Saturday, December 13, 2025

Last night, Mama sent a further update. After they checked into the hotel, the boys played on the computer and walked around the hotel They had good pizza for dinner. During the day on Saturday, the boys played pool and other games. Mama said that at their Saturday 6:45 game, they were winning but playing badly. Nanaw doesn't quite understand how that can be but at least they ended up winning the game. Mama said she is going to send more on today's update tomorrow because she said she's very tired. Nanaw went to Uncle Mike's Christmas party and got to see lots of the family: Karen, Nicolle, Heide, Kris, Joe, Robbie and Lindsey. It was a great party with many other guests that Nanaw talked to. The food was delicious, as always. Aunt Becky did a super Christmas decorating job, and Nanaw is glad that Mama and Chase will get to see it at Christmas dinner. It snowed a little when Nanaw drove to Uncle Mike's but eventually stopped with no accumulation so Nanaw didn't have to worry about driving in the snow.

Friday, December 12, 2025

Mama texted me information for Days of Chase. She said they left Plainfield, Indiana around 9:40 a.m. and went to Oxford,  Ohio, which is 40 miles from Cincinnati. Oxford is about two hours from Plainfield. They had lunch at Gaslight Brewhouse. Chase had delicious cheese curds and Mama had delicious French onion soup. The boys won their first hockey game 2 to 0. Mama said it was very exciting, and they played well. They also won their second game 8 to 1. Evidently Chase got a penalty in that game because Mama sent a picture of him in the penalty box with the friend of Mama's who sent the picture to her. Nanaw asked Mama for a photo, in addition to the first one below of Brady and Chase when they about 5 or 6. Mama sent the second picture of Chase on the ice rink. Mama is so excited that the boys will definitely play in the championship game on Sunday at 1:30 ET. On Saturday they'll play at 6:45 p.m.

Thursday, December 11, 2025

On Thursday morning before school, Chase worked on a project for the candy cane sales. He had to do a spreadsheet on his Chromebook. Nanaw asked about the project and Chase said he was one of the chairs on the project. So they didn’t have time to study for the Lord of the Flies test until they were in the car. Chase read the last portion of the study guide during the drive. When Nanaw picked Chase up, he said he thought he did well on the test, except for a couple of questions that he had to guess on. When they got to Nanaw’s house, he told her he was excited about the hockey tournament. They were leaving a little after five and would spend the night in Indiana. The tournament is in Cincinnati. Mama texted that it was snowing on their drive and they wouldn’t get there till 10. It was snowing a lot and had been slow going on the highway. Chase took his backpack loaded with his homework to work on this weekend. Mama sent Nanaw a picture of Chase on the bed in the hotel room. Nanaw sent Mama the last three photos to show her that all five pets are doing fine.

Wednesday, December 10, 2025

Wednesday was sort of a traumatic morning. Chase said he didn't feel well enough to go to school, and Mama and Daddy insisted that he was going to go because yesterday the nurse practitioner said he could go back to school today. He texted Mama saying he wasn't going, so Mama texted Nanaw that she was coming back to Nanaw's house to take Chase to school so Nanaw didn't have to deal with the trauma. And Mama came back and drove Chase to school. Mama and Nanaw expected Chase to go to the office and say he was sick, and he had to go home. But that didn't happen. He stayed at school all day, and when Nanaw picked him up, he said he felt better and school was fine.  They gave Hunter a ride home because it was early dismissal and that was fun for Chase. After school, Chase and Nanaw studied for two hours for the Lord of the Flies test tomorrow. There's a huge amount of information to know, and Nanaw doesn't know how much Chase knows.  Tomorrow morning they'll go over the study guide again. Chase's Christmas band concert was in the evening, and Nanaw drove separately because she was running behind. The concert was great, and the band Chase plays in was especially good. Chase's group of friends minus one posed for pictures after the concert. It was a very special evening. And Chase and Mama were friends again. Yay!

