1st Birthday of the Year!

This week we had a birthday party for our Parks & Rec friend, Karryna.   The struggle is real for some with birthdays close to Christmas, like Karryna, whose birthday is December 29th.  We love celebrating birthdays, but we also enjoy our Winter Break when the AoA is closed.  But, Karryna has become a valuable member of our partnership/team with P&R over the past year, so we were happy to have a celebration for her in January!  Here's a look at everything we did this week, Karryna's birthday party included!

Tuesday

Our week began with a lesson for National Houseplant Appreciation Day.  We learned that it came to be because a gardening association thought that people might be slack on caring for houseplants during the busy holiday season.  On Houseplant Appreciation Day, we are reminded to care for our plants during the dry, winter months.  We potted small houseplants for our tables, and we will be sure to take care of them all year round...until we slack off during Winter Break?!

In addition to enhancing our space, as Xavier agrees with here, we learned that houseplants have many benefits, including boosting productivity, reducing anxiety, and improving the quality of the air.

We even found a fun movement activity on YouTube that had a gardening theme.  Who knew "watering plants" could be such a good stretch?!

Today was also Save the Eagles Day, which is an annual favorite of ours to commemorate, but before we actually talked about eagles that are animals, we checked out Devin B's favorite football team, the Philadelphia Eagles, who just last year released a holiday music album.  We weren't aware of this a month ago, or we would have been listening to their Christmas songs, which sounded pretty good!  Click on the pic to hear the Philadelphia Eagles' version of "Santa Claus is Comin' to Town." 

We watched an educational video about eagles and were reminded of such facts as eagles are no longer on the endangered list, the female is often bigger than the male, and eagle pairs mate for life,   We also checked a live webcam of an eagle pair in Florida whose eaglets just hatched in the last week.  Click on this picture if you'd like a link to the webcam.  We also learned that baby eaglets stay in the nest for about 2 1/2 months before they "fledge," or begin to experience the world on their own.  We plan to check the webcam each week to observe their progress.

Even though is was chilly and overcast, we put on our jackets after lunch and headed to W&M's campus to look for so-called "secret sites."  We explored campus for about an hour, and enjoyed being outside!  Here, we were walking through the Sunken Garden, and when we stopped for a picture, some of us struck our "W&M Pose" for the camera! 

At the statue of the Reverend James Blair, the founder of W&M, Patrick and Kate were photographed as our "Best Dressed" for today because they were sporting W&M apparel - Patrick's t-shirt and Kate's scarf!  Go, Tribe!

This might be the coolest, and maybe most "secret," site on campus.  On the west side of James Blair Hall is the Tyler Family Garden, which details how many descendents of President John Tyler's family have attended the college.  But the cool part is the side of the building commonly known as the "Echo Wall."  As Annmarie was about to find out, if you face the building and speak loudly, while standing where "X" marks the spot, you will hear your voice echo!

We continued on our walk and saw rock gardens, more statues, the Crim Dell Meadow and Bridge...where we walked across holding hands with each other because campus lore says that will make us friends for life!  Liz also came across a site that we weren't expecting to see, a beautiful camelia bush with several bright red blooms!  After this, we headed back to AFCC for Choice Time and to begin our new read-aloud story, Island of the Blue Dolphins.  We enjoyed our brisk, if abbreviated, walk today! 

Wednesday

Today was a day of celebrations!  The first one was our return to volunteering in the library at the school.  Mr. Nonnemacher, librarian, and Ms. Ortega, assistant, were thrilled to see Liz, Erik, Alexis, and Kate today.  They had lots of books for them to shelve, and told us they are glad we're back! 

The second celebration would be for Karryna's birthday.  We were busy this morning getting lunch ready, which was going to be curried chicken, cucumber salad with dill dressing, and naan bread.  In this picture, we have Drew and Lexi cooking a batch of curried chicken in one skillet while Kevin and Sam cook another batch.  Patrick, Laura, and Annmarie were working on our "Happy Birthday" napkin rings.

