Wednesday, April 30, 2025

Chase wore his navy blue Builders’ Club and Band shirt to school today because they were going to take the Builders’ Club picture today. Mama was worried that Chase might miss the picture because he had a 2:30 ortho appointment. But they took the picture before that so he got to be in it. Chase’s ortho appointment took longer than usual because he had lots of things done. We don’t know when the next ortho appointment is because Mama has to call and schedule it. When they got to Nanaw’s house, Chase worked on his math and religion homework and ate his fruit cup and drank his cinnamon roll Premier Protein drink. He didn’t have any ice cream this afternoon. Chase also played games on his Chromebook and phone and played with the guys and his hockey net.

Tuesday, April 29, 2025

This morning, Chase did his thing texting Nanaw for Cinnamon Crunch Toast cereal again. But instead of cereal for his school snack, he wanted Whales crackers. When Nanaw picked Chase up from school. She asked him about something she saw on Homework Central about correcting the answers on the English test they took yesterday. Nanaw asked Chase what his grade was, and he said he got an 84. Nanaw wasn’t happy about that because Chase wouldn’t let her help him study on Sunday evening because he said it would take too long and he wanted to play with his devices Nanaw is going to talk to him about this tomorrow. She thinks that maybe only read through the English study guide once. He had a lot of time to study on Sunday because baseball got rained out. Nanaw is going to make sure he understands how important and necessary sufficient studying is. Mama wants Nanaw to make Chase eat a fruit cup every day. Nanaw tried last week and got nowhere. So tomorrow she’ll try again. If it doesn't go well, she’ll turn it over to Mama.

Monday, April 28, 2025

This morning, while Chase was in Pawpaw’s room eating breakfast, Nanaw got a text from him asking if he could have some more cinnamon crunch cereal. Nanaw laughed, then took him some more cereal. She texted Mama about it and Mama enjoyed it. Mama said Chase did the same thing to her the other day when he texted her from his room to tell her David Perron scored. Nanaw fixed Chase a snack bag of the cereal for school but forgot to ask him if he ate it today. She also forgot to ask him how his English and geography tests went today. So she’ll ask him tomorrow. Once again, he didn’t have any homework, and he was very happy about it. He got all his homework done in class. After school, he had his usual snacks — the premium protein shake and ice cream. He also had Girl Scout cookies, Whales crackers, and mini chocolate chips. The first picture below is five of his “guys” sitting in the backseat of Nanaw’s car. His baseball practice tonight was the lifting weights one. Nanaw asked him if he was still lifting his Dad’s weights st home, and he said sometimes.

Sunday, April 27, 2025

Because of the rain, Chase’s baseball tournament was rained out on Sunday. That was sad because on Saturday Chase’s team won both of their games. That meant they had a good chance of winning the tournament. Because there was no baseball tournament, Chase and Daddy went to church on Sunday morning. In the afternoon, Daddy moved his truck and Mama’s car out of the garage so Chase could play hockey in the garage. In the evening, Nanaw came over for dinner. Daddy grilled hamburgers, and Mama fixed tater tots and made yummy Suddenly Salad that Nanaw really likes. Mama also fixed Mac and cheese for Chase, something he really likes. After dinner, Chase and Nanaw went to his room to study for the English and geography tests he has tomorrow. At first, Nanaw was asking him questions from his study guides. But Chase told Nanaw they didn’t have time for them to study that way. He said it would better for him to read through the study guides on his own. So that’s what they did.

Saturday, April 26, 2025

Chase had a really busy day on Saturday. He had a Bears baseball tournament, and two of his school friends were there — Connor and Cole. Chase’s team won both of their games — 17 to 1 and 13 to 0. Mama and Daddy said Chase played second base and went 3 for 4 in hitting so h had a great day. Last night at the Zoo, the gift shop was open, and Chase got the cutest baby tiger ever. Chase named him Ty, and they also bought one for Chase’s cousin Wesley. Chase had a pretzel to eat at the Zoo. He also had a pretzel at the baseball tournament. On Saturday afternoon, after the baseball tournament, Chase, Mama, and Daddy went to the Jefferson Barracks Park for a picnic with Daddy’s family. They had a food truck at the picnic, and Chase had a hot dog and nachos. Chase’s aunt gave everybody bags of markers, pens, glue, etc. from Paper Mate in Tennessee where she works.Chase gave Nanaw a magenta Sharpie and Mama gave Nanaw a black Sharpie marker. In the evening, Nanaw came over to Chase’s house to visit and to meet Ty. As you can see in the pictures below, he’s the cutest thing. He also has really soft fur.

