Happy Holidays!

Short week!  Everyone was so excited on Tuesday but they got right to work.  We were up to our elbows creating treats for our party and a holiday gift for our families, and working on finishing up last week's big Eaton order.  

We hope you enjoy the hot cocoa mix we made for our family gift this year.  Most of our associates were not familiar with powdered milk, and did not realize that cocoa powder doesn't taste like chocolate...but they had fun mixing it all together and said they looked forward to enjoying a warm cup of cocoa with their loved ones!

Here, Chris and Laura take turns pulsing the chopper to break up the "secret ingredient."

Alexis measures sugar as Kate and Bo make sure she's accurate and Liz "gently" stirs all the dry ingredients.  Something else they didn't realize is how dry ingredients fly everywhere if you stir them like you would a bowl of pudding! 😋

Pretzels needed to be crushed so Drew and Kate gave it their all!

Kate is wondering where Drew was when it was time to crush Oreos?  Liz and Alexis get the cream cheese ready.  

Chris and Sam made the Rice Krispie treats using a holiday edition of the cereal.  Very colorful!

Chloe and Bo sorted mini m&ms so we could use certain colors for one of our recipes!

Everything came together and on Wednesday we celebrated the end of 2017.  Thank you to our families for the delicious contributions to our potluck luncheon and for sending a gift card for our exchange game.  Carol, Nan, and Lisa would also like to thank our families for the thoughtful gifts they received.  It was a fun day!

We didn't finish all of our baking on Tuesday so Xavier had to help make some gluten-free cookies first thing!  

We had an abundance of goodies so we set out sausage balls, fruit, and Snowman cheese sticks for a morning snack.  It was party day...so we could start early, right?!

Of course there was a lot of dancing today!

Singing, too!

We joined the JRES first graders in the gym to watch a video of their performance in the Holiday Concert from the night before.  The first graders loved having their "fans" in the audience!

A lively game of Jingle Bell Toss brought out some friendly competition.

Men's Bocce Ball champ Sam also emerged as the Jingle Bell Toss Champ!

Chloe is curious as to the scent of the candle Liz gave Becky.

Enjoying our delicious potluck luncheon!  Thanks, EVERYONE!

Patrick and Sam help Lisa show off this special throw that Sam gave her while Devin jumps up to point out pictures of his friends!  💖

Principal Mr. Stutt and Assistant Principal Ms. Vallone stopped by and we gave them one of our recently made lantern jars that we had filled with candy.  We appreciate their support and friendship!

The last group picture of the year!  We were about to begin our gift card exchange game.

Devin made a selection...and then found out he had to trade it!

We played a game that involved lots of swapping.  Here, Chris finds Laura for one of his swaps.

In the end, Alexis and Bo were excited to find they had the same gifts!

Laura and Drew show off the puzzles Becky gave everyone.

We ended our party with a game of Christmas Bingo.  Left over nuggets from Chick fil-A made for the tastiest "prizes" ever!

Merry Christmas!

Looking ahead to the first week of 2018, we will be back in session on Tuesday, January 2nd.  Here's what's up for the week:

Tuesday:  We kick off the new year with bowling and pizza for lunch!  Wear your Arc shirts!

Wednesday:  Dress for movement as we welcome our yoga/fitness instructor Patti back to work with us!  Lunch on your own.

Thursday:  We will celebrate TWO of our favorite things as it's National Trivia Day AND National Spaghetti Day!  There will be trivia games galore and for lunch, spaghetti with traditional and pesto sauces to try!  We also travel to the CW Art Museums after lunch to visit with Christina, so please wear Arc shirts!

Friday:  It's National Bird Day so we will try bird watching (with the help of a resource we picked up at the VLM) and other bird-related activities.  Lunch on your own.

Wishing everyone a peaceful, safe, and fun Winter Break!

Lisa, Carol, and Nan