Tuesday, December 9, 2025

On Tuesday morning, Chase said his cough and sore throat were worse so he texted Mama to see if he could stay home from school. Mama said yes and that she would call the school and the doctor's office. She called Nanaw and said she made an appointment with the nurse practitioner for 9:30. The nurse practitioner (NP) was named Carissa (Nanaw thought that was a pretty name) was a young woman, very pretty and very nice. Chase grinned the whole time he was there so Nanaw decided he had noticed how pretty and young and nice she was. Good for Chase! They did some throat swabs and discovered Chase had strep throat, something he's never had. The other throat swab showed that he didn't have Covid, flu or RSV. Carissa prescribed amoxicillin and gave Chase a note for school and said he could go back to school tomorrow. Nanaw fixed chicken rice soup for Chase's lunch, then went to pick up his prescription. Chase worked on his English review study guide about verbs and prepositions and lots of other parts of speech, with a concentration on verbs for the verb test on Friday. Chase will be in Cincinnati on Friday for a hockey tournament so he'll take the test on Monday. Hr finished his vocabulary packet and will turn it in Wednesday. He has a Lord of the Flies test on Thursday, and Nanaw gave him things to study tonight in addition to the study guide but she doesn't think he'll do it. So after school tomorrow, they'll go through the study guide and maybe the worksheets if there's time.

Monday, December 8, 2025

On Monday morning, Chase came to Nanaw’s house all dressed up in his Sunday best. Chase’s school was having a special Christmas mass for students and their parents, followed by donuts. Mama and Daddy couldn’t go and Chase was all right with that. He was also okay that Nanaw didn’t go. Chase didn’t have any studying before school and of course spent time on his phone. When Nanaw picked Chase up from school, he said he had lots of homework. He worked very hard on it after school but will have to do more after he gets back from hockey tonight. His vocab assignment is due Wednesday, and he has the Lord of the Flies test on Thursday. and a religion test on Friday. He won’t be there on Friday because he has a hockey tournament in Cincinnati. On the drive home, Chase told Nanaw that he’d started talking to girls at school, something he’s never done before. He’s always been shy and especially with girls. He’s not ready for a girlfriend yet but someday he will be and that will be one very lucky girl. Nanaw forgot to take Chase’s picture today so she’ll use one of her favorite photos, the one with the haircut that's Nanaw's favorite. She'll also include the one Mama sent from Tucker's birthday party with the other boys.

Sunday, December 7, 2025

Mama reported that Chase's team lost their hockey game last night 8 to 1. Chase's throat started hurting at hockey, and he had a cough. Mama said his throat felt better today but he still has the cough. Daddy does not feel better, and they both want Luden's cough drops. Mama thought that was funny. Chase said he feels good enough to go to his friend Tucker's birthday party and to Learn to Play. Learn to Play is where experienced hockey players help the little ones who are just learning to play hockey. Chase did two years of Learn to Play when he was younger. Tucker's birthday party was at a game facility near Helping Strays. They had things to do like play on a pool table and do the golf thing Chase is doing in the second photo below. Nanaw will report more on the party tomorrow after Chase tells her about it. Nanaw doesn't know who was at the party or what some of the other games are. The first photo is Chase making his bed but first posing in a photo with Truman.

Saturday, December 6, 2025

On Saturday morning, Mama took Chase to Gibault for him to take the placement test. He told Nanaw it was to see where they placed in classes, probably English and math, and maybe other classes also. Mama and Nanaw think he might be put in the advanced placement classes but it's all right if he isn't. He'll be where he's supposed to be. Daddy was going to pick Chase up when the test was over because Mama and Nanaw were going to the ICS Craft Fair. Mama saw Mr. G. at Gibault and talked to him for awhile. He had brought donuts for the test takers but a lot of them didn't take one. So he offered them to the parents, and Mama and Brady's mom each took a donut. Then Mama, Nanaw and Brady's mom saw Mr. And Mrs. G. at the Craft Fair. It was nice to see him, and it will be nice to see him at Gibault next year -- he's president there. Nanaw thought the Craft Fair was the best ever. The booths and items for sale were extraordinary, and Nanaw wanted everything there. She only bought some little ornaments to honor Colin, the hockey player shot on the highway last year, and a phone tripod. She had Mama buy three gluten free cookies for her. Nanaw only ate one of them so far and it was really good. Next year, she'll get in line and buy a whole box of the gluten free cookies. Nanaw is going to make gluten free pecan sandies at Christmas. She got a recipe online and bought almond flour at Walmart today. Yesterday was the Santa Shopping Village for the kids at Chase's school where they can buy presents for their family. Chase bought presents for Mama, Daddy and Nanaw. He also saw a rubber chicken there that he wanted but didn't want to use Mama's money to buy it so he asked her to go to the village while she was at the Craft Fair and get it for him. Mama, Nanaw and Brady's mom went but couldn't find any rubber chickens. On the way home, the lady who works at the Village texted Mama and Brady's mom to tell them she found a rubber chicken. So Mama went back and bought it and sent the picture below to Nanaw.

