Monday, April 6, 2026

Chase was off from school on Monday for his Easter break, and he spent the day at Nanaw's house. He has two major school projects due tomorrow: a digital scrapbook of the Washington DC trip and the journal he kept during the trip that detailed all the things they did in DC. He worked on completing the projects in the morning and then Nanaw proofread them in the afternoon. She really enjoyed going through the projects and feeling like she was finding out the details of the trip and everything that happened. Chase did a good job on the projects, and they seemed to have him relive his trip to DC. Around lunchtime, Chase and Nanaw went on an adventure to the Des Peres Schnuck's, the fanciest Schnuck's store in the area. Nanaw wanted to spend some of her Rewards money on Chase. She thought maybe he might want a Frisbee or a bat or a Pickleball set but he didn't want any of those things. He wanted to buy the ingredients for cheese garlic bread and then make it when they got back to Nanaw's house. They bought a baguette, garlic cloves, parsley, and mozzarella cheese slices for the cheese garlic bread. Chase also wanted some Gouda cheese from Georgia ($10!!) and banana split Blue Bunny ice cream. On the drive home, Chase told Nanaw if he was rich when he grew up and still lived around here, he would shop at that Schnuck's. LOL! Nanaw had so much fun making the cheese garlic bread with Chase. It was as though she was his sous chef, taking directions from him. He said the bread turned out perfectly. Nanas put some of the topping on her gluten-free bread, and it was delicious. Chase ate one half of the baguette and saved the other half to take home to Mama, as shown in the second picture below. When Nanaw took Chase home, he took her downstairs to see his new set of golf clubs. They're absolutely awesome, and Nanaw was so impressed. She's assuming they were an Easter present from Daddy. She asked Chase to take a picture of them, and it's the third picture below. The first picture of Chase below has him holding the Washington DC spoon Mama got for him from Amazon. Chase saw it at one of the DC gift shops and wanted it but Mama didn't want to buy it because she didn't want to pay $10 for a spoon. Chase was disappointed but let it go. Later, Mama felt bad for not buying it in DC so she went on Amazon and found it and bought it. 

Happy Easter! Sunday, April 5, 2026

This morning, Truman and baby Truman helped Mama hide eggs from the Easter Bunny for Chase. The boy had a great time finding the eggs filled with candy. Mama said she bought pre-filled plastic eggs, which made things much easier. Nanaw doesn’t know if the Easter egg hunt was before or after Daddy and Chase went to church. At four, Mama, Daddy and Chase came to pick up Nanaw to go to Uncle Mike's house for Easter dinner. Mama brought Nanaw a great Easter basket with sugar-free assorted caramels, a bag of bubble gum balls for the gumball machine Uncle Mike and Aunt Becky made for Nanaw for her birthday,  and a $25 Amazon gift card. The Easter dinner food was delicious: three kinds of ham, grilled chicken with cheese and bacon, Nichole's rolls, Mama's party potatoes, fruit salad, pasta salad, corn, mac and cheese, and more. There were lots of desserts: Mama's pudding pie, Nichole's decorated Easter cookies, apple pie, Robbie's chocolate chip cookies, and lots of other things that Nanaw doesn't remember. Dinner guests included Lindsey and Dylan, Joey and Julia and Jeremy and Hudson, Kris, Robbie, Irina, Nyeal, Marcus and Beckham (Vika stayed home with the baby), and Nichole and JonJon. It was a great Easter dinner and great seeing everyone. Chase spent the evening sitting in the living room with the family and mostly playing on his phone -- which is probably his favorite thing to do.

