Friday, January 30, 2026

Mama took Chase to school again on Friday morning because he had to be there early for Catholic Schools Week. When Nanaw picked Chase up from school, she parked in the far section and saw that they hadn't cleared the snow off that walkway so she had to walk to the end of the parking lot. Fortunately, she was able to find Chase before he started off in the parking lot looking for her car. He told Nanaw how they played volleyball as one of the Catholic Schools activities and that it was fun and he played well. He said because Cole is so tall, he can touch the top of the net without jumping. Nanaw asked him about the talent show and whether any of the crew performed. He said Drew performed in the talent show, playing the piano. Mama came over to Nanaw's house at 4:30 to take Nanaw to Dobbs to pick up the Escape. Dobbs fixed an oil leak for $800.00. Mama brought along Truman and Tee Tee wrapped in a blanket for Chase because he hadn't brought any of the guys to Nanaw's house. Nanaw is going to Chase's hockey game at 12:30 tomorrow, then taking Chase home with her. Mama and Daddy are going to a surprise birthday party at a winery.

Thursday, January 29, 2026

Mama took Chase to school today because he had to be there early to collect money for one of the Catholic Schools Week fundraising projects. She's going to take him to school again on Friday morning. Mama sent Nanaw some pictures of Chase from a visit by some of the Gibault students for Catholic Schools Week. One of the pictures had Chase front and center in the picture -- very cool. Nanaw decided to post it on Facebook. Mr. G. was there and took a picture of Chase with the huge Gibault Hawks mascot and another student. Because Chase told Nanaw that the snow on the walkways on the school parking lot had been cleaned off, she told him she'd be up at the front of the school to meet him. After school, Chase studied for tomorrow's religion test. He used a Quizlet to study, and it seemed really helpful. Then Nanaw quizzed him from the review questions in the religion textbook. He said he was okay for Friday's geography test on China but that he would go over it again. 

Tuesday, January 27, and Wednesday, January 28, 2026

On Tuesday morning, Chase was disappointed that his school didn't have a snow day and was open, especially when he found out that the Columbia schools were closed for another snow day. Almost always, when the Columbia schools are closed Chase's school is closed also because his school uses the Columbia buses. Brady's grandma texted Nanaw to say that Brady's sister Emma didn’t want to go to school but that Brady was okay with it. Nanaw texted back that Chase didn't want to go to school either. Debbie didn't have to pick up the kids because their Dad was home and would pick them up. Nanaw picked Chase up but stayed in the car like Mama and Chase told her to do. Nanaw texted Chase to tell him where he could find her car. According to Homework Central Chase didn't have any homework Tuesday but he has lots of tests and homework due on Friday. He has the Financial Literacy packet due Friday, a geography test on China, and a religion test on chapter 8. Chase forgot his backpack in the backseat of Nanaw's car, and Nanaw took it over to his house. On Wednesday, Chase was glad Columbia didn't have another snow day. Nanaw went grocery shopping at Waterloo Walmart and got more of the Jolly Rancher Gummies Chase likes so much. Unfortunately, they don't carry the 2 in 1 Gummies he likes best of all. Those Nanaw has to get at Telegraph Road Walmart. Nanaw also stopped at the Vet's office to check on what she should be doing about Taylor. She has to call a pharmacy about transdermal steroids to give her for her asthma and to keep up her appetite. Nanaw waited in the car again for Chase and texted him how to find her. When he got there, he told her that they'd cleaned the snow off the walkways so now Nanaw g so now Nanaw can go up to meet him. Mama sent Nanaw two pictures from the school Facebook page with Chase in them. In one of them, Nanaw and Mama thought it was Chase sitting at the front table but it was someone else and Chase was toward the back of the picture. Chase told Nanaw they played Trivia, and that his team came in third but should have been higher. He said he did well and answered lots of questions correctly.

