointed that the Cardinals/Royals game was rained out. But they're going to have a doubleheader tomorrow. Unfortunately, some of Chase's stuffed animals got left behind at Nanaw's house: Leo, Simon and Grimace, as shown in the second picture below. Daddy had planned to take Chase shopping for a bike but decided to wait till a night when it wasn't raining. Nanaw is having so much fun with Chase this summer. He's pretty much always in a good mood, he's very nice to Nanaw, he smiles a lot, and he talks to Nanaw a lot. This is different than earlier in the year and so much better.

Monday, July 8, 2024

Chase had running club Monday morning but his friend Joey wasn't there. Joey was at Camp Ondosonk. Nanaw asked Chase if he'd like to go to Camp O, and he said no. Nanaw asked why, and he said because he couldn't have his phone for a week. So that's interesting and a little bit sad. Nanaw got Chase to running club on time, and was two minutes early to pick him up. She'll be sure to always be on time for drop off and pick up because it bothers him when she's not. Chase and Nanaw had a new adventure on Monday morning after running club. Nanaw had Chase do some of his baseball practice: pitching and batting swings. She made up a spreadsheet to track his swings and pitches. He did 25 swings, and Nanaw thought he would just swing the bat but Chase wanted her to pitch to him so she did. Nanaw is a very bad pitcher but Chase managed to hit almost all of her pitches, no matter how bad. Nanaw thought Chase would also do 25 pitches but he just wanted to do 20. He got six pitches out of 20 in the strike zone. He said his goal is 15 pitches in the strike zone out of 25 by the time he goes back to school. As part of his Lunchable lunch, Chase had the Arby's potato cake Mama bought for him and a piece of the chocolate banana bread she baked yesterday. School didn't go too well. They listened to Slugfest too long, and the math had metric problems and finding the area of polygons. Most of the rest of the extra practice math is the same so tomorrow they're going back to the beginning of the book, and they'll do the practice chapter tests. When Nanaw took Chase home, it was starting to thunder, and Mama and Chase told Nanaw to hurry home so she didn't get caught in the storm but she did anyway. Mama sent Nanaw a picture of Chase in the Gascar chair, saying Lars was scared of the thunder and the storm.

Sunday, July 7, 2024

Chase took his shower Sunday morning rather than Saturday night, because they got back so late from Aunt Becca's fourth of July celebration. So Mama had to dry Chase's hair with a hairdryer for him to be ready to go to church. Nanaw came over for dinner, and they told her about Aunt Becca's dinner and fireworks Mama said there was lots of food: hamburgers, hot dogs, party potatoes (which Chase really liked), a dump poke cake, and lots of pasta salads. There was a boy there about Chase's age so that was good because Elias didn't come. Chase said the fireworks lasted 36 minutes, and they were awesome. Unfortunately, both Chase and Mama missed the grand finale. Dinner at Mama's was grilled wings and thighs and corn. Mama made chocolate banana bread from a Pampered Chef mix, and Chase gave her a piece to eat. After dinner, they all went outside, and Chase did sparklers, snakes and smoke bombs. That boy loves fireworks! Nanaw took one of Chase's metal bats home so Chase can practice his baseball swings. He's also going to use the strike zone at Nanaw's house to practice pitching.

Saturday, July 6, 2024

Nanaw went over to visit Chase on Saturday afternoon, about 1:15. They went downstairs so Chase could play the keyboard for Nanaw. Nanaw had brought along some of Chase's music, including the Christmas songs book. She wanted to put the notes on the music of Jingle Bells so Chase could learn how to play it. He played it once for Nanaw, then decided he didn't want to play any more Christmas music. He play Beethoven's Fifth and Fur Elise, and then did some of his rhythm music. Nanaw put the notes on the second staff of Fur Elise (and learned how what and where the notes are -- which she never knew. Chase didn't want to play it then but promised he would some other time. After he finished playing the keyboard, he wanted to go outside. Mama was out there, watching the fire Daddy had built in the fire pit. Nanaw stayed out there with them for awhile before she went home. In the evening, Mama, Daddy and Chase went to Aunt Becca's house for a big Fourth of July celebration. After it was over, Mama reported that the fireworks last for 36 minutes. She said Chase got to set off a few things. She said she took a few short videos but missed the finale.