Friday, April 25, 2025

On Friday, Mama was at Auntie LaLa's for her sleepover, so Daddy brought Chase to Nanaw's house at seven. Chase was excited about the school menu for Friday: toasted ravioli -- probably his favorite lunch at school. He said he was going to get an extra serving because he likes the T Rav so much. He sort had homework but he'll do it over the weekend. On Monday, he has tests in English and geography. He also had a math assignment but he got that done in class. They called Mama on the way home for the pickup call. She said she had a good time at the sleepover and that they had Mexican food for lunch. Chase, Mama and Daddy were going on a very special adventure tonight. They were going to see the lights at the Zoo with Daddy's sisters -- Chase's Aunt Ginny and Aunt Kate. The Zoo was always a very wonderful place for Grandma Pat to visit with her family, and now they do the visits in her memory. The lights at the Zoo tonight are Animals Aglow where visitors walk around the Saint Louis Zoo at twilight amidst the luminous glow of 60 towering lanterns depicting animals, plants and traditional Chinese elements.

Thursday, April 24, 2025

Thursday was an unusual day at Chase's school. They had a field day for the older grades to  go by school bus to the Gibault High School in Waterloo to se a play put on there by the Gibault drama club. Nanaw is always trying to get Chase interested in doing something for one of the plays at his school but he doesn't want to have anything to do with drama. The students left school at 9 and got back around 12:30. Chase said the name of the play was Little Women and most of the actors were girls, although there were a few boys in it. He said the most interesting part was when people died, although they didn't die on stage, just off stage. Chase had chicken noodle soup for lunch on Thursday, which he really likes a lot. For the past three days, Chase hasn't had any homework, which is a miracle. But he says he has to study over the weekend for two tests -- one in English and one in geography. Tonight Mama is going to have a sleepover at Auntie LaLa's house, so Daddy is going to bring Chase to Nanaw's house on Friday morning.

Wednesday, April 23, 2025

Chase had his Cinnamon Toast Crunch cereal again this morning. He really likes that cereal. Chase and Nanaw didn’t study his history vocabulary words for today’s quiz because Chase knew them so well. He and Nanaw went over the words after school yesterday and Chase knew them all perfectly. When Nanaw picked Chase up for school this afternoon, he was very excited that he didn’t have any homework. It seems that the teachers have been assigning less homework lately. This is a good thing, especially for Chase. When the teachers load the kids up with homework, it’s really hard on that. Chase has sports commitments four nights a week a week, and when he has lots of homework, it’s hard for him to get it all done. Tomorrow they’re going to Gibault High School in Waterloo to see the Gibault students perform a play. Nanaw is interested in finding out about the play from Chase.

 

Tuesday, April 22, 2025

Chase went back to school on Tuesday after his four-day Easter break with no homework except his 20 minutes of AR reading in the evening. For breakfast, he had his new Cinnamon Toast Crunch cereal that he says is his favorite. He even asked for more. Today was cleaning lady day, and Nanaw worked really hard getting the house straightened up. When she was done, she went to Telegraph Road Schnuck's to get her newspapesr and several frozen dinners. She ate the rice and beans for lunch and the spinach mushroom pizza for dinner. After school, Chase did his science and math homework. He wasn't sure he had time to study for his history vocabulary test  But he finished the science and math sooner than he thought he would. So Nanaw quizzed him on his history vocabulary words. They were about the West and the Native Americans and reservations and battles. The words were very interesting and Nanaw enjoyed reading the definitions to Chase and then having him give Nanaw the words. Sometimes he had his stuffed animals answer the questions and that was fun and cute.]

Monday, April 21, 2025

 Chase had Monday off from school for Raster break. Nanaw went to pick him up at 7:15. Later in the morning, they went to Schnuck’s so Nanaw could buy Chase two whiffle ball sets and Cinnamon Toast Crunch cereal using her rewards money — plus, a newspaper, of course. For lunch, Chase had two ham sandwiches made with Aunt Becky’s rolls and Mama’s delicious ham, plus some fruit. Nanaw got out the restaurant things but they never played with them. In the afternoon, Chase and Nanaw met Mama at the doctor’s office for Chase’s annual check-up. The doctor said he’s doing fine and is due for a growth spurt any day. He weighs 99.4 pounds and is 5 foot 1 1/2 inches tall. Chase played outside with his new whiffle ball bats. It was a wonderful day and Nanaw had a great time with Chase.

