Four Day Week!

For the first time ALL year, we had a full four-day week and we made the most of it!  Check it out...

Tuesday began with our usual dance time, and were we ever surprised this week when Xavier joined in with singing and (sort of) dancing!  He usually walks about the room. or sits on the sofa, during dance time, so this was a B-I-G deal and we were all happy for him!  Yay, Xavier!

Today we did some warm up exercises before we started bowling.  Just simple things, like arm circles and leg lifts.  We watched some pros on a video who pointed out that it's good to warm up since just grabbing a ten-plus pound ball and throwing it could lead to strains or pulled muscles.  Look at the smiles on these faces...their scores were awesome today...and we think the warm up may have helped!

Not everyone scored this high, but look at Patrick's score today!  We nicknamed him the "Spare Bear!"

Kevin enjoyed serving himself from the beautiful water cooler Tracy (our favorite pizza chef) set up for us!

Today was also Cameron's birthday! Since he loves bowling and pizza, what better way to celebrate than with those two things that his friends love, too?  We enjoyed pizza with him at bowling and when we got back to JRES, we created birthday cards for him and set up the birthday board.

After singing to him, we enjoyed these!  Thanks Cameron, and family, for today's pizza and these yummy cupcakes.  We love birthday parties!

Wednesday's highlights included a bittersweet moment as we made cards to send Josie, who recently moved and had to leave the AoA.  We incorporated Sticker Day (Jan. 13) with this because Josie loved stickers, especially if they were sparkly.  Since we didn't get to officially tell her good-bye, due to a snow day, the cards were a way to let her know she will be missed.

The sun was shining brightly so we headed outside for some fresh air around mid-morning. 

After missing two Wednesdays in a row due to weather, we were happy to welcome Patti back for yoga practice!  This is going very well, and everyone is comfortable participating to their best ability...which is perfect for us!

Patti says our mats are our own individual yoga islands.  She models and encourages in her gentle tone and our guys are pretty good at this!

See for yourself!

We had a fun Winnie/Minnie/Any Disney Spirit Day on Thursday!  It's always fun to dance to Disney songs and play Disney trivia games. 

We finally got around to the Chili Cook-Off, too.  Here, members of the Blue Team visit the "pantry" to gather their ingredients and tools.

Drew sauteed onions and peppers while Woody supervised!

Look at the onions and peppers cooking in the Red Team's skillet!  Yum...smelled so good!

We weren't just cooking on Thursday...down in the kitchen we had these bakers rolling out homemade sugar cookie dough so we could celebrate Minnie Mouse finally getting a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame!  It smelled really good in there!

Cameron approves of the teamwork!

Laura held her own with Xavier and Bo, but she wanted to take over the job at this point.  😊

Our finished products made for a delicious lunch on a chilly day!

During education time, Chris's group worked on mental math and played a quick-thinking game where they had to figure out 10 more or 10 less of certain numbers.

Kate's cousin, Melissa, visited with us today and joined the math game!  Thanks, Melissa!  (Kate and her friends enjoy putting their best feet forward when visitors are in our midst!)

These guys have been working on patterns this week so we gave them a challenge today.  They had to work it out with a couple of steps this time!

We were busy bees on Friday as we got 84 power slide doors ready for Eaton...by lunchtime!  When the song "Almost There" from Disney's Princess and the Frog movie came on our Pandora radio stream, we grabbed the camera and caught everyone working diligently!  It was a great morning!

We also got a great shot of Xavier this week!  He was working on a new task that involved removing a a couple of washers from an Eaton part.  It took him a while to figure out that one of them had to be pulled off (the other screwed off more easily), but once he got going, he zipped through the job!

Earlier in the morning we asked for volunteers to prepare a snack so we could have a belated celebration of Peanut Butter Day.  Patrick and Alexis volunteered to fill celery with gooey peanut butter and completed the job, start to finish!

We also had mini peanut butter crackers and pink lemonade.  These "Eaton" workers enjoyed the break!

With students being out of school on Friday, we took advantage of an empty campus with a walk in the sunshine.  That led us to the playground...  😎

When James heard how much work we had ready, he zipped right over from Eaton to pick it up.   Didn't take long to load the van with these helpers!

It was a great Friday!

We are looking forward to another four day week coming up, even though we heard a weather forecaster mention the "s" word for Tuesday morning...let's hope he is wrong!  Here are our plans:

Tuesday:  NO travel today.  We will remain at AFCC and enjoy puzzle and strategy-type games to mark Puzzle Day (which is on Monday).  Lunch on your own.

Wednesday:  Dress for YOGA with Patti!  She asked what we wanted to try this week, so be prepared for Downward Dog and Warrior poses!  We'll also goof off for Backward Day and begin planning our February calendar.  Lunch on your own.

