Thursday, May 29, 2025

Mama sent Chase's report card to Nanaw on Thursday morning. He did really well, mostly As, including san A+ in math (Wow!) and three of his teachers sent wonderful comments to him.

Geography Teacher: "Chase, thank you for all your hard work and attention to detail in all you do! It has been great seeing you speak in front of crowds and do so well! Thank you for your excellent sense of humor and quick mind. I look forward to seeing you in the fall. Have a great summer!"

Math Teacher: "I really enjoyed having you in my homeroom this year, Chase. I appreciate how motivated you are to do your best academically, especially in math. After playing games with you at Space Camp, I also learned to appreciate your sneaky sense of humor. Best wishes in 8th grade!"

History Teacher: "It has been a joy to have you in class this year. Your positive attitude and humor helped make our history class both educational and fun. I look forward to having you as a student again next school year. Have a wonderful and restful summer -- you've earned it!"

Nanaw went to visit Chase for a little while after he got back from hockey camp and before he went to baseball practice.

Wednesday, May 28, 2025

Nanaw took the Bronco for an oil change on Wednesday morning, it reminded her of the times through the years that Chase accompanied her. There was a little three-year-old boy named Eli who really reminded her of those times. It took forever for them to do the Bronco's oil change, and Nanaw thought maybe hey were finding something wrong with the Bronco. But they didn't so she had another theory. Nanaw could see the Bronco in the bay next to the waiting room, and the mechanic seemed to be checking everything on the car.  So Nanaw's theory was that they probably don't get many new Broncos in for work so they were checking everything to find out how it all worked. In the afternoon, Nanaw packed up some bats and balls to take to Chase's house; two Big Chunga bats, two Baby Chunga bats, the blue bat and blue ball Nanaw bought for Chase at Schnuck's several years ago. While Chase was in the back yard hitting balls, and Nanaw was watching, three of his friends from the crew came to play: Brady, Cole and Drew. They played baseball till 5:30 when they left. Chase had to eat dinner and get ready for baseball practice. The first picture below is from Monday at hockey camp when Wayne Gretsky camp to visit and posed in a picture with the hockey camp attendees.

Tuesday, May 27, 2025

Today was Chase's second day at hockey camp so Nanaw didn't see him until the afternoon when he got home. Chase texted Nanaw about four o'clock that he and Daddy were almost home. Nanaw texted back that she would be on her way to come over and play. Nanaw had decided to take the Escape over to Chase's house because she had a chair and the park toys in the back of the Escape. Back when Nanaw and Chase used to meet Chase's friends (Hunter, Brady, Cole, Andrew and Will) at the little park, they would play with the things Nanaw had in the back of the Escape -- wiffle bats and balls, soccer balls, two scooper toys and two stick ball toys. So Chase and Nanaw went into Chase's back yard and played with all the toys (except for the soccer balls). It was great fun, and Nanaw was surprised that she did so well playing with the toys and not tripping and falling. At the end of their play session, Nanaw took a picture of Chase lifting Daddy's two 20-pound weights. Nanaw was very impressed that Chase could do it, and so easily. After their hot dog dinner, Mama and Chase went to Chase's baseball practice.

Sunday, May 25, 2025 and Monday, May 26, 2025

Sunday 
Chase didn't have a baseball tournament this Memorial Day weekend so he got to spend lots of time with the family. On Sunday afternoon, the family went to cousin Natalie's wedding reception at the Ballwin Golf Club. It was a great event, and everyone had a good time. The food was delicious -- and there were a lot of choices: roast beef, rolls, quesadillas, a fruit and cheese charcuterie board, shrimp cocktail, toasted ravioli, and crab stuffed mushrooms. Cousin Nichole made the wedding cake -- it was multiple layers with chocolate all the way through and totally scrumptious. Chase seemed to have a good time eating the food and sitting between Mama and Daddy and playing on their phones together. Nanaw had a good time watching them and doing lots of people watching.