Saturday, April 4, 2026

Mama texted Nanaw on Saturday morning that Chase's Bears baseball tournament was rained out. He was supposed to play in two games on Saturday. But it turned out that worked out well for Mama, Daddy and Chase. Usually, Aunt Becca has Easter dinner on Saturday each year but this year she decided not to have it because the weather forecast was for cool weather and rain, and she likes to have the celebration outside rather than inside. But with the dismal weather forecast she wouldn't be able to have it inside so she cancelled. Uncle Chris said they would have the Easter celebration, which made Chase very happy because he would get to see cousin Elias. It worked out well that the baseball tournament was rained out because that meant Mama, Daddy and Chase would go out to Silex.. Mama texted that Chase and Elias played video games for awhile and then went outside to play. Nanaw got a test from Chase with the selfie below. Mama texted Nanaw to see if Chase had texted a picture like she told him to, and Nanaw said he did. Tomorrow Uncle Mike and Aunt Becky are having the family Easter dinner celebration. To make up for not hosting the family holiday dinners anymore, Nanaw provides $200 to help pay for dinner. 

Good Friday, April 3, 2026

Yesterday, Nanaw asked Chase who were the girls who hang around with the crew. There are three L’s, an A and an E.  Lorelei, Lizzie and Lily. Amelie. Evie. Nanaw told Mama about this and she said all five were nice girls. This afternoon, one of them (Lorelei) came with her mom to deliver two beautifully decorated Easter cookies to Chase. On the DC trip, Lorelei’s mom provided delicious cookies for the kids. Chase told everyone he couldn’t have one because he gave up cookies for Lent. So Lorelei and her mom wanted him to have cookies — on Easter, when Lent is over so they brought the cookies over to Chase's house. Unfortunately he was still at Nanaw's house so he didn't get to see them. Today, Chase had a workout around noon and then Daddy brought him over to Nanaw’s house to spend the afternoon there. Mama sent Nanaw a picture of the guys Chase set up in her office this morning. She called them her co-workers. At Nanaw’s house, Chase played on his phone and the laptop. He also played pencil hockey in his room. He didn’t work on his DC projects but he promised Nanaw he’d work on them tomorrow. On the ride home, Nanaw asked if he had baseball tonight. Chase said no, but he was going to find some baseball stuff to do. Nanaw asked Mama about it, and she said he practiced hitting and pitching. Then he played with the wiffle ball.

Thursday, April 2, 2026

The 8th grade did a very special presentation to the younger students and some parents on Thursday morning. It was in the gym and was called the Stations of the Cross. It was about the crucifixion of Jesus and followed his path to his death on the cross. Owen played Jesus and Sami played Mary. Brady was a guard and wore a helmet (with his baseball hat underneath it) and carried a spear. Chase was one of the 14 students who read the 14 Stations of the Cross. He was number 10, and he did a good job, speaking clearly and reading well. After it was over, Chase came over to say hello to Nanaw, which was nice and sort of surprising. Chase had only a half day of school on Thursday, and Nanaw picked him up at noon, and they went to Taco Bell to get lunch. Chase had two cheese quesadillas and nachos with cheese. Nanaw had three crunchy tacos supreme. In the afternoon, Chase played on his phone and the laptop. Then he worked on his DC project. He‘s making an online digital scrapbook from the trip to DC. He also has to do the journal he wrote during the trip; he still has to finish it. The two assignments are due next Tuesday, and he still has a lot of work to do on them. Chase has the day off tomorrow so he’s coming over to Nanaw’s house in the afternoon after his workout.

Wednesday, April 1, 2026

Nanaw tried the "It's snowing!" April Fool's thing on Chase this morning but he's too smart for Nanaw -- he responded with a resounding "April Fool!" Nanaw tried that one on Uncle Mike and Mama when they were little, and it didn't work then either. Uncle Mike came over again today for a little while to finish up a couple of things he didn't have time enough to do yesterday. One thing he did Mama will really like: taking down the black tarp in front of Nanaw's house. Mama considered it very white trash. When Nanaw picked Chase up from school, she asked him how he felt, and he said he would answer her when he was in the car. He said his stomach didn't feel well again. Nanaw is worried about him. He hasn't had any after school snacks the past few days, and he hasn't been drinking milk at breakfast or eating much then. He has a science terms quiz tomorrow, and when Nanaw quizzed him on the words, he didn't know most of the words. Nanaw asked Mama to have him study the science terms again a couple of times that night and then to quiz him on them again. He did okay but not great on them. Mama said it would be good for him to go over them again with Nanaw in the morning before school. 

