Happy Birthday, Abraham!

We took this photo with the lights off because Abraham had a light up "Happy Birthday" decoration on his cake!  It was very sparkly!

This week we not only welcomed Abraham back after a weeks-long visit with family in Missouri, we also celebrated his 30th birthday!  That was a highlight in a week that kept us busy with many activities.  It was rainy on Tuesday, so the master gardeners came to us for a "tasty" lesson and on Wednesday, the therapy dogs and their handlers came for their monthly visit!  It was Thursday when we celebrated Abraham, and on Friday we had an Eaton work day.  We had a very enjoyable week!

Tuesday

Our plans to work with the master gardeners at Freedom Park changed when the weather remained drizzly today.  The MGs adapted, as did we, and we held the session at AFCC.  It was all about winter squash, and it was informative, fun, and delicious!  Thank you, Joanne, Barb, Karen, Rick, Debbie, and Carolyn for bringing the lesson to us on this rainy day!

Krafty Karen kicked things off by giving us an overview of types of winter squash.  They are varieties with thick, hard rinds that can be stored for long periods, such as over the winter.  Winter squash is usually harvested in the fall.  

Winter squash varieties are shown in this picture.  They are all nutritious and delicious!  Our MG friends brought us samples of spaghetti, butternut, and delicata to taste.

Rick baked spaghetti squash, Joanne did the same with delicata squash, and Karen roasted butternut squash.  They all used a dash of olive oil and kept it simple so we could taste the differences in the three varieties.  Everyone liked all of the samples!  Rick and Karen scooped out the spaghetti and butternut for us, but Joanne cooked the delicata by slicing it, and not peeling the rind, which is thinner and edible.

What a tasty way to learn about winter squash!  

Thanks, MGs, for teaching and treating us!  

MG Debbie joined Patrick, Bryan, Thomas, and Xavier for the taste test.  Laura said her favorite was the spaghetti squash!

The fun wasn't over after our squash tasting!  The MGs brought little gourds for us to decorate with stickers.

MG Barb is so cute!

Liz, Kevin, and Devin were in deep concentration as they applied stickers to decorate their gourds.

Annmarie loves a craft activity!  

Assisting Patrick and Thomas was MG Carolyn (of the beautiful journal page fame...see this week's installment below).

We'll add these to our window sills.

Before finishing the lesson, MGs Barb and Joanne shared pretty flowers from their yards that are still blooming.  Thanks again, master gardeners, for the time you spent with us this morning.  Everyone had a great time!

Carolyn can be seen getting her phone ready to take a photo for the journal page and ...

Ta-da!  Here's the beautiful journal page created by Carolyn that summarizes our awesome morning with the MGS! 💖

We spent the rest of the day having lunch and Choice Time, then listening to our read-aloud and making cards for Abraham's birthday.  We didn't take any additional photos, except for this one when Erik, Devin, and Liz helped Tracy unload supplies and decorations for this weekend's Disability Awareness Trick or Treat event.  We're such good helpers!

Wednesday 

This morning the sun was shining as we welcomed our therapy dog and handler friends for a Halloween-themed visit!  All 7 of the handlers were here, and 9 dogs in all!

After greetings, and observing some of the dogs in their cute Halloween costumes, we began our reading rotations.  Many thanks to our library helpers for checking out this great selection today!

Michelle and Annmarie read with Susan and sweet little Aja while Laura and Kate enjoyed reading with Vicky and Aubree, whose ladybug costume was so cute.  Out in the foyer, Devin and Patrick were reading with Carol and Casey when Casey suddenly caught his reflection in the mirror, and couldn't stop looking at himself!  Kevin and Erik had great Halloween stories which kept Nan's and Marisol's attention, but Tucker was so comfy he almost fell asleep!