Sunday, January 25 and Monday, January 26, 2026

On Sunday morning, Daddy went out into the cold and shoveled their driveway. He didn't want Chase to help because it was so cold. He planned to come over to Nanaw's on Monday to shovel her driveway. But Nanaw had two boys from down the street shovel her driveway and sidewalk. They did a really good job, and Nanaw paid them lots of money. Mama reported that Daddy went sledding on the other side of the hill in the park behind their house. Later, Chase went out into the park and went sledding with Daddy. They both said they had fun. Mama and Daddy got an exciting announcement from Chase's school saying he was having a snow day on Monday. And Mama and Daddy got a message from work that said they should work at home on Monday. Mama and Chase worked together to fix dinner for Sunday night. A friend of Mama had given her a new beef stroganoff recipe using hamburger, and Mama wanted to try it out. Mama sent Nanaw a picture of Chase at the stove, stirring. He really seems to enjoy cooking. Nanaw found the long lost Gnome decoration in the Christmas decorations and sent Mama a picture of it with a dog paw and a snowflake. On Monday morning, Daddy brought Chase over to Nanaw's house to spend the day with her. Mama sent the watermelon she bought for Nanaw from Walmart and leftover beef stroganoff for Chase's lunch. Mama told Nanaw she should have had a bite of it but Nanaw didn't. Chase carried about eight  boxes of Christmas decorations downstairs for Nanaw as part of his service work for his confirmation. Nanaw planned for him to take stuff out of a kitchen cabinet that she couldn't reach at 4 p.m., also for his service work. Chase played on the computer in the dining room and on his phone. Nanaw stuck by him while he played, in the living room and dining room. For a while, they went into Chase's room. There, Nanaw did crossword puzzles and read a Kindle book. Chase played on his phone, watched hockey on DirecTV and ate snacks, lots of snacks. He was waiting anxiously to hear whether he would have another snow day tomorrow. It all depends on what the Columbia schools do. Chase's school uses the Columbia buses so if Columbia has a snow day, so does Chase's school. All on his own, without prompting, Chase did his AR reading. In the evening, he was still going to have his regular practices -- they weren't cancelled. Chase's cousin Lindsey had her 28th birthday today, and Nanaw texted her Happy Birthday!

Friday, January 23, and Saturday, January 24, 2026

Chase didn't hear back from the email he sent to Mrs. H, about not having vocabulary lesson 16 to use to study for Friday's vocabulary test. The whole mystery was solved in AR class when Mrs. H. explained that somehow the graded vocab packets weren't returned to the class after they were graded. She passed them out and gave the class time to study the ten vocabulary words from lesson 16. Chase told Nanaw all about this when she picked him up from school on Friday afternoon. He said he thought he did okay on the vocabulary test. At Nanaw's house, he finally had his leftover pizza for his after school snack. He was happy that he had very little homework over the weekend. Nanaw was sort of surprised about that; she thought maybe the teachers would assign lots of homework in case they had a snow day on Monday. The forecasts were for lots of snow on Saturday and Sunday. On Saturday, Columbia had an inch or an inch and a half of snow, not as much as predicted but it’s supposed to snow overnight and on Sunday. Mama said Chase's workout session was cancelled because of the snow, and he stayed home all of the day except when he and Daddy went to 5 p.m. mass. In the morning, Mama had gone to Red Roof around 9 and she said the roads were getting covered. At 11, Nanaw was tempted to go to Schnuck's to get a newspaper but decided it was better to stay home and not take any chances and to read the paper online, even thought she doesn't like to do it that way. Mama said that during the day, Chase played video games and floor hockey with pencils and the miniature plastic hands that Nanaw doesn't like. They had potato soup for dinner. Mama, Uncle Mike and Nanaw exchanged the photos of their fires below.