Monday
Today was Chase's first day of hockey camp. Nanaw was surprised that they had it on Memorial Day it that's the way the calendar fell. The most exciting thing that happened was that hockey great Wayne Gretsky visited boys and had his picture taken with them. Someone also took a picture of Chase with Sebastian, a friend of Chase from past hockey events, and Mama sent the picture to Nanaw. In the evening, Nanaw came over to Chase's house for dinner. Before dinner, Nanaw watched Chase play fungo baseball in the back yard, then pitched several pitches to him. For dinner, they had ribs, hot dogs, and corn on the cob. After dinner, Mama and Nanaw had delicious almond pound cake with strawberries and whipped cream. Nanaw went outside to watch Chase hit ping pong balls in the front yard. They had a good time together, counting balls and laughing. Nanaw loves watching Chase play and laughing with him. Nanaw had Chase plug in his Fitbit so they could see if it has a stop watch / timer that he can use for Running Club, starting next week.

Saturday, May 24, 2025

Mama reported to Nanaw about Chase's sleepover at Joey's grandparents' house. Chase said he had a good time and went to bed about 12:30 a.m. He said they had Donut Panic donuts for breakfast. Joey's grandpa (the former longtime principal at Chase's school) went to the new donut place in Columbia and waited in line behind 22 people to get donuts for the boys. The only one of the Crew who wasn't at the sleepover was Cole who was vacationing in Florida with his parents. In the evening, Mama had company come over for a visit -- Uncle Mike and Aunt Becky and Ant Becca and Uncle Stan. Nanaw came, too. They didn't bring Aunt Becca's Big Daddy Bronco, and Nanaw was very disappointed because she wanted to see it. Mama fixed Papa Murphy's pizza and garlic bread. She also baked a cinnamon cake that was so delicious Nanaw had two pieces. Chase stayed in his room most of the evening. First, he had a headache, and Mama gave him Tylenol. Then he told Nanaw his headache was gone but his stomach hurt. Nanaw brought her Truman along to visit Chase and his Truman. The second picture below is one that Nanaw took of Sylvester and aunte Becca's dog Brogan.

Friday, May 23, 2025

Today was Chase's last day of school, the last day of 7th grade. He was really wound up and excited this morning. He took some of Nanaw's blue library bags with him to school to clean out his locker. Nanaw went to lunch with Brady's and Andrew's grandmothers to Dusty Dogs, the new restaurant in Columbia that's where Who Dat's used to be. Nanaw got a Dusty Dog, which is a hot dog with chili and onion in an unusual kind of bun. It was good. Nanaw tried to take a picture of their menu but had trouble so Andrew's grandmother did it for her. They had bounce houses at school for the kids to play on. The older classes went in the afternoon, and the younger ones went in the morning. In the morning, Chase's class watched the Tom Sawyer/Huckleberry Finn movie. When Nanaw took Chase home, Mama told him someone had called her about Chase going to a sleepover but she wasn't sure who it was. So Chase looked at his phone and saw that Brady and Joey had been trying to call him. It was Joey's sleepover at his grandparents' house. Chase is going to participate in the run club again this summer on Monday and Thursday, and Mama emailed Nanaw the information about it. The second picture below is one that Nanaw sent to Mama, saying this was her favorite haircut for Chase and that she thinks it makes him look so handsome.

Thursday, May 22, 2025

When Chase got to Nanaw’s house on Thursday morning, he said he had more to study for today’s science test. He and Mama studied last night; she asked him random questions from the five tests that he had to study. But the final pages of each of the five tests had essay questions that Mama couldn’t quiz him on and which he had to read through in order to study. So that’s what he did at Nanaw’s house. He was sort of sad because he hadn’t brought any of the guys with him like he always does. He especially missed Truman the Tiger. The reason he didn’t bring Truman and the rest of the guys was that he and Mama were going to do some volunteer work after school so he wouldn’t becoming back to Nanaw’s house. They were going to be getting things ready for the 8th graders’ confirmation. It all worked out well for Nanaw not to have to pick Chase up from school because she was stuck at Dobb’s. She went at 11 to get the Escape’s wheels aligned, and she was still there at 2:20 so she would have been late picking Chase up. She was trying not to be mad sitting there for over three hours and for feeling like she had to buy another new tire because they said so. In the evening after Chase's baseball practice, Mama and Chase came by Nanaw's house to borrow her math book for Hunter. His math book was missing a few pages he needed to study. Chase was acting like a funny-bunny, which nanaw enjoyed, and she took a picture of the character. 