Alexis, Xavier, and Gail read with Kent and his two dogs.  Leo was dressed as a peacock, and Tavish was sporting a kilt as a Scottish highlander.  Drew and Liz got a kick out of reading with Caroline and Pip and Indy, who were in Thing 1 and Thing 2 costumes.  Dr. Seuss would have loved it!  Our 7th group today was Bryan and Thomas, who read with Carol and Darby.  Darby was wearing her Night to Shine tutu and Carol wants us to remind everyone that registration is open for February's Night to Shine event.  Almost 100 folks have registered, and 225 will be the cut off.  Here's the link for registration:  Night to Shine, Williamsburg

After a couple of reading rotations, we played a matching game of Spooky Clues.  We decided to have a race to see which group could match all 12 clues first.

There was a lot of concentration in the room as everyone raced to match the answers to the clues.  Liz and Drew, working with Carol and Casey, finished first, but everyone else quickly followed!  

A morning of reading and brain work calls for a treat!  We had pretzels today.

A morning of reading and brain work and pretzels calls for a brisk walk outside!  It was actually warming up a little and very nice outside.

Happy National Fossil Day!  Our video taught us that fossils are preserved remains of ancient organisms and they can tell us a lot about life in prehistoric times.  We also learned that paleontologists are scientists who study ancient life by finding and studying fossils.

Our favorite part of the lesson was using a chisel and brush (toothpick and watercolor brush) to "dig" for fossils, also know as chocolate chips, in cookies!  Look at how determined our amateur paleontologists were at carefully removing the "fossils" from the cookies!  Fun!  And yes, we were also able to eat our fossils!

We also did our service projects of volunteering in the JRES library and arranging flowers for CSL.  Since it was therapy dog Wednesday, we didn't go to Grove, and our guys didn't work on flowers (for the most part).  Carol and Allison made lovely arrangements while our guys were reading.

At the end of the day we celebrated "I Love Lucy" day, in honor of the iconic comedy from the 1950s!  We talked about how extremely popular the show was, and how it has endured to this day.  We also discussed that our culture was different back then, especially when it came to the roles of men and women.  

The episode we watched was called "Job Switching" and it's the one where Lucy and Ethel attempt to work in the candy factory while Ricky and Fred attempt to clean house and cook meals.  We weren't sure how funny it would be to our 21st century friends, but they all got a kick out of it, and the hilarity of it kept them in stitches!  What a fun show, and we will watch more episodes in the future, for sure!

Thursday

We were so happy to welcome Abraham back after his extended absence to visit family in St. Louis, and super excited to celebrate his 30th birthday!

Before we started celebrating, we had our lesson for National Dictionary Day.  We learned that Noah Webster spent almost 20 years researching and writing An American Dictionary of the English Language, which he published in 1828.  That was 100 years before the complete Oxford English Dictionary was published!  We played games racing to find words in the dictionary, and Bingo with sight words.  It was a bit of "throwback" fun since we wondered:  Does anyone use dictionary books anymore?!

Abraham asked if we could play birthday corn hole outside, so we did!  It was a beautiful, but cool, sunny day!  He also picked for the teams to be Boys vs. Girls.

Annmarie was absent today, so we only had 6 girls to play against 9 boys.  Lisa took a turn and tried to help the girls, but she only added 1 point!  In the end, the boys won, 21-16, but everyone was happy since it was for Abraham's birthday!

We're not sure what happened with this victory picture when it went from the photo card to the blog???  It was such a great picture of our handsome guys, too.

So, we tried editing it to black and white...and maybe you can see them a little better.  Congrats, boys!  You came from behind and pulled off a fun birthday victory today!

After lunch we enjoyed cake and ice cream for Abraham's 30th birthday.  We thank his mom, Mona', for treating us to the cake, ice cream, and toppings for the ice cream, too!  Another favorite activity of Abraham's is Bingo, and when we played our birthday version, he was the FIRST winner! 

Abraham, we hope all your wishes come true!  

We still had time before dismissal to make spider art.  We needed to fill the empty space on this wall.  It kind of looks like an art gallery exhibit, we think!  We had a great afternoon.

Friday

Today was a quick one!  We worked at Eaton this morning, enjoyed lunch at the park, and wrapped up the afternoon with a "Ghostbusters" version of yoga with Jaime!  

We unpacked many parts and sorted today, too!

There were 13 boxes of doors to assemble and the team was ready!  That's 156 doors that were assembled in two hours!

