Thursday, July 24 Through Sunday, July 27, 2025

Chase only has two more days of Run Club next week after this Thursday's session. For some reason, he didn't seem to like Run Club very much. Mama and Daddy signed him up for it, and Chase went along with it unenthusiastically. On Friday night, Chase's family and Brady's family, plus Hunter and Drew, went to the Demo Derby at the Monroe County Fair. This is an annual tradition for all of them, and Chase had a great time. He likes seeing the cars all mashed up. Mama had funnel cake, and Chase had cheese curds. On Saturday, Mama went to Uncle Mike's for a sleepover and to sit in Kent's driveway. She went to Paul's and got delicious hamburgers and invited Nanaw for dinner on Sunday. She got corn on the cob at Schnuck's so it was going ot be a perfect dinner. While Mama was gone on her sleepover, Chase and Daddy went to the Rawlings Experience again. Chase absolutely loves that place. On Sunday afternoon, after much searching, Mama and Nanaw went to see the Wall of Healing display at Jefferson Barracks Park. It's a three-quarters replica of the Wall in Washington, D.C. It was really hot outside but they were glad they went. Nanaw found the name of one of Pawpaw's MMA classmates on the wall, Sam Bird. Sam was part of the Honor Guard at President Kennedy's funeral at Arlington. He was injured in Viet Nam and never really recovered. He died from those injuries in 1984.

 

Monday, July 21 through Wednesday, July 23, 2025

Nanaw forgot to say that on Saturday and Sunday, Sylvester stayed at Nanaw's house while his family went ot Irving. Nanaw went over to Chase's house to feed Tyler the cat and play with him so he wasn't too lonely without his family. She also forgot to say that on Sunday night, Mama got Jimmy Johns and invited Nanaw over for dinner. Nanaw had a Caesar Salad wrap, and it was delicious. Monday: Chase had run club on Monday morning at Metter Park, so it wasn't the day that he  got all wet from water play. Nanaw had forgotten to put grapes on Chase's vittles list so she got some at Schnuck's. They cost $8.48 -- very expensive. Mama said she would reimburse Nanaw but she hasn't yet. Tuesday: On Tuesday, Daddy brought Chase over to Nanaw's house instead of Mama because Mama had a sleep appointment. It was at a new place, which made Mama very happy. The old place was very yucky and rundown, but the new place is nice. Mama has sleep apnea and has to sleep with a mask that gives her air. She says it helps her sleep better and not be so sleepy during the day. Chase had a fun adventure on Tuesday. He went swimming with Brady and Emma at their uncle's house. Brady's grandma went with them. Nanaw took Chase to McDonald's, and they picked him up from there, and then when they were done swimming, Nanaw picked him up at Brady's house. That night, Chase had a sleepover at Brady's house, and evidently, they made a fort. Wednesday: On Wednesday morning, Nanaw picked Chase up at Brady's house about 8:45. He said he had a great time and enjoyed the sleepover. In the evening, Nanaw had dinner with Pawpaw at the cemetery. It had been 20 years since he went to heaven, but it feels just like yesterday. Nanaw had a Crunch Wrap Supreme  and a Cheese Quesadilla. While she was there, Nanaw saw a mama deer with her baby deer following right after her. It was so cute.

Friday, July 18 Through Sunday, July 20, 2025

Friday: On Friday morning, Chase asked Nanaw to reset the router because it was lagging, and he was having problems playing Roblox. Nanaw did so but explained that the lag was because the computer was so far away from the router. She told Chase she'd set up her fast laptop on the dining room table, which is right next to the router to see if it was any better. It was a lot better, Chase said, and he spent the whole day (except for school time) at the laptop. Nanaw is assuming that he'll continue to want to use it. Chase and Nanaw finally had a full school time. They listened to Masterminds and did five algebra problems. Then Chase did several worksheets: He had quite the adventure on Friday evening. He and Mama and Daddy went to Busch Stadium with Jackson and Aunt Jen to see the Savannah Bananas baseball team. Chase had a super great time and was excited to see the great Adam Wainwright pitch for the Bananas. Saturday: On Saturday, Chase and Mama and Daddy went to Auntie LaLa and Uncle Chris's farm in Irving, Illinois to spend the day and sleep there Saturday night. Little Will went along, too, which made Chase so happy. Little Will took Chase for a long ride around the property in their Polaris. The whole group also spent a lot of time out on the lake in the party boat, which can hold 13 people or 2100 pounds. Sunday: Chase and his family had another great day with Auntie LaLa and her family in Irving. Chase said he wished they could spend two nights instead of just one. Auntie LaLa promised they'd do that next time. In the evening, Nanaw came to visit Chase and took Chase's picture with a monster mask on.