Wednesday, May 21, 2025

When Nanaw picked Chase up from school, the first thing he said to her was that he found the tests he needed for the science test on Thursday. Both Chase and Nanaw were so happy that he found them. Back at Nanaw's house, they sorted through the science tests. Nanaw wanted to ask Chase the questions on the tests but Chase said there were too many to do that. He got a calculator and figured out that there were 260 questions on the five tests. So they decided that Chase would read through the tests. Then tonight he would concentrate on the questions that he missed on the tests. He also has a math test and a Tom Sawyer test tomorrow. He says he doesn't need to study for the math test because it's all equations. He said he knows the Tom Sawyer material and doesn't need to study. Nanaw hopes he's right. Friday is the last day of this school year, and it will be some kind of field day for the boys and girls. Uncle Mike came to visit and work this afternoon. He brought all of the things to plant for Nanaw's Mother's Day present from him and Becky -- tomatoes, cucumbers, begonias, celosia (also known as firefox), and marigolds.

Tuesday, May 20, 2025

When Chase and Nanaw got home from school, they looked on Homework Central to see what homework and tests Chase has these last few days of school. It turned out there was a lot. On Wednesday, he has an English test on grammar. He also has a science test on five chapters of the science test. Before looking at the science materials, Chase and Nanaw studied his English study guide. It turned out that the best way for Chase to study for the English test was to read through it on his own rather than Nanaw quizzing him on the material. When Chase had gone through the English, they turned to what they needed to for Thursday's science test. It turned out that this was a complicated situation. The teacher told the class to study their past five tests. Chase and Nanaw started looking through the huge stack of Chase's school papers that Nanaw has been keeping. After a lot of searching through the papers, they found three of the tests. Two of the tests were missing. The only thing Chase could think was that they were either in his locker or tucked inside his science notebook. He promised to look first thing on Wednesday morning. 

Saturday, Sunday, and Monday, May 17 - May 19, 2025

Saturday, May 17, 2025

Chase had a hockey tournament all day and evening on Saturday so Nanaw didn’t get to visit him. Everybody has been talking about the EF3 tornado that went through St. Louis on Friday. It missed Columbia except for some power outages— Mama said theirs was out for awhile. On Saturday night Chase’s hockey team played Andrew’s team for the first time. Andrew is one of his classmates and one of the four hockey players in Chase’s grade. Chase’s team lost the game. 

Sunday, May 18, 2025

Chase's hockey team played Andrew’s team again on Sunday and lost again. Today’s game was the championship. Mama says the boys fought hard and had fun. Chase got checked into the boards and hurt his knee so he’s not going to baseball later. Nanaw went to visit Chase about five on Sunday evening. She had a lot of fun watching Chase do all kinds of sports activities. First, in the back yard, he played fungo baseball, which is where you toss the ball in the air and then hit it. He got lots of really good hits. Next, he had Daddy move the cars out of the garage so he could play roller blade hockey. He found a puck, got out a hockey stick and set up the hockey net. Nanaw got a chair from the patio so she could sit and watch. He played for a really long time. Nanaw realized that the reason Chase is a little bit thin is that he’s incredibly physically active. His final activity of the evening was hitting a ping pong ball with a paddle in the front yard. While he was playing and Nanaw was watching, Chase’s principal and his wife walked by and said hello to Chase and Nanaw.

Monday, May 19, 2025

When Chase got to Nanaw’s house on Monday morning, Mama said his knee that got hurt yesterday playing hockey was really hurting him, and Mama gave him Tylenol. He really shouldn’t have done all that physical activity Sunday evening with an injured knee. He didn’t want to go to school but Nanaw said it would be okay. She put some of her arthritis medicine on his knee, and he said it was like a miracle that it stopped hurting. He went to school and everything was fine. He had a little bit of homework, and he got it done after school. He finished his AR reading last week so he didn’t have to do that. Yesterday Nanaw had the realization that Chase is really smart. Somehow despite Chase's excellent grades she hadn't actually realized what a smart student he is. He’s going to get all As on his report card except for a B in religion. Before Nanaw took Chase home, she put some more of the arthritis medicine on his knee and sent the tube home with him. 