Thursday:  We are determined to squeeze in a Super Bowl "party" and today's the day!  We'll have pigs in a blanket for lunch, along with a couple of party sides, and play some football inspired games.  After lunch we will head to the CW Art Museums for our monthly visit with Christina (last month got snowed-out).  Please wear Arc shirts!

Friday:  We head back to Eaton for a work day!  We'll also have dance and game breaks, and a surprise treat when we return to AFCC.  Hint:  It's Groundhog Day!  Please bring a bag lunch!

T-shirt orders:  The shirts should be ready sometime this week.  You may get a call that you can pick up your order, but there's no need for you to make a special trip.  We will pick them up from the vendor and send them home with your associate!

Hope everyone enjoys the weekend!  Think Spring....

Lisa, Carol, and Nan

Winter Strikes Again

Another abbreviated week at the AoA!  When will Spring get here?  Let's hope the next several weeks pass quickly, and warmly...

Nevertheless, we did a few things on our two day week.  Here's a rundown:

At bowling we caught Laura doing a dance of sorts before her roll.  We dubbed it the "Laura Strike Dance" because, well, she got a strike afterward!

Chris offers congratulations!

We welcomed some special visitors on Tuesday.  Patrick's sister, Katie, hung out with us.  She was visiting from Portland, Oregon!

Carol's sons David and Matthew were enjoying some time off from their jobs this week so they hung out with us, too.  Here, David joined Cameron, Chris, and Sam for some bowling competition!

When they weren't bowling, Matthew gave Katie some video game tips!

These guys posed with David and Matthew!

Here's another shot with Katie.  This is also our last picture with Josie.  We're sad for us, but happy for her, to report that she is moving to a new home in Newport News and will be attending a day support program through Versability.  She seemed excited about her new opportunity and we wish her all the best!

Since it wasn't too cold or windy, we went to the Rec Center on Longhill for a brisk walk after bowling.  Here are the leaders of the pack!  That would be Chris, Cameron, and Xavier.

Here are the rest of us!  We all made it back to the van...

Coming in on a two hour delay Friday was interesting.  We greeted each other and then danced for a bit.  After that we had time to create a thank you note for our friends at Williamsburg Moose Lodge, and then it was lunch time!

Here, Kate is proof-reading our note.  The associates brainstorm ideas we want to convey in our message and then help to draft sentences, with a little help from the staff.  Their heartfelt gratitude has always been there, but as we do more and more of these types of cards, we notice their vocabulary and sentence structure getting stronger!!

This is our finished product, which Patti will post on the bulletin board at the Moose Lodge, alongside of our other cards. She says they love seeing our cards up on the wall!

We spent Friday afternoon on Eaton work.  On Tuesday, James had brought us a LOT of work to do at AFCC until we can get back over to the Eaton site.  He delivered 180 power slide doors and a lot of photo cell plates, which Drew, Laura, and Kacie worked on.  Drew kept the pace by feeding the first part to Laura, who steadily fed them to Kacie so she could attach the big wire part. Drew was also responsible for making the rounds to other tables to gather up trash for his fellow workers.  He was all over the place!  

Cameron also kept the pace going by unpacking doors so Kate could attach the windows.  He was all over, too, as he had to get the doors to the next station in a timely manner!

Alexis and Liz manned the label table!

Patrick, Chris, Kevin and Sam loaded up the doors with nuts and bolts.  Each door has four sets that must be set by hand.

Remember that power drill gizmo we got last week?  Carol trained Sam and Chris in using it to tighten the screws.  

Not to be overlooked, our friend Xavier worked on a sorting job and we missed getting his picture.  Here's one from December...he worked hard on Friday and we want him to be represented, too!

We missed Bo, who had a dental appointment, and Devin and Chloe, who weren't feeling well on Friday.  We appreciate families for their vigilance in checking for fevers or other symptoms that warrant a day (or two or three) of rest at home.  Sam came back this week after a bout with the flu and several others actually needed the snow days to help with wicked colds.  We are washing hands a lot and using Clorox wipes and Lysol!  Like we said at the beginning of this post, when will Spring arrive?! 😷

Once again, we will look forward to a full week next week.  The weather forecast looks promising!  Here's some of what we have planned:

Tuesday:  Fun, fun, fun today!  It's Cameron's birthday and we will celebrate with bowling and pizza for lunch courtesy of his family!  Back at the center, we'll continue his celebration with a sweet treat, cards, balloons, and of course, singing! Wear your Arc shirts!