Thursday, July 17, 2025

Chase had Run Club on Thursday morning and got a little wet from their water activities. He spread a towel in the front seat of the Bronco to keep the seat from getting wet. He said that only two of his friends were there today -- Hunter and Wylie. On the way home from Run Club, they stopped at Schnuck's to get Nanaw's newspaper. For lunch, Chase had the Cheetos Mac and Cheese he liked. He had special treats for his afternoon snacks. First, he had a piece of the chocolate pudding pie Nanaw bought at the grocery store yesterday. He liked it so much that he had another piece. Then he had a bomb pop, also bought at the grocery store yesterday. He liked that so much, a little later he had another one. Uncle Mike came to cut the grass but he couldn't because it rained really hard. So he did other chores for Nanaw. He put new ceiling tiles in the basement where it leaked. Then he fixed some lamps in the basement that weren't working. Chase and Nanaw had started having school but that stopped when Uncle Mike got there. They did some algebra and some worksheets but it wasn't much. Tomorrow, they'll have a real two hours of school. Uncle Mike brought Nanaw two VCRs that came from Guadelupe. Nanaw replaced the two broken VCRs with the two working ones -- one downstairs and one in Chase's room. 

Wednesday, July 16, 2025

Chase is really liking his Fruity Pebbles cereal, which is a good thing because he has a whole box of it. He didn't play the Roblox garden game today. Instead he played a rather violent game where he blew things up. For lunch, he had fettuccini al fredo, Nanaw's favorite, and he liked it. Nanaw fixed an afternoon snack for him and gave it to him right after lunch because she was going to an afternoon meeting at church. She's so sorry to have so many meetings and hopes they stop so she doesn't have to be away from her bug. After the meeting, she went into the computer lab with Chase and used the computer in there so she could spend time with him. They didn't have school again today but they'll definitely have it Thursday and Friday. Mama sent Nanaw the cutest video in the world of 2-year-old Chase sitting in his high chair and making really funny sounds. It's the second item below. Mama said most of his friends in the crew came over to play with him after Nanaw brought him home -- Brady, Cole, Drew, and Hunter. Only Joey wasn't there. Nanaw thinks Joey lives too far away to ride his bike to Chase's house. Nanaw sent Chase a text telling him that at the grocery store, she bought bomb pops, a chocolate crème pie, and more Sour Patch watermelon candy, and Chase sent her back a smiley face.

Sunday, Monday, and Tuesday, July 13, 14 and 15, 2025

Sunday: Chase had two baseball game son Sunday: one at 4 and one at 7. They won one and lost one, which gave them second place in the tournament. In the afternoon, Mama went to Auntie LaLa's for a sleepover while Auntie LaLa's family went camping. Daddy and Chase went to Panda's for dinner between the two baseball games, and Chase had the orange chicken. That boy loves Chinese. Monday: Daddy brought Chase over to Nanaw's house on Monday morning because Mama had the day off and was at Auntie LaLa's house. Chase had Fruity Pebbles cereal with his other things for breakfast, and Chicken Lo Mein for lunch. At school, they listened to the Masterminds book. Nanaw asked Chase if he was ready to select the next Gordon Korman book for them to read, and he said not yet but soon. At school, Chase did an order of operations worksheet; a comma worksheet; some math equation problems with lots of negative numbers; a pronoun worksheet; a fill in the blank worksheet using words from a word bank to complete sentences; a worksheet matching literary terms with definitions; a reading  comprehension test about the Bigfoot hoax; and a worksheet matching a list of words with their synonyms. When Chase got home, Mama came out to meet him and Chase and Truman gave her a big hug. Mama missed them a lot, and they missed Mama a lot! Tuesday: On Tuesday morning, Chase and Nanaw went to Dollar General so Chase could buy $50 worth of Robux. He wanted to buy more seeds for the garden game and to give one of his friends some seeds because he couldn’t buy any. Chase is a really good, generous kid. Tuesday was cleaning lady day so Chase and Nanaw went over to Chase's house while she was at Nanaw's house. For lunch, Chase had his leftover orange chicken from Sunday's visit to  Panda. Then, Chase took Nanaw downstairs to show her how he can lift weights and do squats at the same time -- it was very impressive. Nanaw had a meeting at church in the afternoon so Chase and Nanaw didn't have any time for school, which was fine with Chase.