In the kitchen, Erik and Adia were preparing the cucumber salad while Liz, Kate, and Abraham whipped up birthday brownies and Devin B stood by to help with both!

Xavier and Devin T were happy to work on birthday cards for Karryna. 😍

Tracy and Karryna arrived a few minutes before lunch was ready, so we enjoyed social time with them.  Birthday girl Karryna was surrounded by well-wishers!

Tomorrow is National Curried Chicken Day, so that's what we cooked for Karryna's birthday.  Along with the cucumber salad and naan bread, it was a very tasty birthday lunch!  Click on the pic for a link to our recipe...and we recommend using fire roasted tomatoes! 😋

Before letting Karryna blow out the candle on her birthday brownie, we took a group photo.  Karryna turned 24 on her birthday (which was officially on December 29), and that makes her the youngest among us...wow! 😮

We wish you a wonderful year ahead, Karryna, and hope all your wishes come true!

After the party, we delved further into our new read-aloud, Island of the Blue Dolphins.  The main character's name is Karana, who Lisa kept wanting to call "Karryna!"

Next, we watched a Mystery Doug episode that explained why January is the first month of the new year.  

The Roman calendar is the "ancestor" of our modern day calendar, and the ancient Romans decided to make January the first month of the year because it was named after their god, Janus.  He had two faces, so he was thought to be looking back on the past year while also looking forward to the new year.  Now we know why January is the first month of a new year!

After learning about Janus and his two faces, which look back and forward at the same time, we talked about our last year while looking ahead to this year.  We made a list of favorite things we did in 2022, and also listed things we would like to do in 2023.  Lisa, Carol, and Nan will look over our ideas, and see if they can make some of them a reality! 

Thursday

We had a really nice day today!  First, we visited with Mike at the Watermen's Museum where we talked about eagles and impressed Mike with how much we already knew!  He told us that during warmer weather, they are spotted often near the museum.  (Must be all that water and fish!) 

Mike provided each of us with a booklet about bald eagles, and we learned a few more facts about them, such as their wing span is very straight, designed for soaring for long periods without flapping their wings.

Next, we moved on to the topic of New Year's resolutions.  Mike said his was to spend more time with family and not so much time working.  😍  We were happy to tell him what we planned to do differently in 2023.  Everything from eat less cake to eat more French fries and exercise/walk more to go see more movies at the theater - and lots of things in between!

We also talked about wishes with Mike, and how they are different from resolutions because they are things we can't have much control over.  We each listed our resolutions on starburst shapes of paper and our wishes on paper cut like eagle feathers.

Mike had drawn an eagle on this large sheet of paper.  He posted our resolutions and wishes, with Devin T's help, and told us that sharing them with others would enable us to help each other try and achieve our resolutions, and that maybe we could even help make some of our wishes come true if we worked together and cared for one another!  Thanks, Mike, for an uplifting lesson today!  What a great way to get the new year off to a positive start!

It was nearly lunchtime when we finished with Mike.  The sun was peeking in and out from behind the clouds and the temperature was pushing 60, so we were able to eat outside at the picnic area and then play a game of Winter Corn Hole Challenge!

Our friends are always happy when someone scores, and in this shot, we caught Sweet T running to high five his teammates after scoring two points.  He went on to be the high scorer for his team today, with a total of 4!

After Drew landed a bag on the board for a point, Devin B and Abraham embraced him and said, "Look what you did!"

When time ran out, it was the Minion Corn Holers who won today with a score of 14-12 over the Virginia Corn Thunder.  It was a great game, and we loved being able to play outside in January! 

Our wonderful day wasn't over yet!  We had time to drive up to the monument where we parked the vans and got out for a brisk walk...that was Annmarie's suggestion and we thought it was a great one!  👏👏  Carol's van spotted this flowering bush, and Liz ID'd it with her app to find out it's called winter jasmine.  An internet search said, "these starry, little blooms are magical surprises in a cold-season landscape."  They have no scent, but are very easy to care for and therefore a favorite to bring winter color to the garden!

