We had much to celebrate this week! Our friend Annmarie turned 28! Our party with her on Thursday was "so special" (as she is fond of saying). 💖 We also celebrated our 8th year (in April) of collaboration with Eaton! 👏 Many of our friends from the plant came over for a big luncheon on Wednesday. The rest of the week found us bowling on Tuesday and at Eaton for a Friday work day. So much to celebrate, and so much for which to be thankful.
Tuesday, March 5
Bowling days are so much fun, and with our full house, there is a lot going on. Today we welcomed Cameron for a visit, too. We got some pictures, but mostly we enjoyed each other's company, and all the great bowling that was taking place!
Everyone waits for their turns patiently, chatting with friends about who knows what?!
Something had Alexis, Beka, and Michelle smiling...maybe it was just the camera!
Kevin and Bryan looked like they butted heads while getting their balls, but they didn't!
Erik, Sam, and Devin were excited about their scores!
Abraham got a high five from Mallory after two strikes in a row! Mallory bowled with the gang today and they enjoyed playing with her!
Emma was happy with a strike, too!
Michelle, Beka, and Lexi said "hi" to Wendy, who was down on Lane 23 bowling with her league.
Annmarie and Laura got ready for a turn with Liz looking on and ready to cheer for them!
Kate just moseying back from picking up a spare!
Devin and Sam using "code" to say Devin made 2 strikes in a row!
This is the updated arcade area! It's so bright, colorful, and tempting...
After bowling we picked up pizzas from Domino's and braved a bit of a cool breeze at Kiwanis Park for lunch. It seems a few of us left our jackets at the building! We were also celebrating National Cheese Doodle Day, so we may have come home today with orange fingertips! Many thanks to Sam's grandmother, and our beloved friend in Arizona, Nina, for sponsoring today's lunch! We appreciate the Domino's gift card very much!
Wednesday, March 6, 2024
Today we celebrated our 8 year partnership with Eaton Corporation. In April of 2016, the Arc of Abilities had been in existence for 6 weeks when Jorie contacted us about trying our hands at assembly work. The rest, of course, is well-documented history throughout the pages of this blog! We welcomed a number of our friends from Eaton for a bbq lunch today, and the love and pride was evident from all angles!
Before the Eaton fun, we sent our library crew to handle our Wednesday responsibilities. Thanks for your good work today, Alexis, Laura, Liz, and Emma!
In order to have a luncheon, you have to get ready! Lisa and Carol cooked the bbq overnight at their homes. The meat was Boston Butt pork roasts, cooked low (temperature) and slow (overnight) in their ovens! Carol also picked up the cake from Harris Teeter. Nan prepared her delicious cole slaw at her house. Thanks Carol, Nan, and Lisa for doing the "homework" that gave us a head start today!
This morning, we put the baked beans in the slow cooker and gathered bowls for the potato chips. We got the sweet tea ready, too! The gang had been coloring decorations for days and it all came together when we cleaned and prepped the tables.
We borrowed some pretty blue chairs from JRES!
Our guys made the letters and pictures, but Jorie's sweet daughter, Ellie, made the heart for us! She was only 2 when we met Jorie, and we have watched her grow up in pictures over the years. So thoughtful of her to think of us!
We are a great team, but even we can't pull something like this off without some extra help. We want to send HUGE amounts of gratitute to Andy, Drew's dad and Arc board member, and Drew's mom, Donna, for volunteering today! They are worker bees!! 🐝🐝
Andy chopped the bbq so we could make sandwiches. He took over when Lisa got tired...😃
Donna managed the beverage cart like a pro! This was a big help as we wanted to serve everyone efficiently, and Donna was on it! 👏👏
Our magnificent support system from Parks & Rec, Tracy and Intern Mallory, can be seen scattered throughout some of today's pictures, but we didn't get any upclose shots of them as they whizzed around helping in so many ways. We are grateful to them for being here today! We're also grateful for this cute selfie they sent a couple of days later so we could give them HUGE amounts of gratitude, too!
Once we were ready, our guests began arriving. We're very proud of our AoA team for greeting our friends, helping with their jackets, showing them around, and socializing in a big way!
James was our surprise guest! We hadn't seen him since his retirement last May, and we were thrilled he could make it today!
This is Ethan, who took over in the warehouse after James retired. We love working with him as much as we did with James!
James and Nan reunited! They shared a special bond as both went through the illness and loss of loved ones over the past couple of years. 💙
Pam's remarks were followed by James who jumped up to say how much he valued working with us! He was particularly thankful for the many times he would call us on short notice and we would be able to get some work done on a quick turnaround for him...often here at the center where he would drop it off one day and pick it up first thing the next morning! It was our pleasure, James!
Several of our AoA friends offered words of appreciation to our Eaton guests, including Liz who spoke about how much we enjoy the many different tasks Eaton has for us to do. Alexis had just reminded everyone that she and some others were able to do Eaton work at home during the pandemic shutdown, and how much they enjoyed being busy during that time.
Devin commented that he loves going to Eaton because he enjoys seeing his Eaton coworkers, and putting in a good day's work. He said it's fun, and he's right!
This is Ben, another one of our newer Eaton friends, and David Shannon, Operations Manager, listening to Devin's remarks.