Friday, December 5, 2025

Mama had the day off on Friday so she took Chase to school. Mama had promised Nanaw that she would help Chase study for Friday's science and religion tests before school. Unfortunately, Chase was moving really slowly and by the time he was ready and had eaten breakfast, Mama told him they only had 7 minutes to study. But they managed to go over the study reviews for both subjects in that seven minutes --what a miracle. When Nanaw picked Chase up from school, he told Nanaw he thought he had done well on both tests. Nanaw thought, "Well, we'll see." It seems that a lot of the time when Chase thinks he did well, it doesn't turn out that way. But his grades are fairly good so far -- he has two B's and the rest are A's. Mama and Nanaw went shopping in the morning, to the Telegraph Walmart and the Telegraph Dollar Tree. Among other things, they bought miniature battery-operated Christmas lights and Christmas cards for the family. Mama bought a super cute zoo toy for the three-year old boy who Chase is giving a Christmas present to through his school's toy project.

Thursday, December 4, 2025

On Thursday morning, Nanaw looked at Chase's second English worksheet, then put it with the first one in his backpack. She reminded him to turn in the vocabulary packet, the science packet and the worksheets. Every once in a while, not often, he forgets to turn in his homework. It was really cold when Nanaw picked Chase up from school, and she remembered how much she dislikes cold weather. Chase had a fair amount of homework: finishing up his math assignment; doing a lot of geography work, including Upfront Nov. 2025 issue worksheets due Tuesday; Japan/Korea review due tomorrow; Japan/Korea test Monday; an English worksheet on verbs, in preparation for a quiz on verbs on December 12; and studying for the science and religion tests tomorrow. Chase and Nanaw studied for the two tests together. And he seems to know the material. Nanaw had planned to study with him again tomorrow morning but Mama has the day off and is taking him to school. But she promised to study with him before she takes him. Nanaw's looking forward to her errands trip with Mama tomorrow. Nanaw said they would pretend it was like their Christmas shopping trips of previous years. Mama does all her shopping online now.

Wednesday, December 3, 2025

On Wednesday morning, Nanaw checked with Chase to make sure he had his homework that he missed yesterday ready to turn in today, and he did. He was sort of quiet, and Nanaw asked if he was okay, and he said yes. On the drop-off call with Mama, Nanaw mentioned how he was so quiet. Mama said it was probably because he wouldn't have as much device time today as he wanted. He had an ortho appointment at 3, which lasted an hour, twice as long as usual. He said they replaced three brackets, and that's what took so long. After the appointment, Nanaw took him home, and they did homework till it was time to go for his workout session at 5 p.m. Then after that he had a baseball bat swinging session. When he got home at about 7:30, he'd have to finish up his homework. In their homework session after school, Chase did his vocab packet, which is due tomorrow. Then he worked on the two English worksheets on verbs. He still had to do his science packet, which he would do when he got home from baseball. On Friday, he has two tests -- science and religion, so he'll be studying for those Thursday afternoon and evening and again on Friday morning. In geography, he has a unit review on Friday and a Japan and Korea test on Monday. He still doesn't know when the Lord of the Flies worksheet for chapters 11 and 12 is due. 

