Tuesday, October 6, 2026

On Tuesday morning, Chase and Nanaw went through the study guide for today’s phrases test in English. Nanaw thought he knew the material and would do well on the test. When Nanaw was talking to Debbie at pickup time, Debbie said Brady wasn’t going to the Homecoming Dance. Debbie said it was probably because Chase wasn’t going. When Chase got in the car, Nanaw’s first question was asking how the English test went. Chase said he thought he got a 100 on it. Nanaw told him that if he did, he should pay his tutor. Chase said if he got a 100, he would give Nanaw $5. Then he said, if he didn’t, he’d give her a hug. Then he followed up saying he’d give her a hug no matter what happened. His only homework today was in Drivers’ Ed, and he finished that up fairly quickly. He ate the last of the Bosco Sticks as his after school snack, and Nanaw said she would buy more tomorrow at Walmart. When Nanaw got home from taking Chase home, she checked her email and found a message from ChatGPT, saying her account showed her as being under 17. It gave her a link saying if you’re older than 18, you can verify your age. She spent the next two hours trying to do that with no success. The ChatGPT Bot she was working with finally had her contact the Support area, and they said they would give this to a support person – so I get to talk to a real person who works for ChatGPT – I think. I also think that this all came about because of the Python coding class Chase and I were doing this summer. I told them my 14 year old grand son and I were doing it and somehow they must have marked the account as being used by a 14 year old. So once they get me fixed, I think I’ll have Chase set up his own ChatGPT account and not use mine anymore. The second picture below is the pumpkin that Nanaw bought from Stuckmeyer’s on her way home from Chase’s. They have the pumpkin area set up on an honor system where you put your payment in a big mailbox. Hopefully, everybody does that. Nanaw had her eye on a really big pumpkin but it was too heavy for her to carry so she got a normal-sized one.

Monday, October 5, 2026

Nanaw was happy to see Chase on Monday morning – she misses seeing him on weekends when he has baseball tournaments. She told him they would study for his English test after school. Nanaw got to visit with Brady's Grandma Debbie while they waited for the boys because Brady is done with golf for the season. At Nanaw's house, Chase wanted to do his Math homework before studying for English but Nanaw was afraid they wouldn’t have enough time to study English if they did that. So she insisted that English studying came first, and that if he didn’t get his Math finished, he could finish it at home tonight. Chase said they weren’t having another English test on Thursday as originally planned. They were having students coming to shadow students at Gibault to see if they were interested in the school. The teachers try not to have tests on shadow days so they can give the visit students a classroom experience. Brady came over to Chase’s house again tonight, just as Nanaw was leaving. Chase and Brady have been practicing golf in the back yard and sort of tore up the yard. So Daddy put down some kind of mat to protect the grass. They also left the man cave door wide open twice so Nanaw is sure they’re going to have to shape up.

Saturday, October 3, and Sunday, October 4, 2026

On Saturday, Chase’s Bears team was winning their first game 6 to 1 but ended up losing10 to 7. But at least they were winning for a while. They also lost the second game. They all went to Raising Cane’s for dinner with Tucker and his parents, which made Chase very happy. Tucker’s mom sent out a message to the Bears baseball team, inviting them to a sleepover at his house on Halloween night so Mama told Chase about it. She’d known about it ahead of time but waited to tell Chase anything about it until the invitation actually went out. Hopefully Chase will be happy about the sleepover. For the past few years, he’s been spending Halloween with the crew. He had a 2:15 baseball game on Sunday, which gave Mama the chance to go to the grocery store on Sunday morning. Sometimes it’s hard for her to squeeze in shopping with Chase’s baseball game schedule. Mama said that Saturday night Chase fell asleep after they got home from Raising Cane’s so he must have been really tired. Mama also reported that they lost the game on Sunday, and that there was nothing exciting to report from Sunday. Chase had three assignments in Biology that are due Monday so Nanaw hopes he got them all done. Next week he has two English tests on phrases, one on Tuesday and one on Thursday. So Nanaw’s been looking at the material so she can help him study. He also has an Algebra test on Wednesday.

