Saturday, August 30 and Sunday, August 31, 2025

Nanaw picked Chase up at about 2:45 Saturday afternoon for their great adventure to the little house. They drove up to Uncle Mike's house in Ferguson and listened to their book on tape (Old School by Gordon Korman). They rode out to the little house with Uncle Mike and Aunt Becky in their big truck. Chase took a brief nap on the trip, and Nanaw took a picture of him asleep. At the little house, Uncle Mike and Aunt Becky worked on installing the antenna for the T-Mobile Home Internet. It was more complicated than they expected and took longer than they thought it would. Aunt Becky also fixed the answering machine so that it would receive messages, and Uncle Mike fixed the storm door. When they were done with everything, it was too late to get dinner from the annual Aspenhof dinner (which is now on the beach rather than in the Barn area). So they stopped at Taco Bell in Warrenton. That was not a good experience. They had to order from kiosks; Aunt Becky and Chase helped with that. It took forever to get their food. A Door Dash driver came in and was furious that his order wasn't ready to be picked up. It sort of scared Nanaw. On the drive from Uncle Mike's to home, Chase slept a little again. On Sunday, Chase and Daddy went to Mass in the morning. Chase had to do some things in his Confirmation Journal. In the afternoon, Mama had her Labor Day party. Daddy's side of the family was there, including cousin Elias, which made Chase very happy. He and Elias played with each other the whole time Elias was there. They played X-box downstairs. Jackson S. and his parents were there also, and Chase played baseball with Jackson in the front yard after Elias left. Other guests included: Aunt Becca and Uncle Stan and their dog Brogan; Elias's family; Uncle Mike and Aunt Becky; cousin Nichole, cousin Joe, cousin Kris; cousin Lindsey and Dylan and lots of other people. After most people left, Chase had some dessert in the living room, watching TV and playing with his phone. Nanaw took pictures of Aunt Becca's Bronco -- Big Daddy; Joe's Jeep and her Bronco Sport.

Thursday, August 28 and Friday, August 29, 2025

On Thursday, Mama found the City of the Beasts book that Chase needs to replace the one that Chase got wet on eBay and ordered it; it was $10 cheaper on eBay than on Amazon. Chase didn't have any homework because Friday is Field Day, and he's very happy about that. Mama told Nanaw that Chase got a 47 on a science paper. He told her that the teacher changed the definitions, whatever that means. Nanaw asked Chase about the paper, and he said it disappeared. He has a habit of getting rid of papers he does really badly on. Nanaw checked FACTS, and even with the 47 paper, his grade is 92 or a B+ because his other grades are so high so this is nothing to worry about -- unless it keeps happening. On Thursday evening, Chase had an ICS baseball game in O'Fallon, Illinois. His team lost to the same team they lost to last week but played better this time. Jackson and his mom came to visit during the game; it was very close to where they live. Field Day Friday was a big success for the team that Chase was on -- they won first place and got a trophy, something that Chase never had happen to him all his years participating in ICS's Field Days. Chase told Nanaw they had all the activities on the hill next to the school because they were setting up for the picnic on Labor Day. Chase said he had fun. On the way home, Nanaw invited Chase to go along on the trip to the little house on Saturday. To her shock, he was interested in going. She'd been convinced he'd say no so this made Nanaw very happy.

Wednesday, August 27, 2025

Wednesday afternoon, Nanaw asked Chase if he had his DLR paper for the test on Thursday but he had left it at school. Nanaw texted Cole's mom but Cole had left it at school also. Mama finally got it either from Hunter's mom or Brady's mom. Then Chase told her he had to buy a new AR book that he's reading, City of the Beasts by Isabell Allende because he spilled water from his water bottle all over it and some of the pages fell out. Nanaw looked it up on Amazon, and it cost $28 so she looked on Thriftbooks and they didn't have it. Mama said she would buy it, and she would pay for it and look on eBay. Chase was having a haircut at 5:30 tonight and Nanaw was anxious to see it. Nanaw, Uncle Mike and Aunt Becky are going out to the little house on Saturday evening for the annual dinner. Uncle Mike is also going to install the antenna for the T-Mobile home internet, fix the storm door so it shuts tight, and figure out how to reconnect the answering machine so it works. Nanaw invited Mama, Daddy and Chase to go, too. She knows Mama will be getting ready for the party on Sunday so she also asked if Chase wanted to come without Mama and Daddy. She sent Mama and Uncle Mike a flyer about the dinner. 