Mark Mosser, Business Operations Manager at Eaton, also spoke about the benefits of our collaboration. He's been at Eaton for almost 1 year, but said that from the start, he could see what a special connection we have with Eaton, and how good it is for both them and us. We are thankful for his recognition of our contributions to Eaton!
Finally, lunch was served! Our guys continued to enjoy the fellowship with our Eaton friends, and a very good time was had by all!
Jorie does most of her work from a home office now, but we couldn't have a celebration without her! She got it all started between us and Eaton back in 2016. We're so happy she was able to join us!
This is Kim who is a Buyer for Eaton. She was given the task of keeping tabs on us and letting Jorie know how we're doing! Thanks for always saying nice things about us, Kim!
This is Collin and Kayla, who are some of our newer friends at Eaton.
Thank you for this beautiful peace lily, Jorie! We're going to name it "Jorie" and take very good care of it!
Adair, Kim, Rosemary, and James
Rosemary, Kim, and Adair with Lisa and Carol
So much joy!
Paul, Kim, Ethan, James, Jorie, Adair, and Rosemary - Thank you all, and the rest of your fabulous colleagues who couldn't make it today. WE APPRECIATE YOU!!!
Thursday, March 7
Today we celebrated Annmarie's 28th birthday with lots of fun activities! We started with our dance warm up which found Annmarie and a few friends getting steps in a unique way!
Next, we moved on to Birthday Bingo!
We made birthday cards using the tops of lunch bags we had saved after we cut the bottoms off for popcorn. On the insides, many of Annmarie's friends drew pretty pictures because they know she loves "cutesy" things!
Pool noodle volleyball for a morning workout!
Annmarie's buddy Laura wore her "Party Time" shirt today!
Turns out Annmarie had to leave by 12:15 for a last-minute appointment, so her sweet parents, Andy and Teresa, arrived at 11:30 with delicious friend chicken for our lunch. We also had mashed potatoes and green beans, but we were in a bit of a hurry and forgot to get pictures. Thank you so much, Andy and Teresa, for today's delicious birthday lunch for your girl, Annmarie. We enjoyed visiting with you, even though it was a speedy quick party! You'll have to visit again soon!
We remembered the camera when it was cupcake time, though! Annmarie, we hope your every wish comes true!
After Choice Time we read another chapter from Zorgamazoo, and then had a lesson about daylight saving time, which begins this weekend. We watched a great explanation about it on Mystery Science, and if you'd like to check it out, just click on the picture!
We made silly bracelets to remind us to "Spring Forward" overnight on Saturday!
Our day ended with corn hole. An interesting thing happened today... The players cheered a lot when their opponents scored! Our guys really do root for each other, even during a competition!
The Yorktown Cannon team won today! It was their first victory during our latest round of corn hole games.
Friday, March 8
We ended the week with a work day at Eaton. There were PowerSlide Doors to assemble (over 200 today) and many, many parts to transfer from large tubs to smaller ones, packing them snuggly to make room for as many as we could fit. It really takes a good team to get it done, and we are so glad we have one!
Happy Weekend from All of Us to All of You!
Here are our plans for next week!
Tuesday: We're having a new experience today when we travel to the CNU campus to visit the Torrgler Fine Arts Center. We'll meet a docent who will make sure we get the most out of the exhibits! Since the weather looks great, we'll plan to stop at the park for a picnic lunch and trail walk, too. When we return to the center we'll celebrate National Girl Scout Day with a cookie treat donated by some friends of Haley's (Lisa, Lexi, and Nan's favorite girl scout)! Bring a bagged lunch and wear Arc shirts!
Wednesday: We'll volunteer at GCOC, so please wear Arc shirts again today, if you have more than one. Hopefully our new order will be ready soon. We will also finish the egg stuffing job we began a couple of weeks ago for Sam's neighborhood Easter Egg Hunt. We'll also do something fun so we can celebrate Pi Day, which is tomorrow! Lunch on your own. JRES Cafeteria is available for Popcorn Chicken Bowl or Hot Dog.
Thursday: We're headed to Yorktown today for a St. Patrick's Day lesson with Mike at the Watermen's Museum. He promises "Irish stuff and limericks!" If the weather is still beautiful, we'll plan to have our first lunch of 2024 at our favorite spot by the river, followed by bocce and a walk. Bring a bagged lunch and feel free to wear your green for Mike...even though you may also want to wear it tomorrow!
Friday: Happy 8th Anniversary to the Arc of Abilities! Today we celebrate our successes as we stroll down memory lane from March 16, 2016 to now. We'll enjoy reminiscing and also talk about goals for our future. There will be fun, too, as we dance to our favorite tunes (everyone be thinking of a song to contribute to the playlist), play favorite games, and enjoy a lunch of Sloppy Joes (National Sloppy Joe Day is Monday) with chips, fruit, and our traditional Blarney Stone Cookies for dessert. (We're also celebrating St. Patrick's Day so wear green if you want!) After an early lunch, we'll work it off with a fun workout with our friends at Rock Steady Boxing! It's going to be a stellar day!
Peace,
Lisa, Carol, Nan, and the AoA Gang
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