Tuesday, September 22, 2026

On Tuesday morning, Chase did his studying for today’s Math test, just as he promised he would. When Nanaw picked Chase up from school, it turned out that they had a nice talk about a lot of different things, something very unusual for the noncommunicative Chase. Nanaw asked him how the Math test went, and he said he didn’t think anyone finished the test because it was a really long one. He said he started working on the last problem on the test but didn’t finish. Except for that, he said he thinks he did pretty well on the test. He doesn’t have any homework that’s due tomorrow. He just has a Civics assignment and that’s due on Thursday. The Civics assignment is a list of questions that they have to answer with six sentences each, which he complained about. Nanaw said maybe the teacher was trying to keep them from giving him or her one-word answers. Next, he told Nanaw that for dinner last night Mama made chicken nuggets that were really good. Then, Chase looked at the lunch menu that’s kept in the car, and Chase was happy to see they were having Bosco Sticks tomorrow.  Those are cheese-filled bread sticks. They had them on the day Chase shadowed at Gibault, and he liked them a lot so Nanaw thinks they may have influenced him to choose Gibault. Nanaw suggested Chase look them up online to see if Schnuck’s had them. He did and they did so Nanaw and Chase went to Schnuck’s and bought a package. Chase fixed three of them, with a bit of help from Nanaw. Chase had two, and Nanaw had one. Nanaw had a jar of spaghetti sauce so she opened it for them to dip their bread sticks in, and it was really yummy. As an additional after-school snack, Chase also had some of the small round pretzels Mama bought for him.

Monday, September 21, 2026

Nanaw didn’t get to see her friend Debbie when she picked Chase up from school because Debby’s grandson Brady had golf after school. Chase remembered to bring home the spirit wear Mama had bought; spirit wear means clothes with Gibault’s name on them. On the pick-up call with Mama, Chase asked her if she could check how much money was in his lunch account. Mama said she’d checked the other day, and they were down $4 so she put $200 in the account. Chase had been getting extra food at lunch and was worried that there wasn’t enough money in the account and was happy that Mama had put money in. Chase told Nanaw that his only homework was studying for a math test tomorrow. So because it’s a test not a quiz, Nanaw gets to study with him. On his own, he came up with the idea of doing one practice problem from each of the eight chapters they were going to be tested on. Nanaw wanted him to do the same thing tonight but he proposed a compromise: He would play a game with Mama tonight and then do the math problems in the morning before school. Nanaw agreed with the compromise as long as Chase promised to play a game with Mama tonight. But that didn’t go so well. Chase suggested to Mama that they go downstairs and play one of the games on the Wii. But Mama said her back hurt and she didn’t feel 100% so the game didn’t happen. Tomorrow, Nanaw will suggest that Chase play a card or board game with Mama!

Saturday, September 19, and Sunday, September 20, 2026

Chase had two baseball games on Saturday, and unfortunately, they lost both of them. But Mama said Chase had a nice double so that made up for it. After the game, Mama, Daddy and Chase went to Wally’s with Tucker and his parents, sort of a weekly tradition for them after baseball. They had Wally’s stuff for dinner – Chase and Mama had pizza, and Chase had some junk food snacks. On Sunday, the Bears lost again, (Mama said they lost pretty badly) and all Chase had was just a walk. Nanaw has a theory that they may be playing baseball teams who are a level above them because they lose so many of their games. But Chase doesn’t seem to mind and seems to still really enjoy playing baseball, and that’s really all that matters.) Mama said that after they got home from baseball, Chase hadn’t done much. She said they talked about playing a card game later but that didn’t happen. For some reason, Chase didn’t want to play a game after dinner. 