Friday, May 16, 2025

On Friday morning, Chase and Nanaw went over the material for today’s DLR test. There was a storm in the afternoon but it wasn’t too bad in Columbia. Chase emailed Nanaw to stay in the car when she picked him up. He said he did well on the DLR test. A lot of the kids at school got picked up early. The storm was really bad in St. Louis — central west end and Clayton got hit badly and four people died. They think it was a tornado. Mama said they lost power for awhile but it went back on. Nanaw had been planning to go out too the little house tonight so she could pick up the keys tomorrow morning. But because of the storm she changed her mind. So now she’s going in the morning and will stay during the day. She doesn’t know if she’ll see Chase tomorrow because he has hockey game. He also had a game tonight. Before Nanaw took Chase home, he was laying in his knee high place. He said he didn’t want to go home. He wanted to stay at Nanaw’s house and Nanaw liked that.

Thursday, May 15, 2025

When Mama brought Chase to Nanaw's house on Thursday morning, she reminded her about Chase's hockey camp. It's a week-long camp the week after Chase is out of school. Nanaw had forgotten about it, and was sad again to not have Chase that week. Then Mama reminded Nanaw about their vacation, which is two weeks after Chase is out of school -- another sadness for Nanaw. Nanaw went to the calendar and counted how many weeks she would have Chase this summer, and it's only 11 weeks. So Nanaw will have to make the most out of what she gets. Chase told Mama and Nanaw he took the AR test for his book and got 9 points. He thinks it will take his reading grade from a 90 up to an A. That would be nice. Nanaw has been given Chase strawberries and green grapes as one of his after-school snacks, and he seems to like them better than the fruit cocktail. So Nanaw asked Mama to get them from the grocery store. When Nanaw took Chase home, Mama told her he was going to have a hockey tournament this weekend, plus a game on Friday night. This is is a special hockey thing because the regular season doesn't start for a couple of months.

Wednesday, May 14, 2025

Before school, Chase and Nanaw went over his science words for the test today. There were two pages of words; he did really well on the first page but struggled with the second page. He said he would have time during the day to go over the second page and study the words again. Nanaw forgot to ask him how the test went today but she'll ask him tomorrow. After school, Chase said once again he didn't have homework. Nanaw said maybe the teachers were giving the students less homework because other schools didn't give as much homework as his school. But Chase said he thought it was because it was the end of the school year and things were winding down. Chase went outside to play baseball, then came in for his snack and to play on the computer. He weighed himself for the weekly weigh-in and he weighed 101.4. Hopefully, he'll keep gaining weight. Mama and Nanaw were worried that he wasn't gaining weight. They thought it might be caused by his stomach problems. When Chase and Nanaw got to Chase's house, his friend Brady was out in front with his bike, waiting to play with Chase. Chase had about an hour before he had to go to baseball practice so hopefully the boys got to play. 

Tuesday, May 13, 2025

It was really foggy when Chase and Nanaw drove to school. When they started up the road leading to the school, Chase called out, kiddingly, "The school is gone!" He was right. The fog had completely hidden the school. When Nanaw picked Chase up from school, she brought "car candy for him." He said he had a good day, and he had math homework, plus he had to study for tomorrow's science and geography tests. He promised to study again tonight after baseball practice and again with Nanaw in the morning. Today, Chase brought Colleen the Squishmallow along with him. Colleen and Truman are girlfriend and boyfriend. They went to a dance last Friday and danced together. This is according to Chase. So interesting! 

Monday, May 12, 2025

Daddy brought Chase over to Nanaw's house on Monday morning because Mama left 15 minutes early to ride with her friend Becky. Mama loves to ride to and from work with Becky because they always have so much to talk about. Nanaw gave Chase two of Nichole's and one of her cookies to go along with his milk, yogurt and cheese stick. Nanaw told him they were having one of his favorite lunches today -- toasted beef ravioli. When Nanaw picked Chase up from school, he told her that for homework he had math and science. He worked very hard on the homework and got it all done before it was time to go home. For snacks, he had grapes, strawberries, his protein drink and chocolate ice cream. Daddy was taking Chase to baseball practice. Fortunately, practice was indoors because there was lots of rain. Mama was going to the Parents and Friends meeting. It would be sad for her because it would be Mr. G's last meeting before he leaves for his new job. Once again, Nanaw didn't get a picture of Chase so she'll find a cute one when he was younger to use. This one is from July 2021.

