Happy Halloween! Wednesday, October 31, 2018

Mama and Chase's favorite holiday is Halloween so they were really happy on Wednesday. Mama had the day off from work so she took Chase to school. In the afternoon, Mama and Nanaw went to Chase's school to help with the class's Halloween party. The boys and girls in first grade don't wear their costumes to school but they do have a party. The room mothers planned three games, treats, and crafts. Mama worked on a game where the boys and girls had to throw big dice in pumpkin buckets attached to a board. There was also pin the nose on the witch and beanbag ring toss (using Mama and Chase's beanbags). The treats were surgical gloves decorated like hands and filled with popcorn -- they were a great hit. Nanaw helped Evie's Mama with the craft table where the boys and girls made skeletons with Q-tips and glue, masks and leaves. Mama made treat bags for the class with toys from Dollar Tree and candy. It was great fun. After school, Nanaw helped Chase with his homework, while Mama made chili. Then Chase and Nanaw decorated the Halloween cookies Mama had made. Chase did a really good job and had fun doing it. Mama decorated the garage with Halloween decorations -- lights, lots of Jack Skellington things -- it was wonderful. When it was time for trick or treating, Chase went with Mama and Daddy first, while Nanaw stayed at Chase's house to give out candy. Then Nanaw went with Chase and Mama while Daddy stayed home to give out candy. It started to rain so they cut trick or treating a little short. But they got to go to all the houses that Mama wanted to, all the regular ones she visits. It was a a super day.

Tuesday, October 30, 2018

When Chase got to Nanaw's house on Tuesday morning, they talked about the ghost suckers that the older kids were selling on the playground. Nanaw suggested that they make some ghost suckers, so they did. They had suckers from Dollar Tree, Kleenex, ribbon, stickers for faces, and markers to draw face. Chase said they should make seven ghost suckers and then put the rest of the suckers in the candy dish. They also put some Smarties in the candy dish. Chase got his Jason mask and his sword for his costume. They decided to play pretend Trick or Treat when Chase got home from school in the afternoon. On the way home from school, they stopped at the Columbia library. Nanaw was going to return Chase's weather books but he said he didn’t want to return them. So Nanaw renewed them; Chase selected four additional books -- two weather books, a zombie book and a wimpy kid book. Nanaw also checked on Chase's registration for Tales to Tails, reading to Fred. Nanaw also registered Chase for the program Mama told her about, where Chase leaves one of his stuffed animals at the library for a sleepover. You pick your animal up the next day and receive a report about what they did during the sleepover. In the evening, Chase went with Mama and Daddy for dinner at Outback for their 8th wedding anniversary. Mama says Chase had a scoop of ice cream for dessert.



Monday, October 29, 2018

Daddy had the day off work and took Chase to school so Nanaw got to sleep in. Daddy also picked Chase up from school, and Nanaw went to visit him around six, after Uncle Mike left; he'd been there cutting Nanaw's grass. Nanaw took the little blue cooler to Chase, along with an R2D2 Pez dispenser she found while cleaning. Chase was delighted with both of them. He played with the cooler, using it like a chair and pushing it around -- he was very cute. He told Nanaw he played with AJ and Evie at recess but he didn't tell her what they played. Daddy showed Mama and Nanaw a piece of painted paper Chase had in his pocket. He told Daddy not to throw it away because it was their a map. Chase and Nanaw looked at his new books -- weather and Minecraft especially. In the Minecraft book, there was a crossword puzzle, and Chase and Nanaw worked on it. Chase told Nanaw they needed to be sure to take the book along to Rockbridge so they could work on the crossword puzzle.

Sunday, October 28, 2018

Mama picked Sam up from Nanaw's house on Saturday morning while Nanaw was at church. Nanaw left a note telling Mama how wonderful Sam was and what a good time they had together. In the evening, Mama, Daddy and Chase picked Nanaw up to all go to Trunk and Treat at the ICS church. Chase wore his Jack Skellington costume and looked perfect. They met Brady's family there -- Brady was a yellow bumblebee and Emma was Minnie Mouse. The boys had an excellent time together, collecting candy. They also saw Jackson P, Andrew, Henry, Camden and Drew. Drew won the prize for best costume; he was the invisible man, and his costume was super great. It's the third photo below. There were lots of super costumes, including two dinosaurs, many zombies, super heroes and Avengers. Charlie was a marshmallow man. Many of the cars had lots of spooky Halloween decorations. Reagan's grandparents had a nifty, comfy-looking-inside Mercedes van. They gave out Kit Kat bars, Reese's peanut butter cups and Rice Krispies Treats. When Mama took Nanaw home, she gave Chase his backpack because Daddy is going to take Chase to school on Monday and pick him up, too. So Nanaw will go visit him around dinner time. Daddy is off on Tuesday also and is going to take Chase to school again.