Thursday, September 17, and Friday, September 18, 2026

On Thursday, Chase had a special adventure at Gibault. His friend Hunter was going to shadow Chase at school. Shadowing is a program at Gibault where prospective students shadow existing students to get an idea of what the school is like. Last year when Chase was in 8th grade, he shadowed Dante, a Gibault student he’s known from ICS. From Chase’s shadowing experience, he decided he wanted to attend Gibault. Hunter is currently a student at Columbia High School, and no one seems to know if he’s interested in attending Gibault. Brady, Chase and Hunter’s friend from ICS, suggested that Hunter was doing the shadowing just to get out of a day at school, and chase and Brady laughed about that. Nanaw gave Hunter and Brady rides home from school Thursday with Chase. Hunter’s dad couldn’t come to pick him up, and Brady’s grandma wasn’t feeling well and couldn’t take him to the Columbia library. So Nanaw dropped Brady off at the library, then took Hunter and Chase to Chase’s house. Mama took Hunter home, then Nanaw took Chase to hockey practice. He also had baseball practice on Thursday. Nanaw dropped off his Minecraft clothes backpack just as he and Mama were leaving for baseball practice so Nanaw got to see him in his baseball uniform. Friday was an Enrichment Friday for Chase, and he didn’t have school. He and Daddy went golfing around 9:30 at River Lakes Golf Club. At about 11, Chase texted Nanaw asking her to come pick him up. She texted back that she wasn’t dressed yet and didn’t know where the golf course was. She said maybe Mama could come pick him up and then Nanaw would come to his house and get him. So that’s what they did. He told Nanaw that after 9 holes, he didn’t feel well, and that’s why he wanted to come home. On the the way back to Nanaw’s house, Chase showed her where River Lakes is so next time she’ll know where to go. It’s right across from Garden Place. Chase said he’d changed his mind about going to Taco Bell and then doing Pizza Bread because he still didn’t feel well. He just wanted to go back to Nanaw’s house and have something else for lunch. He had Ramen’s and then a snack later. He did his homework as Mama had instructed. He had a Math assignment where he had to turn formulas into equations. He also had to study an English assignment about nouns and also appositives; Nanaw learned about appositives, a new word and concept to her. Chase then helped Nanaw solve a set of algebra equations from his Math assignments. He played on the laptop and on his phone and did some pretend practice golf in his room with the plastic golf clubs from when he was little and his hockey net.

Wednesday, September 16, 2025

Today was Grandparents Day at Chase’s high school. Nanaw got a hug from Mr. G when she went into the gymnasium. Chase and his friend Brady came into the gym to find Brady’s grandparents and Chase’s Nanaw to sit with them during the mass. After the mass, Chase and Nanaw went out into the lobby for yummy donuts. Then they went back into the gym to have their picture taken. Gibault is going to mail the pictures to the grandparents as a special memento. Next, Chase took Nanaw on a tour of his classrooms, locker and also the library. Nanaw enjoyed seeing where Chase goes to class. On Nanaw’s way out of the school, she met up with Darlene, a friend she’d worked with at A. G Edwards. Darlene now volunteers as a math tutor at Gibault two days a week. Chase told Nanaw that his friend Hunter, who goes to Columbia High School, was coming to Gibault tomorrow to shadow Chase. That means that Hunter goes to class with Chase and learns how things work at Gibault. Chase doesn’t know if that means Hunter is interested in going to Gibault. Chase says he’s looking forward to seeing Hunter and doing the shadowing thing. After school, Chase studied for his Drivers’ Ed test by himself, and then he and Nanaw studied together for his Biology test. He promised to read over the Biology packet again in the evening. Chase and Nanaw’s plans for Enrichment Friday are changing because Chase and Daddy are going to play golf but they can do their lunch and pizza bread plans some other Enrichment Friday.

