May Arrives

We were excited to welcome the month of May on Tuesday.  It was a gorgeous day, the first in what became a beautiful week!  We were busy and on the go.  Here's a look at the first week of May.

According to our go-to website, nationaldaycalendar.com, May 1st is School Principals' Day!  Our favorite principal is Mr. Stutt, of course, and we also love the assistant principal at JRES, Ms. Vallone (even though we don't see her as much).  So we began the week making some of our cheery cards to show appreciation for them.

Mr. Stutt was able to stop by for a moment, but Ms. Vallone was in yet another meeting so Mr. Stutt delivered her cards.  When we got back from bowling we found a nice note thanking us for thinking of her!

As soon as we entered the bowling center on Tuesday morning, we noticed some big changes.  Not only were there new tables and chairs, but the seating areas up near the bowling ball returns were missing.  Where would we sit while waiting our turns?!  We felt kind of weird, at first, sitting back from the lanes in the new chairs.  It was a little more challenging to keep up with our turns, too, but we soon adjusted to the new arrangement, and enjoyed our morning very much.

We also began working more seriously on bowling etiquette.  Here, Kate and Alexis give Drew space to take his turn before taking theirs.

After bowling we went to the recreation area at Warhill Sports Complex (aka, WISC).  There are extensive paved areas for walking, which we hope will help us avoid ticks as much as possible.  We like to be outside when the weather allows, so please be aware and help your associate do a tick check each night. 😌 

Isn't this a sweet picture of Laura and Devin walking together?

We made our way to this playground, which has higher slides than most.  Since no little ones were visiting, we got to enjoy it.  Tapping our inner six-year olds (which we love to do), our guys got a great workout climbing and sliding! 

Kate worked her way up and said later that it was more challenging than she expected.

Devin made several attempts on this mini rock wall before succeeding!  It was a challenge for him to turn his feet outward so he could get a good foothold on the rocks.

Here's Sam scaling a mountain!

Kacie is on the left, and Cameron on the right.  They raced down the bumpy slides!

Here comes Kevin!

Here's a video of Drew and Devin taking a turn.  The joy is so evident!  

We could have stayed a lot longer, it was so much fun and the weather was perfect.  But when the clock struck 2:10, we realized we needed to hoof it back to the vans!  Tuesday was a great outing day!

  

It was relatively quiet around the center on Wednesday.  We selected which days in May we plan to "celebrate" and updated our calendar.  This is a team effort that we look forward to each month.

While it was much warmer on Wednesday than Tuesday, it was still comfortable when we went outside in the morning.  Some of our friends chose to play with balls, some chose to walk around, and these girls chose to play with our new smiley face disk.

Chris and Drew enjoyed throwing Drew's basketball and kicking Chris's soccer ball, and then running to fetch them both!

We also had computer lab support from our Rotary friend, Jeff M., on Wednesday.  We installed a new jigsaw puzzle program and he worked with Chris and Cameron to figure it out.

After circling back to April and reviewing the meaning behind, and importance of, Earth Day, we all worked on a color by number picture.  We set a goal of seeing if everyone's pictures would look the same once they all finished coloring.  🤔

Coloring can be a relaxing and mindful experience for adults, and most of our guys really enjoy it.  Some of them are very meticulous in their coloring, while others are more "carefree."  We have been working with some of them, like Kevin here, on slowing down and coloring within the lines.  We usually outline an area in a certain color, and they fill it in.  Kevin has made a lot of progress with this goal, and he was proud to show us on his Earth Day picture!  It's hard to see, but at this point he had beautifully colored in green and blue areas of the earth. 👏👏

Here the friends show off their pictures that all looked the same, which was a good thing...this time! 

Here's a picture of Alexis and Bo reading during Choice Time, something we love to see!

It was Yoga with Patti Day, and here she is, right in the middle of the room in her down dog position, about to show us how to "walk like an elephant" once in this position.  It is not easy, but it is a great exercise for fostering mindfulness (focusing on our present), which is what we are working on with her during May.

We didn't get any great shots of us trying to walk like elephants, but afterward, we were happy to relax in child's pose!

JRES assistant principal, Ms. Vallone, stopped by on Thursday morning to thank us for the cards we made her on Tuesday.  Even though we see less of her than Mr. Stutt, we always enjoy having her stop by!

Next, we got busy making hummingbird nectar to put in our new feeder.  Alexis and Bo mixed 4 parts of hot water with 1 part of sugar until the sugar dissolved.

Now, we wait...

Not wanting other birds to feel left out, we also made seeded bird feeders.  Instead of using pine cones, this time we used toilet paper rolls covered in peanut butter and rolled in seed.  Here, Sam figures out how to cover his roll with peanut butter when Nan had borrowed his knife and forgot to return it!

