Monday, June 30, 2025

Chase didn't want to go to run club this morning. He said he'd had a busy weekend of baseball and couldn't do it. But Mama and Daddy said he had to go. And Nanaw made sure that happened. Chase was in a horrible mood before run club but was in a much better mood afterwards. He said the first half of run club was okay but during the second half, his legs really started to hurt. Back at Nanaw's house, Chase took his first shower at Nanaw's house. It was late when he got home last night from baseball so Mama said he should take a shower at Nanaw's.  Later in the morning, Nanaw went to the bank and to Telegraph Schnuck's for her newspaper and Chicken Fried Rice frozen dinners. Chase had one for lunch, to which he added soy sauce, Asian noodles and cashews. For school, after listening to the book, they worked on five easy algebra problems together. That worked out well, and they'll do the rest of the problems that way.

Friday, Saturday and Sunday, June 27, 28 and 29, 2025

Friday: On Friday morning, while Nanaw picked up her car at Car Star, Chase hit balls in Nanaw's front yard. He got his pitching machines to work so that's good. Before one of them wold word, he had to put batteries in it. He did that on his own, all by himself, and Nanaw was so proud. Chase had his Pizza Lunchable for lunch, one of his favorites. After lunch, they went downstairs for school -- listening to the beginning of the third Masterminds book -- Payback. Upstairs, Chase worked on his worksheets and math -- the four digit multiplication and algebra equations. He seemed to have trouble with the equations so they'll work on those on Monday. Mama and Brady's Dad had a surprise birthday party for Brady's Mom Friday night at El Paso and Tiny's. Daddy went for part of the party, and Chase stayed home by himself. He evne made sure to take a shower, so Mama was proud. Saturday: Chase got a new torpedo bat on Saturday -- it's for whiffle ball not baseball. Mama said she told him not to hit balls in people's yards. He had baseball in Bridgeton last night (where Uncle Mike used to play softball), won one, tied one. Sunday: Chase had a baseball game in Bridgeton at 2:30 on Sunday. And they won that. Mama said the games were rained out on Friday night so they played those first. Mama also said she baked cherry chip cupcakes for Becky G's birthday and will frost them later. Cherry chip cake and frosting are no longer available so Mama found a recipe online. She said the batter was good. Chase's team won the 2:30 game and play again at 4. They won their 4 p.m. game and now they play at 7:30. Mama wanted Nanaw to go let Sly out so Nanaw did that, and then went to Waterloo Walmart to get cashews because Uncle Mike is coming tomorrow. Mama said she had a hamburger shaped like a hot dog and served on a hot dog bun. It had a cheese stick in the middle, and she's going to try to make them and have Daddy grill them. Mama texted at 9:30 that Chase's team lost their last game and won second place in the tournament.

Thursday, June 26, 2025

Chase went to Run Club today at the big park. Thursdays are the day when the kids play in the water and Chase comes back drenched. He wasn't quite as wet this morning so he didn't have to put a towel on the car seat. After breakfast, Nanaw suggested to Chase that he take a nap because of going to the Cardinals game in the afternoon. To Nanaw's surprise, Chase took an hour-long nap. He climbed under the covers and settled himself with a selection of Nanaw's stuffed animals. Mama hadn't let him bring any of the guys to Nanaw's house today because Mama didn't want them sitting in the car while Mama, Daddy and Chase were at the baseball game. Chase didn't have lunch at Nanaw's because he was going to have lunch at the ball park. But Nanaw did give him a snack so he didn't get too hungry. Mama and Daddy came to pick Chase up at noon. Mama reminded Nanaw to take a picture of Chase and to get her good-bye kiss. The Cardinals lost, 8 to 0 -- very sad. Nanaw got a new estimate from State Farm for the cost of repairing the hail damage to the Bronco. $15,000 compared to $8,000 for the first estimate. Unbelievable. Nanaw get the Bronco back tomorrow morning. 