Thursday, January 22, 2026

Nanaw went grocery shopping at Telegraph Road Walmart after taking Chase to school. They're (the infamous they) predicting a major snow storm this weekend. Chase is hoping for a snowstorm that gives him a snow day on Monday. Nanaw's church is considering closing on Sunday. Everybody at Walmart was stocking up on groceries, etc. Nanaw went to Schnuck's for her newspaper, and Schnuck's was crowded also. When Nanaw picked Chase up from school, they talked about studying for tomorrow's vocabulary test. But when they got home and started looking for vocabulary lessons 16, 17 and 18, they couldn't find lesson 16. Nanaw texted Cole's mom but Cole didn't have it either. Mama contacted other moms and their boys didn't have it either. Chase thought maybe Mrs. H did return lesson 16 to the class. Nanaw suggested that he email her, and he said he would. Mama said he said he did but Nanaw never heard if the teacher answered. Chase and Nanaw studied vocabulary lessons 17 and 18 until it was time to take Chase home. Mama said she would go through the lessons this evening, and Nana told Chase they would study the words again in the morning before school.

Wednesday, January 21, 2026

Daddy had the day off from work today so he took Chase to school. Nanaw had her church meetings today so Daddy also picked Chase up from school because it was early dismissal. Nanaw came to pick Chase up from his house on her way home from her meetings and found him in bed with a headache. After a few minutes, he got up to do his homework. He had to finish his research paper on Spanish Christmas traditions and do his English worksheet on "the" and "a, an." After he finished his homework, he went back to bed. Daddy said when he picked Chase up from school, Chase had told him he had a headache, and he was also tired from being out so late for last night's hockey game so that's why he was in bed. Nanaw proofread the research paper and inserted some commas and fixed an incomplete sentence. She asked Chase if it was okay to make the changes to the actual paper on the Chromebook, and he said it was okay. Nanaw printed out the paper, then asked Chase if he still wanted to go Nanaw's house. He said yes and he felt better. Daddy said he could stay till 5:30. Chase played on the computer, and there was a lot of laughing involved so the YouTube videos he was watching must have been funny, Mama was going out to dinner at Miller's on Main with Aunt Becca and Uncle Stan because it was a fund raiser for Helping Strays. She texted that Aunt Becca gave her a cute dog hoodie as a late birthday present. Mama was ordering takeout for Daddy to pick up for him and Chase. Chase was going to have boneless parmesan garlic wings with ranch. 

Tuesday, January 20, 2026

On Tuesday morning Chase didn’t feel well but when he and Nanaw called Mama about it she convinced him to try school. If he felt worse, Nanaw would come pick him up. Also, his hockey team had a game Tuesday night and he couldn’t play if he didn’t go to school. The good news is he felt better, didn’t call to come home and enjoyed his lasagna lunch. When Nanaw picked Chase up from school, they talked about his homework. His vocab and history are due tomorrow. His research paper for English is due Thursday. He let Nanaw read his draft so far, and she told him about something to change. On Friday he has a vocab test so there will be lots of studying Thursday afternoon and Friday morning. His hockey game was at 8:15 in the evening. Mama said they won’t get home until 11. She tried to take a Power Nap after work but that didn’t work out. Daddy took the day off tomorrow so he’s taking Chase to school and picking him up. Nanaw will go to Chase’s house to pick him up when her church meeting is over. Mama texted that Chase's team won the hockey game 4 to 0. 

Monday, January 19, 2026

Nanaw was so excited and happy that Chase got to come over to visit her on Martin Luther King Day. Nanaw went to pick him up at 9 a.m. Mama asked her to have him home by 12:45 so he could have lunch before it was time to leave for his workout session. Mama was going to take him and pick him up. At Nanaw's house, Chase decided to play on the computer for awhile, and he asked if he could get a computer game. He got a game on his own -- Nanaw is not quite sure how that happened -- and he played the new game for a while. Nanaw played on her computer, also. Chase had a healthy snack of milk, strawberries, sunflower and pumpkin seeds and cashews. Later he had another snack with more milk, candy and Whales crackers. Then he decided they would go into his room  He played pencil hockey and watched the hockey channel for a long time. Nanaw asked him to fix one of his toys -- a bleachers set that came with one of his Hot Wheels tracks -- They use it when he plays with his Playmobil hockey game or the Matt Murray and Mark Andre hockey game. They still haven't played with the new Zamboni machine Nanaw bought at Pure Hockey for Chase at Christmas. When Nanaw took Chase home, thye were a few minutes late but Mama said it was okay because the tiny tacos she was fixing for Chase's lunch weren't done yet. 