Tuesday, August 26, 2025

On Tuesday morning, Chase told Nanaw he didn't have a scissors for his pencil bag and that he thought there was one in his green and black pop bubbles bag from last year. Nanaw said she would look; she found the bag and the scissors and sent Chase a message with a picture. But of course he doesn’t have his phone during the day so he didn't see the message. Nanaw brought the bag along when she picked up Chase. Nanaw was supposed to bring Tee Tee and Sam Jr. along when she picked Chase up because it was National Dog Day. She thought that she'd forgotten but Chase reminded her that all the guys were in the car because it was cleaning lady day. After school, Chase worked on his homework, especially his photo journal for the field trip last Friday. Nanaw is eager to see it. Chase promised to bring home his graded papers tomorrow so Nanaw can see them. She has no idea what he's been working on. Mama wasn't feeling well today so she was lying on the sofa when Nanaw brought Chase home. Nanaw has been having really back pain since the turning 30 party for Nichole and cousin Joey when she sat on a backless sofa for two hours without getting up. She has a doctor's appointment tomorrow morning at 9:45 so hopefully they can do something for her pain.

Sunday, August 24 and Monday, August 25, 2025

On Sunday morning, Chase had a Bears baseball game, so he and Daddy had gone to Mass early Saturday evening. Unfortunately, Chase's team lost the ball game. Nanaw left for church early because she was worried traffic would be backed up on the JB bridge because of road work. Before she went to church, she stopped at Butler Hill Schnuck's to get the Sunday paper and to look for leaves for Chase's leaf science project. She found some on the trees in the parking lot of Schnuck's and at her church and by the lake and the lake road in her subdivision. In the afternoon, she took the leaves and Chase's finished pages over to his house. She found out that they couldn't use the leaves from Missouri. The project was just about leaves from Illinois trees. Chase got all the leaf pages done and put them in a binder. After the project was finished, Chase went out in the back yard to practice batting, and Nanaw went with him to watch. On Monday morning, Chase was supposed to take the leaf project binder to school with him and keep it in his locker till the project was due. But both Nanaw and Chase forgot to take the binder. First, they were going to have Nanaw bring the binder when she came to pick him up from school but then they decided to have him take it to school on Tuesday morning. Chase had an ICS baseball game after school, and Nanaw was going to go watch it. But the game was cancelled because they didn't have any umpires. So the two teams had a scrimmage -- which means they played each other. And Nanaw went to watch the scrimmage and really enjoyed it. Chase knew two of the boys on the Eagles team: Chase N. from the CBC team Chase played on last year and Lucas who lives down the street from Nanaw and who Chase played with on a team when they were younger. Chase's team lost but he got two really good hits. Nanaw was very proud and thinks that all the batting practice he's been doing has really paid off. 

Thursday, August 21, Friday, August 22, and Saturday, August 23, 2025

After school on Thursday, Chase worked on his homework and also on his leaf project. He really likes that project. Chase had an ICS baseball game on Thursday after school in Freeburg. They won 18 to 4. But Mama felt sorry for the Cahokia team because she thought maybe they didn't get to play much. Mama has such a good heart. Mama said she heard Drew's mom say he wanted to go to Gibault and that would make Chase happy if another of his friends was in the same school as him. Tee Tee got left at home under the covers but Nanaw went to retrieve him from Mama and take him to Chase. Friday was the bi-county field trip so they had no homework. Nanaw picked Chase up at school about 3:45 from his field trip. Unfortunately he left his little cooler on the bus but Mrs. H. found it and took it home with her. Chase told Nanaw about Rock City, one of their field trip stops. It's a huge storage and refrigeration center in the bluffs owned by Mr. K., Reagan's grandpa. Mr. K. provided lunch for the classes; Chase called the turkey sandwich he had insane, which must mean it was delicious. He said he tasted the fruit, which he thought was mango. On Friday at Walmart, Nanaw bought Mama a notepad named Dog Yoga with a picture of a dog in yoga position on each page. On Saturday, Chase played in Freeburg at noon but only one game. They lost pretty badly. Chase and Daddy went to Saturday evening mass because Chase has Bears baseball on Sunday. Mama said they might go to Millstadt Saturday night to watch Hunter sand Drew play for another team as a fund raiser. Nanaw checked Life 360, and that's where they are. Nanaw picked some leaves off a tree at the little house for Chase to identify; she thinks they're either cottonwood or aspen.