We hung them on the trees right outside of our room, so we can bird watch. 

Liz watered the flowers in the containers we made last fall with the MGs.  The pansies are growing like crazy.

  

After an early lunch, we took time for a walk at Bicentennial Park before heading into the CW Art Museums for our May visit with Christina.  Even though it was in the mid 80s, the humidity was low this week (which is rare, according to the weather folks on tv), and it felt wonderful outside!

At the museum, we checked out this display of colonial tools made from iron and aluminum. One of them is a cookie cutter in the shape of a bird, which we were going to use for inspiration on our project.  Christina did not know we had talked about birds in our educational session today!

It was nice to see Jan, who sometimes joins us.  She and Kate were twinning with their shoes!

Did you know the CW Art Museums are undergoing a huge expansion?  This is the view of the expansion in progress from one of the peep holes the museum has cut through the wall so visitors can see! 

We spent most of our time in the education room at the museum because our project involved sewing and took some time.  We are making them for Mother's Day, so we don't want to give away too much information, but here's a peek as Christina works with Chris on stitching technique.

We were joined by a number of Art Museum volunteers for today's project.  They were very helpful, as most of our guys are not experienced with sewing.  We enjoyed the extra attention, and made new friends, too!

We think the moms and grandmoms who will receive these gifts will be happy!  Thank you, Christina, for inviting these volunteers to work with us today.  Everyone had a wonderful experience!

First thing on Friday morning, before heading to Eaton, we had to load up the vans with work we had completed at the center.  Chris and Xavier are early bird arrivals so they were helping Carol with the tubs.  Our hearts were already smiling at their help, but then Sam and Patrick got dropped off and rushed over to help their friends.  They still had their backpacks on!  Teamwork makes our dream work!

At Eaton, James explained that he brought lots of boxes over and for us to just finish what we could.  Well, we forgot to take a picture at the end of the day, but the table was completely cleared!  We didn't even have to work too hard.  We're that efficient.  (And this was with 5 associates out today!)  Our guys have the most amazing work ethic.  We think Sam spoke for us all when he said, "I'm so happy to be going back to work!"

Nan, Liz, and Alexis "stuck" with the gasket job! 🤣

Eaton is a workplace where you get to throw things in barrels (after pulling them apart).  Sam and Chris worked hard at this! 😉

Becky called Laura and Patrick the "Speedy Gonzales" team as they quickly emptied parts out of bags. 

Others worked independently, enjoying our music in the background and concentrating on the task at hand.  Here's Chloe's closeup!

Xavier worked to unpack parts and organize them neatly before Lisa came along to collect them. 

Kevin made the rounds today.  He sorted in the morning and unpacked in the afternoon.

A staff member or volunteer puts a small cut into the plastic bags and then the associates have to rip them open to remove the parts.  Devin enjoyed taking out small metal rods and lining them up neatly before transferring them to a box.

As always, we were very proud when our Eaton workday was done.  We're happy that our friends ended their week feeling productive and successful!  We celebrated our day's work with ice cream treats before heading back to the center...but no one thought to take a picture.  We were too excited!

Here's what's up for next week:

Tuesday:  We visit with the MGs at Freedom Park and the weather forecast looks pretty good to be outside.  Please bring a bag lunch for a picnic AND wear Arc shirts.  On the way back to AFCC, we will stop by CW where our MG friend Barbara plans to give us a garden tour.

Wednesday:  We will study the monarch butterfly today, as early May is when they typically start making their appearance after migrating south for the winter.  It's also Butterscotch Brownie Day so we will try baking them in The Nina.  Also, dress to stretch because we will have Yoga w/ Patti!  Lunch on your own.

Thursday:  Jorie asked us to change our work day to Thursday this week, so we plan to spend the day at Eaton.  Bring a bag lunch AND wear your Arc shirts!

Friday:  We'll finish working on some special keepsakes for the sweet moms and grandmoms in our lives since Mother's Day is Sunday.  And, we have been so busy lately that we didn't get to celebrate Cinco de Mayo / Coach Teri's birthday (as we do each year), so we will celebrate both today!  Coach Teri is bringing soft tacos for lunch and we will prepare sides!  We will also play bocce ball, of course!

UPCOMING EVENT:  The 3rd Annual ZUMBATHON benefiting The Arc will be sponsored by and held outside of Iron Bound Gym in New Town from 10:00-11:30 on Memorial Day, May 28th.  Work off your cookout meal before eating it at this fun and upbeat event!  If you're not into Zumba, donations to The Arc are encouraged.  Please support our Arc of Greater Williamsburg!  Thank you! 

Have a great weekend!

Lisa, Carol, and Nan