Friday, October 2, 2026

Today was Fall Festival Day at Chase’s school. Everyone was supposed to wear something neon. Mama got a bright green neon tee shirt for Chase. When Nanaw dropped Chase off at school, they saw three girls wearing neon safety vests. Nanaw asked Chase if he would have rather have had one of those, and he said, “Absolutely not!” When Mama and Nanaw picked Chase up from school at 1 p.m., he told them a few of the things they had done. It was an outside day. They played Jenga with a huge life-size Jenga. Many of the kids played volleyball, but not Chase. He does not like volleyball, will not play it, and says it’s a game only girls play (not true!). They had Chik Filet for lunch, and that was served to the kids outside. Chase said he didn’t need any more lunch but Mama and Nanaw were hungry so they went to Taco Bell, and took the food back to Nanaw’s house. Chase told Mama that he and Brady wanted to go to Top Golf at 4 or 5. At first, Drew wanted to go too but his mom said no. Mama and Chase texted Daddy and everybody decided that this afternoon wasn’t a good time to go to Top Golf. Chase, Mama and Daddy had to leave for St. Peter’s at 7 a.m. Saturday morning for Chase’s 9 a.m. baseball game. Mama said Chase could invite Brady to come over, and that’s what Chase did. Chase wanted Taco Bell for dinner, so Mama had Taco Bell again. But she loves it so that was all right. She had ordered the delicious little Cinnabons but they forget to include them. Mama went back to get them, and they gave her four instead of two so she shared them.

Thursday, October 1, 2026

Chase and Nanaw did more Civics studying on Thursday morning, in preparation for the make-up test. Uncle Mike came over on Thursday to visit and do more laundry. He says Whirlpool still hasn’t solved the mystery of the washer. Today was an early dismissal day – they were getting out at 2:20 instead of 2:55. Nanaw didn’t leave until the end of General Hospital and didn’t get there until 2:17. She got a text from Chase saying, “Where are you?” even though she wasn’t late. It turns out the school let them out a little early. Nanaw’s first question was about the Civics test. Chase was happy to announce he got a 96, which brought his overall grade up to 94. Nanaw used the opportunity to reinforce the idea that he needs to study more for tests and quizzes, Chase agreed and said he hadn‘t studied very much for the original Civics test. So he promised that he would study more with Nanaw in the future for tests and quizzes. He said he was happy he was an A student and would like some day to be an Honors student. Then he said maybe he could somehow get a college scholarship for one of the sports he plays. It may have been the first time that Chase voiced to Nanaw his opinion about his school performance or his future plans. On the pick-up call with Mama, she told Chase she was going to come along with Nanaw tomorrow to pick Chase up at 1 p.m. She said she was thinking maybe they would go to lunch. Chase said maybe. He said they were having Chik Filet for lunch at school and were supposed to eat outside. But then he said there was rain in the forecast so they might not eat outside. But they could go out to lunch if he was still hungry.

Wednesday, September 30, 2026

After Nanaw took Chase to school, she had breakfast at the Café Abbey with Brady’s grandma and Andrew’s grandma. Andrew’s grandma showed them pictures of Andrew at his high school homecoming dance with his date and two friends and their dates. Chase’s school homecoming dance is Friday, October 9. Chase isn’t sure whether he’s going or not, and Mama gave him until tomorrow (Thursday) to make up his mind so she can buy him a ticket and dress pants to wear. His friends are going but that doesn’t seem to influence him. Mama told him he would have to stay for the whole dance and that might be what’s convincing him not to go. Nanaw will be interested in seeing which way his decision goes. They gave Brady a ride home, and the boys had a laugh fest in the back seat. Nanaw loves to hear them having a good time. Chase had Math and Driver’s Ed homework. When he was done with it, they studied for tomorrow’s Civics make-up test. Chase seems like he might be learning the material and remembering it. They’re going to study again tomorrow morning before school. Today was the last of the month, which means it was Chase’s weighing and measuring day. He weighs 127.6 pounds (up from 125.5 pounds), and he’s still 5 feet seven inches tall. 

Tuesday, September 29, 2026

Gibault students are wearing special themed outfits each day this week because it's Spirit Week. The special dress-up days are part of the school's Spirit Week activities running through the week leading up to their fall events and celebrations. Students wear creative, themed attire each day to earn participation points and build school spirit. Yesterday was spirit wear, and Chase wore a Gibault tee shirt and a Gibault hoodie. Today was Easter, and Chase wore a bright green, Easter-looking Polo shirt. When Nanaw picked Chase up from school, one of the students, a tall boy, walked out wearing a full Easter Bunny outfit, with floppy ears, and full body suit in white and pink. Nanaw wonders if the costume was his idea or his mom’s. As for homework, Chase had Math and studying for the Civics make-up test on Thursday. After he got the Math done, Chase and Nanaw started working on Civics. They went through the items on the study guide with Chase reading the answers to Nanaw. Tomorrow, they’re going to go through the study guide twice – again with Chase reading the answers to Nanaw and then with him answering the questions without looking at his notes.