After our walk, we returned to AFCC for about 30 minutes of Choice Time and 40 minutes of yoga with Jaime!  We love busy and active days like today!

Oh, and doesn't our eagle/resolution/wish banner look great on our entrance wall?!?!  

Friday

This morning we watered our houseplants, which, after 4 days, still look great!  

Next, we headed to Eaton for our first work day of 2023.  Jorie was happy to see us, and excited to explain that we would begin a new assembly project today!

First, we had to sort through a few random boxes and find colorful parts for the new project.  Sam was careful not to bump his head on the metal shelving, and Erik stood by ready to take what Sam handed up to him.

While Sam and Erik gathered the parts, we had some of our crew working on familiar tasks.  Nan, Kate, Adia, Lexi, and Liz began unpacking lightbulbs!

Erik and Sam soon enlisted the help of Annmarie, Laura, and Patrick in sorting the colorful parts for the new project.

Drew, Devin B, Xavier, and Devin T knew what had to be done with this huge tub of mixed pieces.  They handled the sorting job effortlessly!

The new assembly project requires us to snap colorful parts into place inside a small, plastic box.  They must go in a certain order.  Once they are in place, a metal piece with screws attached is put inside the box.  Don't forget this step  The lid to the box is also plastic, and the last step is to screw it on in the four corners.  While others were still sorting and opening light bulbs, these guys worked with Jorie and Carol to start the assembly line for the new product.

Later in the day, more of us were working on this new assembly, and Jorie wasn't needed anymore!  What we are putting together is part of a kit for charging electric vehicles.  We assembled over 200 today.  Jorie would like us to get about 500 done each month!

We're so proud of the work we do on projects at Eaton!  We're efficient and reliable, and our teamwork is stellar!  It is an exciting time for Eaton to be getting into the electric vehicle market, and we are super-stoked to be along for the ride!  (Pun intended!)

We won't be working at Eaton next week, but we'll be busy in other ways.  Here's a look at our plans:

Tuesday:  Our regular plans with Christina for today had to be postponed until January 31, so we're going to try something we have been thinking about for a while:  grocery shopping!  We will divide and conquer our list for this week at Walmart by splitting into 3 groups (Lisa, Carol, Nan).  We'll try our hands at self-checkout, too!  When we return to the center we'll prepare grilled cheese sandwiches and soup for lunch!  We'll continue our read-aloud and have a social studies lesson on Martin Luther King, Jr. after lunch.

Wednesday:  Today is Winnie the Pooh Day so we will watch a video clip and discuss favorite Winnie the Pooh quotes, then choose our favorites to make inspirational posters.  We'll make birthday cards for our friend, Cameron, and for movement, the weather looks favorable for a round of Winter Corn Hole Challenge.  We're going to meet the executive director of Grove Christian Outreach Center today, too, and discuss volunteer opportunities for our group!  Lunch on your own.  JRES Cafeteria is available and the choices today are Cheesy Pasta Supreme or Sub of the Day.

Thursday:  We will send the Work Crew to Pet Supplies Plus today, so please wear PSP shirts.  The Cooking Crew will be busy preparing Shepherd's Pie for lunch.  Other activities today will include a winter craft using large marshmallows and a new Guess in 10 game (Disney version).

Friday:  There will be options today.  We need to do some winter cleaning and organizing, so you can choose Movie Day or Clean Up Crew!  Either way, there will be popcorn for a snack. 😋  We'll also have a lesson to mark Squirrel Appreciation Day (tomorrow).  Dress to stretch because we will end the day with Jaime and yoga.  Lunch on your own.  JRES Cafeteria is available and the options are Corn Dog Nuggets or Cheeseburger.

Have a great weekend,

Lisa, Carol, Nan, and the AoA Gang

Happy New Year, 2023!