Wednesday:  Busy, busy, busy today!  We will make up MLK, Jr. Day with a history lesson, and also celebrate Sticker Day (which we missed) by making farewell cards for Josie that we will send her in the mail.  We'll use stickers of her favorite things (like sparkles and butterflies) to make the cards that we would have created on her last day with us if it weren't for ❄❄❄.  It's also YOGA with PATTI so dress appropriately!!  Lunch on your own!

Thursday:  Chili Cook Off make up day!  First you'll cook it, then you'll eat it!! Which team will prevail...or will it be a tie? 😉😋

  We will also make up Winnie the Pooh Day with some fun Disney activities.  Wear your Pooh (or any Disney) clothes if you like!  If you have POLKA DOTS, wear them...as we will also celebrate Minnie Mouse getting a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in honor of her 90th birthday!  

Friday:  We will spend a large part of the day on Eaton work and also celebrate Peanut Butter Day...Opposite Day...and Compliment Day...all of which occur this week!  Lunch on your own!

HEADS UP:  The buzz has started about Valentine's Day!  💕  We will party and dance, and exchange Valentines.  This was a big hit last year...it's fun and we say you're never too old to share the love!  We'll send a list of everyone's names next week. 💕 

Hope everyone has a great weekend with sunshine and warmer temperatures!  😎

Lisa, Carol, and Nan

After the Storm

We were back and then we weren't.  What a week!  Thanks to everyone for being understanding about our flip/flop with the inclement weather "policy."  Let's hope we don't have to deal with this kind of weather any more this winter...Meanwhile, we were in session for 3 great days.  Here's what we were up to!

It was a beautiful afternoon on Tuesday when we visited the James City County Police Headquarters in observance of Law Enforcement Appreciation Day!  Our friend, Investigator Lesa, along with a couple of her colleagues, gave us a great tour.  Of course, before we went, we got our "appreciation" together for them...

First, we made cards.  The gang split into groups for this and enjoyed creating cards using some nifty 3D stickers, and wearing the police hat Kevin brought in!

Next, we baked cookies...three kinds!  (With a sample for ourselves at lunch, of course!)

These guys carefully transfer the freshly baked cookies to the serving tray.  We hope the officers enjoy cookies as much as donuts! 😉

We forgot to take a picture in front of the headquarters building.  Perhaps that was because we parked in the wrong lot and had to meander quite a distance, and through a snowy yard (the sidewalk was icy still), to get to the front door.  By the time we got there we were just happy to be inside!  

The first room Lesa showed us was a Community Room.  Just like at the Rec Center, this room can be reserved by county residents for meetings or training sessions!

We went outside to check out a monster truck and a squad car!

Closest thing we got to a group picture. 😏

Here's Chloe being "deputized" by Officer Woodhouse!

This is where evidence is locked up.

Investigator Pennycuff explained CSI processing to us.  He's also the head wrestling coach at Jamestown High School and he recognized a lot of our friends!  

See the screens on the wall in this room?  This is where the officers participate in role plays and can actually do training in a virtual reality type of game which is broadcast on the screens.  Investigator Lesa said that is fun...and intense!

We ended the tour outside where an officer (whose name we forgot) explained how the police also patrol our local waterways in these boats.

We couldn't go over to see the boats up close because of this icy slush.  We really enjoyed this tour and learned many interesting things about our hard-working, dedicated, and brave police force!

After closing again on Wednesday because of predicted slick roads, we opened on Thursday and had a big make up day ahead of us!  We had to "celebrate" all the days we missed:  Save the Eagles Day, Bird Day, Drinking Straw Day, and Spaghetti Day!  January is loaded with fun days!

First up, these fellas took lunch duty and prepared spaghetti sauce, garlic bread, and salads.

Meanwhile, we studied our national bird, the eagle, with some reading and then enjoyed checking in with a live webcam from Florida.  These babies were born just a couple of weeks ago!

One of our activities for Drinking Straw Day included "experimenting" (aka, playing around) with color changing straws.  Here, Bo blows bubbles with his!

We made our own fidget gadgets out of straws, which can be seen on the table here, and are being toasted by these friends!

Chris tried to attach his fidget straws to his color changing straws...how did that work for you, Chris?!

For Milk Day, we reviewed what a powerfully nutritious food milk is, and then tried dairy, lactose-free, and soy milk, with or without chocolate or strawberry flavoring, for lunch.

We celebrated Spaghetti Day with one of our favorite meals, only this time we had the option of trying pesto sauce, which didn't turn out to be as popular as red sauce!  

Since it was about 60 degrees warmer than it was a week ago, we took a walk to check the pine cone bird feeders...they looked like they had NEVER been slathered with peanut butter and bird feed!