We are truly thankful to our vocational partners at Eaton!

Everyone came in this morning wearing jackets, and most of us kept them on at New Quarter Park where we stopped for lunch.  It wasn't cold, just a brisk fall afternoon, and we enjoyed eating outside for the only time this week.

After eating, we took a short walk down to the creek.  Most of the leaves are still green here, so we'll have to check back in a week or two for more fall color.

A few of our friends were absent today, but there was still plenty of friendship to go around!

Back at the center, some of us enjoyed Choice Time, but Erik, Kate, Michelle, and Devin helped Lisa and Carol hang decorations for tomorrow's Disability Awareness Trick or Treat event.  It's a tradition for us to do this on the Friday before to help Tracy get a head start on the many decorations that give the event a festive Halloween feel.

It's been a while since we had yoga with Jaime, so we pulled out our mats at the end of the day and joined her for a new episode based on the movie Ghostbusters.  The music was great, and so was the stretching!

💖💖💖💖💖

Our day at Eaton and the park was fun, but here's the best news of the day...another Tessa update!!  Michelle sent these beautiful photos and said Tessa was able to enjoy a full day of autumn activities last Saturday.  They visited the Yorktown Fall Market where Tessa walked around for 2 hours using her rollator!  She got to paint a pumpkin and enjoy tasty snacks.  After a rest break at home, she then visited Holly Fork Farm where she not only picked out pumpkins, but was able to pick them up herself to put in the basket! Her hand strength is back to normal and her balance is much better.  Tessa, we are so happy for you!  We knew you could do it.  Continue to enjoy all the fun fall and holiday activities coming up, and you'll get stronger every day.  We can't wait to welcome you back to the Arc of Abilities!

Wow, that was a lot of good news and good fun this week!  There is more to come next week.  Here are our plans:

Tuesday:  This morning we'll have a lesson for Reptile Awareness Day, always an interesting topic and good day for brain work.  We'll have an early lunch and then visit with Christina at the Art Museums for a fun afternoon.  Lunch on your own.  JRES Cafeteria is serving Chicken Fajitas or Pizza.

Wednesday:  It's Service Work Wednesday so we'll volunteer in the library, prepare flower arrangements, and fill food bags at Grove.  Please wear Arc shirts.  We'll also learn why wolves howl at the moon and if bats really drink blood - Mystery Science will help us with that!  Lunch on your own.  JRES Cafeteria is offering Spaghetti with Meat Sauce or Philly Cheese Steak.

Thursday:  This morning we'll split into teams to prepare lunch and a simple dessert for Boston Cream Pie Day.  We'll also organize the pantry!  After lunch, we'll "celebrate" Horror Movie Day with a showing of Disney's Zombies 3.  Baked Potato Bar, fruit salad, and green beans for lunch.

Friday:  Today we are celebrating Kevin's birthday!  In the morning, we will send a crew to work at Pet Supplies Plus, so please wear PSP shirts.  The AFCC crew will do a deep clean of our tables and chairs and set up for the party.  Thanks to Kevin's family for providing Chick fil-A nuggets and sweet potato tater tots for lunch.  After lunch, we'll play puzzle games and take a walk, two of Kevin's favorite activities!

🦃🦃🦃 Families, please mark your calendars.  It's almost time for our only MONDAY session of the year!  As a reminder, the Arc of Abilities will meet on Monday and Tuesday of Thanksgiving Week, and close Wednesday-Friday for the holiday.  This year we will be in session on Monday, November 24 and Tuesday, November 25.  Carol will notify WATA, but families, please follow up.  🦃🦃🦃

Have a great weekend,

Lisa, Carol, Nan, and the AoA Gang

Happy Birthday Lisa and Erik!

We have kicked off fall birthday season...which, like spring birthday season, means a few celebrations are coming up.  This week we partied with Lisa on Tuesday and Erik on Friday!  Those events were highlights, but we also enjoyed other activities this week including bowling, volunteer work, meeting an Arc board member, visiting with Mike at the Watermen's Museum, and welcoming Christina to our place with her lunch treat of cheeseburger pies and a fun crafting experience!  