Friday, July 5, 2024

Chase came over to Nanaw's house on Friday morning. They did a little bit of school -- listening to the Slugfest book and doing some pages in the "headless book." Nanaw was supposed to have Chase back home at noon so he could ride out to Brady's grandma's lake with Brady and his family, before everyone else. But then the time changed because Brady's mom and daddy had to go out there early to move some sand, and Nanaw had to have him back home by 10:45. Nanaw rode out there with Mama and Daddy about 4:30. There were lots of Debbie's family there that Nanaw didn't know. Earlier, when Chase got there, he was so excited to see a tiny baby frog and took a picture of it; he sent the photo to Mama during the day and to Nanaw in the evening. The boys had been swimming in the lake all day, having a wonderful time. They got out for a little while to set off some firecrackers and other exploding things. Nanaw doesn't think Chase ate very much but Nanaw certainly did. They had crappie breaded with corn meal that was really great. Brady's grandpa Mark made the potato salad, which was delicious. (Debbie sent some home with Nanaw.) There was also wonderful apple cake that Debbie's sister made. A deer came to visit and to eat the seeds in the bird feeder, and Nanaw got a picture. The fireworks were truly spectacular, and everybody enjoyed them immensely. Nanaw really likes Debbie's lake house and Debbie. She sent a really nice text to Nanaw. Pawpaw would have loved to live there. Nanaw will hopefully get to go every year. She went two years ago but not last year; the power was out, and Nanaw stayed home with Mama's puppies.

Happy Fourth of July! Thursday, July 4, 2024

Chase and Daddy went out to Uncle Chris and Elias's house on Thursday morning, so Nanaw didn't go over to his house to visit him. She asked Mama to send her a picture of Chase so Mama sent a picture of Chase holding one of the fireworks they bought in Arnold. It was called Dumpy Dog, and Mama says it sparkles and poops. She said she would have him bring it tomorrow night to Brady's grandma's house. Mama said this morning Chase was talking with them about Joey almost throwing up at running club on Monday. Then Chase said he was having stomach aches again. So Daddy said Nanaw shouldn't give him breakfast before running club, just a small snack. So Mama is going to get some almonds for him to have. He really likes almonds. Mama sent Nanaw a report on what Chase and Elias did today. They swam, did some fireworks, played video games, watched YouTube, and played soccer and whiffle ball. When Chase was back at home, he did some snakes and smoke bombs and saved some to show Nanaw. After that, they watched fireworks through the trees out back. Mama's bringing Chase over to Nanaw's house at 7 tomorrow morning, and then Nanaw is going to take Chase home at noon so he can go with Hunter and Brady out to Brady's grandma's lake house. Then Nanaw is going over to Chase's house at 4 to go to Brady's grandma's.

Wednesday, July 3, 2024

On Wednesday morning, Mama had a procedure at St. Clare, and Nanaw drove her there and then took her home. On their way home, they stopped at Taco Bell to get lunch because Mama was starving. She hadn't had anything to eat since before midnight last night. Chase got two chicken quesadillas, and Nanaw had her regular Crunch Wrap Supreme with steak plus a quesadilla with steak. After lunch, Chase and Nanaw went to Nanaw's house for the afternoon. School went really well, especially math, which makes Nanaw happy. Chase has found a way to enjoy school. He lies on the floor to do the work, and throws balls around. When they listen to Slugfest, he plays with Marc Andre. It's very entertaining to Nanaw. Chase, Mama and Daddy had McDonald's for dinner. Mama and Chase had McNuggets, fries and chocolate shakes. Daddy had two cheeseburgers, fries and a chocolate shake. Mama sent Nanaw a picture of Chase doing something he saw on YouTube. You put your dinner on top of your drink and shove your straw through your dinner container. Totally crazy. After dinner, Chase went over to Cole's house, and Mama said she thought he and Cole were going to walk around Gedern.

Tuesday, July 2, 2024

On Tuesday morning, Mama brought lots of cherries and two Arby's potato cakes over to Nanaw's house for Chase and Nanaw. Today was cleaning lady day at Nanaw's. Nanaw spent the morning putting things away and taking the cats downstairs. Around noon, Chase and Nanaw went over to Chase's house while the cleaning lady was there. They took the school books and materials with them. Mama was working at home today so they went to say hello to her. Chase had a nacho Lunchable for lunch. They did some school (state capitals and some math from the big red mathematics book) until it was time to go back to Nanaw's. After they got back to Nanaw's house, they read one of the pages in the Affirmations, book, then they did some pages in the Summer activity book. Tomorrow, Mama is going to have a procedure at St. Clare hospital. Nanaw is going to take Mama there, wait for her, then drive her home. Daddy is working from home tomorrow so Chase will be fine there. After Mama and Nanaw get back to Chase's house, Nanaw will take him back to her house, where they will have school.