Sunday, January 18, 2026

Chase and Daddy went to church on Sunday morning but says he didn’t see any of his friends. During the day, he played hockey games in his VR. He also did his AR reading for school. Nanaw came over to visit about 4:30 and brought Baby Truman with her. She also brought the weather Bingo game but Chase didn’t want to play. Daddy built a huge fire in the living room, and it was beautiful and warm. Mans was watching the Patriots football game and fussing because she doesn’t like them. Nanaw asked if Mama was going to have a Super Bowl party, and Mama said not if the Patriots and Rams are playing. Chase was happy because he didn’t have any homework except AR this holiday weekend. Nanaw got to play with her buddy Tyler Cat a little bit. Chase and Nanaw played in Chase’s room and watched the hockey channel. Mama sent a text to Uncle Mike and Nanaw asking if there was something like an anti Super Bowl party because the Rams won their game tonight and Mama is afraid they're going to be in the Super Bowl. Mama asked Chase what time he wanted to go to Nanaw's house tomorrow on the Martin Luther King holiday, and he said 9 a.m. Nanaw said Yay because he was coming, and he gets to stay about three hours before he goes home for lunch and then his workout session. 

Saturday, January 17, 2026

Mama gave Nanaw the details on what Chase was doing on Saturday. First, Daddy had scheduled a workout for him on Saturday morning. Then he and Daddy had a really exciting adventure in the afternoon. They met Uncle Chris and Elias at the Chaifetz Arena to watch the St. Louis University Billikens basketball game. The Post-Dispatch said: "The Billikens won their 11th in a row on Saturday afternoon, trouncing Richmond 88-63 in a game it never trailed and in which its lead was in double figures for the final 30 minutes of the game. SLU is 17-1 overall, a record that has been reached only one other time in school history, in 1993-94." Mama said they had a good time at the game. Elias's sister Cesi (and Chase's cousin) is a student at St. Louis University, and she went to the game also. Mama spent the day at Affton watching hockey games with old friends and having lunch with hockey moms. Mama sent a picture of Sylvester in his cool coat to Uncle Mike and Nanaw on Sylvester's walk this morning in the brief snowfall Columbia had.

Friday, January 16, 2026

On Friday morning before school, Chase and Nanaw studied the chapter review and study guide for his religion test.  He seemed to know the answers. When Nanaw picked Chase up from school, he said his bran and memory had stopped working for two of the five tests -- science/worm and religion. He said he thinks he did okay on DLR, math and geography but not so well on the other two. Nanaw was sad about that because he seemed to know everything he needed to do well on all five tests. After school, Chase and Nanaw hung out in Chase's cleaned-up room. Chase played pencil hockey and Nanaw worked crossword puzzles. Nanaw turned Chase's TV on to the NHL channel on DirecTV, which is Chase's favorite. After Nanaw took Chase home, the new math book Nanaw ordered from Thrift Books came, and Nanaw sent Chase a picture. In the evening, there was a special event at Gibault for next year's new students, the class of 2030. They had slides up for each student with their names on them. Mama sent Nanaw several pictures. Nanaw recognized some of the students and Mama told her who some of the others were. There were Cam, Joey, Chase, Drew, Tucker, Evie. Maria, and Amelie. There's a picture of Mr. G. giving Chase a high five. After the event, Mama, Daddy and Chase went to dinner at Applebee's with Tucker's parents and Tucker.

