Grateful for Friends and Fun

As we get ever closer to the Thanksgiving holiday, we are grateful for a fun and productive week at the Arc of Abilities.  From bowling to an extra visit to the CW Art Museum to working on the Arc newsletter to a friendly cooking competition to Bocce Ball on a sunny afternoon, we had lots of fun and shared many smiles.

We began the week at the bowling center.  Everyone had a good time, scores are improving, and the pizza was yummy!  We didn't get many pictures, but the ones we did get sure show the joy of friendships!

Wednesday was too much fun!  It was National Bundt Pan Day so we celebrated with a friendly cooking competition.  Our recipe was for a breakfast casserole so we gathered the ingredients, split the gang into two teams, and started the clock!  They were instructed to review the recipe, plan their steps, and divvy up the work.  We turned the room into Kitchen Stadium...think the tv show Iron Chef America.  We'll let the pictures tell the story!

Team Red and Team Blue ready to race for their ingredients!

Team Red puts on their gloves and sends Drew on his way back to Team Blue!

Alexis and Chloe check the recipe while Kevin whisks the eggs.

Team Red members Kacie, Chris, Bo, and Patrick multitask to get their ingredients ready, and Drew photobombs their pic!  (He obviously felt drawn to Team Red!)

Not sure why Judge Carol was over at Team Red's table, but Team Blue was curious, too!

Time to add the tater tots, so who shows up on his Team Blue?!  Meanwhile, Cameron cut up biscuits and Sam was dicing ham.

That's a dozen eggs they are about to whisk!

Team Blue was the first to get theirs in the Bundt pan!

While the casseroles baked, we used the apple peeler/corer/slicer gadget that Kacie and her mom picked up for us at a yard sale.  Kacie got a kick out of how quickly she could peel the apple, while the peanut gallery cheered her on!

Kate gave it a whirl and peeled another apple.  Nan took all the slices and whipped up a pan of fried apples with cinnamon!

The clean up crew dries the dishes.

We couldn't wait to try our breakfast casserole...it's aroma had filled our rooms.  So of course we forgot to take a picture of it before slicing the lovely Bundt pan shape.  But here's a picture of a serving of what could be an award-winning casserole with a side of fried apples...you never know!

After lunch and Choice Time our Arc monthly newsletter crew got to work preparing the December mailing.  The Arc's Holiday Dinner and Dance is on December 9th, so be sure to sign up for that fun evening!

We ended the day with a visit from Lucy, Kate's adorable dog, when her mom arrived for pick-up.  What a friendly gal Lucy is!

On Thursday we celebrated a few B's:  Becky, Beautiful Weather,  and Buttons! Our sweet volunteer, Becky, has been absent for several weeks due to family emergencies, but all is better now and she was able to resume her regular volunteer shift.  We wanted her to know how happy we were for her return, so we made a welcome banner!

There were some happy friends when Becky walked in!

We love beautiful weather and Thursday did not disappoint.  Here is a sampling of what we did outside.  Patrick and Alexis tossed the football.

Laura and Kacie wandered around the Community Garden and discovered a new bench had been added.

Kate and Liz walked around the garden.

Josie and Devin (and Sam in the background) practiced basketball shots.

After lunch we headed to the CW Art Museums to celebrate National Button Day at the special invitation of our friend, Christina.  Look how many buttons she has!

Her plan for us was to make button boys and girls.  She patiently walked us through the process, step by step.

Devin concentrated on threading the wire through the button hole.

Becky and Christina helped our friends at this table.  Threading the wire through the button holes was challenging for some, and for others, twisting the wire was a little tricky.  But everyone persevered and soon we had...

Button Boys and Girls!

We weren't sure how we would celebrate Button Day, but we ended up having a great time and are grateful to Christina for the bonus time at the museum!

Here's a closeup of Josie's Button Girl.  So cute!

Friday was our day to celebrate the birthday of Mickey Mouse!  So of course we had to make a sweet treat.  It started out as pretzels and chocolate candy, which was heated just enough to soften the chocolate.

After adding a couple of m&ms, we ended up with these Mickey Mouse nuggets!

In anticipation of eating the sweets, we took advantage of Take A Hike Day and did a walk around Colonial Williamsburg.  It was cool, but the sun was out and the wind was calm.  Perfect conditions for our hike!  

If you look closely in this pic, you'll notice some of our friends are sporting shades from our sunglasses collection!

Chris is always such a gentleman.  Here, he holds the gate until everyone passed through!

Another treat we enjoyed on Friday were these Mickey Mouse veggie chips that Kevin brought for lunch.  They tasted like potato chips...but are made with veggies so "healthy," right?!  Thanks, Kevin!  Big hit with us!

It was also a great day for Bocce and Coach Teri got us set up today out in the big field.  We had five teams playing at once!  

We continue to work on control of the ball.  Our guys need to strive to throw it without too much force because the Bocce court is much shorter than, say, a bowling lane.  

Can you see the red ball Patrick just tossed?

Their control is obviously improving, because look where this team's balls ended up...the object being to get closet to the jack (white ball).  Yay!

Thank you, Coach Teri, for spending this special time with us each week.  We appreciate your guidance and encouragement!

This week went by in a flash, and next week will too, as it's a shortened one.  Here's what we'll be up to:

Remember, we are meeting on MONDAY and Tuesday next week and will be closed Wednesday-Friday.

Monday:  We will celebrate National Absurdity Day by doing some silly things!  We also have some Eaton work to complete, so it won't be all silliness.  Lunch on your own!

Tuesday:  Wear your Arc shirts as we're going bowling!  Weather permitting, we'll also take a pre-Thanksgiving walk on our favorite path at Freedom Park.   Pizza for lunch!

Also coming up:

We finished the book Wonder this week and have tentative plans to see the movie on Tuesday, November 28.  Showtimes for that date haven't been released yet, but we hope there will be a showing that works with our schedule.  We will send details as soon as we know.  Everyone is looking forward to this!

Once we return from Thanksgiving Break we will begin planning our Christmas Holiday plans.  We will have our "office party" on Wednesday, December 20th.  Details for that will come soon. We are looking for a fun outing to enjoy as well.  Last year we went to the Kimball Theater to see The Polar Express, followed by lunch at a local restaurant.  Does anyone have suggestions for what we could do this year?!

Have a great weekend...remember, we will see you next week on Monday and Tuesday!

Lisa, Carol, and Nan