Kindnesses and Parties

It was another wonderful week for the Arc of Abilities!  We enjoyed the kindness of our friends from the Master Gardeners and Greater Williamsburg LEAD Team, both coming to visit us and share fun and engaging activities. We visited Christina at the Art Museums and made heartfelt cards for loved ones.  The week ended with not one, but two parties!  Take a peek at our Valentine's Week!

First thing Tuesday morning, this crew got busy making chocolate candy/pretzel treats so they would be ready in time to give to our master gardener friends, who were coming at 9:45!

We haven't see the MGs since our last session at the end of October.  They wanted to give us a "booster" session so they came to AFCC on Tuesday.  What a treat it was to have eight of them come to visit!  They brought us a great lesson on spices! We learned that cloves grow on an evergreen tree in the myrtle family and come from Indonesia.  Besides being used in baking, they are also used medicinally, as they can help with respiratory problems, sore throats, and tooth aches.

   Next we learned that nutmeg also comes from the seed of an evergreen tree, and the covering of the nutmeg seed is mace!  We enjoy nutmeg in baking and egg nog, but it can also help with tummy aches.  Here, Linda shows us the nutmeg seed.

After telling us about allspice, which is a dried, unripe fruit...not a mixture of spices...we learned about cinnamon.  It is also an evergreen tree, and the cinnamon comes from the bark.

We learned a lot of facts about each of these spices, and they may be hard to remember, but one thing we won't forget is how good they smell!  The master gardeners got us to help crush and grind some of the spices that we would use to add a lovely scent to a hot pad we would make.  Annmarie used a rolling pin to crush allspice.

Kacie used a grinder to grind the nutmeg seeds into powder.

We mixed the allspice and nutmeg with cinnamon and cloves and put it into the middle of a hot pad that Linda had made for each of us.  Next, we had to sew it shut.  Joanne helped Chloe use the needle and thread.  There was one more step to finish the hot pads, which we completed on Thursday.  Happy Valentine's Day and we hope the recipients of these sweetly fragrant hot pads enjoy them!

We didn't get a picture, but the MGs brought us homemade spice cookies (so tasty!) and apple cider for a snack.  They are so good to us!  We hope they liked the Valentine candy treat we gave them. 😍  We will resume our regular sessions with the master gardeners at the Botanical Garden in April.  Can't wait!

We had lunch after our visit with the MGs, and then we loaded up the vans and went to visit with Christina at the Art Museums.  Since it's Valentine's Week, she took us on a hunt for "heart art."  Here, she showed us iron ore before explaining how it is processed into usable iron that a blacksmith works into usable objects.

Then we turned around and found this heart shaped strainer!

We found hearts that had been woven into rugs, and then found some that were painted on a cupboard.

The hearts on this teapot are thumbprints!

After finding "heart art," we went to the education room where we saw this example of a letter that was written with words and pictures...it's called rebus writing.

It was fun for us to use picture stamps to make our own version of rebus writing in the form of Valentine cards.

Here's an example. Can you read each line?

When we got back to the center, we put together our own "heart art."  We look pretty good! 

This week is known as Random Acts of Kindess Week, so we thought Lexi's shirt on Wednesday shared a good message.  It was what we had on our minds as we prepared to welcome a couple of friends from the 2019 LEAD Class of Greater Williamsburg, who were coming to help us with a project.

This is Laura, working with Kacie, Patrick, and Laura to make homemade bird feeders out of a recipe that proved to be kind of sticky.  Laura is on the LEAD team and is also married to Adam, who is on The Arc's Board of Directors.

Here is Sarah, who is also on the LEAD team.  She happily donned one of our aprons and helped mix together the recipe with Alexis, Liz, and Devin.

Cameron was adding some unflavored gelatin to the recipe, while Chris tried to convince Xavier that this was going to be fun!

Sam, Chloe, Kate, and Nan looked on as Kevin stirred the mixture.  The recipe called for flour, unflavored gelatin, corn syrup, water, and bird seed.

We then used our hands to (sort of) mold the mixture into heart shapes.  The LEAD team was being kind to us by volunteering to help, and we were being kind to make bird feeders to put out in our home yards.  We were very busy at this stage of the project, and didn't get pictures of our messy hands, but here are Alexis and Chris showing what the feeders looked like after drying overnight.  Hopefully, they made them home in one piece and everyone got to hang them in a special place.

We also celebrated National Tortellini Day by making a scrumptious salad which we shared with Laura and Sarah as a way to thank them for helping us!  They liked our strawberry-pretzel dessert, too!

These friends enjoyed chatting with Sarah!

Kacie and Kate checked out photos of Laura's kids and dog!  Thanks for hanging out with us, Laura and Sarah!  It was fun to socialize with you!

We practiced heart yoga with Patti!  She led us though lots of poses in which we tried to form hearts using our bodies!

Kevin and Devin, partners with rhyming names!

Drew and Laura worked so well together!

Can you see the heart Cameron and Chris formed using their arms and legs?!

