Happy Graduation Day! Friday, May 15, 2026

Today was Chase’s graduation from 8th grade! But first, Nanaw will share pictures of her two trees getting cut down. It was very exciting and fun! Nanaw was amazed that it took less than an hour and a half. It went so fast because the young man who did the work had cool equipment and tools. He had a hugely long trailer on his pickup truck, a vehicle called a dingo that he rode around and used to pull down the trees and then used to carry away the branches, and a pole saw to cut down branches. After that adventure, Nanaw went to lunch at Popeye’s with Mama and Chase. In the morning, they had packed for their Florida vacation and then went to buy snacks. In the afternoon, about 4 p.m., Mama brought Sylvester and Tyler over for their week with Nanaw. Chase had to be up at school between 5:30 and 5:45 p.m., and graduation started at 6 p.m. Their seats were in the back of the church on the left but Nanaw scooted down to the end of the pew and could see things well. The principal and the teachers all wore long black robes. Mama didn’t seem to cry as much as she did at the Confirmation. The ceremony was very serious and formal until the end when the families clapped and clapped and gave the students a standing ovation. After the ceremony, families and graduates gathered outside the front of church to chat and take pictures. Mama managed to gather members of the crew altogether, and Amelie got in some of the pictures also. All in all, it was a wonderful, fun time. Brady’s grandmother recorded Chase walking up to get his diploma and had Nanaw send the video to Mama. The first picture below is Chase’s official graduation photo, and a link to Chase's walk-up video is next.

Thursday, May 14, 2026

On Thursday, his second day off from school, Chase came over to Nanaw’s house again. He had a hair appointment with Brittany at 11 a.m. It’s always fun for Nanaw to listen to the conversations that Brittany and Chase have. She gets him to talk more than almost anyone does. She asked him about girls and girlfriends, and he told her a little bit about Amelie. He talked especially about the sports she’s involved in because Brittany is into sports and coaches her 11-year-old son’s baseball team. Chase and Nanaw had a major adventure planned for Thursday afternoon. Chase had been talking about wanting to cook and wanting to go to the big Schnuck’s to get the things they needed. So that’s what they did. They bought the ingredients for beef stroganoff, using the recipe Mama uses from Pawpaw’s Pride cookbook. They also bought lots of cheese, a drink for Chase and a newspaper for Nanaw. Chase liked the beef stroganoff, which he ate on big noodles. They had great fun cooking. Chase did a super job of cutting the stew meat and mushrooms into smaller pieces. He said he wants to cook every other week so they’ll see how that goes. The first picture is Chase having lots of fun cooking and the second picture is a fort that he made in his room with three blankets and two hockey nets, just like a five-year-old kid. LOL

Wednesday, May 13, 2026

On Wednesday, Chase didn’t have to go to school so Mama brought him over to Nanaw’s house in the morning. He was talking and texting with Amelie in the morning in his room. He told Nanaw that they wanted to hang out together, and he didn’t want Nanaw to tell Mama. But Nanaw said it doesn’t work that way. Mama needs to know what her boy is doing so he agreed. He had an ortho appointment at 1:30, and Nanaw said they’d arrange for him to hang out with Amelie after he was done with the appointment. For lunch, Chase had a craving for a grilled cheese sandwich so Chase and Nanaw put together two small sandwiches using the little French bread slices from Chase’s bread and some American cheese Nanaw had. He thought they tasted good but next time they’ll get some regular-sized bread and cheddar cheese. After the ortho appointment, Chase and Amelie decided to meet in the Creekside Park that’s located between their houses. Mama and Nanaw stood on Chase’s deck and watched them ride their bikes in the park, Nanaw went home and later Mama called and said that they left the park and came over to Chase’s house. A little bit later, somehow Chase skinned his leg playing. Then Brady came over and the three of them played basketball until it was time for Chase to go to baseball practice. Mama was not too happy about all the kids and all the noise while she was trying to work. So in the future maybe Chase can just have his friends over on days when Mama and Daddy are working in the office.

Tuesday, May 12, 2026

Tuesday was Chase’s Baccalaureate Mass but he still went to school at the regular time. Mama had the day off because she was going to the Mass so she took Chase to school. In the church at the church, Mama and Nanaw sat by the Muckensturms. The students all sat together in the two sections at the front of the church. Amelie, Joey and Lorelei sang again, and their voices are beautiful. After the Mass, everyone went downstairs to the Garden Room for a potluck lunch. There were huge amounts of delicious food available, of all different kinds, including the fried chicken the school is known for serving.  Mama brought gooey butter cookies and chocolate chip cookies as her contribution to the potluck. They sat at the table with Brady and his family. After everyone had finished eating, Mrs. H. introduced the class video she and William’s mom had worked on. It was hundreds of pictures of the 8th graders, accompanied by music. There were lots of pictures of Chase included – some that Mama had sent and some that came from the school’s Facebook page. Here is the link to the video: Class of 2026 Video Link - https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/uiqgn9hpe0dzb7z24npae/2026-class-video.mp4?rlkey=i3gvz76syhtg12l3bepncoig5&st=7an38dyl&dl=0 For the students, the highlight of the day came next. It’s an ICS tradition that after the other festivities, the students “run the halls.” In groups of two, three or four, they start by the 8th grade classrooms and run down the hall. When they reach the office, they make a right turn, run down that hall, then return, slapping people’s hands as they go. They go out the front door, symbolic of being done with school!  Chase ran with Brady as his partner, and Brady ran really fast, and Chase did his best to keep up behind him. 

