Monday, August 20, 2018

When Nanaw came to pick up Chase Monday morning, he invited her to go along with him and Mama to the Columbia Library around 5 p.m. to get a library card for him. His first grade class is going to walk to the library Friday and check out books. In fact, they're going to the library every Friday. When Nanaw took Chase to school, half the lights were out in the classroom. No parents or grandparents were in there, and the boys and girls were sitting at their tables, working on something. It was rather eerie, much different than the chaos of kindergarten last year. Nanaw quickly left the room in case she wasn't supposed to take Chase inside. After school, Chase and Nanaw played in his room with his Lego and ROBLOX figures. Chase went looking for Tee Tee and found him lying on Pawpaw's bed with Sidney Crosby the Cat on top of him. So of course Nanaw took a picture. When Nanaw took Chase home, Chase, Mama and Nanaw went to the Columbia Library. Mama renewed her library card and got a card for Chase. At the library, they saw Cole from Chase's class and Cole's Mama. They also saw Hunter and his Mama and Amelie and her Mama. Everybody was there getting library cards for first grade. Chase's teacher sent information about homework; first grade is going to be really hard. Nanaw hopes Chase likes it.

Sunday, August 19, 2018

 Mama said Chase and Daddy went out to Wentzville to visit Grandma Pat on Sunday afternoon. Nanaw came to visit Chase about 4 o'clock on Sunday. Mama was getting ready to go out to dinner with some out of town work friends when Nanaw got there so Nanaw got to visit with her for a little while. Chase and Nanaw played lots of soccer in the hall with Chase's nets. He brought a softer soccer ball upstairs so it was easier to play. At one of the half time breaks, they went into Chase's room and /Chase and Nanaw read one of his library books: Pete the Cat: Pet Gets a Pet (he got a goldfish named Goldie). At another half time break from soccer, they played with his baseball Lego guys. When they were done playing soccer, Chase decided he wanted to play with his Play Dough. So Daddy got out two huge bins of Play Dough and Play Dough toys. Chase and Nanaw played with the Play Dough for a long time. They each made a snowman, and Nanaw sent a picture of their snowmen to Mama. Chase had the idea to use black Play Dough to make a top hat like Frosty's for his snowman so Nanaw did too.

Saturday, August 18, 2018

Nanaw went over early on Saturday morning because Chase had a soccer game. He danced around in his soccer uniform for Nanaw, and she took pictures. He looked very cool in the blue and white shirt, blue shorts, blue sock and blue cleats. Daddy put Chase's shoes on him, which made Mama happy because he shoes are hard to put on. The soccer game was in Belleville. It turned out that the Belleville first grade hockey team had some second graders on the team who were really good players. So unfortunately, Chase's team lost the soccer game 10 - 2. But they played well, with heart. Chase got a little upset because they lost the game and because when he was goalie, he allowed one goal. But eventually he was okay. When Nanaw left, he gave her Rooster to spend the weekend with her at the little house. Nanaw took pictures of Rooster and sent them to Mama to show to Chase. He was excited about Saturday evening because his friend little Will was coming for a visit with his parents Uncle Chris and Auntie LaLa. Uncle Mike and Aunt Becky came also. Daddy grilled marinated chicken and Mama made mac and cheese in the crockpot, salad and cheesecake. Little Will's family stayed till midnight, and Chase stayed up till then. He and little Will jumped on the trampoline and played Chase's hockey game. Mama says Chase had a wonderful time.

Friday, August 17, 2018

When Mama brought Chase to Nanaw's house Friday morning, they were talking about slimy, yucky slugs, which made Chase want to play with his slime. He got out all the slime and played with it on the kitchen counter while watching Chase TV. Chase took his water bottle from Safety Town but he got his new water bottle, made by Sami's mother, and purchased by Mama. Nanaw still hasn't seen the new girl in Chase's class; he says they call her Evie. Nanaw bought Chase a back to school present: ROBLOX figures. She also bought some red dish towels for Mama as a no reason at all present. When Chase got home from school, he and Nanaw played with the ROBLOX figures in his room. Chase had soccer practice at 5:30 so Nanaw got him home at 5. The weather was nice rather than as hot and humid as it was during the day. Chase seemed to have fun at practice, and he's definitely excited about having his first soccer game Saturday morning; it's in Belleville.