Wednesday, June 25, 2025

Chase was very pleased first thing this morning when he saw that he and Tee Tee were wearing the same colors -- white and royal blue. Nanaw took a picture of them, and it's the first one below. After Nanaw gave Chase his breakfast, Nanaw went outside and watered her flowers -- the ones around the redbud tree and the ones around the pear tree. Uncle Mike says they need a lot of water, especially around the redbud tree because they're in so much sun. Then Nanaw  straightened out the newspapers and the crossword puzzles she's working on. She has seven puzzles to do. Last week she found a crossword puzzle app with puzzles for teenagers that Chase can do. Every morning this week, she gave him her red Fire tablet open to the daily-themed puzzle for him to do. He's been doing them quickly and correctly, and Nanaw is so happy about that. For lunch he had the Cheetos mac and cheese. He went outside for a while and hit balls in the front yard. At school, they listened to the book in the dining room and finished it. They'll start the new book tomorrow. They did some more of the algebra equations, and had ChatGPT print out the rest of the step by step solutions and answers. Chase also did sentences where he had to use the paste tense of some verbs, and one of those pages where yo read a couple of paragraphs and then answer questions about what you read. Nanaw had to have Chase home at 4:40 because he had a hitting lesson at 5 p.m.

Tuesday, June 24, 2025

After she fixed Chase's breakfast for him, Nanaw went to the bank to get some signature cards and other paperwork for her church to take to Thursday's Board meeting. Then Nanaw stopped at the Butler Hill Schnuck's to get a newspaper and cottage cheese. She also looked at Michaelina's frozen dinners for Chase and bought a Chicken Fried Rice and a Chicken Lo Mein. On the way home she stopped at Chase's house to get some of the crispy, crunchy Chinese noodles he likes so much but couldn't find them. She called Mama to ask about them but got her voice mail. Later, Mama texted her to say she'd thrown them away because they were stale. So Nanaw went to the Columbia Schnuck's and got the Asian crunchy noodles and chow mein noodles. Chase really liked the Chicken Fried Rice. He put soy sauce and crunchy noodles on it and ate every bite. He said next time he would a little more soy sauce on it. In the afternoon, they listened to the Mastermind book in the dining room. Then Chase and Nanaw worked on the algebra equations from ChatGPT. Nanaw it print out solutions and answers for the 50 equations but it could only do 10 and then Nanaw ran out of data analysis time. And Chat GPT said she'd have to try again on Wednesday afternoon. Chase and Nanaw did the first five equations. Mama went to dinner with some hockey moms, and on her drive home she called Nanaw and said she had a good time.

Monday, June 23, 2025

This morning, Mama had Chase sleep late, rather than getting up at 6:30 to go over to Nanaw's house. He got up at 8 a.m., which is sleeping late for him, the early riser. Mama had put his breakfast out for him but he hadn't eaten it. He said he would eat his regular breakfast at Nanaw's house. He had a frozen dinner for lunch - mac and sharp cheese -- that he didn't like, so Nanaw ate it. Then Nanaw fixed five cheese ziti for him, and he said he really liked it. After lunch, Chase and Nanaw went downstairs for school. Chase and the guys got in the playpen to listen to the Masterminds book. Nanaw bought the third book in the series last night on Amazon for when they finish the one they're reading now -- Criminal Destiny. The third one is titled Payback. The first one, which Chase read in school for AR reading was just Masterminds. The series is about cloned kids, and Chase and Nanaw like it. Back upstairs, Chase did some multiplication problems, some decimal problems, correcting sentences for English and a worksheet about antonyms. Nanaw asked ChatGPT to give her lots of algebra equations for Chase to do. Nanaw forgot to take a photo of Chase and left her phone at home, so good boy Chase took a selfie of himself and texted it to Nanaw. 