Tuesday, March 31, 2026

Chase was still having stomach problems Tuesday morning but Mama said he had to go to school. When Nanaw picked him up after school, he said he almost threw up during the Chrism Mass field trip today but he managed to not do it. Nanaw told him she was proud of him for that. He said he still didn't feel too good, and he didn't want any after-school snacks, just water. During the pick-up phone call with Mama, he told her he couldn't go to baseball practice, and Mama said he had to send a text to Coach Bernie saying he couldn't come to practice. When they got to Nanaw's house, Chase worked on his homework -- The Hobbit worksheet for chapter 9 and a Middle East Atlas geography worksheet. Nanaw should have had him do his AR reading when he was done with the worksheets but she always forgets to have him do that. He still didn't get his science and English tests back. He didn't do too well on the tests, especially the English one, and Nanaw wants to see what went wrong. She didn't study with him on the English one because he said they had studied a lot in class. But Nanaw is not going to let that happen in the future. No matter how much he says he already studied, Nanaw will insist that they study together. For the science test, Nanaw wants to see what questions he got wrong and try to figure out if there was something they should have studied that they didn't. Uncle Mike came over to Nanaw's again today to do several different things. The one he worked on most was the drain pipe in the front yard. Hopefully, he can get it working the way it should.

Monday, March 30, 2026

Chase stayed home from school today with an upset stomach and diarrhea. Even with all that, Nanaw’s sweet boy was in a good mood . He was happy and entertaining and didn’t mind too much that Nanaw limited him to an hour and a half of phone time. He used some of that time to play on the laptop. Uncle Mike spent most of the day at Nanaw’s, watching over the guys from Helitech who were here to fix the leak in Nanaw’s basement. Uncle Mike said the guys worked hard and did a great job. Helitech had said it would take two days to do the job but they finished up in one day. Uncle Mike and Nanaw had Taco Bell for lunch, and Chase had chicken noodle soup. A little after three, Chase took a nap and Nanaw went up to school to get Chase’s homework. He was up from his nap when Nanaw got home. He worked on the homework till it was time to go home. In the evening, he had 20 minutes of hitting fast-pitched underhand baseball. Mama was going to stop at the library on the way home from baseball to pick up a book, and Nanaw asked her to pick up a book for her, too. Chase and his class are going on a field trip tomorrow to a church in Belleville for a Chrism mass. The Chrism Mass is a major Holy Week liturgy, usually celebrated by the bishop in the cathedral on Holy Thursday morning or shortly before, where the sacred oils (Chrism, Catechumens, Sick) are consecrated/blessed for use throughout the year. It highlights the church's unity, the priesthood, and the diocesan community.

Sunday, March 29, 2026

Chase had a confirmation retreat on Sunday, starting with mass at 11. When Nanaw went to visit Chase after he got home, Chase told Nanaw that various people spoke to the group. IDaddy spent the afternoon at the retreat with Chase. He sat at a table with Brady’s uncle and found out he works for a computer company that deals with finding fraud. Originally, they said the retreat would last till 5:30 or 6 but it turned out that it ended around 4. Chase was still tired from the DC trip so he took a nap when he got home from the retreat. Mama made stir fry for dinner, and Nanaw had some without Ramen noodles and it was really good. After dinner, Mama and Nanaw sat on the sofa and looked at Mama’s DC pictures on her phone. They also looked at videos and pictures on Chase’s phone. Nanaw is looking forward to looking at more of Chase’s photos on his DC project.