Happy Easter, Sunday April 20, 2025

Mama had the family dinner for Easter, and they borrowed Nanaw’s card tables and chairs. The food was wonderful and included ham, Italian beef, mostaccioli, Aunt Becky’s rolls, Mama’s party potato’s, salad, and Nanaw’s fruit salad. Ford dessert, there was brownies, Lindsey’s cheesecake, Mama’s chocolate pudding pie and a white cake. Attendees included Mama, Daddy, Chase, Nanaw, uncle Mike, Aunt Becky, Nichole, Jon Jon, Irina, Nyeal, Joe, Julia, Jeremy, Hudson, Robbie, and Claudia. Chase had a good time playing with Jeremy. They played ping pong, whiffle ball and basketball. Nanaw gave each of the kids $50 and Peeps. Nanaw ate downstairs but only Lindsey and Dylan were down there with her. At the end of the evening, Nanaw and Chase were downstairs playing with their phones. Nanaw had fun sitting their with Chase.

Saturday, April 19, 2025

Today was Aunt Becky's party for Natalie and Noah. Nanaw thought Mama wasn't going because she wanted to get the house ready for tomorrow's Easter dinner. But Mama decided to go, and that made Nanaw very happy. For the whole party, they sat out in the breeze way with Uncle Mike, cousin Lindsey and Dylan, cousin Robbie and Claudia, and Nyeal. It was delightful out there, cool and quiet and full of Easter decorations. Mama and Nanaw both had cinnamon rolls and some unusual kind of muffin that was very good. Mama said Brady called Chase to see if he wanted to go to the Waterloo show to see the Minecraft movie. So they went to see the movie and Mama said Chase liked it. In the afternoon, Chase and Daddy went to Aunt Becca's for their family Easter dinner. Mama stayed home to work on the house, and they brought her a little Bundt cake thing. She went to get soda and also got Taco Bell for her dinner. Nanaw texted Mama asking her to please send a picture of Chase for Days of Chase and she did. In the evening, Chase and Daddy went to Saturday night mass so they won't go in the morning. Nanaw went to the Walmart Dollar Tree to get a birthday card for cousin Joey and then she took the Easter basket and eggs to Pawpaw at the cemetery.

Good Friday, April 18, 2025

Chase had the day off from school for Good Friday / Easter Break. He's also off on Monday. Daddy had the day off but Mama had to work. Daddy brought Chase over to Nanaw's house at 9:30. Daddy had to stay at home to wait for the microwave repairman. Chase played knee hockey for a long while when he got there and kept losing the little plastic golf balls that he was hitting. So Nanaw convinced him to go with her when she went to Schnuck's to get her newspaper. But the balls that Schnuck's had were ping pong balls, not golf balls. When they got home, they ordered a box of 12 plastic golf balls from Amazon that will arrive on Sunday. Nanaw also bought a cool blue cat harness for Sidney Crosby the Cat so she can take him for walks. It may arrive Saturday. Because it's Good Friday and Chase can't eat meat, Nanaw fixed a Michaelina frozen mac and cheese dinner for him. Since she was a little girl, her mother taught Nanaw to never eat meat on Good Friday. So Nanaw had shrimp for lunch fettucine for dinner. Daddy came to get Chase at 1 p.m. so they could go to the big park and hit some baseballs. Daddy said the repairman replaced some parts in the microwave oven and now it works fine.  After Chase left, Nanaw went to the library to get a book that Cousin Karen recommended. She also went to Walmart to get fruit to make fruit salad, then to Dollar Tree to get Peeps, and then to the cemetery to leave the Easter decorations for Pawpaw. Tomorrow she'll take the Easter basket with the plastic eggs to Pawpaw at the cemetery.