 

Sunday, June 22, 2025

This weekend, Chase's baseball team won their first game at 10 but lost the games at 4 and 6, and they got a second place medal. Here's what Mama wrote on Facebook: "Well, the boys played a lot of ball in the heat this weekend and even though they lost the championship, they still worked hard as a team - always cheering each other on, being there for each other, etc. Chase can be shy and these guys are very supportive of him and have made him feel like part of the team. I’d say that’s a win. Go Bears!” The picture below is the one she posted on Facebook. Chase is in the front row of kneeling boys, on the right. The team Chase is playing on this season does a lot of baseball. He practices four nights a week and has Saturday and Sunday tournaments almost every weekend. And Chase loves it. He never complains that it's too much. He just goes out there and gives it his all.

Saturday, June 21, 2025

Mama brought Chase over to Nanaw's house on Saturday morning while she went to the grocery store. Nanaw had planned to go to the little house in the morning, then decided to go after Chase went home. But when he went home, Nanaw decided to stay home because of the excessive heat and because she was tired and had to take a nap. Chase and Nanaw went downstairs to listen to Alexa read the Masterminds book. Chase brought the guys downstairs with him and played with them in the playpen while he and Nanaw listened to the book. They're getting close to being finished with the book, and Nanaw asked Chase if she should buy the third and final book in the series. Chase said yes so Nanaw will do that this evening. They had a lot of fun listening to the book. Nanaw wonders if the four boys and girls in the book will really turn out to be clones. Chase has a baseball game this afternoon at four, even though it's so hot. In last night's game with the CBC team, Chase's old team, his new team won the game -- Yay! Nanaw texted Mama in the evening to find out if Chase's team won their game. They did -- with a score of 8 to 6. On Sunday, they play at 10 a.m. If they win, they play at 4. Mama said Chase said WHEN, not IF they win. LOL

Friday, June 20, 2025

Nanaw had Chase take a nap on Friday morning because he still needs more sleep after his Brady sleepover Monday night and staying at Cole's house till 11 p.m. on Wednesday night. Chase also asked for water because he doesn't want to get dehydrated. Chase made his Cheetos mac and cheese for lunch but he put too much extra cheese in it and couldn't eat it. So Nanaw fixed one of the frozen dinners for him but he only ate a little of it. After lunch, Nanaw measured Chase, and he's 5 feet two inches. At his annual visit to the doctor, he was 5 feet 1 1/2 inches but Chase thinks he had his shoes on. After the measuring, Chase went outside to hit some baseballs. Mama came to pick him up at 1 p.m. because he has a baseball game this afternoon.

Thursday, June 19, 2025

Thursday, June 19 was a holiday -- Juneteenth when the slaves were officially and finally set free. So Mama and Daddy had the day off. Daddy took Chase to Run Club, and Chase was soaked when Daddy picked him up. Chase took an hour-long nap and has been drinking a lot of water so he doesn't get dehydrated. They had a plan to go to La Fiesta for lunch. Mama texted Nanaw to see if she wanted to go along, and Nanaw said yes, of course. Daddy had a seafood tostado; Mama had a cheese quesadilla and a taco; Chase had two cheese quesadillas and so did Nanaw. The cheese quesadillas were delicious, and the waiter teased them for ordering so many cheese quesadillas. Chase had a baseball game out in St. Peters Thursday night. Unfortunately, they lost 11 to 2. 