 

Welcome to 2023!  We were happy to return to our Arc of Abilities routine this week!   It's always as if we never took a break.  Our week was busy and seamless, just as we like it.  Here's a recap of our start to the new year...

Tuesday

Since it was the first Tuesday of the month, bowling was on our agenda, but we made a quick stop by the garden to see how things were looking in light of the winter weather we had recently.  There was a lot of brown, and the master gardeners had cut away much of the growth, but we know after winter passes, spring will bring the color back.  We'll be on the lookout!

Krafty Karen told us the Christmas cold snap did a number on the turnip and mustard greens, and she was right.  It looks as though we've turned our backs on them, but we would never do that!  (It just made for an interesting photo op today.)  Karen says the turnip greens on the boys' side will rebound in spring, but the mustard greens, on the girls' side, are done.  We're glad we got a sample before the holidays.  They were good!  We didn't notice any insects living in the hibernation box Karen made, but we will check the garden again in a few weeks, and hopefully see that some insects have found a warm home there.

We had not been bowling very long before the strikes and spares starting showing up on the scoreboards!  Laura got one of the first strikes of the day, and in this picture, Alexis was giving her a high five while Devin T also called out congrats to her!

What goes around comes around, Devin T, because no sooner had you congratulated Laura, you got a strike of your own! 🎳 👏

We're not kidding about the strikes and spares.  Look at this scoreboard after just 4 frames.  Over 1/2 of the turns taken were strikes or spares, and ALL of the scoreboards looked like this!  Our guys were on 🔥🔥🔥 today!

Adia was excited to get two strikes in a row!  She ended up with three for the day.

Just as exciting was our pizza lunch!  We are very thankful to Kate and the Thompson Family for sponsoring pizza for us at the lanes today!!  It was a Happy New Year treat that means a lot!  We appreciate your generosity!  Yummy!! 😋🍕

We got back to the center later than we anticipated, so we postponed updating our January calendar to tomorrow.  We had a bit of Choice Time, and then shared details of our wonderful Winter Break with each other.  We always enjoy hearing about our friends' family times.  Drew brought in a note from his mom that detailed a few of the fun things he did, and Devin B helped him share with us that he got some rocking new music from Santa, and enjoyed a lot of dancing and Bingo playing with his sister, Alex!

  

On another note, Lisa took our amaryllis plant home over the break because it didn't bloom before we closed for the holiday.  Here is a picture taken on Christmas Eve.  The amaryllis had 4 blooms by then!  It was very pretty.  Note to selves:  For 2023, we will have to start our bulb about a week earlier so we can see it bloom at the center.

Wednesday

After our dance warm up, we worked on updating our calendar and removing holiday decorations.  This time, we had to change the month and the year!

Our usual tasks needed to be done:  creating calendar squares with pictures found online that match our activities, removing out of date decorations from the walls, and creating new ones for the updated month.  Everyone chips in to complete the job within an hour's time!

We are very focused whether we are working alone, like Dev B and Lexi, or helping each other, like Drew and Adia!

We thought it would be nice to get fresh air for our morning movment activity, so we went outside after working on the calendar.  It's always fun to shoot hoops with friends... or walk around and observe the hoop shooting! 😊

Some of our guys wore jackets, some long sleeves, and others short sleeves.  One can even be spotted in shorts!  It was a very mild morning, despite the cloudy skies!

January 4th is designated as World Braille Day, so we had a history lesson in which we learned that a French man named Louis Braille, who was blind himself, invented the alphabet that was named after him.  We also watched an interesting video about Helen Keller, who was both blind and deaf, and we were inspired by her accomplishments in life.  For brain work, this group took a "test" and aced every question about Helen Keller's life!

Sam and Devin's brain work consisted of fitting words into a crossword puzzle type grid, but there were no clues to tell them which words went in which boxes.  There was a bit of guessing and checking, as they made sure words with a certain number of letters would fit while also providing letters that would work for words in a different direction.  Good team work, here!