Tuesday, December 2, 2025

Chase was disappointed that it didn't snow enough in Columbia last night for him to have a snow day today. But then it turned out that he had a day off from school with Nanaw anyway. After he ate his breakfast, Chase told Nanaw he'd thrown up. So he stayed home from school. Chase said it was a good day, at the end of the day. Chase and Nanaw both took naps in the morning, and Chase said he felt a lot better. They did some picking up around the house in preparation for the cleaning lady. At noon, they went downstairs and Chase had his lunch of chicken noodle soup and Cheez-its. Then Nanaw got a text from the cleaning company saying they were postponing Nanaw's cleaning until tomorrow. So Chase and Nanaw went upstairs. Chase did his AR reading and then read chapter 11 and 12 in the Lord of the Flies book .He played on the computer and on his phone but only for a short time. He didn't spend the whole day on devices so that was a good thing. Later in the afternoon, Nanaw went up to Chase's school to pick up his homework. There was a fair amount of it: an English worksheet that they didn't include and that he had to get from his teacher; reading about the Constitution; a Lord of the Flies worksheet and reading chapters 11 and 12 -- which is the end of the book; a computer assignment in math, plus a vocabulary assignment due Thursday. Chase did as much as he could before it was time to go home. He was going to finish the homework he had left in the evening.

Monday, December 1, 2025

On Monday morning, Chase had a conversation with Nanaw about snow days. There was snow in today's forecast, and Chase was hoping it would be enough to have a snow day tomorrow. He's eager to find out how the new principal feels about snow days. The principal before didn't like them much. Chase thinks the new principal likes dress-down days. They've had a lot of them so far this year. The previous principal didn't like those either. Chase didn’t have any tests to study for on Monday morning. Nanaw reminded him to turn in his Lord of the Flies worksheet for chapters 7 and 8. Homework Central said they were supposed to work on the worksheet for Lord of the Flies chapters 9 and 10. Nanaw read those chapters and did the worksheet yesterday. Chase worked on it Monday after school and got all the answers right. Nanaw only gave him one hint so he did a really good job on his own. Nanaw was very proud. It snowed a little on Monday, not enough for a snow day; Uncle Mike called Nanaw to tell her they were having a huge amount of snow in Ferguson. When Nanaw went to pick Chase up from school, it was snowing a little so she decided to wait in the car. Chase found her without too much trouble and said she should always wait in the car for him if was snowing or raining hard. Mama and Daddy left work a few minutes early, and Mama told Nanaw that Daddy was coming to pick Chase up. He came about 4:15, which didn't make Chase and Nanaw very happy because they were working on homework. Nanaw remembered to send home the turnkey soup she'd made so they could have it for dinner. Nanaw froze Uncle Mike's turkey soup. And she'll give it to him Wednesday when he comes over to finish putting up the outside lights.

Saturday November 29, and Sunday November 30, 2025

It snowed on Friday night and Saturday, about 4 to 5 inches. Chase's hockey game in Springfield was cancelled but he had one in the evening. They played at All American and lost 6 to 3. Chase got a penalty, and Daddy said he deserved it. On Monday, Chase told Nanaw he sort of tripped one of the players on the other team. A few days ago, Nanaw discovered she had a leak in the unfinished part of the basement. It's just a small leak but Nanaw has to get it fixed. Uncle Mike came over and helped her with it. Nanaw spent most of Saturday moving things that were close to the leak over to the finished part of basement. She worked so hard and so long that she got a message from her Fitbit telling her to slow down and take it easy.  Nanaw asked Mama what Chase did on Sunday, and she said he and Daddy went to church and then Chase played in the garage but it was too cold. So he went downstairs to play VR. Then he played with some hockey thing downstairs. Mama put up her tree and some of her decorations. She said she needs to do her Jack tree, put up Chase's tree and then finish putting up the rest of the decorations sometime next week. On Sunday the basement leaked more so Nanaw called Uncle Mike, and he came down in the afternoon to work on the water. He brought a surprise for Nanaw: Aunt Becky had made her grilled cinnamon rolls. They were delicious and Nanaw was so happy about them. Rockbridge no longer makes them the way Nanaw likes.