Tuesday

Today was Lisa's birthday and we spent it doing one of the gang's favorite things:  bowling!  We got to a couple of Lisa's favorite things afterward...

🎳🎳🎳

We are used to bowling on lanes 1-4, but today we had to adjust our expectations when we found out lanes 3 and 4 were out of order, and we would be playing on lanes 38-40, which are at the opposite end of the building from where we usually play.  We didn't mind, and on the bright side, we would be closer to the bathroom, AND be able to get more steps since we had parked at the end near lanes 1-4!!

Everyone quickly adapted to being on lanes 38-40, and we saw just as many strikes and spares as usual.  Annmarie, who happened to be wearing a bowling shirt, made one of the first strikes! 

We really look forward to our monthly bowling trip.  It's nice to see the gang socializing in between turns, cheering for each other, and enjoying being together!  We were proud of Kate today, who bowled the highest score at 137! 👏👏

After bowling, we picked up pizza and headed to Waller Mill Park.  It was a perfect day to eat outside and take a walk, which are two of Lisa's favorite things!  Many thanks to Cameron's family, in addition to an anonymous donor, for sponsoring today's pizza lunch, which we were able to bump up to the tasty stuffed crust variety!

Lisa feels very blessed to get to work with Lexi and Nan, and celebrate her birthday with them, too!

We hope all of Lisa's wishes come true!  She's very thankful to her AoA friends for all the love today!

Here's our pre-walk group photo.  Waller Mill Park has many great paths, but we headed to the paved one that runs parallel to Airport Road.  We went in a different direction than we usually go, heading toward Rochambeau.  We thought we might see more leaves changing colors, but there was still a lot of green.

At one point we noticed Devin had a bit of blood running down his leg, but no one had fallen during our walk.  Turns out he had picked at a scab, which we reminded everyone to try not to do!  Liz insisted on using our first aid kit, which (thankfully) we rarely get to use.  She had him cleaned and bandaged in a jiffy. She said her mom taught her what to do! Thanks, Liz!  

We wrapped up our delightful afternoon at the park by listening to Lisa read a couple of chapters from The Wild Robot Protects.  Reading aloud to us is another of her favorite things!  It was a great day for a birthday celebration!

Wednesday

It was a fairly typical day for us.  Here's a Wednesday wrap-up!

Liz, Michelle, Alexis, Gail, and Laura volunteered in the JRES Library first thing this morning.  As they were shelving books they came across The Wild Robot on the Island.  It's an illustrated picture book adaptation of the first chapter book in the series, The Wild Robot.  That means even younger readers can come to enjoy Roz the Robot as much as we do!

While one crew volunteered at Grove, the other crew put together flower arrangements for Commonwealth Senior Living.  Kate and Devin were removing excess leaves from some of the stems.

Allison and Nan coached Cameron and Kevin on color selection and carefully placing stems in the Mason jars.  We have to remind our "florists" that this is not a speed job!

Annmarie and Nan were happy with all the roses and sunflowers they had to choose from for today's arrangements!

Our GCOC crew got a workout today!  The USDA food truck delivery had just arrived so we got to help bring it into the building and unload it from the pallet.  Each tray can have up to 20 cans and they are a little heavy, but not too much if we take them one at a time.

Next, we remove the plastic covers.  Often, the other volunteers have done all this before we arrive.  It was nice that we got to do some extra work today!

Everyone chipped in extra today, because Ursula and Thom weren't able to be here.  Once the set up was complete, we were rocking and rolling alongside Joel and Peggy!

Michelle lined the shelves with the newly filled bags.  Our assembly line worked efficiently, and we kept her on the move transporting bags to the shelves!

Even though Ursula wasn't able to be with us, she still baked these delicious peanut butter cup cookie treats for us!  Thank you for this delicious homemade treat, Ursula.  We loved it!  We missed you and Thom today.  Also, many thanks to Joel and Peggy for stopping by to pick up the treat from Ursula so we could enjoy it.  You guys are so good to us, and we are grateful for your friendship!

When everyone was back together, we worked on another fall craft.  This time we used sponge painting to make owls.  We needed a little something more for our tree and windows.  Next week, we'll start making Halloween decorations!!