Saturday, March 28, 2026

Today was Chase's first baseball game of the season with the Bears. He had two games on Saturday morning at the field in Fenton. Unfortunately, his team lost both games. He pitched in both games but didn't do a good job. That was understandable and forgivable because the DC trip was exhausting for everybody, and Chase was really tired. On Saturday afternoon, Mama and Nanaw went to a birthday party for Brady's grandma Debbie at her son's beautiful house in Swansea, Illinois.(There's a picture of it below that Nanaw took yesterday when she made a reconnaissance trip to make sure she knew how to get there in case Mama couldn't go.) It was a great party with all kinds of interesting people, delicious food and super birthday decorations that Debbie's son Ryan created. Brady was there, having lots of fun. He had on a history-related tie that he probably bought in DC. Chase would have had fun with him but Chase probably preferred staying home to take a nap. Ryan has a swimming pool, and last summer Chase went swimming there with Brady and Emma and their cousins. Mama and Nanaw were talking about the cherry blossom trees in DC as they left the party, and later in the afternoon Mama sent Nanaw a random photo of the trees to show her that the blossoms are white not pink, like Nanaw thought they were. On the drive home, they listened to the Cardinals baseball game on the radio and were dismayed when the Cards lost their four-run lead in the 9th inning. But everything worked out beautifully, thanks to bubble-gum-chewing JJ Wetherholt and his walk-off hit, and the Cardinals won 6 to 5. Tomorrow Chase has a confirmation retreat at church from 11 to 6 and then Nanaw is going to go visit her boy. Also, on this coming Thursday, the 8th grade is having a Stations of the Cross and Chase is one of the readers so Nanaw is going to go see it. 

Friday, March 27, 2026

From the bus on the way home, Mama texted: "We left a couple of  hours ago, about 8 a.m. The guys are playing an online game and others are playing, too (like Henry, etc.) so that’s good. Yesterday after the archives we went to the Bureau of Engraving/Printing and saw money being made. After lunch, we went to Arlington National Cemetery and saw a few sights and saw the changing of the guard for the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier.  We ended up touring memorials like MLK, Vietnam, etc. last night, and Lincoln was the last. One of the Dads, a hockey Dad, bought pizza for the kids last night when we were at the hotel. Chase went down and hung out with the crew in the lobby last night until they had to go up at 10." Mama said they're supposed to arrive back at school at 11, and Life 360 says they're at school so the great Washington, DC adventure is over. Nanaw is looking forward to seeing all the pictures they took. Mama didn't send any pictures of today so the picture below is from last night of Chase with his buddy Hunter. Today Nanaw tried to take Taylor along on Sylvester's walk but the smart little kitty.

Thursday, March 26, 2026

The first two photos below are at the Jefferson Memorial, which looks really cool. In the second photo, you can see the Washington Monument. After that, they went to the National Archives -- where the Constitution, the Declaration of Independence and the Bill of Rights are stored. Mama texted Nanaw that Nanaw would enjoy all the stuff they're learning. Nanaw told her she'll have to teach Nanaw all she's learning. The third picture is the Declaration of Independence. Nanaw thinks it's so wonderful that the kids are getting to see all the things they studied in class. It has to be making a big impression on them. This was their last full day in DC. I'm sure they'll be sorry to go because it's been such a monumental adventure. Mama was a little light on pictures and update texts today but that's understandable after such a full week. Several things on the itinerary for Thursday that Mama didn't mention are the Bureau of Engraving and Printing, the Ronald Reagan Building and International Trade Center, Arlington Cemetery, the U.S. Marine Corp Iwo Jima Memorial, Embassy Row, and Monuments and Memorials at the National Mall. One of the pictures is of Mama wearing Hunter's hat. Tomorrow they'll leave for home at 8:45 a.m. and arrive in Columbia at midnight. 