Friday and Saturday, July 11 and 12, 2025

Friday: Nanaw had a surprise cereal for Chase for breakfast on Friday morning: Fruity Pebbles. When Nanaw was grocery shopping on Thursday, she saw one of the small containers of Fruity Pebbles and bought it for Chase. He told Nanaw he really liked it and would she please ask Mama to buy a box when she bought groceries for Nanaw's house for him. For his morning snack, he had the cinnamon roll Premium Protein drink, his favorite. He also had strawberries and grapes, plus his favorite candy Sour Patch Watermelon. For lunch, he had Michaelina's spaghetti with meat sauce. Nanaw was very excited when she saw the game Chase was playing on the computer. He was playing with his good buddy Cole and they were doing a Roblox game of growing a garden. There were all kinds of things they were growing: cauliflower, broccoli, grapes, pineapple, sweet apples, and lots more. Nanaw told Mama about the game and she was just as excited as Nanaw. At school, they listened to the Masterminds book, did multiplication problems, and did the following worksheets: a reading comprehension worksheet on whales; correcting errors in sentences; rounding numbers to the specified place value; a reading comprehension worksheet on comparing similarities and contrasting differences in amphibians and reptiles; identifying nominative and objective pronouns in sentences; solving math problems with minus numbers; identifying direct and indirect objects in sentences; identifying idioms in sentences and telling what they mean; and identifying the meaning of root words. He did really well on all the worksheets. Saturday: Chase's good friend Brady came over to play on Saturday for a while, and Mama said they had a good time together. Chase and his friends are taking advantage of his slight respite from baseball games and baseball practice and having a good time playing together. On Saturday afternoon and evening, Mama said Chase had two baseball games and played 3rd base pretty well. Nanaw will ask tomorrow if his team won or lost the games. Unfortunately, our Cardinals are not doing well. After a month or so of playing well and winning, they've been mostly losing and are  now 6.5 games behind the Cubs, which the Brewers are only 1 game behind the Cubs.

Thursday, July 10, 2025

Chase had Run Club on Thursday morning at the big Columbia park. He told Nanaw he didn't participate in the water activities for the day so he was fairly dry, except for his soaking wet shoes. For lunch, Chase had one of his mac and cheese lunches. Usually, he fixes it himself but today he wanted Nanaw to do it. They had an abbreviated school lesson today because, wonder of wonders, Chase took a nap -- something he never does. They listened to the Masterminds book, did multiplication problems and algebra equations, did a geography worksheet about the population of European countries, did a worksheet putting some Roman emperors in order by how long they served as emperor, learned a little about Roman numbers, and did a pronouns worksheet. Nanaw asked Chase if he and Daddy went to the driving range last night but he said Brady and Cole came over to play. Chase didn't have baseball practice Monday, Tuesday or Wednesday. He has it tonight and has a baseball tournament during the weekend. But after that, he doesn't have baseball practice for three weeks. So he'll have lots of time in the evenings to play with his friends. They started working again on the park in back of Chase's house today, moving lots of dirt out.

Wednesday, July 9, 2025

To Nanaw's surprise, Chase took a very brief nap on Wednesday morning. First, he reported on his adventure at the Rawlings Experience. In addition to Elias and Uncle Chris, cousin Cecelia also came along. Chase said he had a really good time. Elias hit the baseball 69 miles an hour and Chase hit it 67 miles an hour. Nanaw had a doctor's appointment and something to do at church on Wednesday morning extending into noon. So she wanted to make sure that there was something available for Chase's lunch that didn't have to be fixed in the microwave. She went to Schnuck's and bought what Chase had asked for: an uploaded sub sandwich lunchable. (To Nanaw's surprise, it cost $5.39, which seemed sort of expensive, but Chase is, of course, worth it.) Nanaw got home a little after 1 p.m., and Chase had eaten his lunchable. He said it was good except for the Taki chips they included. He told Nanaw those were the one kind of chips he didn't like so he threw them away. School was fun for Nanaw, as always. Nanaw asked Chase if he liked school, and he said yes, the kind of school he has in summer with Nanaw. Nanaw really liked that answer. They listened to the Masterminds book, did multiplication problems, did algebra equations, grammar worksheets, math worksheets, a reading comprehension page on the human eye, and state capitals. There was a possibility that Chase and Daddy would go to the golf driving range tonight if Hunter didn't come over to visit. Nanaw will find out tomorrow what Chase did tonight. 