Wednesday, June 18, 2025

On Wednesday morning, Chase and Nanaw went over to Chase's house for him to practice hitting baseballs. He got out all his equipment: bats, balls, tee ball stand, and pitching machine. Nanaw sat in one of the chairs on the patio and watched him hitting the balls. He did really well, and Nanaw enjoying watching him slamming the balls. He has a hitting lesson at 5 p.m. today so this was good practice for him. Mama and Daddy were both working at home, and they came out to see Chase. Mama said there was a tornado watch till 4 p.m. today but nothing ever happened. They stayed at Chase's house for about an hour. When they left, Chase gave Nanaw his batting gloves and asked her to sew a hole in the thumb of the right glove, and she did that when they got home. Chase had one of the Michaelina's frozen dinners for lunch, the wheels and cheese one, and he really liked it. After lunch they had the blue tropical punch popsicles they made yesterday but neither of them liked them. They didn't have any flavor. For school, they listened to Alexa read the Masterminds book. Then Chase did some of the work sheets from the summer bridge books. He had Nanaw fix him some microwave popcorn that he ate while working on the work sheets. Nanaw had to have him home by 4 p.m. to he could go to his hitting lesson. Mama texted Nanaw later that Cole had invited him and the other members of the crew over for a sleepover. Mama said he could go till 11 p.m., then he had to come home because he needed sleep. He has run club in the morning and a baseball game in the evening. Tomorrow is the Juneteenth holiday, and Mama and Daddy are off from work. They're all going to La Fiesta for lunch -- Yum. Chase has a 3 p.m. baseball game on Friday in St. Peters so Nanaw has to have him home by 1:30. So Nanaw will probably go out to the little house earlier than usual on Friday afternoon.

Tuesday, June 17, 2025

Tuesday morning, Nanaw went over to Brady's house at 9 a.m. to pick up Chase from his sleepover. Brady's grandma Debbie was there, and she went in to Brady's bedroom to wake up Chase. Evidently, the boys stayed up till 3 a.m. so it was difficult to wake up Chase. Debbie had to go into Brady's room four times before Chase would get up. Chase and Nanaw went to Nanaw's house and Nanaw got busy straightening up the house for the cleaning lady. At about 11, they went over Chase's house. Most of the time they were there, Chase played Roblox with Brady on the phone and online. For lunch, Nanaw brought his Pizza Lunchable because she doesn't know how to use Mama's new microwave. (When Nanaw took Chase home at 5, she asked Mama how to use it. Mama explained and now they'll be able to take Chase's frozen dinners over when they're there for lunch.) At 2 o'clock, Nanaw took Chase to his ortho appointment. The cleaning lady was still at Nanaw's house so they went back to Chase's house. Chase had wanted a popsicle so he got two of them out of the freezer and gave a cherry one to Nanaw. She'd never had one of the long skinny ones, and it was really good. Back at Nanaw's house, at Chase's request, they made popsicles. Chase suggested that Nanaw use blue tropical punch Kool Aid Jammers to make them, and Nanaw thought that was an excellent idea. In the evening, Nanaw had a Taco Bell dinner with Pawpaw at the cemetery to celebrate their 65th wedding anniversary. A deer came to visit, which was really exciting. 

Monday, June 16, 2025

Mama had the day off on Monday so she took Chase to Run Club at Metter Park. It rained and Chase got soaked. Mama brought along a towel and a change of clothes for him. At 9 o-clock, they met Nanaw at CarStar to pick her up. Nanaw had to leave the Bronco there to get the hail damage fixed. She didn't know why she had to leave it so early ; they told her it might not be done until June 27 or after. It seemed like she could have kept it till they were ready to work on it. At noon, Nanaw went to pick Mama up at  Enterprise Leasing. Mama had returned the van they rented for their Florida vacation. Chase had his leftover KFC for lunch. He said the chicken was the best he'd ever had from KFC. In the afternoon for school, Chase and Nanaw went downstairs to the school room. They did geography questions on the US map and the world map, using a pointer. Then they listened to Alexa reading the Mastermind book out in the living room part. Chase played with the toys in the playpen. The second picture below is Chase's afternoon snack with an assortment of eats. Brady, Drew and Chase made a plan for a sleepover that night at Brady's house. Chase had baseball practice and went to Brady's house after practice, about 8 p.m. The boys all went to the swimming pool and had a great time.

