Friday, December 26, Saturday, December 27, Sunday, December 28, and Monday, December 29, 2025

Mama was off work on Friday so she and Chase did their adventure at World Market and Trader Joe's. Chase and all his classmates have a geography assignment for school to bring in 20 servings of a dish from a foreign land along with a typewritten copy of the recipe. Chase's recipe is Miso Ramen Noodles. Mama and Chase got all the ingredients they needed, plus some Ramen noodles for Chase's lunch. They came over to Nanaw's house to fix the Ramen noodles. Chase really liked them. Mama went home and left Chase to stay with Nanaw for a couple of hours. In the evening, Nanaw went to the Five Below store at Gravois Bluffs to look for the Trumans Mama saw there last week. She couldn't find them and was about the to leave when she asked one of the workers about them  He told her where to find them, and Nanaw bought two more Truman's. On Saturday, Uncle Mike came to Nanaw's house to work on stuff about the gutters, and Nanaw took a big load of toys and clothes to Goodwill. Uncle George had come to see Chase on Saturday morning to bring his birthday and Christmas presents. Later Chase had a workout, and then he and Daddy went to the park so Chase could try out the new roller blades he got for Christmas. Nanaw came over to visit Chase after four, and they had a nice time playing with the guys. Chase played miniature hockey, and Nanaw watched. On Sunday, Chase and Daddy went to church and then to the park again so Chase could roller blade and take shots with the hockey stick. Chase had hockey practice at three and got home about 5:45. Nanaw went to visit him them. On Monday, Mama texted that she was the only one in the office, and it was kind of spooky. When she didn't move around enough, all the lights went out (they're motion sensitive), and that was really spooky. Mama had Nanaw ask Chase if he wanted a calendar for his room, and if so, what kind did he want. Chase said he wanted a calendar and he wanted it to be a surprise. So Mama got him one with Dad jokes, and Daddy said he could have written them. Chase played with all the Truman's and at one point, buried himself under them. 

Sunday, December 21, Monday, December 22, Tuesday, December 23, Wednesday. December 24, and Thursday, December 25, 2025 -- Merry Christmas!

Sunday night was a wonderful fun-filled night. First, Mama made delicious pot roast and sent lots home for Nanaw to give Chase for lunch on Tuesday (Mama sent leftover Pizza Hut pizza from Saturday night with the Stines for him to have for Monday's lunch) and for Nanaw to have for dinner Monday and Tuesday. After dinner, Will drove everybody around to see the Christmas lights in Columbia. They didn't go by the Cornish's house but they'll do that sometime. The most special thing was that Sunday night was Chase's sleepover with Nanaw -- Nanaw was so excited about it. Mama and Daddy suggested it, and Nanaw felt like it was the best Christmas present they could have given her. Nanaw loves when Chase has a sleepover at her house. He was supposed to take a shower Sunday night but he postponed it till Monday morning. They found a recipe online Monday for homemade Cheez-Its and made some with American cheese. They turned out pretty well but Chase and Nanaw decided they would be better with cheddar and/or Colby Jack.  Chase didn't want to go to Dick's to find more Christmas presents for him on Monday -- he wanted to go Tuesday so that's what they did. At Dick's he found another knee hockey stick -- this one was in a mystery bag so he didn’t know what it looked like till Christmas morning. He also got miniature basket ball and a couple of other hockey-related things. Later in the day on Tuesday, they did the crystal experiment in the science lab Christmas gift Mama's friend Teresa gave Chase. Nanaw was so impressed and proud that Chase read all the directions and put everything together by himself. Then he worked very hard on understanding the crystal experiment and doing it all by himself.  The crystal experiment turned out perfectly, and Chase and Nanaw were proud of what he'd done. Wednesday was Christmas Eve, and Nanaw bought KFC (Kentucky Fried Chicken) for their dinner. Then they watched the hilarious movie Christmas Vacation and laughed a lot. On Thursday, Christmas morning, Nanaw went over to Chase's house while he and Daddy were at Mass (Chase served) and she and Mama went to Walgreen's, their regular Christmas tradition for lots of years. When the boy and man got home from church, they opened presents, and Chase showed Nanaw the presents he got from Mama and Daddy. When presents were done, Nanaw went home and Mama, Daddy, and Chase went to Aunt Becca's house for their Christmas celebration. Later in the afternoon, Mama, Daddy, Chase and Nanaw went to Uncle Mike's for Christmas dinner. Everything was almost perfect there. The house was very much decorated -- it looked like a Hallmark movie. The food was delicious -- ribs, brisket, salad, mac and cheese, lots more side dishes, and a counter full of desserts. The whole week of Christmas was a wonderful  celebration of the season.