It was too wet to walk to the outdoor classroom so we took advantage of the black top and tennis court.

Our visitor is Kate's cousin, Katie, who owns a yoga studio and invited us to come for a class!  

Snowball fight!  Get 'em, Becky!  (She's from Ohio and knows a thing or two about snowball fights!)

We ended the day by breaking into small groups to do more thinking work on the topic of birds.  So much fun to see our friends work together!

We were revved up on Friday for our Eaton work day!  Take a look at the multiple tasks we worked on, with many of our friends doing two or three different things. 😀

This group worked on an assembly line where they completed photo cell plates.  This involves attaching two differently wired pieces to the plate, and attention must be paid to orienting the wires correctly.  Kevin, Kate, and Bo did that part, while Devin unpacked the plates and Laura packed completed parts and took inventory.

Josie inserted windows into power slide doors and Alexis, Nan, and Chloe added four labels to each one.  In the background we have volunteer Nancy (Meemaw) applying gaskets to the windows that go in the doors and Chris and Kacie helping to organize the flow.

At this very busy table, Bo, Alexis, Kacie, Chris, and Carol tightened the nuts and bolts on the power slide doors.  The tightening takes place after others have inserted the nuts and bolts loosely around the windows on the doors.  

Tightening the nuts and bolts by hand can be slow-going and tires our hands/wrists after a few minutes.  We have trained several associates on this job and they take turns.  Our volunteer Nancy also tires on this job so she wondered aloud if there might be a power tool available since we were at the Eaton plant.  Jorie got wind of Nancy's musing and next thing we knew, Nancy was whizzing though the tightening process with this gizmo!  (Ask and ye shall receive?!)

Kacie and Laura enjoyed getting gaskets ready for application. In the background, their friends are busy as bees.  It seems we didn't get a closeup of Patrick or Cameron, but they can be seen in the background in this picture.  We want to point out that they are our go-to guys for correctly and quickly placing the nuts and bolts on the power slide door windows!  

Alexis applied gaskets to a part we have never worked with before.  The challenge was to line up the gasket so it wouldn't overlap the edges, but would correctly surround the ring in the middle.

There are hundreds of boxes of parts at Eaton and one of our new jobs is to unpack them.  Devin, Drew, and Xavier persevered in their efforts to get these large parts out of the plastic covering.

We were also tasked with preparing The Arc's February newsletter today, so we brought it with us.  In between other tasks, Kate and Bo had time to put return address labels and stamps on the envelopes.

Jorie, the Eaton comptroller and our good buddy, was impressed with our efficiency!  It's hard to express what this partnership with Eaton Corp. means to us!

After such a productive day, where we all felt the satisfaction that comes from working hard, all we can ask is, "When can we do this again?!"  In this video clip, Lorenzo, our new friend at Eaton, helps keep the pace rolling along and Owl City provides the soundtrack!

Jorie informed us that there will be training meetings taking place at Eaton over the next two weeks, so we loaded up the vans with work to take back to AFCC.  We will most likely head back to Eaton for another day's work near the end of the month!

After all that hard work, we were delighted to be reminded that, for Halloween, Drew had given us a stack of coupons for free Frosties.  So, off to Wendy's we went!  YUM!

We were also delighted to find out we had enough time once we returned to AFCC to end the week with Bingo!  Check out our prize table!

We packed a lot into our three day week.  We're looking forward to a full four days next week, and here's what you need to know:

Tuesday:  It's Bowling and Pizza for Lunch Day!  Wear your Arc shirts!  We will also enjoy some trivia games when we get back in the afternoon, since we missed Trivia Day during the snow hiatus.

Wednesday: Monday was Martin Luther King, Jr. Day so we will spend some time studying his mark on our country's history.  We'll also enjoy yoga with Patti, so dress to move and stretch!  Lunch on your own!

Thursday:  Everyone loves Winnie the Pooh so we will participate in some activities centered around him, since it's Winnie the Pooh Day!  We missed National Sticker Day on January 13 (Saturday), so we will also have fun celebrating stickers... Lunch on your own!

Friday:  Time for another cook-off!  This time our two teams will compete with each other in a chili cook off (chili for lunch)!

We are excited to report that our friends at the Williamsburg Moose Lodge made a $1,000 donation to our field trip fund this week!  We will be creating thank you notes for them and their Sports/Activities Committee next week.  We appreciate how hard they worked to hold a golf tournament back in October that resulted in this generous donation!

We are also excited to THANK our generous families for all of the paper products that have come in since we mentioned our Wish List!  You are the best!  From paper products to Bingo prizes to pizza and so much more, YOU are there for us. 
💙💙💙 

Wishing everyone a great weekend,

Lisa, Carol, and Nan