After lunch we celebrated National Trivia Day with a Bingo game involving snippets of songs from Disney films.  After listening to the song clues for a while, Devin "Sweet T" jumped up to dance, and Adia and Kate soon joined in.  Sometimes, you just can't stay in your seat!

Thursday

Today was a Pet Supplies Plus work day, but not all of us went.  Kate, Xavier, Abraham, and Annmarie were part of the Cooking Crew that stayed at the center.  They prepped our forks by wrapping them in napkins and adding festive napkin rings they colored for our celebration of National Spaghetti Day!

Nan, Patrick, and Sam prepped about 1,000 pieces of garlic bread for lunch.  Just kidding....it was only 500 pieces!  OK, maybe a whole loaf?! 😁

Liz, Kevin, and Devin T made a great team as they put together healthy and colorful side salads!  🥗🥗🥗

Over at Pet Supplies Plus, Laura and Alexis worked together to make sure labels on the cans of dog food were all facing in the same direction.  

Adia and Erik got a nod of approval from Scott after they folded two loads of towels!

Scott also worked with his son, Devin B, and Drew, to move heavy bags of dog food from top shelves to lower ones.  Our guys also dusted and swept today.  They were busy!

Before heading back to the center, the gang wanted to showcase Christmas items that are on sale.  Come get a few for next year!

The Pet Supplies group made a stop at Eaton on the way back to drop off some work we completed at AFCC, and when they finally got back they were starving!  We would like to thank Erik's mom, Diane, for contributing two delicious pans of baked spaghetti to our Holiday Party last month.  We were able to freeze enough leftovers to have for National Spaghetti Day, which was technically yesterday, but we fit things in when we can!  Diane, your baked spaghetti is really good, and we enjoyed it so much!  😋😘😋😘

We finished Clean Getaway today!  Lisa set a goal for us to finish 1 read aloud book each month this year...so we will officially begin January's book tomorrow.  Wonder what it will be?!  📚 👓

There are a few days throughout the year that are dedicated to birds, and January 5th is National Bird Day.  In a first for us, we had a funeral for a bird today!  Sadly, a small chickadee flew into one of our windows, and did not survive.  It seemed appropriate to write farewell messages on paper towels to the bird.  We then wrapped it in the paper towels for a burial outside.  (Our guys wrote very touching messages to the bird.  It was sweet!) 

We used biodegradable paper towels, so as the bird's body decomposes, so will the paper.

Carol dug a deep enough hole, and Devin B carefully placed the bird in it.  It's sad that this bird won't get to enjoy eating at our feeders, but we're happy that we were able to give it a fitting farewell.

Speaking of birds eating at our feeders, we would like to thank Pet Supplies Plus for this awesome donation of bird feed today!  It should last a while, and we know the birdies will appreciate it during the cold winter season!

We ended our day with a video about birdwatching and we also checked out a website that described different types of bird beaks, and how the birds use them.  Then, we made feeders using toilet paper rolls and peanut butter, as Annmarie demonstrates here.  Time ran short, so we will hang them outside tomorrow!

Friday

It was a busy day, but we got so much done!  We sang and danced to our usual dance warm up to begin the day, then went out to hang the bird feeders we made yesterday.  Cameron came for a visit today, and was happy to help Liz tie her feeder to the fence around the garden area.

When we came back inside, it was time to celebrate National Bean Day!  We had several games/activities to try that used beans for a theme.  Devin, Kate, Liz, and Laura were playing Spill the Beans, a game kind of like Scrabble, only instead of using letter tiles, they used letter beans to spell words.

Meanwhile, Alexis, Drew, Devin T, and Sam were playing Don't Spill the Beans, the classic game where players hope they don't add the bean that causes the pot to spill.  We heard a lot of giggles from this table!

Patrick and Annmarie got creative and used a variety of dried beans to create art.  Pat was working on making the logo for the Braves, while Annmarie made a flower garden.

