Monday, September 14, 2026

When Chase and Mama got to Nanaw’s house Monday morning, Mama said she wasn’t feeling good at all and was going to take the afternoon off to try to sleep and feel better. Then they told her that Mama had set up an Instagram account for Chase last night. Nanaw was a bit concerned about it because she believes social media accounts are not good for kids. Mama said it would be all right and that she would monitor it. Nanaw decided to follow Chase on Instagram, and he said he would help her do that after school. He also promised to show her how to look at his Schoology account after school. On the way home from school in the afternoon, Chase said he had Italian chicken for lunch and that it was good. Nanaw was surprised; the other entrée option was hot dogs, and Nanaw assumed that’s what he would choose. Mama texted Nanaw about parking at Gibault for Tuesday and Wednesday. They’re going to be doing some work on the front lot and driveways so everyone has to do the drop-offs and pick-ups at the gym lot. After school, Chase showed her how to log on to his Schoology account and how to see his courses. Right now, the only one Nanaw is interested in is Math. She wants to try to keep up with his Math assignments, quizzes and tests. After Schoology, Chase showed her how to do Instagram and how to follow other users. Chase had a workout tonight at 6 p.m. so they had to have Chase home by 5 p.m. so he had enough time to eat dinner. 

Saturday, September 12, and Sunday, September 13, 2026

On Saturday, Mama reported that Chase was sad that because of his pulled muscle, he didn’t get to go to Songs for Soldiers on Friday night. He was especially sorry he missed seeing his friends Brady, Drew and Hunter. On Friday, Mama posted a 9/11 video on her Facebook page featuring the Clydesdales commercial that honored 9/11 and was shown during the Super Bowl. It was beautiful and sad. Mama said Chase’s Bears team lost both of their games on Saturday, and he said it was really hot. Mama went to a surprise birthday party for her friend Theresa, and Theresa was so surprised and happy to see her friends. On Sunday, Chase’s team lost 13 to 0. On the way home, they stopped at Wally’s – sort of a tradition when they play in Fenton. When they got home, Chase started working on his homework. In the evening, Chase sent Nanaw a text saying Happy Grandparents Day. Nanaw assumed that Mama reminded him to do that but that’s okay. Nanaw enjoys getting texts from Chase even when they aren’t his idea. On Wednesday, Gibault is having a Grandparents’ mass at 10 a.m., and Nanaw plans to go. Last week, when Nanaw asked Chase to print some things from Schoology, Chase said it would be easier just to give her access to it, and he promised to show her on Monday. So Nanaw is looking forward to that. She thought he might eventually give her permission, and he did!

Friday, September 11, 2026

On Friday morning, Nanaw asked Chase about hockey practice. He said it wasn’t as bad as he’d expected. He said the coaches were good and the team was good. He said there were about 20 boys and three of them were goalies. It turned out that number 95 was already taken so Chase’s number is 87. He’s going to check out the Illinois ice rinks to see if Nanaw would be able to come watch him play. Unfortunately, when Nanaw picked Chase up from school, he said that he’d somehow pulled a muscle in his leg, and he didn’t think he could go  to hockey practice. He looked it up online and texted Daddy that ice skating could be bad for a pulled muscle. However, when he got home, Mama and Daddy said he was going to hockey practice. If he couldn’t practice, he should tell the coach, and Mama was coming early so she could take him home, if necessary. He stayed for practice but was really sore when he got home, and he didn’t go to Songs for Soldiers with Mama. 

Thursday, September 10, 2026

Uncle Mike came to visit today and to do laundry. Their washer isn’t working so Uncle Mike and Aunt Becky are being creative about doing their laundry. So far, they’ve used cousin Nichole’s washer, the washer and dryer at the tutoring organization where Aunt Becky is the associate director, and Nanaw’s house. Mama said if she’d known about their problem, they could have done laundry at her house Sunday at her Labor Day party. When Nanaw picked Chase up from school, he told Nanaw he had a problem but he also had a solution. He said he had Math homework that’s due tomorrow but he has no time to do it. His solution is very involved but the bottom line is that the teacher doesn’t look at homework till a flex day, which in this case is next Wednesday. Both Mama and Nanaw tried to convince him to try to get it done for tomorrow but had no luck. He also had to do another drawing for Art class, and Mama said he got that done. Today was his first practice with his new hockey team. Daddy took him to practice as soon as Nanaw brought him home from school. Tomorrow Nanaw will take him to practice, and Daddy will pick him up. Today after hockey practice, Daddy took him home for dinner and then took him to baseball practice. He didn’t get home till ten so he had a really long day. Nanaw asked Mama if he said anything about hockey practice or his new coaches and team but she said he didn’t. nanaw will ask him about it tomorrow and see what he says. Mama sent Nanaw the first picture below from 10 years ago of Chase and Sam out at the little house.