Wednesday, August 20, 2025

Nanaw has never seen Chase so excited about doing a project as he is about his leaf project for science. He wanted to work on it before school on Wednesday and then again after school. In the morning, Nanaw trimmed the paper where it was torn roughly and he pasted some leaves on it. When Nanaw picked Chase up from school, she talked to him about the Tuesday homework assignment he forgot about -- turning in the math assignment. So what she asked him to do was to write all of his assignments in his agenda like he used to do. He said he would and that he had started doing it. Nanaw told Mama about that and she said that's what he's been supposed to do all along. When Nanaw took Chase home, they reported on how much homework he still had to do. Daddy gave him the option of staying home from baseball practice to do home work but with the understanding that he couldn't have any device time. That's the option Chase chose. He did a little more work on the leaf project but spent most of his time in the evening working on homework in math, geography, history and English. This is what Nanaw was afraid of -- that he would have so much homework, along with baseball and hockey practice, and he wouldn't be able to get everything done.

Tuesday, August 19, 2025

On Tuesday morning, Chase looked at his leaves on Nanaw's dining room table and accidentally broke one of them. He asked Nanaw for her phone so he could use the Leaf ID app and then he started to go outside to get another leaf. But then he changed his mind and decided he should wait till after school when he would have more time. Once again, on the way to school, Chase and Nanaw listened to the Old School Gordon Korman book CD in Nanaw's car. That's going very well, and Chase seems to enjoy it. After school, Chase got more leaves for his science project, then worked on his homework. He got everything done, then played computer games and watched YouTube videos. Later, Mama told Nanaw that Chase had forgotten to turn in some kind of syllabus thing that was due today. Chase said he forgot it. Mama asked what that would do to his grade, and he said it would take 10% off the grade. Nanaw is going to suggest that he write all his homework assignments down in his agenda like he used to do. They would also check Homework Central. The syllabus assignment wasn't in Homework Central so Mama and Nanaw weren't able to  remind Chase about it. Mama was helping Brady's and Hunter's moms with their questions about the leaf project in science and the Leaf ID app. Nobody really knows when the project is due so they will have Chase find out tomorrow.

 

Monday, August 18, 2025

On Monday morning, Chase made sure he had his $40 check and permission slip ready to turn in at school for his class field trip on Friday. They're going to take a tour of sights around Columbia, like the Palmieri cemetery, Rock City (Mr. K's storage and refrigeration area in the bluffs), Fort Chartres and other places. Chase says he's looking forward to it. Chase's ICS baseball game this afternoon was cancelled because the heat index was 109. Games are cancelled when the heat index is 105 or above. After school, Chase and Nanaw went to his house to get the guys. While they were there, Chase showed Nanaw the beginnings of his leaf project for science. He had four leaves under a piece of newspaper, topped off by a book. Chase told Nanaw about the project and that he had to get 16 more leaves. He had Nanaw download a leaf identifier app on her phone for him to use to identify the leaves that he found. They went back to Nanaw's house and Chase gathered up 16 leaves and identified them with the app. He said it was the most fun he'd had in a long time. He was very excited about the project. He set the 16 leaves up on Nanaw's dining room table like he had done for his at home -- newspaper and a book. The project is due Friday but Nanaw doesn't know exactly what he has to do. It seems like he would have to mount the leaves, identify them from the app, and write something about them. Nanaw will ask him tomorrow. It was a fun adventure; Nanaw went with him and watched him gather leaves and had a great time.

Thursday, August 14, Friday, August 15, Saturday, August 16, and Sunday, August 17, 2025

Thursday was Chase's first day back at school  -- as an eight grader, in charge of the school! Mama took her usual two first-day-of-school pictures of Chase out on their back deck, one with Tee Tee and one without Tee Tee. Mama had an appointment on Thursday morning so Nanaw got to take Chase to school rather than Mama. He said his first day at school was good; the cheese pizza at lunch was good, and he had fun eating with the Crew plus Cam. He said one of the teachers was nicer than usual, and everybody like that. There was no homework, and everybody liked that even more! On Friday, after school Chase played in the rescheduled ICS baseball game. At first, Chase thought that game might be rescheduled because it was so hot but the heat index wasn't 105. They tied the game. Chase only had one homework assignment to do -- vocabulary. He got a new class schedule agenda because of a change so Nanaw will have to make new copies for her and Mama. On Saturday, Chase played with the Bears baseball team, and they won 7 to 0. Chase played catcher, got two hits and scored both times he was on base. Nanaw had planned to go out to the Little House to try out the T-Mobile Home Internet thing again but decided to stay home instead and watch Netflix movies. On Sunday, Chase's Bears team played two games against teams with older players. They lost both games but played really well. Chase got hit on the elbow and walked to first base. In the evening, Nanaw came over to take everyone to Marie's for back-to-school ice cream. Daddy had a waffle cone with two scoops of chocolate ice cream; Chase had a waffle cone with two scoops of Superman ice cream; Mama had a medium hot fudge sundae with whipped cream and pecans; Nanaw had the same thing as Mama. Like everywhere else, the prices at Marie's have really gone up. It used to cost about $20 for ice cream for the four of them; now it's $40. But it's more than worth it. On her drive home, Nanaw had to wait for some geese to cross the road. They weren't moving, so she honked her horn, and they finally crossed the road. LOL