Thursday, January 15, 2026

Chase didn’t have any studying to do before school on Thursday but he and Nanaw discovered that he would have a lot of studying to do Thursday afternoon, Thursday evening, and Friday morning. He had five tests scheduled for Friday: a science test about the worm and the worm dissection; a math quiz; a DLR 14 quiz; a geography test on China; and a religion test on chapter 7. After school on Thursday, they studied the worm info together, and Chase studied the rest on his own. Nanaw realized that she should have studied religion with him because there was a study guide she could have used to quiz him. So she'll do that Friday morning before school. On the drive home, Nanaw told Chase she had a surprise project to show him. He was speechless when he saw she had cleaned up his room for him. He was so happy with the room that he wanted to do their studying in there so they did. Chase had a haircut appointment at 4 p.m., which went well. Brittany's 9-year-old son Waylan was there, and Nanaw and Chase talked to him. They studied again when they got  back to Nanaw's, and then Nanaw took him home at 5:30.

Wednesday, January 14, 2026

When Nanaw took Chase to school, she reminded him that she would be there to pick him up at 11:55 for his ortho appointment. Later, at school, Nanaw once again had trouble opening the front door to the school after they buzzed her in. Lori, the school secretary, said the door was hard to open, especially when it was so windy outside. While Chase and Nanaw were sitting in the ortho waiting room, Brady and his mom came in -- they had an appointment, too. While the boys were in their appointments, Nanaw and Brady's mom had a really nice conversation. After Chase's appointment, they made another appointment for February 24 -- they were lucky enough to get a 4 p.m. time so Chase doesn't have to miss any school Nanaw has a church board meeting that day but it's at noon, and it won't interfere with the ortho appointment. Chase had some math and geography homework to do after school, even though Homework Central didn't show any homework. Nanaw had to have Chase home by 4:30 because he had a workout session at 5 p.m. Mama and Becky weren't home from work yet, so Nanaw didn’t get to see Mama. 

Tuesday, January 13, 2026

Chase and Nanaw went over his science terms before school on Tuesday morning for the science test. There were 25 terms about the heart, the circulatory system and the blood. He faltered on a few words, and Nanaw wasn’t sure how well he knew the words and how well he would do on the test. But when Nanaw picked him up, he said he thought he got them all right. He said it helped using his memory tricks like a for artery that takes blood away from the heart so then vein takes blood to the heart. At Nanaw’s house, he finished working on his vocab assignment. He said he’d finished all his other homework in class. Nanaw told him she'd started making a spreadsheet for his confirmation service hours. She'll show it to him tomorrow. It includes his time taking the garbage cans our and in at Nanaw's house. Plus, he carried boxes of Halloween and Thanksgiving decorations up and down the steps for Nanaw. Nanaw has some more projects for him: taking all the stuff out of a big cabinet in Nanaw's kitchen; cleaning up his room and his closet. Nanaw took Taylor to the emergency animal clinic on Tuesday evening because she was so worried about her. They did a urine test that came out fine. They gave her a long-acting steroid shot that will help with her asthma and may help with her appetite and getting her to eat.

Monday, January 12, 2026

Report cards came out today. Mama texted Chase’s to Nanaw but both of them misread the grades in the report card. Mama told Nanaw that Chase got three B’s, something they hadn’t expected. But Chase corrected their assumptions. They were looking at the semester grades rather than the quarter 2 grades. He actually got just one B+ and one A-. The rest were all A’s. At Nanaw’s house, Chase worked on one of his English worksheets, then he and Nanaw studied for tomorrow’s science test. The test covers 25 terms related to the human heart systems and all related items. Chase read over the study guide for the terms before Nanaw tested him on them. Nanaw had a bit of trouble deciphering Chase’s writing but eventually she managed to. They went over the terms twice, and Chase struggled over 4 or 5 of them. Nanaw asked him to promise he would read over the terms again tonight, and he said he would. They will go over them again Tuesday morning before school. Nanaw told Chase part of his struggle with grades is his tendency to get one really bad grade on something in classes that’s hard to overcome. He’s already done that in two classes for quarter 3. So he has at least two grades to overcome.