Tuesday, July 8, 2025

When Chase over to Nanaw's house on Tuesday morning, he was so excited about his afternoon adventure -- going to the Rawlings Experience with Elias and Daddy. For lunch, Chase had stir fry, homemade by Mama and leftover from last night's dinner. Chase and Nanaw love the unborn corn or baby corn as Chase calls it, in the stir fry. Nanaw had a bite, and it was delicious. Nanaw realized today that a lot of the Chinese food has lots of vegetables so it's a good thing that Chase likes it so much. Because Daddy was picking Chase up at 3, Nanaw and Chase reorganized their school schedule to noon to 1 p.m. and 2 to 2:30. They listened to the Mastermind book and did 15 algebra equations. Then Chase did several worksheets. Nanaw forgot to take a picture of Chase, and he said he'd make sure she got one. The second picture below is one that someone took of Chase and Elias at the Rawlings experience. Before he left, Chase put in his contacts because he said it would help him in the testing for his batting. The first picture is one from Facebook 10 years ago of precious Chase.

Monday, July 7, 2025

Chase had run club on Monday morning, and he was in a better mood about it than last week. He was happy that two of his friends from the crew were there: Joey and Hunter. Chase was in a goofy mood when Nanaw picked him up from Run Club. This always happens when he's with his friends, and it's really funny. For lunch, Chase chose to have chicken lo mein and he ate every bite. He told Nanaw that Daddy was taking him and Elias and Elias's dad to the Rawlings Experience tomorrow afternoon, and Chase is really excited about Elias going. Elias was supposed to go last week when Chase and Daddy went but they couldn't make it work out. Nanaw unfortunately gave Chase too much of a snack in the afternoon during school, and he threw up. So they didn't have school; they just listened to the Masterminds book while Chase lay down. Finally, he felt better, which was a good thing but Nanaw felt so bad for him. She'll be really careful not to give him too much to eat at one time. He has sort of a delicate stomach and doesn't handle overeating well. Chase and Daddy had planned to go to the driving range after Chase got home from Nanaw's but his friend Hunter came over to play so they postponed it to Wednesday. Mama took the second picture below of her solar dog paws wind chime on the patio. Mama and Nanaw decided they were precious Sam's paw prints.

Saturday and Sunday, July 5 and 6, 2025

Chase had two baseball games Saturday out in St. Peters, and his team won both -- 12 to 0 and 19 to 0/ That meant they would play in the championship tournament on Sunday. For lunch, they had chinese food at Panda, and that made Chase very happy. He and Mama had orange chicken, which he thought was better than sweet and sour chicken. In the evening, they went to Aunt Becca's for a huge fireworks display. Chase said he lit most of the fireworks he and Daddy and Mama brought. He also said they still had some left. Mama brought brownies for dessert even though she knew Aunt Becca would have lots of food, especially desserts. Unfortunately, Elias didn't come, but Noelle, the daughter of a friend of Aunt Becca's did so Chase someone around his age there. On Sunday, Chase's team played one inning of the championship game until they got rained out by a torrential downpour, and they came home. Chase wanted Chinese food again for lunch but Mama said she couldn’t eat the same thing two days in a row so they went to Jimmy John's. Chase was very happy that Mama bought him one of their little loaves of bread. Chase does love him bread. Nanaw came over to visit for about an hour before it was device time for Chase. She took along her Truman, which made Chase happy.