Thursday, April 17, 2025

Chase had his new, regular breakfast on Thursday morning: chocolate milk, bread, long skinny cold yogurt and Cheerios. He wants Nanaw to have Mama get Cinnamon Toast Crunch cereal t the grocery store this week. He forgot to take his vitamins and pills so Nanaw got them ready for him to take in the afternoon, which he did. On the way to school, Chase looked at the menu Nanaw keeps in the car and announced that lunch was chicken patties. He walked out of school with Cam, laughing and talking to him. It's been months since he did that. Nanaw brought Ritz crackers and a cherry Kool Aid Jammer for his car snack but he only drank the Kool Aid and didn't eat the Ritz crackers. Nanaw asked how his Animal Farm and DLR tests went, and he said good, which is usually what he says about tests, even when he doesn't do well. But hopefully it's true this time.He had ice cream when he got home but didn't drink his Premier Protein drink. He was very excited that he has four days without any homework because of his Easter holiday. All the time after school at Nanaw's house, he played knee hockey and watched Monsters at Work because he didn't have any homework.

Wednesday, April 16, 2025

As always, the usual suspects rode to school with Chase and Nanaw: the two Truman tigers, Tee Tee, Lars and Sid the snake. Nanaw checked the school menu for Chase and announced that lunch was one of his very favorites: Mexican Haystack. Chase and Nanaw took Cole home from school, and the two boys kept giggling all the way home, their heads buried in their phones. Nanaw asked what they were laughing about but didn't get an answer. For homework, Chase had to study for the Animal Farm test, turn in the Animal Farm packet, and do his math assignment. He also had to study for Thursday's DLR test. He got all his homework done at Nanaw's house, and promised to go over the Animal Farm materials again. For after school snacks, he had grapes, strawberries, and oranges, along with his Premier Protein drink and cookies and cream Lactaid ice cream. Chase had baseball practice in the evening, and he was excited about using his new red and blue bat.

Tuesday, April 15, 2025

Chase must have looked at the lunch menu without Nanaw knowing about it because he knew it was hot ham and cheese. Nanaw asked Chase on the way to school how prepared he thought he was for the science test. He said he thought he knew everything. Then on the way home, Nanaw asked how he did on the test. He said it was easy, and he thought he did really well. He thinks he might have gotten an A, his first ever in science. At Nanaw’s house, Chase worked on his math, and Nanaw decided to do the math with him in her math book. It was all about projections, and Nanaw didn’t quite understand it but Chase did. Surprisingly enough, Nanaw got one of the problems right. and Chase got it wrong so he changed his answer. He had a little bowl of ice cream after he ate his Cheez-Its. He was so excited when he got home, and he found that the new bat he ordered was there waiting for him. He paid for part of if it. and Mama paid for part as his Easter present. The bat is red and blue, and Chase says it weights 26 ounces. Nanaw took a picture of Chase outside with the bat. He was going to use it at baseball practice this evening.

Monday, April 14, 2025

Chase was happy when he checked the lunch menu this morning -- it said lasagna, and that's one of  Chase's favorites. Nanaw picked up her taxes and got the checks ready to mail, took them to the post office and sent them certified mail. So another one of Nanaw's tasks is done. When Nanawpicked Chase up, he said he had lots of homework. The one thing he didn't do at Nanaw's was to study for his science test; he was going to do that at home. He didn't want to study with Nanaw. But later when she asked, he said he might go over the questions with her on Tuesday morning. He did't gain any weight this week; he still weighs 97.3 pounds. He's still drinking his Premier Protein drinks so that's goo for him. Nanaw brought him two mini Hershey bars from the tax place, and he liked those. Nanaw also brought along the Sour Patch Kids watermelon candy. Nanaw went through the photos and selected the 19 miscellaneous photos below from the past couple of months when she wasn't doing Days of Chase. You'll notice that Chase's latest, newest favorite stuffed animal is Truman, the Mizzou Tiger.