Tuesday, August 12, and Wednesday, August 13, 2025

Chase had a sleepover at Drew's house on Monday night. On Tuesday morning, Chase texted Nanaw to pick him up at 9:30. When Nanaw got there, she got to meet Drew's mom Melissa and their dog, a precious beagle girl named Page. Nanaw really liked her. Everybody on the crew played at Drew's house Monday night. Only Cole didn't spend the night. He had volleyball tryouts on Tuesday morning so he had to get a good night's sleep. When Chase texted Nanaw about a pick-up time, he also said he slept well and had a really good time. It was cleaning lady day, so Chase and Nanaw went downstairs for lunch. Chase was supposed to be home by 2:45 so he and Daddy could go up to the Legion Park for his first ICS baseball game of the season. But there was a forecast of thunderstorms so the game was cancelled. Chase was disappointed about that. But he still had hockey for the evening. On Wednesday, Nanaw was sad because it was the last day of Chase's summer vacation, and she would miss him when he went back to school on Thursday. Around lunchtime, Brady called Chase and wanted him to go bowling with him. But Nanaw asked him not to because it was his last day with her. Chase was okay with that. Nanaw set up the T-Mobile Home Internet, and Chase said it was as fast as his WiFi at home. Tuesday night, Nanaw had tested it at the Little House, and it worked. She's going to get an antenna to increase the Internet signal. In the afternoon, Chase and Nanaw gathered up blankets and pillows so Chase could make a tent (or a cave, as Nanaw called it) for him and the guys. In the evening, Chase had hockey. Wednesday's pictures of Chase in the red shirt show him with messy hair and combed hair.

Sunday, August 10, and Monday, August 11, 2025

On Sunday morning, Chase had a Bears baseball game, which his team (the B team) lost. He and Mama stayed to watch the A team play. Then they went to hockey. It was a busy sports day. Nanaw came over about 6:45 to see Chase. They were eating dinner then, and Chase really liked the sandwiches Mama made. After dinner, Chase and Nanaw went to Chase's room, and Chase played with throwing the mini balls against the wall in the hall. Chase told her about the sleepover he and some of the other guys were having at Drew's house on Monday evening. He was really happy about it. When it was time for Nanaw to go, Chase helped her carry his "vittles" out to the car. On Monday, Chase and Nanaw went to Dollar General to buy some Roblox cards. They were on sale for $8.00 instead of $10.00, something Nanaw had never seen. Chase said that every once in a while Roblox advertises a sale online. In the evening, before Chase's sleepover at Drew's at 8 p.m., Chase, Mama and Daddy went to Chase's school to drop off his school supplies and meet his teacher. Chase is really happy to have Mrs. H. as his home room teacher. He's had her for history for the past couple of years, and he really likes her a lot. So that's a really good thing. Chase has pretty much liked all of his teachers except for one who yelled at the class a lot, although she never yelled at Chase. Chase told her he'd text her in the morning when it was time to pick him up from Drew's. Mama texted Nanaw that Drew's mom said pickup would be 10 or 11. Cole wasn't going to spend the night and Chase wasn't sure about Joey.

Friday, August 8 and Saturday, August 9, 2025

Mama, Chase, and Nanaw had a day of adventure on Friday. Mama took the day off for their annual adventure day before Chase goes back to school. First, Mama and Chase went to the Donut Panic Shop in Columbia and bought assorted donuts. Nana had a couple of yummy donut holes. Their first adventure was to see the animals at Suson Park. It was delightful, as always. Also as always, Chase was fascinated with the turkeys, chickens, and roosters; Mama was fascinated with the goats; and Nanaw liked them all. Next, they drove all the way up north to Columbia Bottoms (near the confluence of the Mississippi and Missouri Rivers to see sunflowers, and just like last year, there were none. So then they tried Cliff Cave Park where there were supposed to be sunflowers. There were, but not very many, and they looked very thirsty but at least Mama got some sunflower pictures. Then they went to Freddy's on Lindbergh for lunch. Mama got takeout and they went back to Nanaw's house to eat. And it was all delicious. Nanaw decided she didn't to do any more walking and Chase wanted to stay at Nanaw's and play on the computer so Mama did the rest of the adventure by herself -- it was all stuff she wanted to do. She went to Bath and Body, Old Navy and Office Depot. Mama picked Chase up when she was done; Chase had hockey conditioning in the evening; and Nanaw went out to the little house. On Saturday, Nanaw had to come home early from the little house to do communications for the church's burst water pipe. They were closing the church and just streaming the service. Chase had baseball; his team lost both of their games, one to the Bears A team. After baseball, they were going to hockey camp. Yesterday, Daddy walked down the field that's going to be Creekside Park and took a picture of what's going to be the lake. He gave it to Mama to send to Nanaw.