Tuesday, September 15, 2026

On Tuesday, students were to be dropped off at the gym parking lot rather than the front lot because work was being done there. Chase and Nanaw weren’t sure about where to go but it all worked out. When Nanaw picked Chase up, she had parked next to Brady’s grandma, and they visited a while. Chase had texted to see if Nanaw was there, and she texted back, giving him her location. Evidently Life360 said she was still at home. Mama said she thought that was because Nanaw had Life360 on her iPad in addition to her iPhone, and the iPad was showing her at home. So Nanaw closed Life360 on her iPad, and hopefully that will solve the problem. Chase also texted Nanaw that he would get to show her around his classrooms tomorrow at the grandparents day after the mass. So Nanaw will be a little late to tomorrow’s church meeting. After school, Chase had an ortho appointment at 3:15, and they made it in plenty of time. Chase and Nanaw asked about when Chase would have his braces off, and Chase thinks they said next March. Chase did his math homework at Nanaw’s and was going to do his civics homework tonight at home. On the way, Chase and Nanaw saw huge double rainbows, and Chase took a bunch of photos. He sent two of them to her so she could include them on Days. On 9/11, Mama posted the Clydesdale 9/11 tribute video on her Facebook page, and she helped Nanaw figure out how to post it here:  Clydesdale Video

Monday, September 14, 2026

When Chase and Mama got to Nanaw’s house Monday morning, Mama said she wasn’t feeling good at all and was going to take the afternoon off to try to sleep and feel better. Then they told her that Mama had set up an Instagram account for Chase last night. Nanaw was a bit concerned about it because she believes social media accounts are not good for kids. Mama said it would be all right and that she would monitor it. Nanaw decided to follow Chase on Instagram, and he said he would help her do that after school. He also promised to show her how to look at his Schoology account after school. On the way home from school in the afternoon, Chase said he had Italian chicken for lunch and that it was good. Nanaw was surprised; the other entrée option was hot dogs, and Nanaw assumed that’s what he would choose. Mama texted Nanaw about parking at Gibault for Tuesday and Wednesday. They’re going to be doing some work on the front lot and driveways so everyone has to do the drop-offs and pick-ups at the gym lot. After school, Chase showed her how to log on to his Schoology account and how to see his courses. Right now, the only one Nanaw is interested in is Math. She wants to try to keep up with his Math assignments, quizzes and tests. After Schoology, Chase showed her how to do Instagram and how to follow other users. Chase had a workout tonight at 6 p.m. so they had to have Chase home by 5 p.m. so he had enough time to eat dinner. 

Saturday, September 12, and Sunday, September 13, 2026

On Saturday, Mama reported that Chase was sad that because of his pulled muscle, he didn’t get to go to Songs for Soldiers on Friday night. He was especially sorry he missed seeing his friends Brady, Drew and Hunter. On Friday, Mama posted a 9/11 video on her Facebook page featuring the Clydesdales commercial that honored 9/11 and was shown during the Super Bowl. It was beautiful and sad. Mama said Chase’s Bears team lost both of their games on Saturday, and he said it was really hot. Mama went to a surprise birthday party for her friend Theresa, and Theresa was so surprised and happy to see her friends. On Sunday, Chase’s team lost 13 to 0. On the way home, they stopped at Wally’s – sort of a tradition when they play in Fenton. When they got home, Chase started working on his homework. In the evening, Chase sent Nanaw a text saying Happy Grandparents Day. Nanaw assumed that Mama reminded him to do that but that’s okay. Nanaw enjoys getting texts from Chase even when they aren’t his idea. On Wednesday, Gibault is having a Grandparents’ mass at 10 a.m., and Nanaw plans to go. Last week, when Nanaw asked Chase to print some things from Schoology, Chase said it would be easier just to give her access to it, and he promised to show her on Monday. So Nanaw is looking forward to that. She thought he might eventually give her permission, and he did!

Friday, September 11, 2026

On Friday morning, Nanaw asked Chase about hockey practice. He said it wasn’t as bad as he’d expected. He said the coaches were good and the team was good. He said there were about 20 boys and three of them were goalies. It turned out that number 95 was already taken so Chase’s number is 87. He’s going to check out the Illinois ice rinks to see if Nanaw would be able to come watch him play. Unfortunately, when Nanaw picked Chase up from school, he said that he’d somehow pulled a muscle in his leg, and he didn’t think he could go  to hockey practice. He looked it up online and texted Daddy that ice skating could be bad for a pulled muscle. However, when he got home, Mama and Daddy said he was going to hockey practice. If he couldn’t practice, he should tell the coach, and Mama was coming early so she could take him home, if necessary. He stayed for practice but was really sore when he got home, and he didn’t go to Songs for Soldiers with Mama. 

