As March rolled out, we were happy to see Spring-like weather this week and spend some time outdoors. We also enjoyed two yoga sessions and made more food on a stick. It was a good week and here's a glimpse at it...
On Tuesday morning we created a thank you note for the Collins Family who gave us a disco ball last week. Everyone tore colored paper into pieces and then helped glue it to a paper plate in mosaic form...hoping it would look like a disco ball.
We wrote a group note which we attached to the back of it. It was very cute.
Now is a good time to express again how supportive our families and friends are of our program. We find ourselves writing a lot of thank you notes, which serves to remind us of how fortunate we are. Sometimes each associate writes a personal note, but often we write a group note. During group writing, lots of ideas are tossed about, and we take the most fitting of them and craft our group notes together. We also use this time to teach word processing skills on the computer. Everyone has fun choosing font styles and colors, but we keep the emphasis on the message. Thanks again, to all of you for your enduring support of the AoA!
After creating our disco ball thank you note, we made yarn baskets to put Easter goodies in later in the week. The first step in this craft required soaking yarn in a glue/water mixture. Alexis stirred it with a bamboo skewer and then got her hands in it to thoroughly mix the yarn with the glue. Cameron preferred to look on!
The next step was to drape it over an upside down bowl, which had been covered with plastic wrap so the glue wouldn't stick to the bowl. This was a "delicate" procedure, as the yarn tended to slide off. But Sam and Chris persevered!
The baskets needed to dry for a couple of days. This is what they looked like during that step.
Keep reading and you'll see the final product when you get to Friday!
After lunch on Tuesday we headed to Studio South for a yoga session with Katey and Kylie. They are very welcoming and work so beautifully with our group. We are grateful for this monthly opportunity, which complements our work with Patti so well!
In this shot, we are holding hands as we help each other with balance poses.
At the end of our session, when we were relaxing in shavasana pose, Katey played music with a bowl! It was very interesting and we all listened quietly and breathed deeply during this time.
First thing Wednesday morning found Bo, Liz, and Chloe shelving books in the library. They worked efficiently and accurately, and then got to look at books themselves before coming back to our room! Great job, guys!
If you keep up with the news at National Day Calendar, then you know that Wednesday was Something on a Stick Day! It was an opportunity for us to learn about the Japanese dish, teriyaki, which we made with chicken and pineapple. We recently made meatball subs on a stick (huge hit!), and our guys found putting meatballs on a skewer to be fairly easy. It was a different story with the chicken...
These girls found the marinated chicken strips to be "slippery" and "too long" to skewer. We worked with them on skewering each piece twice, while also putting the pineapple in between pieces. They stuck with it and got it done!
We always help our friends as needed. Carol gave Kevin a hand. Some of his strips were a bit short and difficult to skewer twice. Cameron had an easier time with his.
We added stir-fry veggies and rice for a yummy lunch!
Heike, who is on vacation this week, brought her daughter, who is visiting from Georgia, to meet us. They joined us for chicken teriyaki and afterward, Heike surprised us with some homemade cake! We have great friends!
Here, Alexis and Liz chat with Heike's daughter, Destiny.
Meanwhile, as we were busy preparing lunch in the big room, down in the lunchroom area we welcomed another Jeff from the Williamsburg Rotary to work with us in the computer lab. He worked with Cameron and Sam on place value concepts.
When Kevin and Drew worked with him, they enjoyed a rousing game of Number Bingo. You can't tell, but Drew was giggling and Kevin was smiling when they got a score!
Yoga session number two for the week came with Patti on Wednesday afternoon. She told us we would be doing the Standing Bow pose this week, and that first we would have to stretch and warm up a lot! Uh-oh...what's to come?
See Patti in Standing Bow pose? As for the rest of us...we attempted!
We have some work to do. The benefits of Standing Bow pose include enhanced patience, determination, focus, and balance. Yes, indeed!
Thursday was National Vietnam Veterans Day, a recognition that was just designated last year. It's recognized on March 29 as that was the date in 1973 when combat units began withdrawing from South Vietnam and is intended as a day to show Vietnam Vets the dignity and respect many did not receive upon returning home. We spent our educational time having a somber discussion, to the best of our guys' understanding, about why this war took place and how it affected our country. We then made two cards which we are sending to a couple of Vietnam veterans who are close to the hearts of two in our AoA family. Lisa's uncle, and Becky's husband, both served in combat. We asked our associates if they knew of anyone in their families who served during this time, and Kacie thought her late grandfather had, but no one else seemed to think so. Please let us know if there are other Vietnam vets in your families!