Thursday, December 18, Friday, December 19, and Saturday, December 20, 2025 -- Happy Birthday, Chase!

On Thursday, Nanaw weighed and measured Chase: He weighs 107.4 and is 5 ft. 4 inches. He grew an inch and gained a pound. He's very excited about his birthday on Saturday and his two week Christmas break from school. On Friday, Chase only had a half-day of school. Mama and Nanaw picked him up from school, then went to Nanaw's house to wait for Uncle Mike. They were going to have a very special adventure that afternoon. First, they were going out to lunch. Originally, they were going to Taco Bell but Chase had that with Daddy on Thursday night so they changed their lunch destination to Popeye's. The chicken was absolutely delicious. Next, they went to the great event of the day: They went to the Transportation Museum to see the Christmas train display. Uncle Mike hadn't been to the Transportation Museum since he was a little boy. He really liked the Christmas train display and started planning to make his own train display. It was a very successful adventure. Of course, they had popcorn! Saturday was Chase's 14th birthday. Nanaw went over to Chase's house on Saturday morning to pick him up to go to Pure Hockey to buy more of his birthday presents. She'd already bought half of them at Amazon, using the list Chase gave her of things he wanted. Back at Chase's house, they opened presents. In the evening, Nanaw came back to Chase's house to visit with the Stines. It was a fun evening, as always. Jackson has gotten really tall. He and Chase had fun playing all kinds of games together. For Chase's birthday, there was a yummy ice cream cake.

Monday, December 15, Tuesday, December 16, and Wednesday, December 17, 2025

On Monday, Mama brought Chase over to Nanaw's house so Nanaw could take him to school, even though Mama had the day off. Mama knew that Nanaw really missed Chase. At Nanaw's house, Chase gathered up all the homework he'd done over the weekend to turn it in. When Nanaw picked him up from school, they drove to the front of the school so Chase could get his homework assignments out of the black box. He was happy that there wasn't a lot of homework. On Tuesday, Chase threw up a little before school, and he wanted to stay home. Nanaw said he'd missed too much school and that he had to go. It turned out all right, and Chase didn't throw up again. He said he had had a final in English but that he had studied for it, and the material was easy and he knew it. After school Nanaw took Chase to Brittany's for his haircut. Mama had bought a Christmas card for Brittany and put $20 in it. She had Chase sign the card and address the envelope. Brittany and Chase had a nice conversation, and Nanaw enjoyed listening to them talk. Nanaw took Chase home after the hair cut because he had a workout session at 5 p.m. On Wednesday, when Chase got to Nanaw's house, he said he had to talk to her. After Mama left, Chase asked Nanaw to look through the pack of papers he'd given her yesterday. He couldn't  find one of his vocab papers that he was supposed to turn in. Nanaw found it in the stack, and Chase put it in his agenda. His class had a field trip today -- something to do with Sister Teresa Bowman. Nanaw doesn't know what it was about so she'll ask him tomorrow. He has an Illinois constitution test tomorrow, and the study guide is on something called Kahoots. It's a colorful app that presents the question and four multiple choice answers to the questions. Chase went through it with Nanaw watching; he missed three questions out of 60. One was about the judiciary, one asked who started impeachment proceedings (he said the Senate but it's the House), and the third asked who selected the Senate and House members, and he answered the governor instead of saying they're elected by the people. Hopefully he gets those three questions right on the test. 