Thursday, September 10, 2026

Uncle Mike came to visit today and to do laundry. Their washer isn’t working so Uncle Mike and Aunt Becky are being creative about doing their laundry. So far, they’ve used cousin Nichole’s washer, the washer and dryer at the tutoring organization where Aunt Becky is the associate director, and Nanaw’s house. Mama said if she’d known about their problem, they could have done laundry at her house Sunday at her Labor Day party. When Nanaw picked Chase up from school, he told Nanaw he had a problem but he also had a solution. He said he had Math homework that’s due tomorrow but he has no time to do it. His solution is very involved but the bottom line is that the teacher doesn’t look at homework till a flex day, which in this case is next Wednesday. Both Mama and Nanaw tried to convince him to try to get it done for tomorrow but had no luck. He also had to do another drawing for Art class, and Mama said he got that done. Today was his first practice with his new hockey team. Daddy took him to practice as soon as Nanaw brought him home from school. Tomorrow Nanaw will take him to practice, and Daddy will pick him up. Today after hockey practice, Daddy took him home for dinner and then took him to baseball practice. He didn’t get home till ten so he had a really long day. Nanaw asked Mama if he said anything about hockey practice or his new coaches and team but she said he didn’t. nanaw will ask him about it tomorrow and see what he says. Mama sent Nanaw the first picture below from 10 years ago of Chase and Sam out at the little house.

Wednesday, September 9, 2026

For lunch on Wednesday, Chase chose the corn dog entrée; the other entrée was sloppy joes, which he also likes so Nanaw supposes it was a tough choice for him. After school, Chase had a haircut scheduled with Brittany for 3:30. Nanaw tried to drive slowly and even went around the block because they were really early; they got there at 3:15. Chase was all in favor of getting there early in case Brittany finished early, which she did, so he was right. Nanaw scheduled the next hair cut for 3:15. For homework, Chase had Math, Biology and Drivers’ Ed. He worked on the Math because Biology and Drivers’ Ed aren’t due till Friday. He did try to start on the Biology but got a message that submissions are blocked so he’ll have to find out tomorrow what to do about that. He finished his Math homework and left his notebook here, saying he was too lazy to put it in his backpack. Chase has his first hockey practice tomorrow, and Nanaw is supposed to take him home right after school to change clothes and get his hockey equipment so Daddy can take him to practice at the Meramec Skating Rink. Then on Friday, anaw will take him. They’ll do the same thing of going right to Chase’s house and then to the skating rink. From now on, Nanaw will take him to hockey practice on Thursday and Friday, and Mama or Daddy will pick him up when it’s over.

Tuesday, September 8, 2026

Tuesday was an exciting day for Nanaw because Chase was going to have a sleepover on Tuesday night. Mama and Daddy are going to the Foo Fighters/ACDC concert at the Dome tonight, and Chase was going to spend the night at Nanaw’s house. After school, Chase did his homework: studying for a Drivers’ Ed quiz and completing his Biology packet. Nanaw asked if she could see the packet, and to her surprise, he said yes. Chase has been saying he’s in high school and he’s independent, and he’s not been sharing his schoolwork with Mama or Nanaw. So this was a breakthrough! He did what Nanaw thought was a great job on the packet. His printing has improved enormously and is very readable. From what Nanaw knows about Biology, his answers seemed correct and well-written. Nanaw is looking forward to seeing what grade he gets on it. At five, Nanaw took Chase home to see Mama and Daddy before they left for the concert. At 5:40, Chase and Nanaw left to go to Chase’s workout. While Chase was in the workout, Nanaw went to Taco Bell to get her Crunch Wrap Supreme for dinner. After the workout, they went to the Columbia Sonic to get Chase’s dinner: two pretzel twists, an order of onion rings, and a strawberry lemonade. After dinner, Chase played video games on Nanaw’s laptop, and Nanaw watched TV. Nanaw forgot to take a picture of Chase so she used a past picture with Chase in his red shirt because he wore one of his red uniform shirts to school. 