Sunday, April 13, 2025

Chase had a Bears baseball tournament today. Nanaw thinks he won four games. She's going over to visit him for a few minutes at 8:30, and she'll find out then. It's the first time he's been on a team in a tournament and won so many games. Nanaw is taking cookies and cream Lactaid ice cream to Chase and the rest of Chase's chocolate ice cream to Daddy. Mama is trying the Lactaid thing again with Chase because he threw up a few times. Mama is having Easter dinner for the family next Sunday. The menu is absolutely great: ham, Italian beef, mostaccioli, salad, fruit salad, rolls, brownies, and some dessert Mama is making. Nanaw will check her texts for the complete menu. During the time when Nanaw didn't see Chase and couldn't help him with his homework, he did a wonderful job and got great grades, and kept up with everything. He's a super boy, and Nanaw is very proud of him. When Nanaw went to visit Chase, she found out that he had played ona really great baseball team, and they won the tournament -- they won all five of their games. This was a first for Chase, and he was really excited about it. He was eating a Whopper when Nanaw saw him. She reminded him to check that his homework was all done, and he found one little thing he'd forgotten to do so he did it. The first picture below is one that Daddy took of Chase's Baseball team.

 

Saturday, March 29, 2025

Time to get back to Days of Chase, after almost two months with no Days. So here is the explanation about the absence of a month of Days of Chase. Around the beginning of February, Nanaw developed severe back pains and wasn't able to take Chase to school or pick him up. She didn't get to see him very often at all. So this entry will be highlights of his life and information about what he and Nanaw were doing. He had several hockey tournaments in the last month, and his team played better but didn't win any of the tournaments. His hockey team has ended its season, except for a fun skating adventure on Friday. So for this month, Chase had baseball practice twice a week, and hockey practice twice a week. We had snow and Chase has five snow days so they'll be going to school longer than usual. On February 4, Nanaw picked Mama up from St. Peters where they went for her procedure. Nanaw was still having the horrible back pains so Mama took her to the ER at St. Clare. She went back to the ER twice more, and then they put her in the hospital. Finally, on the hospital visit, they said she had a compression fracture in the 9th vertebrae of her spine. Nanaw's prime doc helped her set up an appointment with a doctor who could do what needed to be done. He stuck a needle into her spine and shot cement into the 9th vertebrae of her spine. So Nanaw had that done on Monday, March 3, and she's feeling much better. She hadn't driven this whole time and she thought she would do it today but it was raining so she postponed it to tomorrow. Mama stopped by Nanaw's this evening, and told Nanaw that she and Daddy got  confused about who was picking Chase up from school so Mama had Brady's grandma take him home. Nanaw feels bad for the little bug and wants to get back to taking Chase to school, and picking him up after school. After Nanaw's health challenges were finally getting under control, Columbia had a horrible storm on March 14. A hail storm damaged Nanaw's house and she needs new siding and a new roof. Her Bronco was out in the driveway during the storm because Nanaw wanted to go up to Chase's school and welcome Chase and Mama back from their exciting school trip to Huntsville, Alabama for the visit to Space Camp. Unfortunately, the hail storm also damaged Nanaw's Bronco Sport so it needs to have the hail damage fixed. Mama and Chase had an absolutely wonderful time at Space Camp, with three days of really fun activities. Chase had Friday, March 27, off from school, and he and Mama  played mini-golf in the Concord area, then had lunch at Bar Down. After lunch, Chase came over to Nanaw's house to play. On Saturday morning, he came over to Nanaw's house to visit while Mama went to Schnuck's for her weekly grocery shopping. Time to get back to Days of Chase, after almost two months with no Days. Chase had Friday off from school, and he and Mama  played mini-golf in the Concord area, then had lunch at Bar Down. After lunch, Chase came over to Nanaw's house to play. On Saturday morning, he came over to Nanaw's house to visit while Mama went to Schnuck's for he weekly grocery shopping. Nanaw had some health challenges the first month that she missed Days of Chase, including three emergency room visits, a hospital stay, culminating in back surgery for a compressed vertebrae where the surgeon shot cement into her ninth vertebrae.  After the health challenges were finally under control, Columbia had a horrible storm on March 14. A hail storm damaged Nanaw's house and she needs new siding and a new roof. Her Bronco was out in the driveway during the storm because Nanaw wanted to go up to Chase's school and welcome Chase and Mama back from their exciting school trip to Huntsville, Alabama for the visit to Space Camp. Unfortunately, the hail storm also damaged Nanaw's Bronco Sport so it needs to have the hail damage fixed. Mama and Chase  had a wonderful time at Space Camp, with days of really fun activities. Chase and Nanaw checked a Space Camp movie out from the library and enjoyed watching all the rocket activities. The first photo is Chase doing a chore for Nanaw: changing the front porch light. The next four are at Huntsville, Alabama's Space Camp.