Happy Mothers' Day, Sunday, May 11, 2025

Nanaw didn't get to see Chase on Sunday because he had baseball. They won their games on Saturday but not on Sunday so they didn't win the baseball tournament. In the early evening, Chase sent Nanaw a text saying Happy Mothers' Day! Nanaw answered, thanking him for the text and telling him that she was bringing eight of cousin Nicole's delicious dinner rolls and some of hr magnificent cookies for him. He sent back a bi thumbs-up emoji. Nanaw went to Uncle Mike's for Mothers' Day dinner. Cousin Lindsey brought great presents for Aunt Becky, Mama and Nanaw. Mama got a mouse pad with pictures of Chase, and Nanaw got one with pictures of Uncle Mike and Mama. Nanaw also got cinnamon candy, great-smelling hand soap and a green candle. For dinner, they fixed BBQed ribs, grilled chicken, party potatoes, Caesar salad, fruit, rolls, cookies and cheese cake. It was all delicious. Also there were cousin Kris, Dylan, cousin Robbie and Nyeal. Nanaw was very happy to not work so hard to have it at her house. It was great fun to be able to talk and visit with everybody. Nanaw didn't get a picture of Chase so she'll find a cute one when he was younger one to use. This one is from November 2021.

Saturday, May 10, 2025

Nanaw went over to visit Chase on Saturday afternoon around 1 p.m. Nanaw was looking forward to hearing Chase tell her about last night's dance. Chase and Nanaw went into Chase's room for him to tell her the story. He said he had a good time and was glad he went. (That was the same thing Hunter's Dad told Mama that Chase said when he got picked up from the dance.) Chase said he danced with the members of the crew toward the end of the dance and said the music was okay. That's a little bit different from what he texted Mama and Daddy earlier in the evening. At 9:30 he said he wanted to come home and that the music was bad. He told Nanaw Joey danced a lot and was the only one of the crew that danced with girls. At one point Joey was dancing in the middle of the dance floor, and everyone was watching him. Chase took a video of Joey dancing and showed it to Nanaw. The lights were turned down in the gym, and they had dancing colored lights around the dance floor. For Mother's Day, Mama gave Nanaw a new gnome for the front door because Nanaw put her other gnome in a clever place, and now she can't find him. Mama also got her cookie smelling candle, a cute little notebook, and wonderful carry bag with Mamacita on it. In the evening, Nanaw went to the RMC theater to see the Ben Affleck movie The Accountant 2 that she's been wanting to see. Here's the post about Chase that Nanaw put on Facebook:

"Chase had busy nights Thursday and Friday. Thursday was his band concert (where he played the clarinet) and art show (his art was 3D fish). He also did a lot of posing for the camera and having fun with his friends (which he calls The Crew). Friday night was the Awards Ceremony when the 5th, 6th, 7th and 8th graders were honored for their activities. Following the ceremony was the dance, which of course Chase didn't want go to. But he ended up saying he was glad he went, and he had a good time."

Friday, May 9, 2025

On the way to school on Friday, Nanaw and Chase talked about the Awards program and dance at school tonight. Chase was okay about going to the Awards ceremony but absolutely didn't want to go to the dance. He told Nanaw hat his parents were insisting that he go to the dance. When Nanaw picked Chase up from school, he said he didn't have any homework. Nanaw took Chase home at five and then went back to Chase's house at 6:15 to go up to school. Michelle and Eric got there early and saved seats for us. The boys and girls all looked so nice, all dressed up. The girls mostly had on really pretty dresses and some were wearing heels. Some bots had on suits or blazers. Nanaw was amazed at how much many of the boys and girls had changed in appearance. Their faces had changed from their faces when they were younger. Nanaw thinks Chase's face had stayed pretty much the same -- still as cute as ever. For what ever reason, Chase decided to change his hair. He used Mama's tools and hair product and slicked his fair back. It looked sort of cute but Mama didn't like it and wished he hadn't slicked it back. It was a fun ceremony for Nanaw, hearing about all the things the students had done. After the Awards Ceremony, Brady's and Hunter's parents came back to Chase's house to sit outside by the firepit before they picked up the boys from the dance. Nanaw can't wait to hear how it went.