Saturday, September 5, Sunday, September 6, and Monday, September 7 (Labor Day!)

Saturday was a quiet day at Chase’s house, with Mama and Daddy getting ready for their Labor Day party on Sunday. Mama did the grocery shopping at Schnuck’s in the morning and said she saw one lonely can of cherry chip icing on the shelf, and she bought it! Chase worked for a long time on his homework (Yay for Chase!), hit some baseballs, helped Mama move the games and toys back upstairs from downstairs. They’d moved them downstairs when the new floor was installed. After that, he had some screen time. He also sorted through some toys downstairs. Later, he and Mama played some Wii, and Mama said she didn’t play too well. Sunday was Mama and Daddy’s Labor Day party. Chase was so excited and happy that cousin Elias was coming. They ended up spending almost six hours together -- the whole party they were stuck to one another like glue. They spent most of their time together downstairs playing video games on the big screen TV. Most of the games were golf, a game that both of them play a lot. For awhile, they went up to the garage because Daddy had set up ping pong and other games out there. Nanaw went downstairs to visit Chase and Elias and took pictures of them. Guests included lots of Daddy’s cousins and his Uncle Will-Bill, plus Uncle Mike and Aunt Becky, cousins Nichole, Jon Jon, Kris, Rob, Joey and Julia, Hudson and Nyeal. It was fun talking to everyone. Unfortunately, Lindsey and Dylan couldn’t come. They have a new kitty named Butterscotch. Butter for short. Rob told his family about a first date he recently went on. Mama and cousin Kris went for a walk over in the park to see the new bridge they built. On Monday, Labor Day, Mama and Chase went to the ICS picnic around noon, even though Chase said he didn’t want to go. But he heard that his good friend Hunter was going to be there so he agreed to go. Mama wanted to stay for Bingo with Michelle, and Daddy was going to come pick Chase up. He discovered that Hunter wasn’t there, and Chase was crabby about that. So Mama stayed with him instead of playing Bingo. But then Hunter came, and Mama spent time with Becky and Michelle, and Chase went around with Hunter. Mama and the girls went to play Bingo but Chase wanted to go home so they left. Mama was really hot so she was fine with that. 

Friday, September 4, 2026

Chase and Mama both had the day off on Friday. Mama took the day off to clean the house for the Labor Day party and to have an adventure with Chase. For Chase, it was his first Enrichment Friday at Gibault, which means a day off to do whatever you think is best. The first thing Mama and Chase did was to deliver the blankets and comforters Mama is donating to Helping Strays. Mama was careful to not visit with any dogs. Next, they picked up Nanaw for their planned shopping trip and lunch. They decided to go to lunch first because it was almost 11:30 a.m. So their first stop was Arby’s. Chase and Mama had roast beef and cheddar cheese sandwiches on onion buns, along with potato cakes. Nanaw had a chicken sandwich with potato cakes. Next, they went to Costco. Mama had just renewed their membership, and Chase and Mama wanted to look around. Chase wanted to see if Costco had any golf equipment but they were never able to find the sports equipment area. At Target, Chase found the exact large red notebook he wanted for Math class. He also found some yellow golf balls he wanted to buy. Mama dropped Chase off at Nanaw’s house and said she’d pick him up at 3:30. He was going golfing with Brady and Drew at the River Lakes golf course at 4:30., and Mama was going to drop him off. 