Sunday, December 14, 2025

A wonderful thing happened on Sunday: Chase's hockey team won the championship of the tournament, and Chase was selected Most Valuable Player. He got a championship medal, an MVP pin and the game puck. Mama, Daddy and Nanaw are so proud! Mama texted Nanaw some Days of Chase updates that she hadn't sent before. She said that on Friday night, after the game, they went back to the hotel. The kids played on the computer in the lobby and just walked around a lot. The front desk lady was mean and didn't allow them to play knee hockey. The hotel's great room was festive so they got a team photo with everyone in their PJ pants. On Saturday, there was more of the same in the morning, hanging out, etc. Mama made him study, which is good. In the afternoon they went to Main Event , and they did video games, laser tag, pool, etc. It was snowing when they went to play their evening game. The other team's goalie was stuck at their hotel so they had no goalie. They won their 6:45 game 6 to 2 but Mama said their games on Friday were played better. It took a long time for them to get back to the hotel because there was 5 inches of snow. They were all tired so they went to bed at 10 p.m. On Sunday morning Chase did some studying and hung out with the team. Then they checked out of the hotel and headed to the rink around 10:45. Daddy's GPS took them on a back way with snow-covered roads. Mama said it was not fun but that they looked like roads from a Hallmark movie.  They got back home about 9 and Mama came to pick up Sly. She very nicely let Tyler spend the night with Nanaw.

Saturday, December 13, 2025

Last night, Mama sent a further update. After they checked into the hotel, the boys played on the computer and walked around the hotel They had good pizza for dinner. During the day on Saturday, the boys played pool and other games. Mama said that at their Saturday 6:45 game, they were winning but playing badly. Nanaw doesn't quite understand how that can be but at least they ended up winning the game. Mama said she is going to send more on today's update tomorrow because she said she's very tired. Nanaw went to Uncle Mike's Christmas party and got to see lots of the family: Karen, Nicolle, Heide, Kris, Joe, Robbie and Lindsey. It was a great party with many other guests that Nanaw talked to. The food was delicious, as always. Aunt Becky did a super Christmas decorating job, and Nanaw is glad that Mama and Chase will get to see it at Christmas dinner. It snowed a little when Nanaw drove to Uncle Mike's but eventually stopped with no accumulation so Nanaw didn't have to worry about driving in the snow.

Friday, December 12, 2025

Mama texted me information for Days of Chase. She said they left Plainfield, Indiana around 9:40 a.m. and went to Oxford,  Ohio, which is 40 miles from Cincinnati. Oxford is about two hours from Plainfield. They had lunch at Gaslight Brewhouse. Chase had delicious cheese curds and Mama had delicious French onion soup. The boys won their first hockey game 2 to 0. Mama said it was very exciting, and they played well. They also won their second game 8 to 1. Evidently Chase got a penalty in that game because Mama sent a picture of him in the penalty box with the friend of Mama's who sent the picture to her. Nanaw asked Mama for a photo, in addition to the first one below of Brady and Chase when they about 5 or 6. Mama sent the second picture of Chase on the ice rink. Mama is so excited that the boys will definitely play in the championship game on Sunday at 1:30 ET. On Saturday they'll play at 6:45 p.m.

Thursday, December 11, 2025

On Thursday morning before school, Chase worked on a project for the candy cane sales. He had to do a spreadsheet on his Chromebook. Nanaw asked about the project and Chase said he was one of the chairs on the project. So they didn’t have time to study for the Lord of the Flies test until they were in the car. Chase read the last portion of the study guide during the drive. When Nanaw picked Chase up, he said he thought he did well on the test, except for a couple of questions that he had to guess on. When they got to Nanaw’s house, he told her he was excited about the hockey tournament. They were leaving a little after five and would spend the night in Indiana. The tournament is in Cincinnati. Mama texted that it was snowing on their drive and they wouldn’t get there till 10. It was snowing a lot and had been slow going on the highway. Chase took his backpack loaded with his homework to work on this weekend. Mama sent Nanaw a picture of Chase on the bed in the hotel room. Nanaw sent Mama the last three photos to show her that all five pets are doing fine.