Wednesday, March 25, 2026

Nanaw texted Mama about seeing Chase's kindergarten teacher Mrs. H. at Schnuck's this morning. Mrs. H. left Chase's school several years ago as a kindergarten teacher to take care of her grandson Brooke, just like Nanaw did. She sent her love to Chase and said she can't believe he's graduating this year. She has always been his favorite teacher, and she got him off to a wonderful start at school. She said he would love Gibault; she and her husband and their four children all went there and loved it. Uncle Mike came over today and worked on getting the basement ready for Monday when Helitech comes to fix the leak. Mama only sent two pictures today. Her phone battery was low, and they were off the bus for a long time so she couldn't charge it. She said she took a lot of pictures and maybe she'll send some tomorrow. For sure, they will come in handy for the project Chase has to do when they get back -- the project needs 75 photos so hopefully Mama has that many. In the morning, they went to Ford Theater where Lincoln was shot and then to the Petersen House where Lincoln died. One of the two pictures Mama sent today was a huge stack of all the books written about Lincoln -- very cool. The other picture she sent was the Capitol Building, with the three of them in it. They got to sit where the Senate is but not too many people were there. They went to the Library of Congress where there were a ton of books. They ran out of time so they didn't get to go to the Smithsonian. The White House was on their plan but they skipped it because they were out of time. Nanaw wanted Mama to take a picture of where the East Wing was destroyed so that won't happen. They went to the Kennedy Center instead of the White House. The class got to go bowling after dinner, and Mama said they had fun. Mama had lounge duty tonight, which means watching the kids from 9:15 to 9:45.

Tuesday, March 24, 2026

Tuesday's agenda of sites to see included George Washington’s Mount Vernon, Holocaust Museum, Washington National Cathedral, Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception, and 9/11 Pentagon Memorial. Mrs. H. had mentioned in one of her emails that one of the parents was trying to arrange for a visit to a special place, and that turned out to be the Holocaust Museum. They replaced the visit to the National Air and Space Museum with a visit to the Holocaust Museum. Chase is getting to spend lots of time with the crew on this trip, something he definitely enjoys. Mama was excited about the black sheep she saw at Mount Vernon; their picture is below. Mama texted to Nanaw that: "After Mount Vernon, we did the Holocaust Museum. So sad. Then the National Cathedral, then mass at the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception. The kids hung out in the lobby when they got back before dinner. They ate in the mall and Chase and I got Auntie Anne's pretzels, and Will got Mama a Stromboli from a pizza place. Their mall is crazy busy like ours used to be. After dinner we went to the Pentagon 9/11 Memorial. I didn't take any photos but I sent one from online. The Memorial is outside the building. On each bench is the name of someone who was on the plane or in the building working who died. So sad. After that, we came back to the hotel. The kids hung out in the lobby till 9:30, which is our curfew to go to their rooms. (We're on Eastern time.) Tomorrow we have to eat at 7:45 and leave at 8:15 for another busy day." Nanaw took Sylvester over to his house around noon because the cleaning lady came to Nanaw's house today. Nanaw managed to get all four cats downstairs, which is a miracle. Below, towards the end, is a picture of Sylvester in the Gascar chair and then one on his walk. Nanaw wasn't able to get Taylor in the cat stroller today so it was just Nanaw and Sly. He saw three other dogs and a runner so he had lots to bark at. 

Monday, March 23, 2026

Mama texted trip reports to Nanaw: "The phones are back with us again lol.  We had them until about 9. I think Chase got a nap earlier. I’m in front of Nick's dad, across from Michelle, and behind AJ and Will.  Our Will is diagonally across from me and Chase/Brady are 4 rows ahead.  We miss Becky; she’s up towards the front. I watched an episode of PD so far and read on the Kindle. We ate at Golden Corral. I don’t know what Chase ate because we didn’t sit together. I think the mall food court happens later?" Mama sent the picture below of what she called a delicious cookie that Lorelei's mother made. Mama took a bite out of it before she took a picture. Evidently, the teachers take the kids' phones away every once in a while so they don't have them all the time. Nanaw will have to ask Mama about that. They're going to have dinner in Arlington, Virginia, and that's where they're staying.  Mama reported that they passed by the CIA, which is very exciting. They ate at the mall in Arlington; Mama, Daddy and Chase all had orange chicken from Panda. After dinner, they went to the hotel where they're on the 5th floor. They played cards down in the lounge for a bit. Mama bought Chase a Shirley Temple, then they all went up to their room. DC is about 20 minutes away from where they're staying in Arlington. Mama said Father Brian is there; he may have been one of the people who flew there rather riding the bus. Mama says they start all the stuff tomorrow. Nanaw took Sylvester and Taylor for a walk this afternoon; Sylvester was on his leach and Taylor was in the cat stroller. Nanaw brought some of the guys over to her house to spend the week with her. 