Thursday, September 3, 2026

Everybody reminded Nanaw that Chase had an early dismissal of 2:20 p.m. today (Mama, Chase and Brady’s grandma were the everybody). It was really hot (101 degrees) so Brady’s grandma and Nanaw walked over to the shade while they waited for the boys. Tomorrow is the first Enrichment Friday. Chase has quite a full day planned. The first thing is that at 10 a.m. he and Mama are going to Helping Strays to drop off some blankets and comforters for the dogs. Then they’re picking up Nanaw and going to Target to get at least one large notebook for Chase – a red one for math. He said that’s probably the only notebook he needs because he’s going to try typing notes in his other classes on the laptop. They might go to Costco because Chase wants to. Then they’ll go to lunch at Arby’s. Nanaw is going to get a chicken sandwich and potato cakes. She’ll report tomorrow what Chase and Mama ordered. After lunch, Mama will take Chase and Nanaw back to Nanaw’s house, and she’ll go home to work on cleaning the house for the picnic on Sunday. Chase and Nanaw will then go to Telegraph Road Schnuck’s to get the ingredients to make pizza bread. They’ll need bread, pizza sauce and pepperoni. Nana has lots of shredded mozzarella that they can use. Chase is excited about making the pizza bread, and he’s going to make sure to make some for Mama. At 4:30 on Friday, Chase is going to the River Lakes golf course with Brady and Drew. After school today, Chase emailed Nanaw his two Math homework assignments, and she printed them so she can work on them, too. Chase told  Nanaw that he got his Math test score: he said he got an 89, a high B and just one point away from an A. But he was happy about it because his previous score was 84, a low B. He also promised Nanaw (with a pinky swear) that he would do a Python lesson tomorrow -- he hasn't done one since school started.

Wednesday, September 2, 2026

On the way to school Wednesday morning, Chase told Nanaw he would have time to study more for the Math test during one of his open mods today (a mod is what they call class time). Nanaw had lunch with Uncle Doug and Aunt Rita today at The Public House restaurant in Ballwin and updated him on all the grandkids. She had a yummy quesadilla. When Nanaw picked Chase up from school, he said he liked the cheeseburger he had for lunch. He thought he did a good job on the Math test and that all the things he’d studied had been on the test. His only homework was to draw a picture in the sketchbook for his Drawing class. This time he was supposed to draw an object, and he chose the rock he got at the retreat yesterday. He said it was really hard to draw the rock. He had told Nanaw it was a geode with crystals inside. It was really hot outside today – the thermometer in the Bronco said it was 101. Chase had a workout at five p.m. today, and Nanaw hoped that they got to do it in the air-conditioned part of the building instead of the part with just fans. 

Tuesday, September 1, 2026

On Tuesday morning, Nanaw reminded Chase about his pinky-swear promise yesterday that they would study for Wednesday’s Math test after school on Tuesday, and he agreed. When Mama brought Chase over to Nanaw’s house, she told Nanaw that she and Daddy were going to the AC/DC concert at the Dome next Tuesday. She said she had wanted to invite Nanaw to go because Nanaw likes AC/DC so much but knew Nanaw would have trouble managing the long walk and climbing up to the seats. Nanaw was sad about that but knew that Mama was right. So Nanaw got out her AC/DC CDs and played one of them on the ride to school, much to Chase’s dislike. She also did the following post on Facebook:

“Ellen and Will are going to the AC/DC concert next week at the Dome. So Nanaw dug out her AC/DC CDs to play on the drive to Gibault, much to Chase's dismay. He also disapproved of Nanaw dancing in the driver's seat. Best drive to school ever!” 

Today was the daylong retreat at Valmeyer for the Gibault freshman class. When Nanaw picked Chase up from school, she asked how the retreat was, and Chase said it was good. He said they played games, heard speakers (teachers and students from Gibault), went outside for recess where he played wiffle ball, and ended up going to church in Valmeyer. When they got to Nanaw’s house, Chase did his Civics homework. Then he and Nanaw studied for Wednesday’s Math test, as he promised they would do. When they started studying, Nanaw reminded Chase to go back over the test and make sure he had done all the problems. (On the quiz two weeks ago, he forgot to do one of the problems.) She also reminded him about going back to check his work if he had time. They studied his notes from class on evaluating expressions and equations, writing word problems algebraically, and naming the set or sets to which a group of numbers belonged. He seemed to understand most of the material and promised to go over his notes again tonight and during his free time tomorrow.