Wednesday, December 10, 2025

Wednesday was sort of a traumatic morning. Chase said he didn't feel well enough to go to school, and Mama and Daddy insisted that he was going to go because yesterday the nurse practitioner said he could go back to school today. He texted Mama saying he wasn't going, so Mama texted Nanaw that she was coming back to Nanaw's house to take Chase to school so Nanaw didn't have to deal with the trauma. And Mama came back and drove Chase to school. Mama and Nanaw expected Chase to go to the office and say he was sick, and he had to go home. But that didn't happen. He stayed at school all day, and when Nanaw picked him up, he said he felt better and school was fine.  They gave Hunter a ride home because it was early dismissal and that was fun for Chase. After school, Chase and Nanaw studied for two hours for the Lord of the Flies test tomorrow. There's a huge amount of information to know, and Nanaw doesn't know how much Chase knows.  Tomorrow morning they'll go over the study guide again. Chase's Christmas band concert was in the evening, and Nanaw drove separately because she was running behind. The concert was great, and the band Chase plays in was especially good. Chase's group of friends minus one posed for pictures after the concert. It was a very special evening. And Chase and Mama were friends again. Yay!

Tuesday, December 9, 2025

On Tuesday morning, Chase said his cough and sore throat were worse so he texted Mama to see if he could stay home from school. Mama said yes and that she would call the school and the doctor's office. She called Nanaw and said she made an appointment with the nurse practitioner for 9:30. The nurse practitioner (NP) was named Carissa (Nanaw thought that was a pretty name) was a young woman, very pretty and very nice. Chase grinned the whole time he was there so Nanaw decided he had noticed how pretty and young and nice she was. Good for Chase! They did some throat swabs and discovered Chase had strep throat, something he's never had. The other throat swab showed that he didn't have Covid, flu or RSV. Carissa prescribed amoxicillin and gave Chase a note for school and said he could go back to school tomorrow. Nanaw fixed chicken rice soup for Chase's lunch, then went to pick up his prescription. Chase worked on his English review study guide about verbs and prepositions and lots of other parts of speech, with a concentration on verbs for the verb test on Friday. Chase will be in Cincinnati on Friday for a hockey tournament so he'll take the test on Monday. Hr finished his vocabulary packet and will turn it in Wednesday. He has a Lord of the Flies test on Thursday, and Nanaw gave him things to study tonight in addition to the study guide but she doesn't think he'll do it. So after school tomorrow, they'll go through the study guide and maybe the worksheets if there's time.

Monday, December 8, 2025

On Monday morning, Chase came to Nanaw’s house all dressed up in his Sunday best. Chase’s school was having a special Christmas mass for students and their parents, followed by donuts. Mama and Daddy couldn’t go and Chase was all right with that. He was also okay that Nanaw didn’t go. Chase didn’t have any studying before school and of course spent time on his phone. When Nanaw picked Chase up from school, he said he had lots of homework. He worked very hard on it after school but will have to do more after he gets back from hockey tonight. His vocab assignment is due Wednesday, and he has the Lord of the Flies test on Thursday. and a religion test on Friday. He won’t be there on Friday because he has a hockey tournament in Cincinnati. On the drive home, Chase told Nanaw that he’d started talking to girls at school, something he’s never done before. He’s always been shy and especially with girls. He’s not ready for a girlfriend yet but someday he will be and that will be one very lucky girl. Nanaw forgot to take Chase’s picture today so she’ll use one of her favorite photos, the one with the haircut that's Nanaw's favorite. She'll also include the one Mama sent from Tucker's birthday party with the other boys.

Sunday, December 7, 2025

Mama reported that Chase's team lost their hockey game last night 8 to 1. Chase's throat started hurting at hockey, and he had a cough. Mama said his throat felt better today but he still has the cough. Daddy does not feel better, and they both want Luden's cough drops. Mama thought that was funny. Chase said he feels good enough to go to his friend Tucker's birthday party and to Learn to Play. Learn to Play is where experienced hockey players help the little ones who are just learning to play hockey. Chase did two years of Learn to Play when he was younger. Tucker's birthday party was at a game facility near Helping Strays. They had things to do like play on a pool table and do the golf thing Chase is doing in the second photo below. Nanaw will report more on the party tomorrow after Chase tells her about it. Nanaw doesn't know who was at the party or what some of the other games are. The first photo is Chase making his bed but first posing in a photo with Truman.