Happy 4th of July, Friday, 2025

On 4th of July ?Chase, Mama and Daddy went to Arnold to buy fireworks to take to Aunt Becca's house on Saturday. They also went to Arby's for lunch. Mama invited Nanaw to come to visit and have dinner. At Dollar Tree, Nanaw bought little 4th of July hats for the guys and a balloon for Chase. Chase and Nanaw went downstairs for a while, with Chase playing knee hockey, and Nanaw playing with Tyler the cat, her good friend. Mama and Daddy fixed burger dogs, which are hamburgers shaped like hot dogs, that they had at one of the concession stands where Chase plays baseball. Nanaw brought cupcakes for dessert and also Caesar salad. After dinner, they went out in the back yard to watch Chase do fireworks. He did smoke bombs, snap its, confetti bombs, sparklers, snakes, and sparking things. He had great fun and did things very safely. Nanaw particularly liked the snakes and the sparklers. She also did the confetti bombs and the snap its. Mama, Daddy and Chase were going to come back outside later when it was dark to do more fireworks. At about 9 p.m., Nanaw started driving around, looking for a place where she would be able to see the Columbia fireworks. She thought Chase's school parking lot might have a good view, and it certainly did. It had a panoramic view of four different places shooting off awesome fireworks. She's going to do that every 4th of July from now on.

Thursday, July 3, 2025

Chase had Run Club on Thursday morning and wasn't too happy about it. He hasn't been very happy about Run Club since it started, which is sad. He was a little bit happy that two of his friends, members of the crew, Joey and Hunter, were at Run Club.  Chase told Nanaw about the Rawlings Experience and how much he liked it. He said it's a store, and sports museum and a place where you can test out bats. He hit baseballs at 66 miles an hour. He thought it might be faster and said maybe it will be the next time he goes. Chase and Nanaw had a good day together, playing with the guys and having fun conversations. When Nanaw went to Schnuck's to get her newspaper, Chase asked her to see if they had Chicken Lo Mein for Chicken Teriyaki. They had Chicken Lo Mein so Nanaw bought three of them. Chase really liked it and ate every bite. Nanaw is going to suggest to Mama that she make some Chinese dishes for her little Chinese boy. For school, they listened to the Masterminds book first for about 45 minutes. Then Nanaw began giving Chase worksheets to do, including: five algebra problems, two four-digit multiplication problems, finding the circumference of 10 circles, a reading comprehension assignment about rocks, plus some miscellaneous English and math problems. Mama came to pick Chase up at 4:15 to go get a haircut. Nanaw lobbied for short hair on the sides and in the back but Chase was not in favor of that so it's probably not going to happen. 

Wednesday, July 2, 2025

Nanaw had only a half day with Chase on Wednesday because of the afternoon adventure Chase was going to have with Daddy. In the morning, Nanaw used her new hose for the first time to water the flowers. Uncle Mike got this super -duper, easy to us, very light hose at Home Depot. Nanaw doesn't have to curl it up (which was very hard to do with the old hose) -- she can just put it in a pile. Later in the morning, Chase and Nanaw went to Dollar General to get a $30 Robux gift card for Chase's half birthday. For lunch, Chase had a new kind of Michaelina's frozen dinner -- lasagna. He must have really liked it because he ate every bite. He put his Robux gift card into Roblox but Nanaw doesn't know if he used any of it yet. He went outside to hit balls in the front yard for awhile. They didn't have any school today because the day was so short but Chase did his daily crossword puzzle and that's educational. Daddy picked Chase up at 1 p.m., and they went to the Rawlings Experience. It's a place at Westport Plaza where they have a Rawlings Sporting Goods Store, a sports museum, and a testing place where you can try out bats and find out how fast you can hit a baseball. Chase was so excited about going but Nanaw hasn't talked to him about it yet. She'll find out all about it tomorrow.

Tuesday, July 1, 2025

Today was cleaning lady day so Nanaw had Chase put away all his toys and things he was playing with in the living room and dining room. After Nanaw got the stuff sitting around the house put away, Chase and Nanaw and the cats went downstairs. Nanaw packed up their lunched and the materials for school. Chase had a pizza Lunchable for lunch, one of his favorites. After lunch they started school and listened to the Masterminds Payback book. Chase also did his daily online crossword puzzle. Then Chase and Nanaw did five algebra problems and two three-digit multiplication problems. Chase played on the treadmill and the exercise bike while Nanaw watched one of her soap operas. After the cleaning lady left, they went back upstairs and finished school. Chase did one of the reading exercises where you answer question about what you read. He also did a worksheet where you have to pick out the silent letters in a list of spelling words. The final thing was telling Nanaw the capitals of five states, something they do daily. Chase and Daddy are going an adventure tomorrow afternoon. Daddy has the afternoon off and is going to pick Chase up at 1 p.m.