Thursday. May 8, 2025

Yesterday Nanaw forgot to write about Chase forgetting to take the cookies that Mama made for two of Chase's teachers to school with him. Nanaw and Chase went back to the house to get them but that caused Chase to be late to school and to get a tardy. So Mama suggested that Nanaw should have taken Chase to school, then gone back to her house for the cookies, then taken the cookies to Chase and school. That was a good idea and that's what Nanaw will do from now on. Mama baked cookies for the bake sale, and Chase remembered to take them with him to school. Chase bought a cake pop at the bake sale. Chase didn't have any homework so he went outside to play after school. Tonight is the spring band concert and art show at Chase's school. Nanaw has to be at Chase's house at 6 p.m. so they can be up to school by 6:15 p.m. The principal sent out an e mail today telling parents that he has taken another position and will no longer be the principal for Chase's school. This is very sad because he's a great principal, and every really likes him. Mama had a successful Give St Louis fund raising campaign. She raised over $10,000 for the school. Which will be matched by Parents and Friends, for a total over $20,000. Good going, Mama! The concert and art show were absolutely amazing, as are the music and art teachers.Mama and her friends took lots of pictures of Chase and his crew.

Tuesday, May 6, 2025

Today was cleaning lady day so Nanaw went over to Chase’s house. Mama said it was okay to give treats to Sly and Tyler. Tyler climbed into Nanaw’ lap and laid there to get petted. Chase was in a better mood today than yesterday. He and his friend Joey both gave their English essay presentations in class today. Chase thinks his went well. At Nanaw’s, they studied for Chase’s Wednesday tests. He knew most if the religion answers but they’ll study it again tomorrow. Nanaw told him to go over everything again tonight after baseball. He did really well with the science questions. Nanaw looked on Facts to see what his science grade is and was delighted to see it was 99. But Chase said it probably wasn’t that high because the teacher entered a wrong grade for something. He feels good about the math test and math is hard to study for a test. Tomorrow morning before school, they'll go over the study guides again. Nanaw is proud of Chase for doing so well on his studying.

 

Monday, May 5, 2025

Today way Daddy's birthday and cousin Joey's birthday, and Nanaw sent a Happy Birthday text to Joey. Nanaw went to the bank to deposit the State Farm preliminary check for her storm damage, to Schnuck's for a newspaper and grapes, and to the Columbia library to return a book on CD that she decided not to listen to. She has lots more to get through. When Nanaw picked Chase up from school, he was in a really bad mood, something that doesn't happen very much. He wouldn't tell her what was wrong, and Nanaw decided to just wait it out. At Nanaw's house, Nanaw pushed him to study for his three tests on Wednesday. Unfortunately, he didn't have any of the material for the religion test so they couldn't do anything with that. But they had Nanaw's science book and math book so they could study those. They went through the practice tests on chapter one in the science book, and Chase did fairly well. There were only a few questions he didn't know the answers to. He worked on the math study guide and got a lot of the problems done. Nanaw looked through it, and it seemed to her that he knew how to do the problems. He said he would finish the study packet in class tomorrow. About half way through the study session. Chase told Nanaw why he was in a bad mood, and it had to do with one of his friends not doing what Chase wanted him to do. Then Chase was no longer in a bad mood -- he was his fun, friendly self again. That's the way he always is with bad moods; they don't last long, and that's a really good thing.