Saturday, October 27, 2018

On Saturday morning, Chase went to Ethan's birthday party at Sky Zone and said he had a good time. Everybody was supposed to wear orange and black, and Chase had a cool shirt about his "squad." They bounced a lot and had pizza and cake. For lunch, Mama stopped at Taco Bell on the way home. Nanaw came over to visit at 2. She brought the Biscuit book and math workbooks. She and Chase went into his room for "school." Chase wouldn't read a Biscuit story for Nanaw but he did two math workbook pages. The adventure for the evening was going out to Silex to Uncle Chris's house. The adults were going to the fund raising dinner auction at Cesi's grade school. The kids were staying with Uncle Will Bill. Then Mama, Daddy and Chase were spending the night. So Nanaw got to have a sleepover with Sam. When Nanaw and Sam got home, Nanaw took Sam for a walk in the neighborhood. They saw Nanaw's new third-time neighbors on the walk. Sam pulled Nanaw along so the walk was very easy. Nanaw thinks Sam had a really good time.

Friday, October 26, 2018

On Friday, Chase was off from school and Mama had the day off from work. So it was a day of adventures for Chase, Mama and Nanaw. First, they went to Goodwill to look for a Native American or Pilgrim costume for the first grade Thanksgiving program. They didn't find one there so they went to Walmart but they didn’t have one either. So Mama will buy one from Amazon. At Walmart, Nanaw bought a cooler for Rockbridge. Chase fell in love with a little blue cooler on wheels; Nanaw went back to Walmart later in the day for grocery shopping, and she bought the cooler for Chase so he can take it to Rockbridge. She also bought a pair of Roblox pajamas that she'll give him for his birthday. After Walmart, they went to Arby's for lunch. Then they went to Powder Valley for the day's main adventure. Chase took charge and led Mama and Nanaw everywhere. It was a wonderful trip to Powder Valley, one of the best ever. In the evening, Chase went with Mama and Daddy to have dinner with some of Mama's friends at a place that had lots of games and best of all, bumper cars. Mama sent Nanaw a picture of Chase in a bumper car. At the end are pictures of Chase's Young Authors blue ribbon and certificate, plus pictures of his report card.

Thursday, October 25, 2018

Chase got his blue ribbon today for his entry into the Young Authors competition. Unfortunately, Mama and Nanaw didn't know about the ceremony so they didn't get to see him get the ribbon. His story was called The Four Puffins and here it is:

The Four Puffins

Once upon a time there were 3 puffins. One was named Jack, one was Skeleton and one was Halloween. They lived at the zoo. They were friends and they swam in the water. They liked to eat fish.

One day the puffins flew out to go to their habitat. When they got there they saw their puffin friends. They played. They swam in the water at the habitat. There were 10 puffins. They met a penguin. He was waddling. He had a baby penguin. They ate 10 fish.

The next day they met a new friend called Put Your Puffin On. They looked at him and said hello and growled. They asked if he wanted to go to the zoo. They flew their friend to the zoo. They swam with him at the zoo. The water was cold. They liked cold water. They loved each other. They decided to stay at the zoo. The new puffin saw the other puffins. They lived happily ever after.

The End

Mama and Daddy had their parent-teacher conference with Mrs. Neff. Chase did really well on his report card except for one thing -- he got an X in keeps quiet, which means he has a lot of work to do on that. Nanaw gets to see that behavior first-hand on Thursday's when she volunteers in Chase's class. He's wild and rowdy and loud, Nanaw will work on that. When Chase went to the dentist on Wednesday, the dentist found a cavity so Chase has to go back next month for a filling -- poor little fellow. Nanaw got to keep Chase until 6:30 because of the parent-teacher conference. In the afternoon, Chase scared Nanaw with his Jason mask and sword -- very cute. Chase doesn't have school tomorrow, and Mama has the day off so they're going on an adventure to Eckert's, if the rain holds off.

Wednesday, October 24, 2018

When Chase came to Nanaw's house on Wednesday morning, he wanted to go to the "computer lab" to look at the hurricane center. He got very excited about water spouts and told Nanaw they would look at them again when he got home from school. He took his lunch and this time, Nanaw put his lunch bag in his backpack so that she didn't forget it in the car. Nanaw apologized to Mrs. Neff about Nanaw forgetting Chase's lunch. She said she did the best she could with the chef salad but that Chase still wasn't very happy about it. Mrs. Neff posted a picture of Chase and Amelie on Seesaw; they were reading to their selves. Nanaw took Sidney Crosby the Cat for a walk in the cat stroller and sent Mama a picture of the kitty -- it's the second one below. Mama sent Nanaw an email about the Christmas play. When Nanaw picked Chase up from school, asked him if he wanted to be in the Christmas play, and he said yes. But Nanaw isn't sure he knew what he was saying yes to. We'll see what he says on November 7 when they have auditions for the play. Chase told Nanaw they were going to draw pictures of water spouts when they got home -- that they were going to use the black table and get paper and crayons -- and that's exactly what they did. Nanaw had to have Chase home by 3:45 so that Mama could get him to the dentist for his teeth cleaning appointment. Nanaw gets to keep Chase late on Thursday evening because Mama and Daddy have a parent-teacher conference with Mrs. Neff.