Sunday, January 11, 2026

On Sunday morning, Chase and Daddy went to church. Chase said he saw one of his classmates Lorelei there. Nanaw still wants to figure out how to get her Black Forest cake recipe from the class recipe project. During the day Chase played on his X-Box and did homework. His homework consisted of finishing his China map for geography and doing an English packet about a short story. He also did his AR reading. His book is Go Jump in the Pool by Gordon Korman. Nanaw looked it up on Amazon and it cost $126 because it’s out of print and so rare. Nanaw is not going to buy it! She can get it for $11 at Thrift Books so she’s going buy it there. She also bought the book Diper Overlode so that she gets free shipping. Chase and Mama worked together to make stir fry for dinner. Nanaw sat in the kitchen with them and watched. In addition to doing things on the recipe, Chase was in charge of reading the recipe. The whole thing was very entertaining. Nanaw texted Mama saying how cute they were cooking together. Mama texted back that Chase said that it might have been the best-tasting ever.

Saturday, January 10, 2026

Saturday night was Mama's birthday dinner. Chase had hockey practice in the late afternoon so he and Daddy got back at about 5:45. Uncle Mike and Aunt /Becky got to Chase's house before 5:30, and Nanaw got there right at 5:30. As soon as everybody was ready, they left for Joe Boccardi's. Sweet Chase suggested that Nanaw get in Daddy's truck where Chase usually sits because then she wouldn't have to  try to get in so close to the basketball hoop. At th restaurant, Nanaw ordered some fried mozzarella sticks as an appetizer, which she shared with Chase, Mama and Daddy. Instead of stuffed mushrooms, Uncle Mike and Aunt Becky got chicken strips for an appetizer. Nanaw got a Caesar salad, Chase got ravioli with meat sauce, Mama got pizza, Daddy got past con broccoli, Uncle Mike got vodka chicken, and Aunt Becky got a beef dinner. Dinner cost $150.00 plus a $30.00 tip. Mama said next year, they might go somewhere else because it was so crowded and so loud there. They went back to Chase's house afterwards for presents and cake and ice cream. Uncle Mike and Aunt Becky got Mama a large plastic Jack and a painting of Jack and Sally. Mama made a cherry chip cake to make up for the one that was discontinued cake by Betty Crocker. Nanaw only had one bite because of the gluten thing. The cherry chocolate ice cream was really good. Chase and Mama showed Nanaw and Uncle Mike the retro graphics of the Atari computer games Mama and Chase were so delighted with. 

Friday, January 9, 2026

Mama had the day off on Friday, and she told Nanaw it was going to be a day when she did nothing or almost nothing. She reported to Nanaw that she took Sylvester for two walks, did a load of laundry and watched a lot of TV. She also played Atari on her new little TV. Nanaw had lunch with Debbie and Anne at Miller’s on Main Street, and she had a half Caesar salad and a cup of French onion soup — it was yummy delicious. On the way home from school, Chase told Mama and Nanaw a very bad thing happened at school today. They announced the new phone policy and procedure and punishment. Chase said everybody was mad and upset about the policy. Mama tried to tell Chase it was the same thing he was already doing but he still was upset. To Nanaw's understanding, the only different thing was that instead of keeping their phones turned off in their lockers was that they'd have to put them in pouches turned off in the classroom.  He had. hockey in the evening and both Mama and Daddy both went. After school, Chase didn’t have any homework so he played on his phone and played pencil hockey.

Thursday, January 8, 2026

Mama had the day off from work for her birthday so she took Chase to school. He didn't have any tests today or any homework to turn in. Mama and Nanaw went shopping: to Walmart to buy a small Roku TV for Mama's office for her and Chase to play X-Box and Playstation on and to Hallmark to spend her birthday discount from them. They had Mama's birthday lunch at Tequila. Mama had a major nacho dish and Nanaw had taquitos. When Nanaw picked Chase up from school, he said he didn't have any homework except to study for Friday's Christmas Carol test. Nanaw told him that he'd gotten a 70 on one of the Christmas Carol worksheets so that brought his reading grade down to a B+ from an A-. Chase and Nanaw gathered up all the worksheets, and study guides they could find, and Nanaw quizzed Chase on all the material. They studied a lot for the Christmas Carol test, and Chase knew a good amount so hopefully he'll do okay on the test. He had baseball practice tonight so he probably wasn’t going to do any more studying. Saturday night is Mama's birthday dinner at Joe Boccardi's and Chase and Nanaw are looking forward to that.