 

Sunday, May 4, 2025

Nanaw has some kind of problem in her eye, maybe pinkeye or maybe just some kind of injury. She asked the doctor for a prescription but hasn't heard back. Chase's baseball tournament was rained out to he and Daddy went to church. Then Daddy moved the vehicles out of the garage and Chase played hockey in the garage. Tomorrow is Daddy's birthday, and he took the day off so he's going to take Chase to school on Monday, and Nanaw gets to sleep late. Nanaw came over to visit and made sure to stay away from Chase so he doesn't get pinkeye if that's what Nanaw has. Chase and Nanaw played in Mama's office with the guys, then moved to Chase's room to watch TV while he played softball with the guys on his bed. The Cardinals won their double header but the Blues lost game 7 of their playoff with Winnipeg -- so sad. Chase and Nanaw talked about a cartoon series that Chase liked on Netflix a couple of years ago -- Captain Underpants -- so he might watch another season this summer. He said he had fun at the baseball scrimmage last night and bur was sorry to miss Hunter's ax-throwing birthday party. For Daddy's birthday dinner, they had KFC -- Daddy's favorite. Mama baked Daddy's favorite kind of cake -- yellow cake with chocolate frosting. Nanaw made sure to tell Chase she couldn't kiss him good-bye when she left. So they blew kisses to each other. Nanaw forgot to take Chase's picture so she found another one to use.

Saturday, May 3, 2025

Chase and Nanaw slept till 8:30 on Saturday morning, after their sleepover. Mama bought a package of little chocolate Donettes for Chase for a special sleepover breakfast. He shared them with the guys, of course. After breakfast, Chase played knee hockey for a while, then went outside to practice pitching and hitting. Mama sent him a text to tell him the baseball tournament was cancelled today. But he was going to Hunter's birthday party tonight. Nanaw was supposed to have Chase back home by 10 a.m. so they hurried to get everything packed up. When they got to Chase's house, Mama told Nanaw about Hunter's birthday party. They were going to an ax throwing place at 7:30. When Chase heard that, he did a pretend throwing of an ax. They were going to have food, throw axes and leave at 10 p.m. Nanaw was a bit distressed about the ax throwing but Mama reassured her that everything would be okay. In the afternoon, Nanaw drove up to Manchester Road to find the St. Louis Bread Company restaurant where she's meeting Kate and Peggy for lunch on Wednesday at 11:30. Nanaw wasn't sure where the restaurant was so she wanted to do a reconnaissance drive, like she usually does when she doesn't know where some place is.

Friday, May 2, 2025

Daddy took Chase to school Friday morning because he was off from work to play in a golf tournament. Nanaw was going to sleep late but Uncle Doug called to invite her to have lunch with him and Aunt Rita so Nanaw had to get and get dressed and drive a long way out to the Yellowstone Café at Clayton and Woods Mill. Once again, all three of them had delicious walleye fish. When Nanaw picked Chase up from school, they went to Chase's house to pick up his clothes for the sleepover and his bag of guys. Mama was going to Uncle Mike's for their adventure to the Battle Hawks game, followed by her sleepover at Uncle Mike's. Chase and Nanaw went to Sonic for his dinner of pretzel twists, cheddar cheese bites and a Sonic Blast with chocolate chip cookie dough. For Nanaw, they went to Taco Bell and got a Crunch Wrap Supreme with steak and a cheese quesadilla. They watched the mountain climbing movie Vertical Limit. Chase also watched the Blues hockey game -- they won 5 to 2. One more game with Winnipeg in Winnipeg. The poor Cardinals lost 9 to 2. Chase forgot to have his ice cream for a snack before bed. The first picture below is Chase at the Mary ceremony with his church buddy Henry in the upper right hand corner. Chase read a prayer to the group.

Thursday, May 1, 2025

Chase was  happy that he didn't have any tests today. He does have one tomorrow, in math. Tomorrow is also the day that the students bring flowers for Mary, either a single flower or a bouquet. Nanaw won't get to see Chase's flowers tomorrow because Daddy has the day off from work, and he's going to take Chase to school -- and Nanaw gets to sleep late. Tomorrow, Mama is going to a BattleHawks game with Uncle Mike, and Daddy is going to play golf. And most important of all, Chase is having a sleepover at Nanaw's house. Nanaw is planning a fire in the firepit. Also, Nanaw is going to try to get Chase to watch a mountain climbing movie entitled Vertical Limit. Chase read Everest, Gordon Korman's three part / trilogy series about climbing K2, so Nanaw thought he might enjoy a mountain climbing movie. For lunch at school, Chase said he had soft tacos. After school, he  came to Nanaw's house for about half an hour; he couldn't stay any longer because he had an appointment to get his hair cut at 4 p.m. He is the sweetest, most loving boy, and he makes Nanaw so happy.