Friday, May 8, Saturday, May 9, Sunday, May 10, and Monday, May 11, 2026

Friday night was the Awards Ceremony, followed by the dance at Chase's school. When everybody first got there, Chase and his friend Brady had Mama take pictures of them in front of the balloon picture display. One picture was a normal one, and in the other one, Brady was pretending to be choking Chase. Chase said he had a good time at the dance hanging out with his great group of friends, and he said he danced once with Amelie, the girl that invited Chase to the dance. In the third picture below, Amelie is the dark-haired girl in the dark blue dress. Chase and Nanaw were surprised that she had so many activities recognized in the awards presentations. They were especially impressed that she received a perfect score in a public speaking competition. Chase's friend Joey (the one dressed in a suit and tie) also received a perfect score. On Saturday, all of Chase's tournament baseball games were rained out so he had a free day to do whatever he wanted. He played hockey in the morning in the garage, and then for lunch, he ate leftover Chinese. Then, his friend Brady came over to see him about 2:30 and stayed till 8:30, the longest a friend has ever stayed, except for sleepovers. They played hockey and ping pong and on the computer.  Mama picked up Arby's for dinner for everybody. Brady's Mom and sister Emma came over in the evening to visit for a while and to pick up Brady and his bike. The baseball tournament on Sunday was rained out so Chase, Mama and Daddy were able to go to Uncle Mike's for the Mother's Day dinner. They came to Nanaw's house to pick her up for the trip up to Uncle Mike's and brought her Mother's Day presents -- two $25 Amazon gift cards, a cedar balsam Yankee candle, and a bag of bubble gum for the bubble gum machine Uncle Mike and Aunt Becky made for her birthday. Dinner was delicious, filled with Nanaw's favorites: ribs, pork steaks, fruit salad, and Caesar salad. Uncle Mike had told Nanaw there would be green beans with bacon and onion but Nanaw never found them. For dessert, there was a huge selection of cheesecake, another of Nanaw's favorites.  Cousin Lindsey and Dylan gave Nanaw a rug they made with flowers representing her grandkids, with their initials by the flowers. They also gave her wonderful, great-smelling soap dispensers and a candle. Monday was Chase's last day of school. The third to last picture is of the table in the cafeteria that the cafeteria ladies decorated for the departing 8th graders. Chase had a science test today that he didn't study for but he didn't seem to worry or care about it because school is over! The last picture is his graduation picture the school took last week. He looks very grown-up and mature.

Thursday, May 7, 2026

Daddy brought Chase over to Nanaw’s house on Thursday morning because Mama took her car to George Weber last night to have some sealant applied. After school, after Chase finished filling out his religion study guide, Chase and Nanaw studied for tomorrow’s religion test. They only had to go through it once because Chase knew all the answers. They’ll go through it again tomorrow morning before school. Nanaw forgot to go through the material for the clam test this morning but she’ll remember religion tomorrow. Tonight was Chase’s last band concert, and the whole evening was wonderful. The second picture below is of Chase’s art project. The 8th grade students did their impression of the famous Scream painting. Chase’s looks like a ghost, and Nanaw really likes it. The rest of the pictures are Chase in the concert band and with his group of friends. One of his best friends Drew was awarded one of the awards for the best musician in the concert band. Nanaw was sad to think Chase wasn’t going to play the clarinet anymore. She remembered how he played the recorder in third grade, then moved to the clarinet in the fourth grade. The band director said that the eight graders had been great, and he was really going to miss them.

Wednesday, May 6, 2026

On Wednesday morning, Chase took his history project poster to school. He held onto it in the front seat and then carefully carried it into school. It was about the 1950s and 1960s and had a picture of a 1957 Chevy and information about Thurgood Marshall, the first black Supreme Court Justice. That’s all Nanaw can remember about what‘s on the poster but she’ll provide an update when Chase brings it home. It will go into the Chase museum downstairs in the schoolroom. However, he may not get a good grade on it because he put it in the wrong place in the classroom. The teacher told them to put their posters in a pile but Chase put his on top of a cabinet. The teacher sent an email to Chase telling him to move it but he didn’t see the email. Mama told him about it. So the teacher may lower his grade if she thinks he turned it in late. After school Chase and Nanaw studied for the clam test in science class. When he and Nanaw did the first pass through the terms, he didn’t know a lot of answers so Nanaw had him study the review guide. Then they went through the terms again and he knew most of them. They did another pass, and he knew all of them. So hopefully he’ll do well on the test.