Wednesday, September 9, 2026

For lunch on Wednesday, Chase chose the corn dog entrée; the other entrée was sloppy joes, which he also likes so Nanaw supposes it was a tough choice for him. After school, Chase had a haircut scheduled with Brittany for 3:30. Nanaw tried to drive slowly and even went around the block because they were really early; they got there at 3:15. Chase was all in favor of getting there early in case Brittany finished early, which she did, so he was right. Nanaw scheduled the next hair cut for 3:15. For homework, Chase had Math, Biology and Drivers’ Ed. He worked on the Math because Biology and Drivers’ Ed aren’t due till Friday. He did try to start on the Biology but got a message that submissions are blocked so he’ll have to find out tomorrow what to do about that. He finished his Math homework and left his notebook here, saying he was too lazy to put it in his backpack. Chase has his first hockey practice tomorrow, and Nanaw is supposed to take him home right after school to change clothes and get his hockey equipment so Daddy can take him to practice at the Meramec Skating Rink. Then on Friday, anaw will take him. They’ll do the same thing of going right to Chase’s house and then to the skating rink. From now on, Nanaw will take him to hockey practice on Thursday and Friday, and Mama or Daddy will pick him up when it’s over.

Tuesday, September 8, 2026

Tuesday was an exciting day for Nanaw because Chase was going to have a sleepover on Tuesday night. Mama and Daddy are going to the Foo Fighters/ACDC concert at the Dome tonight, and Chase was going to spend the night at Nanaw’s house. After school, Chase did his homework: studying for a Drivers’ Ed quiz and completing his Biology packet. Nanaw asked if she could see the packet, and to her surprise, he said yes. Chase has been saying he’s in high school and he’s independent, and he’s not been sharing his schoolwork with Mama or Nanaw. So this was a breakthrough! He did what Nanaw thought was a great job on the packet. His printing has improved enormously and is very readable. From what Nanaw knows about Biology, his answers seemed correct and well-written. Nanaw is looking forward to seeing what grade he gets on it. At five, Nanaw took Chase home to see Mama and Daddy before they left for the concert. At 5:40, Chase and Nanaw left to go to Chase’s workout. While Chase was in the workout, Nanaw went to Taco Bell to get her Crunch Wrap Supreme for dinner. After the workout, they went to the Columbia Sonic to get Chase’s dinner: two pretzel twists, an order of onion rings, and a strawberry lemonade. After dinner, Chase played video games on Nanaw’s laptop, and Nanaw watched TV. Nanaw forgot to take a picture of Chase so she used a past picture with Chase in his red shirt because he wore one of his red uniform shirts to school. 

Saturday, September 5, Sunday, September 6, and Monday, September 7 (Labor Day!)

Saturday was a quiet day at Chase’s house, with Mama and Daddy getting ready for their Labor Day party on Sunday. Mama did the grocery shopping at Schnuck’s in the morning and said she saw one lonely can of cherry chip icing on the shelf, and she bought it! Chase worked for a long time on his homework (Yay for Chase!), hit some baseballs, helped Mama move the games and toys back upstairs from downstairs. They’d moved them downstairs when the new floor was installed. After that, he had some screen time. He also sorted through some toys downstairs. Later, he and Mama played some Wii, and Mama said she didn’t play too well. Sunday was Mama and Daddy’s Labor Day party. Chase was so excited and happy that cousin Elias was coming. They ended up spending almost six hours together -- the whole party they were stuck to one another like glue. They spent most of their time together downstairs playing video games on the big screen TV. Most of the games were golf, a game that both of them play a lot. For awhile, they went up to the garage because Daddy had set up ping pong and other games out there. Nanaw went downstairs to visit Chase and Elias and took pictures of them. Guests included lots of Daddy’s cousins and his Uncle Will-Bill, plus Uncle Mike and Aunt Becky, cousins Nichole, Jon Jon, Kris, Rob, Joey and Julia, Hudson and Nyeal. It was fun talking to everyone. Unfortunately, Lindsey and Dylan couldn’t come. They have a new kitty named Butterscotch. Butter for short. Rob told his family about a first date he recently went on. Mama and cousin Kris went for a walk over in the park to see the new bridge they built. On Monday, Labor Day, Mama and Chase went to the ICS picnic around noon, even though Chase said he didn’t want to go. But he heard that his good friend Hunter was going to be there so he agreed to go. Mama wanted to stay for Bingo with Michelle, and Daddy was going to come pick Chase up. He discovered that Hunter wasn’t there, and Chase was crabby about that. So Mama stayed with him instead of playing Bingo. But then Hunter came, and Mama spent time with Becky and Michelle, and Chase went around with Hunter. Mama and the girls went to play Bingo but Chase wanted to go home so they left. Mama was really hot so she was fine with that.