Saturday, December 6, 2025

On Saturday morning, Mama took Chase to Gibault for him to take the placement test. He told Nanaw it was to see where they placed in classes, probably English and math, and maybe other classes also. Mama and Nanaw think he might be put in the advanced placement classes but it's all right if he isn't. He'll be where he's supposed to be. Daddy was going to pick Chase up when the test was over because Mama and Nanaw were going to the ICS Craft Fair. Mama saw Mr. G. at Gibault and talked to him for awhile. He had brought donuts for the test takers but a lot of them didn't take one. So he offered them to the parents, and Mama and Brady's mom each took a donut. Then Mama, Nanaw and Brady's mom saw Mr. And Mrs. G. at the Craft Fair. It was nice to see him, and it will be nice to see him at Gibault next year -- he's president there. Nanaw thought the Craft Fair was the best ever. The booths and items for sale were extraordinary, and Nanaw wanted everything there. She only bought some little ornaments to honor Colin, the hockey player shot on the highway last year, and a phone tripod. She had Mama buy three gluten free cookies for her. Nanaw only ate one of them so far and it was really good. Next year, she'll get in line and buy a whole box of the gluten free cookies. Nanaw is going to make gluten free pecan sandies at Christmas. She got a recipe online and bought almond flour at Walmart today. Yesterday was the Santa Shopping Village for the kids at Chase's school where they can buy presents for their family. Chase bought presents for Mama, Daddy and Nanaw. He also saw a rubber chicken there that he wanted but didn't want to use Mama's money to buy it so he asked her to go to the village while she was at the Craft Fair and get it for him. Mama, Nanaw and Brady's mom went but couldn't find any rubber chickens. On the way home, the lady who works at the Village texted Mama and Brady's mom to tell them she found a rubber chicken. So Mama went back and bought it and sent the picture below to Nanaw.

Friday, December 5, 2025

Mama had the day off on Friday so she took Chase to school. Mama had promised Nanaw that she would help Chase study for Friday's science and religion tests before school. Unfortunately, Chase was moving really slowly and by the time he was ready and had eaten breakfast, Mama told him they only had 7 minutes to study. But they managed to go over the study reviews for both subjects in that seven minutes --what a miracle. When Nanaw picked Chase up from school, he told Nanaw he thought he had done well on both tests. Nanaw thought, "Well, we'll see." It seems that a lot of the time when Chase thinks he did well, it doesn't turn out that way. But his grades are fairly good so far -- he has two B's and the rest are A's. Mama and Nanaw went shopping in the morning, to the Telegraph Walmart and the Telegraph Dollar Tree. Among other things, they bought miniature battery-operated Christmas lights and Christmas cards for the family. Mama bought a super cute zoo toy for the three-year old boy who Chase is giving a Christmas present to through his school's toy project.

Thursday, December 4, 2025

On Thursday morning, Nanaw looked at Chase's second English worksheet, then put it with the first one in his backpack. She reminded him to turn in the vocabulary packet, the science packet and the worksheets. Every once in a while, not often, he forgets to turn in his homework. It was really cold when Nanaw picked Chase up from school, and she remembered how much she dislikes cold weather. Chase had a fair amount of homework: finishing up his math assignment; doing a lot of geography work, including Upfront Nov. 2025 issue worksheets due Tuesday; Japan/Korea review due tomorrow; Japan/Korea test Monday; an English worksheet on verbs, in preparation for a quiz on verbs on December 12; and studying for the science and religion tests tomorrow. Chase and Nanaw studied for the two tests together. And he seems to know the material. Nanaw had planned to study with him again tomorrow morning but Mama has the day off and is taking him to school. But she promised to study with him before she takes him. Nanaw's looking forward to her errands trip with Mama tomorrow. Nanaw said they would pretend it was like their Christmas shopping trips of previous years. Mama does all her shopping online now.