Wednesday, January 7, 2026

On Wednesday morning, Nanaw reminded Chase to turn in his vocab packet and Christmas Carol worksheet, plus a couple of permission slips. She wished him good luck on his science test and thanked him for studying last night. When Nanaw picked him up from school, she asked about how the science test was and he said okay. He said he wouldn’t get an A on it but he think he passed. He said there were some questions on the test about stuff that he hadn't studied. He was happy that he didn’t have any homework. He played knee hockey and that other game he plays with pens, pencils, etc. and ping pong balls. He had his healthy snack followed by his unhealthy snack with lots of candy. He wanted to use Nanaw’s math book because his had fallen apart. But then he decided it was a different book and he couldn’t use it. So Nanaw will check it out next time Chase has his math book. Mama is off from work tomorrow for her birthday and Friday to do absolutely nothing so she is going to take Chase to school both days. Tomorrow morning Mama is going to get her engagement ring cleaned, then she's going to come pick up Nanaw. First, they're going to Walmart (Nanaw doesn't know which one, Telegraph Road or Waterloo) for Mama to buy a little Roku TV like Chase has in his bedroom. Mama wants to put it on the table in the office and attach an Xbox and Playstation on it. Then, they're going to Tequila for lunch, where Mama will get a fried ice cream from them for her birthday. Nanaw looked at the menu to find something gluten free, and she selected Taquitos Mexicanos. (2 rolled corn tortillas stuffed with a choice of chopped beef, seasoned ground beef or shredded chicken. Then deep-fried. Served with lettuce, guacamole, sour cream, and pico de gallo.)

Sunday, January 4, Monday, January 5, and Tuesday, January 6, 2026

Chase and Mama worked on a a school project on Sunday evening. Everybody in both classes had the assignment of making a recipe from a different country or a different part of the USA. Chase chose Miso Ramen from Japan. During the Christmas break, Chase and Mama went shopping at World Market and Trader Joe's to get all the international ingredients they needed for the recipe. Chase did the grating and chopping and a lot of the other work. Nanaw came over to watch and that was a lot of fun for her. Chase was very excited about the project. They all had the Miso Ramen for dinner, and it was a success. Nanaw only ate a couple of bites because the Ramen noodles have gluten in them, and she's trying to avoid gluten. Chase read a list to Mama and Nanaw of what his classmates had chosen to make, and there were some interesting sounding recipes. On Monday morning, Chase took the crockpot with the Miso Ramen into the garden level at church. That was where they were going to have the big tasting event. Nanaw went along with him to open the door. She got to say hello to the teacher, Mrs. T. and tell her what fun Chase and his mom had had making the recipe. Nanaw also told Mrs. T. that her favorite-sounding recipe was Lorelei's black forest cake, and Mrs. T. agreed. Mama sent Nanaw a picture from the school Facebook page of Chase and his friends (the crew) sitting around a table and trying out the food and rating what they were eating. When Nanaw picked Chase up from school, he told how much fun the project was and how he was still full. He told Nanaw there was only one dish he didn't like but he didn't tell her what it was. On Tuesday, Chase had lots of homework. Wednesday is the last day of the quarter so the teachers are trying to get in additional grades. The main thing Chase had to study for was a final exam in science, covering six chapters. He brought home the science books to study from. They could only find two of the past six science tests so they decided to concentrate on the study guides in the books. They got through studying the six chapters, and Nanaw instructed Chase to go over them again Tuesday night, and he said okay. He also has to finish his vocabulary assignment that's due tomorrow and turn in the worksheet for chapter 4 of the Christmas Carol. So far he has all A's and A-'s as his final grades. The A-'s are in reading, science and religion.