Saturday and Sunday, June 14 and 15,2025

Saturday:  Chase, Mama and Daddy left Santa Rosa, Florida at 6 a.m. on Saturday. They got back to Columbia about 5:30 p.m. Mama came over to Nanaw's house about 6 p.m. to pick up the boys. Nanaw had picked up all their belongings and put them on sofa to make it easier for Mama to get things in the car. Nanaw went over to visit Chase a little after 6 p.m. She took along her Truman and Chase's Ty, Pepper and Mac/Banana. Chase was in his room, on his bed, under the covers. Mama said he and Elias stayed up till 2 a.m. on Friday night. He slept some on the way home but Mama said he was still tired. Chase gave Nanaw a present: a little basket of seashells from Florida. On Friday night, Nanaw put her other seashells they gave her in glass jars; on Monday she'll have Chase put the new ones in the glass jars. Nanaw went home when it was time for devices -- for Chase to play on his phone. Sunday: Chase had baseball on Sunday, and played three games, winning the first two and losing the third. His team got a second place medal. Because of Chase's baseball tournament, they couldn't go to the Father's Day lunch/celebration at Uncle Mike's house, and Nanaw drove up there by herself. They had pork steaks and hot dogs, two kinds of macaroni salad and Caesar salad. For dessert, there was a Jello cake. Nanaw had nice chats with Kris, Robbie and Joey. Lindsey and Dylan left to go to the grocery store before Nanaw had a chance to talk to Lindsey. Nanaw got home about five and went to visit Chase at 5:30. They were having KFC for Father's Day dinner, because that's Daddy's favorite. Mama asked Nanaw if she wanted any but Nanaw was still stuffed from lunch. Chase and Nanaw went out in the back yard, and Nanaw pitched balls for Chase to hit. He did a good job. Daddy and Mama suggested that twice a week Nanaw should take Chase over to his house for him to practice his hitting.

Wednesday, Thursday and Friday, June11 to June 13, 2025

The fun continues in Santa Rosa, Florida. Mama sent pictures detailing the fun Chase and Elias are having -- and the adults, too. There's been a lot of eating out -- pizza, tacos, and all the usual fast food. Nanaw doesn't know if they did any cooking or grilling but she'll ask. The first photo below is the most exciting one of all. Mama, Chase and Elias got to go for a ride in Big Daddy, Aunt Becca and Uncle Stan's big Bronco. Uncle Stan took the doors and roof off for their ride. The second photo shows what Big Daddy looks like minus the doors and roof. The third picture is one that Nanaw texted to Chase, featuring the red bat Nanaw bought for Chase, Nanaw's Truman, Pepper, Mac/Banana and Ty having fun. The fourth picture is Chase and Elias playing water baseball in the swimming pool. The fifth picture shows Chase and Elias taking the Corgis (Destiny and Lulu)  for a walk. That photo is the one that Mama liked best. She gave it lots of hearts in her message.

Monday and Tuesday, June 9 and 10, 2025

Here's what Mama the stringer reported from Florida for Days of Chase: "Lots of swimming in the pool and golf cart rides the past couple of days. We finally went to the beach this evening, and it was nice out. The boys couldn't go far in the past couple of days because of riptides , marine life warnings, etc." Mama sent most of the pictures below. Chase sent a picture of Truman to Nanaw saying that he and Truman missed Nanaw. Nanaw replied about Mac, Ty and Pepper having a swimming party without any water -- silly Nanaw. Then Chase sent Nanaw a text saying he can't wait to see her. His two texts made Nanaw so happy because sometimes she thinks Chase doesn't pay much attention to her.