After lunch we made our way to Veterans Park (formerly Mid County Park and also known as Kidsburg). It is here that a monument stands to honor the 18 service members from the Williamsburg area who did not return from the Vietnam War. Our gang enjoys history so we hope they found today's lesson interesting and informative.
Before leaving the park, we lightened the mood when Coach Teri joined us for a Bocce Ball review session. She was pleased to see that we remembered most of the rules and the strategies for playing!
We also welcomed Becky back from her two-week vacation today and here, she smiles as Chloe encourages Cameron to take his best shot. Kacie was clapping for her own good toss, and in the background, Coach Teri had her eyes on another group.
Xavier, Kevin, Nan, and Laura enjoyed playing on this warm, sunny afternoon.
There was a lot of friendly competition here as Alexis and Sam showed off their tossing posture! It was a close game between them.
At the other end of the field, the American and Vietnam POW/MIA flags fly above the monument as our friends enjoy the games.
It was too nice of a day to play Bocce and leave, so, of course, we took a walk around the track!
Kacie found a tree to help balance herself so she could show Becky the Standing Bow pose Becky missed at yoga yesterday!
It was great to spend a couple of hours outside on Thursday. We hope Spring will continue and not get too hot before we have plenty of chances to enjoy it!
Friday morning brought a delightful surprise! Our friend, Nina, aka, Sam's grandmother, gave us this beautiful convection oven as a 2nd Anniversary gift! Nina visited with us back in the Fall, and noticed that our cooking capacity is somewhat limited with our slow cookers and toaster ovens. She gave it some thought and decided we could really up our game with a larger and more powerful oven, yet one that still fits nicely in our space. We appreciate Sam's dad, Tim, for bringing it in for us on his day off! Nina, we know you read the blog, so please know that we are very thankful to you for this amazing gift! We will enjoy cooking with it, including next week when we "break it in" for your grandson's birthday celebration!!
Just for fun, here's a video clip from Friday morning's dance warm up. Liz and Alexis are just calling to say they love us!
It can't be Easter if you don't color eggs, and we did, but in a different way. First, we prepared a Rice Krispie treat mixture and then used plastic eggs as molds to make egg shaped treats.
Each half of the egg was stuffed with the krispie mixture, and pressed together.
After carefully removing the egg shape, it was rolled in colorful sugar.
They were very cute, and they tasted good, too!
After making our egg treats, this adventurous group tried to dance the Bunny Hop! That's a pretty good workout!
Here are the yarn baskets we made earlier this week! While we were having lunch today the Easter Bunny stopped by and filled them with a few treats. We think he also helped himself to a couple of our Rice Krispie eggs!
Happy Easter from the Arc of Abilities!
We will miss some of our friends who are traveling next week, but we will be in session and here's what we have planned:
Tuesday: Bowling and pizza for lunch!! Wear your Arc shirts!! We'll take a walk if it's not raining. We will also work on our April calendar.
Wednesday: We are working on Eaton at the center this week, so today will be a work day. We'll also work with our Rotary volunteer in the computer lab. And, it's Yoga with Patti today!!! Lunch on your own! REMEMBER: NO JRES CAFETERIA THIS WEEK SO BRING LUNCH FROM HOME!
Thursday: It's Spring Break for the school kids, so we get the gym all to ourselves this week. We'll spend today playing basketball, floor hockey, and who knows what else? We will also do a little Spring cleaning and organizing...all hands on deck! AND, we're being treated to sub sandwiches for lunch, courtesy of Kate's family! We thank them for treating us to lunch on a day when the cafeteria is closed. It's fun to not have to pack lunch!
Friday: Sam's birthday is tomorrow so we will celebrate him today! We have lots of April birthdays to celebrate so we are going to decorate our room with a birthday theme for this month. We are excitedly looking forward to trying out our new convection oven, too! Per Sam's request, we're having pulled pork sandwiches for lunch!
Don't forget, The Arc of GW and W&M School of Education are hosting a screening of the coming of age with autism movie, "Life Animated," at the Kimball Theater on Sunday, April 15 at 2 p.m. We guarantee you will leave happy that you chose to see this film! It will be followed by a discussion with one of the film's stars. Tickets are only $10 for adults and $5 for students and Arc clients. Invite your family and friends...and spend an afternoon peeking into the lives of a young man and his family who learned to communicate through the dialogue of Disney films!
Have a great weekend,
Lisa, Carol, and Nan
