Celebrate Good Times

What a fun week filled with celebrations and lots of fun.  Enjoy sharing in our week!

"We" forgot the camera on Tuesday

 so we just have a few pictures taken with Lisa's phone.  But that's ok because we made up for it on Wednesday and Thursday!

First up, Chloe, Alexis, and Liz helped prepare the Arc's March mailing.  Be sure and check your loved one's schedule and send the sign up sheet to Bette Faye at the Arc office.  There are many exciting activities in March...not the least of which is the Spring Carnival on the 24th!  This is HUGE and not to be missed!!

We made more decorations for our Valentine's Party. 

After an early lunch, we loaded up and headed to Studio South in Lightfoot.  Katy Henderson, who owns Studio South and is also Kate's cousin, invited us for a yoga and mindfulness session that complimented our lessons with Patti very beautifully.  Here, we are introducing ourselves to Katy and her associate, Kylie.

We are all (including staff and Becky) encouraged to participate so taking pictures is a little tricky and we don't get a lot, but in this one, Kacie and Kate practice stretching their core by pulling their chests up from a lying down position while also trying to raise their legs off the floor!

This is Kevin practicing breathing by slowly and deeply inhaling and exhaling so as to make the feather on his tummy rise and fall.

Just like with Patti, everyone practiced in a way that was comfortable for themselves.  This is truly an empowering and stress-free time.  After our session, we posed with Katy and Kylie for a group picture.  We made plans to return again in March.  We are into this!

Wednesday dawned and brought with it a lot of excitement about Valentine's Day.  We love how much our friends enjoy this celebration of love! 💖 Here, they were working on a family Valentine.  Umm, something "fishy" was going on...

Everyone worked on their bags before lunch.  We decorated white lunch sacks so everyone would have somewhere to put their Valentines.  But later, when all that love got passed out, we realized that next year we will have to have bigger bags! 💗

Stickers everywhere!

Our volunteer Pam W. joined us today!  She is an artist at heart and always inspires our guys to get creative.

We played games, too!  In this one, everyone had 1/2 of a "broken" heart and had to find the friend with the matching 1/2 so the heart could be mended. (Yes, cue the Bee Gees on YouTube at this point! 🎝𝆕🎜𝆔 )

This took a lot of comparing heart halves with each other!

We concentrated and eventually mended all the hearts!

After lunch it was finally time to pass out Valentines.  Bo was ready to receive one from Devin!

Chris, Kate, and Cameron matched the names on their Valentines to the names on the bags.

If it looks somewhat chaotic, it's because it was!  But still, lots of fun, and the bags were stuffed when they finished!

What a pretty table the cupcakes and punch made!  Many thanks to Cameron's family for the yummy cupcakes!!

With all those sweets we had to have an extra dance session!

Cupid Shuffle, of course!

We ended the day with a game of Valentine Pictionary.  Can you guess what Kacie drew?! (Yes, cue Sam Cooke on YouTube here! 🎶🎶)

Did you know the names of the tunes we played along with our games today?!  The Bee Gees "How Can You Mend a Broken Heart" and Sam Cooke's "Cupid" were the answers.  Our guys appreciate oldies! 𝆕🎝𝆔🎜 

We hope you liked your "fishy" family Valentine!  Sending a sea of love from us to you!  

The partying kept going on Thursday when we celebrated Chinese New Year, which begins on Friday.  Here, Laura and Cameron worked on decorations for the lunchroom.

Sam was on the cooking crew.  He sauteed chicken like a professional! 😉

Alexis and Kacie chopped fresh veggies.

Wow...what a stir fry! This was the chicken dish.

Our substitute photographer, Liz, got a great shot of Chris stirring the pork dish...that is of Chris without his head! 😉

Here's a close up of our tasty lunch.

We were excited to have Ms. Teri visit and share the story of how the Chinese Zodiac came to be.

Her family lived in San Francisco when Sam was young and enjoyed being around the culture of Chinatown.  She brought these items to show us, including the Fortune Cookies, which we got to sample!

She explained that these were "starter" chopsticks.  (She also brought each of us a set of wooden chopsticks, but we did not have good luck using them with our lunch. 😞)

She taught us a game to play using the starter chopsticks.

The object was to be the first one to transfer your almonds from one bowl to the other!

What focus...and handling technique, Patrick!

Liz and Drew broke open the fortune cookies and found out they have some good luck coming!

Ms. Teri had more surprises!  Before leaving she gifted each of us with a red envelope filled with coins, which is a traditional gift given from elders to young folks during Chinese New Year.  Our coins were chocolate, but we loved them just the same!  Thank you, Teri, for sharing your time and talents with us!  It's always fun when you show up!

After all that celebrating, we needed a day of work to bring us back to the real world!  We went to Eaton on Friday and spent our time helping with tasks that would aid in the efficiency of Eaton's production line.  It was mostly unpacking parts, but we didn't mind.  Jorie said the production line is thrilled to not have to stop working and unpack parts all the time!  This was a great job for us.

The parts these girls and Sam worked on were in plastic bags so they had to tear open the bags first and then take out the parts.  

Laura and Patrick worked on a similar task, and the photographer apologizes for not getting their photo today.  They were tucked quietly away on the other side of the room, working diligently on their task, and were somehow overlooked.   They are Super⭐⭐!  

At this table, Kevin and Xavier took photocells out of boxes.  Kind of like opening gifts! 

Later, Bo and Kate put the photocells into the plates.

Bo also worked with Cameron to remove parts from bags.

Here, Jorie enlisted the help of Devin and Drew to help her remove larger parts from boxes.  Jorie worked with us all day and enjoyed getting to know the associates better.  They find her hip and funny!

When the boxes piled up, she showed these guys where the recycling bin was...

Later in the morning, Jorie brought boxes of light bulbs over and Liz and Alexis unpacked them.  Yes...light bulbs!  These girls have the touch. 💡

Alexis and Sam went with Jorie to another building at Eaton and helped with more unpacking.

At the end of the day we posed with Jorie and the gift she gave us.  Kacie is holding a "Mariner," which is a small pedestal that is used to light walkways.

Back at the center, we lit the Mariner and it looked like this!  What a nice keepsake for us!

Another week in the books.  My, they are flying by...

Here's what we're up to next week:

Tuesday:  Everyone's favorite...bowling and pizza for lunch!  We are thankful for pizza sponsorship from Laura's family today! 🍕 Please wear Arc shirts and walking shoes.  It's predicted to be warm enough for a post-bowling walk, but will it be dry enough?!⛅

Wednesday:  Time to celebrate our sweet custodian, Heike! 🎂  Her birthday is on the 17th and we couldn't fit her into our schedule until today, but she's cool with that! We'll prepare breakfast for lunch.  Today is also the first day of our partnership with the Rotary Club and some of their members volunteering in our computer lab. 💻 In addition, we will mark President's Day with  educational work.  AND...Yoga Patti is back so dress for yoga moves!  Busy day today!

Thursday:  We're going to Eaton today instead of Friday!  Please bring a bag lunch and wear Arc shirts.  Wonder what Jorie will have for us to do this time?  It's also Sweet Potato Day, so we will have sweet potato cookies for a treat after work!

Friday:  We're staying at the center today because some special visitors are coming.  We will welcome Arc Board members Erin and Adam who are also bringing sub sandwiches for lunch!  Other items on the agenda include reviewing dental health and celebrating Banana Bread Day.

See you next week!

Hope everyone has a great weekend!

Lisa, Carol, and Nan