Thanks, Patti!  We liked heart yoga!

Before Wednesday ended, we had time to assemble the March newsletter mailing for The Arc.  You know the drill:  Complete your sign up sheet and return to Bette Faye before the deadline date!  Coming up in March is the awesome Spring Carnival at W&M!

We kicked off Valentine's Day by digging into this card decorating "kit" that Kacie's Aunt Wendy sent us from California!  This is better than anything we could purchase!

She included everything we would need to put together the most beautiful cards you can imagine.  Look at all the stickers we had to choose from!

Happy (Belated) Valentine's Day, Aunt Wendy!  Thank you so much for this awesome kit.  We made lovely cards for our families and friends.  

We learned that there is a crafty "thing" we can make called an agamorgraph.  It's a picture that is colored and then folded accordion style.  Laura chose her colors carefully.

If the colors on the strips were alternated, it would make for an interesting look once folded.  Devin and Patrick worked on theirs together.

Here are some finished products.  If you look at the agamorgraph by slanting it from two different directions, the colors change.  It was cool!

This is round 1 of our friends passing out their Valentine cards!

Here's round 2.  It was a little hectic, but so much fun!

Everyone "oohed" and "ahhed" as they read the Valentines from their friends.  There was a lot of joy in the room!  Many, many thanks to our families for all the love you sent in the form of Valentines and "extra" treats.  Lisa, Carol, Nan, and Becky also thank you for the extra love.  Our hearts were full! 💖💖💖

We celebrated with these fun treats Laura brought us from her trip to Disney World last week!  Chip and Dale pretzels and Minnie Mouse's sweet graham cookies hit the spot after all the running around to pass out cards.  Thanks to Laura's family for bringing us a surprise.  We loved it!

We always have an extra dance party on Valentine's Day!  Here we are burning off a few of our calories...haha!  Don't we look great in our Valentine colors?!

We're all smiles on Friday morning when Mr. Howard stopped by to get his farewell cards because he said he will be at JRES each day around 11-12 in his new position.  Hopefully we'll see him often!

We were glad to get outside for a while since we heard there is a lot of rain in the forecast for the next week!

Looking good on the jump, Devin!

Annmarie brought a Frisbee out and Liz tossed it with her.

We had a few of the homemade bird feeders left so we placed them in one of the feeders in the Community Garden.

Sam looked on as Dev fetched a basketball that missed the net and landed in the garden!

We were excited on Friday to celebrate Heike's birthday.  We made her one of our special banners, and then this crew prepped the salad and oranges that were part of our lunch.  We also had leftover tortellini, which we enjoyed with a bit of marinara sauce.

Heike said our lunch was delicious!  We said the same thing after singing to her and then digging into the homemade apple pudding cake she brought to the party!  Thank you, Heike!  It was your special day and we loved sharing it with you!

During Choice Time Mr. Stutt popped in and got some of our friends revved up over a game of foosball.  That was fun!

Yesterday flew by and we ran out of time, so we played Valentine Bingo today.  Need we say more?

We also ran out of time before getting to dance to all of the songs that were requested.  So we ended our week with the Cha-Cha Slide!  Yes, it was as fun as it looks!

There is no way next week can be as much fun as this week was, but we will try!  Here's what's on the calendar:

Tuesday:  🎳🎳🎳 It's back to bowling today with pizza and apples for lunch, courtesy of Meemaw, who often remains at AFCC on Tuesdays to do Eaton work while we go off to have fun!  Bring your lucky balls and wear your Arc shirts!  After bowling, we will take a walk if the weather permits and check on the garden at Freedom Park.  If not, we'll return to AFCC for Choice Time and an online movement activity.

Wednesday:  We'll work in our Computer Lab today and welcome our Rotary Volunteer to help!  It's Love Your Pet Day so feel free to bring pictures and stories about your favorite pets.  It's also Cherry Pie Day so we will make our own healthier version, crustless and with less sugar!  Dress to stretch because we'll have Yoga with Patti, too!  Lunch on your own.

Thursday: Today is National Grain Free Day.  In a nod to our friend Xavier, who must eat gluten-free, we will prepare a chicken and veggie dish for lunch!  We'll also check out a Mystery Doug science lesson and start a new read aloud!  

Friday:  We will go to Eaton today for a productive, and always fun, work day!  We'll enjoy a stop by Wendy's on the way back to AFCC, too!  (Thanks, Nina!!) Please wear Arc shirts AND bring a bag lunch!!

SAVE THE DATE:

🎂🎈🎉 Our Arc of Abilities day support program will celebrate its 3rd anniversary on March 16!  We think this is a perfect time to have a family dinner meeting.  While most of you have been with us from the beginning, we have a few new families who haven't met everyone.  What better time to get to know them than during an anniversary celebration?!  Please make plans to join us on Thursday, March 14th...time and location to be announced soon. 🎂🎈🎉

Have a great weekend!  Stay dry!

Lisa, Carol, and Nan