Spring Tease

It may have only lasted a few days, but when the groundhog didn't see his shadow last week and predicted an early Spring, we were hopeful.  We enjoyed mild temperatures this week, but not as much sunshine as we would have liked.  Still, we had a lot of great experiences!

We were thrilled to see our old friend Josie on Tuesday when she joined us at bowling to celebrate her birthday!  Ever since she moved to Newport News last year, we have missed her.  Getting to celebrate her birthday was lots of fun. 

It was like old times!  We always like to see former associates.

Dev was working on holding his head up last time we bowled, and he worked on it again today.  His focus paid off, as he scored over 100 for the first time.  Here, he was taking a picture of his score!  👍

This was Dev and Drew congratulating each other for a tied game:  they both bowled 120!  Chris was excited for them, too!

Josie hasn't lost her touch, either!  

Our high scorer for the day was Cameron with a 166!  That's also the highest score any of our guys have ever bowled!  Great game, Cameron!! 🎳

Here's our sweet birthday girl with her cake and all the thoughtful cards her friends made!  Thank you, Josie, for sharing your special day with us.  Thanks, also, to your family, for treating us to pizza and delicious birthday cake.  Your kindness is appreciated.  We loved spending time with all of you!

First we sang, and then she made a wish.  Happy Birthday, Josie!

After bowling, we made a stop at Studio South where Kiley gave us an amazing yoga workout.

Warrior pose!

Following Kiley's lead, we swan dive forward and try to touch the floor.

Look at our balance!  We are improving through moves like tree pose!

Kiley and Devin in a double tree pose!  Kate's got it, too!

What a happy group after our yoga session!  Thanks, Kiley, it felt great!

We sent Chloe, Liz, and Kacie to the JRES Library on Wednesday morning and it seemed like they were gone forever!  We love that there are a lot of books for them to shelve, and that Mr. Nonnemacher counts on their help!

He even had an extra job this week.  Kacie put the official "JRES Library" stamp on a stack of new books!

During Computer Lab time, we created our February calendar by going online to find pictures or clip art that would brighten it up.  Alexis and Cameron conferred on which pictures best matched the events on their assigned dates.

Patrick and Drew were working on February 13th, which includes Tortellini Day.  Patrick was spelling "tortellini" so Drew could type it into the search bar to look for a good picture.

Nan, Kate, and Kevin worked together on a date that had about four events assigned to it!  (Don't tell Nan we told you, but Kate was actually teaching her a thing or two about image searching! 💜)

Liz and Chloe worked efficiently together.  They were able to complete several date entries.

Chuck, from the Williamsburg Rotary Club, volunteered and worked with two of our guys at a time as they continued to practice using the puzzle website.  Sam was playing Hangman and got very excited when he figured out the remaining letter needed to make a word.  Devin was focused on connecting dots to make Valentine pictures.  He also got excited when he completed a sequence and the picture filled in with color!

Dev and Sam were tasked with writing a thank-you note to Lexi's Gdad for the electric skillet he gave us last week.  First, they dictated their thoughts and we wrote them on the board.  They guys typed it up, and also inserted a picture that looked almost identical to the skillet Gdad gave us!

During Choice Time, Kevin enjoyed using the touch screen to play a game of Memory.  We find that devoting a big chunk of time on Wednesdays to using the computers works well to introduce new skills or activities, and to practice the ones we've already learned.

We also spent time on Wednesday reviewing how to use the internet safely.  We stressed the importance of reporting anything that seemed strange, weird, or made them feel uncomfortable to one of the staff or a parent/guardian.  Using the internet is an interest that not all of ours have, but the ones who do, use it frequently.  We will continue to revisit internet (and cell phone) safety.

In between all of our work with computers, we took time to use our ice cream machine to celebrate Frozen Yogurt Day by making healthier frozen yogurt.  We made chocolate and added chocolate covered pretzels.  Chris and Kacie represented us all when they said, "Delicious!"

Patti was out of town on Wednesday so we ended the day practicing yoga with our online teacher, Jaime.  She was talking about Spiderman and other superheroes, and telling us how the mindfulness that comes from yoga could surely make one a better superhero!  

We got this picture of Kacie demonstrating Spider Pose just before she had to fall back.  Lexi can be seen in the same pose in the background.  It was very challenging!

At the end of the lesson, Jaime had us close our eyes and focus on listening to mystery sounds.  Closing our eyes would enable us to be more aware of the sounds because we wouldn't be distracted by visual stimuli.  Sam demonstrated this perfectly!