Saturday and Sunday, June 7 and 8, 2025

Here's what Mama said about Saturday: "We left at 3 a.m. Saturday morning and stopped in Belleville to get Kristen and Elias. Chase and Elias sat in the back of the van and slept a little and played on Chase's phone a lot. They had a great time. It took forever to get here. We stopped and met Becca and Stan and ate. Brooke and her daughter and daughter's friend met us there, and then we came to the house. The boys swam a lot last night. On Sunday, they swam and played Xbox. We are a late lunch at a place that's close, Then they went to the beach but couldn't get in the water. They came back and played in the pool and then Will and Chris took them to the beach. We did our Walmart shopping today, Stand and Becca and I took a 45 minute walk to Stinky's -- SO hot -- then Brooke and Kristen picked up in the golf cart." The first picture is of Chris and Kristen's Corgis, Destiny and Lulu. They couldn't find a dog sitter for them. That may be why there was a change in houses. The one they're in is pet friendly so they could bring their dogs. The last two pictures are from Nyeal's graduation party on Saturday afternoon. Aunt Becky and cousin Nichole did all the cool decorations. Plus Nichole make super graduation cookies. There were delicious sandwiches, especially the chicken salad ones in croissants - Nanaw was in heaven. She stayed six hours, a record for her staying anywhere. She found out all about Peggy, which was her goal for the day.

Friday, June 6, 2025

Friday was the day before Chase and his family went to Florida for a week's vacation. Chase was excited that Elias was going to ride with them in the van they rented. Mama had half a day off on Friday and Nanaw wasn't sure if she'd have Chase all day or half a day. It turned out that she had him till 4. At noon, Nanaw drove Mama to Enterprise to pick up the van they rented for the vacation trip.  In the afternoon, Nanaw did emergency surgery on Tee Tee's ear; it was coming loose. She also sewed the other ear tighter so it didn't get loose. Then, Chase and Nanaw had a little school session. First, they listened to the Masterminds book. Both Chase and Nanaw like the book. There's a third book in the series. Mama came to get Chase at four o'clock. She told him he had a baseball game at 8:45 that evening, and he complained a little because it was so late. Mama brought Sylvester and Taylor over to Nanaw's when she came to pick up Chase. Nanaw's kitties immediately hid from the intruders. In the evening, Nanaw sent Mama pictures of Sly and Ty.

Thursday, June 5, 2025

Chase had running club at the big park today, and he and Nanaw left in plenty of time to get him there before 7:30. When she picked him up, he was soaking wet from their water play. At home, Nanaw put his clothes in the dryer and Chase changed back into his pajamas, For lunch, Chase had 5-cheese zita and said he liked it.  Chase said the sweetest thing to Nanaw about his Florida vacation. He said he wished she could go with them to Florida because he was going to miss her. That made Nanaw so happy. Nanaw explained  that she couldn't go because she had to take care of Sylvester and Tyler. Chase had a haircut scheduled in the afternoon  so they were going to have a shortened school time. They listened to the Masterminds book first and both of them fell asleep, which is so funny. That meant there wasn't time left for school. Tomorrow, Mama is only working half a day so Nanaw only has Chase for half a day, and they won't have school. Mama might have them take her to pick up the van for their trip or maybe she'll have Daddy do it. The second picture is Chase's new haircut. Nanaw likes it a little bit but it's still not the one she likes the most.

Wednesday, June 4, 2025

When Mama and Chase got to Nanaw’s house, they told her Tee Tee was lost in Chase’s room so he hadn’t come with them. A little later, Mama sent a picture of Tee Tee snuggled up with the Santa guys. But she didn’t say where she found him. So Nanaw will have to ask her. Chase spent the morning playing on the computer with someone. Nanaw found out later that it was Hunter, one of Chase’s best friends. They were having a great time playing Roblox. Chase told Nanaw the other day that it had been a while since he played Roblox. So it’s good that he and Hunter played. Nanaw ran some errands at noon and bought Chase a bat and ball and a bag of candy at Dollar Tree. They had a good school session and listened to Alexa read the Masterminds book for over a half hour. Nanaw likes the two Summer Bridge books she bought for Chase. They did some of the pages together, and Nanaw enjoyed that. When Nanaw took Chase home, he wanted her to come in to see Tee Tee so she did. Chase was so happy that Mama found Tee Tee.