Sunday, March 22, 2026

The first photo below is a selfie Chase sent to Nanaw yesterday. In the weekend hockey tournament, Mama texted that Chase's team tied their first game on Sunday. Then later, at the 1:15 game, Mama sent a picture of her and Chase in the penalty box; Mama was working in the penalty box and Chase got a penalty. But in the photo, they're both grinning so it must have been okay. The third photo is Chase on the ice. The team won the second Sunday game, which was Chase's last game with Affton, 3 to 0. Mama says Chase has played with them for four years, and they've made lots of friends. This tournament was Chase's last with Affton. Next, he starts playing with Columbia. At about 4:30. Mama and Chase brought Sylvester and Tyler and all of their paraphernalia over to Nanaw's house. Chase stayed to visit with Nanaw till 6. He played on his phone for a while, then he and Nanaw went into his room to play pencil hockey. They call it pencil hockey and sometimes pencils are involved. But it also involves hockey sticks, plastic knives, machetes, a hatchet, and lots of other random things Chase uses to hit plastic balls into the hockey net. What a character he is! When Nanaw took Chase home, Mama was in his room packing his clothes for the DC trip. They have to be up at school by 3:15 a.m., and they'll leave at 3:45 a.m. Hopefully, Mama will keep Nanaw up-to-date on their activities in DC.

Saturday, March 21, 2026

On Saturday morning, Mama texted Nanaw that Chase's hockey team won their Friday night game 6 to 0. Chase got an assist on one of the goals his team made, which was very exciting. Chase plays defense and doesn't get much time with goals so this was really special. Mama sent Nanaw a picture of Chase on the ice and of the scoring showing that Chase got the assist. Later in the day, Mama texted Nanaw just before the Saturday hockey game started about what Chase had done during the day. She and Chase went to Dollar General to buy snacks for the trip to DC. Later he did some baseball and then had some screen time. In the evening, Mama texted that the team lost their evening game 5 to 0, and it was awful. Everybody thought that the other team added some A level players to make their team better, which they're not supposed to do. She said parents were yelling, and it was not fun. Hopefully, that won't happen in tomorrow's game.

Friday, March 20, 2026

Chase was happy he didn’t have to study for anything before school on Friday morning. He made sure to take his Mount Vernon poster so he could turn it in when he went to history class. When Nanaw picked Chase up from school, he told Nanaw he had good news about who he was sitting with on the bus ride to DC. He wanted Nanaw to guess but her guesses were wrong. Chase finally told Nanaw that he was riding with Brady. Brady is one of Chase’s best friends and always has been so Chase is really happy about this. For awhile after school, Chase and Nanaw spent time in Chase’s room. Chase played pencil hockey while Nanaw sat in the special rocking chair putting together the papers for her income taxes. Next, they went into the dining room where Chase played on the computer and Nanaw finished up with the taxes. Chase had a hockey game tonight in one of his final tournaments with Affton. He also has games tomorrow and Sunday. Mama told Nanaw that hockey Coach Dave and his wife were going to Rockbridge on Monday -- Coach Dave wanted to do some trout fishing. That’s a fun thing. Uncle Mike told Nanaw yesterday that he should have ridden along with Aunt Becky and her friends yesterday when they were going to Mansfield, Missouri, which is close to Rockbridge. He said he dould have gotten a day pass at Rockbridge to fish. But he didn't do it.