Happy First Day of First Grade! Thursday, August 16, 2018

Today was Chase's first day of first grade. He was excited about going back to school and seeing his friends. Mama took pictures of him and posted them on Facebook. Nanaw took pictures, too. Chase was so cute sitting at his table and looking around at everything. Mama had him stand between Brady and Emmalynn to take pictures. The new girl at his table, Evelyn, wasn't there yet. After school, Mama and Nanaw asked Chase about Evelyn, and he said she was there and that everybody calls her Evie not Evelyn. After school, Nanaw took Chase to his house to go to the bathroom before they went to Florissant. Mama and Nanaw questioned Chase about school but didn't learn all that much. Here's what they learned: He only went to the bathroom once. He said they ate their snacks at recess. They wrote numbers from 1 to 50, filling in the blanks. They did some addition but no subtraction. He wouldn't tell us who he played with at recess. Next, Chase and Nanaw went to Florissant to pick up Nanaw's ring. Chase didn't want to go to the Waldo library. They took the confluence way home because traffic was really bad on 270. Chase liked seeing the confluence so this was a good choice.

Wednesday, August 15, 2018

Mama took the day off from work to celebrate Chase's last day of summer vacation and the day before he starts first grade. (BTW, he told Mama he might like his new teacher, Mrs. Neff, better than Mrs. Herrmann -- Nanaw doesn’t think that's possible.) The adventure for the day was a visit to Powder Valley. It was a rainy day but Chase still climbed up on Mr. Frog and posed for pictures. Their first stop was at the big snake display, which are not Nanaw's favorites. Then they visited the tree frogs, the tarantula, the minnows and the turtles. They went into the room with the puppets and played with those for a while. They also said Hello to Mr. Salamander. The main of the day was doing the Powder Valley scavenger hunt with Mama. Chase and Nanaw helped a little, but Mama did really well on her own. Next, they went for a walk on the Tanglevine Trail. It was raining a little so Chase said it was like a rain forest -- we don't know how he knows about a rain forest. After Powder Valley, they went to Schnuck's and then to the Telegraph Road library. Chase found another Waldo book, and Mama found some dog books and a Pete the Cat for him. Then they went to Walmart. Chase and Mama couldn't decide what they wanted for lunch, and Nanaw went home. Later, Mama told Nanaw they had Burger King for lunch. In the evening, Mama, Daddy and Chase went to the Columbia McDonald's for dinner. Then they met Nanaw at Marie's Ice Cream shop to celebrate Chase going back to school. Mama and Nanaw had hot fudge sundaes; Chase had mint chocolate chip ice cream; Daddy had chocolate bear tracks ice cream in a waffle cone. Nanaw and Chase played checkers, and Chase won. A good time was had by all.

Tuesday, August 14, 2018

Chase and Nanaw had an exciting adventure on Tuesday, one of his last summer vacation days before school starts. They went to Chase's favorite place for adventures: The Magic House! When they got there, Nanaw renewed her Magic House membership. Because Chase and Nanaw go there so much, it's the bigger bargain in town for them. At first, because they were there early, there weren't many people around, which is the way Chase likes it. The first place they went was the Lego car race area, always one of Chase's favorite places to go. There was a group of boys around Chase's age and that delighted him. He likes where there are other boys to play with. He ended up staying there at the Legos for almost an hour. By the time, he decided to move on, it had become crowded, which is not Chase's favorite thing. They went to the car repair shop, the bank, the library, the science areas upstairs, the ball areas upstairs, the trains, Kenya and the government rooms on the lower level. When they got home, they played with the Ultimate Garage in Chase's room, and then Chase played abcmouse on the computer. Uncle Mike came to Nanaw's to cut the grass, and Chase impressed him with how good he is at math.