Thursday, August 7, 2025

Chase had an orthodontist appointment Thursday morning. Mama and Nanawkept badgering him about brushing his teeth because several times he got in trouble with the technicians about not brushing his teeth well. One time they even sent Daddy what Mama calls a "nasty-gram" about the condition of Chase's teeth due to his poor teeth brushing practices. But today they said he was doing a good job, so that was a relief. Next time they're going to X-ray one of his problematic canines to see how it's doing. For lunch, Chase had Michaelina's spaghetti, followed by his favorite chocolate pudding pie with extra whipped cream. In the afternoon he played baseball with his baseball set, and Nanaw was his fan base. She was very happy that yesterday and today he played that baseball thing -- she likes seeing him off the computer. Today he worked on his Roblox baseball game, and he claims he got the Tiger game to work but Nanaw hasn't been able to get it to work for her. The second picture below shows Chase on the floor in the "tent" he built for the guys. Tonight he had two separate baseball practice sessions. Tomorrow, Mama took the day off and she, Chase and Nanaw are having an adventure. Plans include Donut Panic for Mama and Chase, then pick up Nanaw and go to Columbia Bottoms and Cliff Cave for sunflowers, Bath and Body, Dick's Freddies for lunch, a recon trip to show Nanaw where Drew's house is, and Suson Park. Mama is not in favor of doing everything.

Tuesday, August 5 and Wednesday, August 6, 2025

Chase had spaghetti for lunch on Tuesday. Nanaw realized that they forgot to bring the Michaelina frozen dinners home Sunday evening but there was plenty of food for Chase. He had his usual chocolate pudding loaded with whipped cream pie for lunch. He was very excited waiting for his new bat to arrive. Daddy bought a Rawlings bat for him from Amazon. Mama sent him a cute text with lots of emojis announcing that the bat had arrived. He asked Nanaw if she would take him over to his house so he could practice hitting baseballs with the new bat. Nanaw said, of course, she would, and they spent the rest of the afternoon at Chase's house, with him having a wonderful time hitting his whole bucket of baseballs. On Wednesday, Chase didn't come over to Nanaw's house until 11. Nanaw took Mama to Saint Clare Hospital for a procedure. Chase stayed home with Daddy, who was working at home, until Nanaw came to pick him up. But first they had a wonderful lunch from Taco Bell. Sweet Chase left his Truman the tiger with Mama so she could take a nap with him. In the afternoon, Chase got out his baseball set Nanaw got him for Christmas and played with the players in the set and the players Daddy bought him at the Rawlings Experience. 

Monday, August 4, 2025

Daddy had the day off so he and Chase went to the Rawlings Experience, Chase's current favorite place to visit. He wasn't as happy about it as he usually is because they didn't have his favorite bat to hit with and he has a blister on his hand so it was hard to hit. But he got some little baseball guy figures, and he was happy about that. Daddy brought him over to Nanaw's house about 11:30, and Chase had texted her that he was having lunch at her house, if she had anything for him. She said she had some more Orange Chicken from Panda Express, and he said that would be fine. He also had a piece of chocolate pudding pie. He decided he wanted to get some guys from his house, and Nanaw convinced him to go along to get them, plus going to Schnuck's to get Nanaw's newspaper. Nanaw said she'd buy a treat for him, and he said he'd like Jolly Rancher gummies. He said if they didn't have those to get regular Jolly Ranchers. He still didn't want to go along so Nanaw threw in the thing she knew would convince him. She told him that if he went along, they wouldn't have to have school. On their way from Chase's house, they saw one of the big trucks hauling dirt from Creekside Park so Nanaw followed the truck, much to Chase's dismay. He said Nanaw was now way over the top of the embarrassment list. The tuck turned at Bottom Road but Nanaw kept going till she found a place to turn around. On the way to Schnuck's, Nanaw told Chase she would go check out Bottom Road after she took him home at 5, which she did. She found a gravel road that had a lot of dirt on it. The road led to a sign and chained-in fence. The sign said Keep Out. Waste Water Treatment Plant.