Wednesday, December 3, 2025

On Wednesday morning, Nanaw checked with Chase to make sure he had his homework that he missed yesterday ready to turn in today, and he did. He was sort of quiet, and Nanaw asked if he was okay, and he said yes. On the drop-off call with Mama, Nanaw mentioned how he was so quiet. Mama said it was probably because he wouldn't have as much device time today as he wanted. He had an ortho appointment at 3, which lasted an hour, twice as long as usual. He said they replaced three brackets, and that's what took so long. After the appointment, Nanaw took him home, and they did homework till it was time to go for his workout session at 5 p.m. Then after that he had a baseball bat swinging session. When he got home at about 7:30, he'd have to finish up his homework. In their homework session after school, Chase did his vocab packet, which is due tomorrow. Then he worked on the two English worksheets on verbs. He still had to do his science packet, which he would do when he got home from baseball. On Friday, he has two tests -- science and religion, so he'll be studying for those Thursday afternoon and evening and again on Friday morning. In geography, he has a unit review on Friday and a Japan and Korea test on Monday. He still doesn't know when the Lord of the Flies worksheet for chapters 11 and 12 is due. 

Tuesday, December 2, 2025

Chase was disappointed that it didn't snow enough in Columbia last night for him to have a snow day today. But then it turned out that he had a day off from school with Nanaw anyway. After he ate his breakfast, Chase told Nanaw he'd thrown up. So he stayed home from school. Chase said it was a good day, at the end of the day. Chase and Nanaw both took naps in the morning, and Chase said he felt a lot better. They did some picking up around the house in preparation for the cleaning lady. At noon, they went downstairs and Chase had his lunch of chicken noodle soup and Cheez-its. Then Nanaw got a text from the cleaning company saying they were postponing Nanaw's cleaning until tomorrow. So Chase and Nanaw went upstairs. Chase did his AR reading and then read chapter 11 and 12 in the Lord of the Flies book .He played on the computer and on his phone but only for a short time. He didn't spend the whole day on devices so that was a good thing. Later in the afternoon, Nanaw went up to Chase's school to pick up his homework. There was a fair amount of it: an English worksheet that they didn't include and that he had to get from his teacher; reading about the Constitution; a Lord of the Flies worksheet and reading chapters 11 and 12 -- which is the end of the book; a computer assignment in math, plus a vocabulary assignment due Thursday. Chase did as much as he could before it was time to go home. He was going to finish the homework he had left in the evening.

Monday, December 1, 2025

On Monday morning, Chase had a conversation with Nanaw about snow days. There was snow in today's forecast, and Chase was hoping it would be enough to have a snow day tomorrow. He's eager to find out how the new principal feels about snow days. The principal before didn't like them much. Chase thinks the new principal likes dress-down days. They've had a lot of them so far this year. The previous principal didn't like those either. Chase didn’t have any tests to study for on Monday morning. Nanaw reminded him to turn in his Lord of the Flies worksheet for chapters 7 and 8. Homework Central said they were supposed to work on the worksheet for Lord of the Flies chapters 9 and 10. Nanaw read those chapters and did the worksheet yesterday. Chase worked on it Monday after school and got all the answers right. Nanaw only gave him one hint so he did a really good job on his own. Nanaw was very proud. It snowed a little on Monday, not enough for a snow day; Uncle Mike called Nanaw to tell her they were having a huge amount of snow in Ferguson. When Nanaw went to pick Chase up from school, it was snowing a little so she decided to wait in the car. Chase found her without too much trouble and said she should always wait in the car for him if was snowing or raining hard. Mama and Daddy left work a few minutes early, and Mama told Nanaw that Daddy was coming to pick Chase up. He came about 4:15, which didn't make Chase and Nanaw very happy because they were working on homework. Nanaw remembered to send home the turnkey soup she'd made so they could have it for dinner. Nanaw froze Uncle Mike's turkey soup. And she'll give it to him Wednesday when he comes over to finish putting up the outside lights.