Whoo's tree looks great now?!

Arc board member Jasmine Sparrow stopped by to meet us.  We enjoyed getting to know her and telling her about all of the things we do each day.  We were so busy chit-chatting that we forgot to take a picture, but here's Jasmine's photo from the W&M website.  She's the Assistant Athletics Director for Student-Athlete Development.  Thanks for stopping by, Jasmine!  We love our Tribe folks!!

We take our card making very seriously!  Thomas and Bryan were putting finishing touches on Erik's birthday cards which we made today.  

We ended today with a simple lesson for National Metric Day, which is Friday (but we will be busy working and partying).  Our video explained that most countries used the metric system but the United States does not (for the most part).  These groups practiced measuring the lengths of insects in centimeters with our brand new rulers!

These groups compared items to see which were longest or shortest, and had to follow directions to color their answers correctly!  They are good listeners!

Thursday

It was great to see the sunshine today, as we were looking forward to our visit with Mike at the Watermen's Museum and spending the afternoon outside at Yorktown.  We had not seen Mike in a while, and we missed him!

Mike, in his Zombie era.

Mike's theme for the activity today was planning a Halloween party.  We brainstormed what we would need, from invitations to decorations to music and lots more.  While he told stories and gave us historical facts about Halloween, we decorated paper pumpkins and bats, and made ghosts using paper towels.  We also made masks since we'd need costumes for our party!

Of course, if it's with Mike, it will include singing!  Recognize "Great Pumpkin Is Coming to Town?!"

Trick or treating on Halloween is pretty much a modern American tradition, so Mike used some of our decorations and a jack-o-lantern treat bucket to make a decorative mobile.  While it hung from the ceiling in the Carriage House, we sang some more Halloween carols before heading out with our hearts filled with joy from a festive morning spent with the one and only Mike!

Thanks for a fun morning, Mike!  So many smiles and lots of laughter when we spend time with you!  🎃

After our delightful morning with Mike, we had lunch at the picnic area and then played bocce on the grass with a beautiful view of the York River.

Thomas, Erik, and Devin set up the games for us.

We had 5 games going at once!

After bocce, there was time to catch the trolley at the monument stop.  We rode it for a loop around Yorktown, enjoying the commentary from our driver, Boe, who knows a lot about the area.  He pointed out the York-Poquoson Courthouse and said that's where you go to get marriage licenses.  That got a big laugh out of some of our guys who said they "could wait" a while!  😂 We had a good time in Yorktown today!

Friday

Today was a great blend of work and fun.  Most importantly, we were celebrating Erik's 31st birthday, but before we could party, work was calling.  We sent a crew to Pet Supplies Plus where they worked with Scott and Roxanne to stock shelves with items from the latest delivery.

Thomas and Liz found the right spots for items related to helping dogs with their dental health!

Bryan, Kate, and the Birthday Boy, Erik , had a basket full of other dog products, including toys, which they placed in the correct spots, too.  Erik said he didn't mind working on his birthday because "it's fun to go to the pet store and work."  He has an excellent work ethic!

Here are a couple of good deals from our friends at PSP.  First, there is a "Howl-O-Ween" Party coming up on October 19 that's loaded with good deals.  Next, use the code on the orange coupon (89040) for 25% off full-service grooming.  Just be sure to book the appointment by November 12!

Look at these fun Halloween toys!  It's hard to tell who would enjoy them more - pets, our guys, or Scott!!  That's a really big croissant he's holding!  Thanks, as always, Scott and Roxanne, for your patience and guidance as we continue to grow in our vocational skills by working at the store.  We appreciate you! 

The rest of the gang was busy at the center getting ready for Erik's birthday and a visit from Christina.  Since the main course was coming from Christina, we were only responsible for sides and dessert (which Erik's family provided for his birthday)!!

The Salad Team began in the kitchen as Xavier, Gail, and Drew organized the bowls and filled them with greens, peppers, cucumbers, and celery.  Next, we moved the salads to the classroom where Kevin and Patrick topped them off with carrots and snow peas.