We didn't cook beans for lunch this year, but we did make a dessert:  Black Bean Brownies!  We made them a few years ago, but Erik and Adia were not with us and Cameron didn't remember (nor did most of the rest of us).  At first we heard a few "eews" but scroll down to see what happened once the brownies were baked!  (Bonus:  They are gluten-free!)

After our bean activities, we celebrated National Technology Day by using our Smartphones to help us follow QR code links to check our work on math problems.  In this photo, Kate had just scanned a code and Drew was about to find out he had correctly answered a problem that involved counting!  Devin "Sweet T" was getting ready for his turn next!

Nan's group consisted of Laura, Sam, Xavier, and Kevin.  They were also doing the counting activity, and in this picture, Laura was surprised and happy to see that she had come up with a correct answer!

Erik and Liz were seriously concentrating on solving math problems (they used the "old-fashioned" paper/pencil strategy) before following the QR code to check their answers.  Liz was scanning one of their problems here to find out if they had solved it correctly, which they had!

Cameron, Adia, and Devin B were also solving math problems, but they didn't need paper/pencil OR a calculator, because, as Adia put it, "Cameron is super-fast at mental math!"  Devin B diligently followed the QR codes to check their work, and they were always correct, too!  ALL of our guys are good thinkers!

After lunch we tried the Black Bean Brownies.  Not everyone would give them a go, but Sam volunteered to be first and once he said they were "delish," most everyone else joined in!  They were moist and very fudgy, and loaded with fiber since the black beans (which we made into a paste using the food processor) were a main ingredient!

Usually when we bake, we give Xavier cookies from our gluten-free stash that we keep on hand for him.  There was no flour in these brownies, which meant no gluten, so he enjoyed them with us!  Can you tell he approved of their flavor?!  Click on Xavier's smiling face for a link to the recipe! 😋

Of course, the black bean and gluten-free brownies weren't calorie free, so it was good that we had yoga with Jaime on the schedule at the end of the day!  Her yoga sessions involve a lot of getting up and down, so we consider them a moderate workout!

Yoga brought us to the end of the day and the end of our first week of 2023.  It was a great one to kick off what we know will be a fabulous year!

We will be on the road a bit next week!  It's going to be a fun one, too.  Here's what we have planned:

Tuesday:  Today we will stay at the center for the morning and have lessons for Houseplant Appreciation Day and Save the Eagles Day (a yearly favorite).  We hope the weather will cooperate for us to go to W&M's campus for a walk and "secret sites" scavenger hunt in the afternoon.  We did this a few years ago and it was so much fun!  Lunch on your own.  JRES Cafeteria is available and is offering Beef Soft Taco or "School" Pizza (not Domino's).  Arc shirts optional today.

Wednesday:  After a lengthy break due to the pandemic, we're going to return to volunteering in the library at JRES!  We'll send a crew down first thing to see if they remember how to shelve books for Mr. Nonnemacher, who is thrilled we are coming back to help!  We will also kick off the birthday season with a belated celebration for Karryna, our Parks & Rec partner and friend.  Her birthday was December 29, during Winter Break, so we chose today for her party!  Since tomorrow is National Curried Chicken Day, we'll get a jump on that with curried chicken, rice, and cucumber salad for lunch.  (Karryna said she loves curried chicken!)  We'll also have a lesson with Mystery Doug where we will learn why January is the first month of the new year.

Thursday:  It's Happy New Year with Mike at the Watermen's Museum today!  We are looking forward to another year of fun and engaging visits with him.  If it's not too cold, we'll eat under the tent at the museum, or possibly down at the picnic area if it's mild enough, so bring a bagged lunch.  Also, wear Arc shirts and comfy pants for yoga when we return to the center!

Friday:  Today it's Happy New Year with Eaton as we head over for our first work day of 2023 with them!  We're excited to begin a new assembly project that Jorie has been telling us about, which we may or may not start today?!?!  Wear Eaton shirts and bring a bagged lunch.

Happy New Year to all,

Lisa, Carol, Nan, and the AoA Gang