Happy Thanksgiving, Thursday, November 27 and Friday, November 28, 2025

On Thanksgiving Day, Nanaw went over to Chase's house about 2 p.m. Mama had everything under control, and she and Daddy were working very hard. Nanaw went to visit in Chase's room. He was playing a hockey game on his X-Box and was having a great time. Nanaw had fun watching him. Cousin Joe, Julia, Hudson and Jeremy were the first guests to arrive. Hudson had a great time playing with Chase's toys, which required a lot of clean-up time from Chase and Hudson's mom. The  food was all wonderful and the people delightful. Nanaw spent most of the time with Chase, either in his room or downstairs. He's a little shy around so many people -- we had 20 -- so he hung out in his room. On Friday, Chase and Nanaw had their major holiday adventure -- going to see the Christmas display of trains at the Transportation Museum. Nanaw had thought they'd go about 10 a.m. but Chase kept playing computer games with friends and postponing our departure time. When they finally went, they had a wonderful time. Mama usually goes but she decided to stay home and put up her Christmas decorations and decompress from all the hard work for the Thanksgiving dinner. Chase and Nanaw saw the reindeer and took pictures. They did their usual thing of getting boxes of popcorn and sitting in the café to eat the popcorn.

 

Sunday, November 23, Monday, November 24, Tuesday, November 25, and Wednesday, November 26, 2025

On Sunday, Chase had hockey and Mama had a dryer breakdown. Her dryer stopped working again. Over the past few years, she's had dryer trouble several times. Sometimes Daddy can order a part and fix it, and sometimes he can't and they have to buy a new dryer. Nanaw thinks that has happened twice in the past few years. So Mama brought her clothes over to Nanaw's to dry them. She's not going to pick them up till Monday morning when she drops Chase off at Nanaw's house. On Monday, Chase didn't have much homework except to study for the vocab test on Tuesday. One of his classmates Emma wasn't at school on Monday so she wasn't able to make a Blookit for the vocab test for everyone to study from. Blookit is a cool program that has games and images mixed in with the vocab words you're supposed to be studying. So Chase and Nanaw spent a lot of time going over the words. On Tuesday, Chase and Nanaw went over the vocab words again in the morning before school, and he seemed to know them well. When Nanaw picked Chase up from school at noon, he said he thought he did well on the vocab test. Nanaw was excited that Chase only had half a day at school. His Thanksgiving break was from Tuesday afternoon through Sunday. In the afternoon, Chase played with the Nova hockey guys and on the computer. On Wednesday, Chase and Nanaw made plans to go on an adventure to Handyman Hardware to look at the Christmas decorations like they do every year. Usually Mama goes with them but Mama didn't go this year, just Chase and Nanaw. The Handyman decorations were even more wonderful this year, and dear, sweet Chase let Nanaw take a lots of pictures of him with the decorations. After Handyman, they went to the library to pick up books that Mama and Nanaw had on request. They also stopped at the library vending machine to buy the fruit candy that Chase likes so much. The reason Mama didn’t go on the Handyman adventure is that she's working very hard and worrying a lot about hosting Thanksgiving this year. She's never roasted a turkey before. Uncle Chris and Auntie LaLa came over to Chase's house on Thanksgiving Eve so Uncle Chris could teach Mama how to roast a turkey in a bag in the oven. Nanaw came over after her Thanksgiving Eve church service. She wasn't sure about this bag thing.

Saturday, November 22, 2025

Saturday was a very exciting day for the family. Saturday night Aunt Becky (with a lot of help from Nichole, Nyeal, Irina and Kat, were throwing a huge surprise party for Uncle Mike's 60th birthday and his retirement from UMSL. The party was out in St. Peters at Gettemeier's, which used to be in Florissant. Mama and Nanaw rode out to the party with Aunt Becca, in Big Daddy, Aunt Becca's big Bronco, which was great fun for Nanaw. Uncle Mike thought he and Aunt Becky were having dinner with Kat out in St. Peters. He was extremely surprised when he saw all his friends and family yelling "Surprise" at him. Daddy and Chase didn’t get to the party till later because Chase had a hockey game. Nanaw got visit with all kinds of people: Auntie Lala and Uncle Chris; Aunt Karen, cousins Nicholle and Gabe; Uncle Mike's friends from UMSL; almost the whole family, with a totally surprise visit from cousin Mike Jr. all the way from Oceanside, California. Kat made major amounts of cake pops, and Chase and Nanaw ate lots and took lots more home.