Gail also helped Alexis and Devin wrap our utensils in napkins trimmed with colorful "Happy Birthday" napkin rings.

We also got a jump on something for Tuesday.  We are providing pumpkin cookies at our session with the master gardeners, so we enlisted Annmarie to help with that task.  After they were baked, we put them in the freezer. 

With lunch/party prep done and 20 minutes to spare before the PSP crew returned, we headed outside to walk a few laps around the garden.  The temperature felt cooler than it did when we came in this morning, and it seemed a few clouds were rolling in, too.

Soon, our beloved Christina had arrived with her "famous" cheeseburger pies!  She wanted to make them for us and also do a craft project here at the center, and we finally worked it into all of our schedules.  It was Erik's lucky day, since we were celebrating his birthday and Christina's Cheeseburger Pie is one of our all time favorite dishes!

Happy Birthday (on Sunday) to Erik!  We hope all of his wishes come true!  Many thanks to his family for the delicious cupcakes, and for also sending gluten-free brownie bites for Xavier. 💖 We enjoyed celebrating Erik!!

The project Christina did with us today was sand art!  We were blown away by the many colorful jars of sand she provided for us to use in making 2 things, a gift we will save for our families at Christmas time, and a necklace we got to wear home today!

Neither Christina, nor Lisa, Carol, and Nan were sure how sand art might go with our gang.  It's not something we've ever done before and it could be tricky or messy.  Turns out, it was a great project for us!  Everyone was into selecting certain color combinations, and were captivated by the way the sand designs filled the jars, and Christina, Lisa, Carol, and Nan were thrilled with how well everyone was careful when pouring the sand!  We don't have a picture of our projects because they still need some detailing, and we're going to use them for holiday gifts, but trust us, they are beautiful!  Thank you, Christina, for not only tasty cheeseburger pies, but for believing in us enough to challenge us with a unique experience!  We're so proud of our projects!!  We enjoyed spending time with you today!

After sand art, we had just enough time for a game of birthday corn hole, one of Erik's favorite games.  He elected for us to have mixed-teams (instead of boys vs. girls), and after two rounds, his team was behind by 8 points.  They seemed to get their game going in round three, and the game ended in a tie!  Since we still had a few minutes, we played to break the tie and Erik's team came up short by 1 point.  It was a great game, and in the victory photo for the opposing team, we love that Erik is shaking Drew's hand and congratulating them on the win!

It was another great ending to another great week!  Next week we'll continue fall birthday celebrations, visit with our therapy dog friends, work at Eaton...and much more.  Here are our plans:

Tuesday:  This morning we will spend time with our master gardener friends learning about different types of squash, including pumpkins.  We hope the weather will be nice and we can spend extra time at the park for lunch and activities, but if not we'll return to AFCC for the same!  Please bring a bagged lunch.

Wednesday:  We'll do 2/3 of our service activities today:  JRES Library and CSL Flower Arranging.  We won't volunteer at GCOC because it's Therapy Dog Wednesday!  We'll read Halloween books and play a game with our canine friends.  We also have activities planned for celebrating I Love Lucy Day and Fossil Day.  Lunch on your own.  JRES Cafeteria is celebrating National School Lunch Week with a "Taste the World" menu.  Today's offering is Asian-inspired Teriyaki Chicken with Fried Rice.

Thursday:  We're celebrating Abraham's birthday today!  He's turning 30 and is so excited!  We'll play two of his favorite games, Bingo and Corn Hole, and enjoy cake and ice cream after lunch.  We're also celebrating Dictionary Day and that's a great opportunity for Brain Work!  Lunch on your own.  JRES Cafeteria is serving Mediterranean-inspired Gyros today, or you can choose Domino's Pizza!

Friday:  We will spend the morning working at Eaton, so please wear Eaton shirts and bring a bagged lunch.  We'll have lunch at the park and take a walk before returning to AFCC to end the week with a yoga session with Jaime...it's been a while and some of our friends miss her!

ONE MORE WEEK until the fun comes to AFCC!

Looks like a rainy weekend.  Take care!

Lisa, Carol, Nan, and the AoA Gang