February 1st is National Bubble Gum Day, but we were working at Eaton that day and decided not to celebrate.  But then, our volunteer Pam W. ran into Lisa and gave her this chewing gum kit for us to try (she didn't know about Bubble Gum Day), so we had fun with it on Thursday morning.  Thank goodness the kit comes with a disposable container, because look how sticky it was when the gum base was heated!

We were pleasantly surprised by how easily the sticky gum kneaded into the powdered sugar.  We expected a big mess, but it was soft and stretchy and not a mess at all.  At this stage, we divided it into halves and added grape and cherry flavoring.  After kneading it a little longer, we cut it into samples and gave it a try.

This may be one of the oddest pictures we've ever posted!  This test group wanted to show the gum, but blowing bubbles proved too challenging.  Instead, they just stretched it out of their mouths to show how chewy it was!  😋 Thanks, Pam!  This was something none of us had ever done before and it was cool!

From making gum we moved on to making vegetable beef soup!  This was an easy recipe for us, as we only had to brown the ground beef and add frozen and canned veggies.  We used our new electric skillet (thanks again, Gdad!) and it browned the beef perfectly.  Kevin and Xavier added several bags of healthy veggies.

Our own cuties, Cameron and Kacie, peeled the little fruit cuties we had for a side dish!

We also had saltine crackers and cheese for a side, which Alexis and Liz prepared.

Doesn't our soup look delicious in the fiesta bowls we recently purchased!  

After lunch we had plans to go to New Quarter Park to shoot hoops, take a walk, and play on the equipment.  Imagine our surprise when we got there and found out it is closed M-Th until April!  Undeterred, we headed over to Quarterpath Rec Center, but they don't have outside basketball hoops.  So we went down the road a little further to Redoubt Park, where we explored a new to us trail.

This trail was just challenging enough, as it wound downhill (but not too steep) and along the edge of a ravine.  We took our time, carefully avoiding roots and a few muddy spots.  Soon, we came upon a flight of steps, which we climbed triumphantly before heading back to the vans!

We have a shout out for Kacie, who has a fear of heights, for sticking with it and making it to the top of the steps!  With Becky for support, she was determined to do it!

Even though we were disappointed at not being able to play basketball, we enjoyed our afternoon and our new adventure at Redoubt Park.  It wasn't as warm and sunny as we hoped it would be, but the air was fresh and it felt good to stretch our legs.  We look forward to real Spring!

When we got back to AFCC we found that someone had left us a Kindness Rock on the front table!  We'll be painting rocks on Friday, ourselves!

We finished reading the book The Sign of the Beaver this week.  It's a great story set in the wilderness of Maine in the 1760s.  Matt, a white boy, is left alone in a small cabin on his family's newly purchased land, while his father returns to Massachusetts to fetch the rest of the family.  He is befriended by a young Indian boy and their friendship is forged as they learn to trust each other while also teaching each other new things.

There is a movie version of the story, so we decided to watch it and compare it to the book.  We were quite surprised to find that, while the premise of the story remained the same, there were a number of major differences.  The biggest one involved the part in the book that is depicted on the cover, when the two boys are threatened by a mother bear out to protect her cub.  It was not a part of the movie and our guys noticed that right away.  They also picked up on many other differences, and we were proud of their attention to the details in the book!  

During intermission from the movie we went outside!  We got to play basketball today!

This was a taste of Spring we could get used to!

Maybe we should have pulled out our spare sunglasses.  It was a gorgeous morning!

After lunch Chris and Cameron took our penguins off the wall.

Here's a sneak peek of what we're working on to put where the penguins were...we can't finish it until our friends who were absent today return next week!

Kacie, Liz, and Alexis painted a few kindness rocks. Random Acts of Kindness Week is next week, so we will hide them somewhere around town.

Others worked on making tie-dyed hearts using cardstock hearts,  shaving cream, and paint.  We've done this technique before, so Patrick knew just what to do as he swirled the paint gently on top of the shaving cream.

Devin was careful not to get shaving cream on his fingers, but we were proud of him for dipping his heart into the gooey mixture!

We made a garland and hung the hearts along the top of the whiteboard, but forgot to take a picture.  They are very pretty!  Maybe we'll remember a pic for next week's blog!

One of the highlights of our Friday was checking out pictures of Laura's trip to Disney World.  Her mom posted them on Facebook and we enjoyed seeing Laura and her parents having a lot of fun.  Some of our guys recognized many of the sights, but most of all, they loved pointing out Laura sightings!  We missed her this week! 

Before we knew it, our first week of February had ended and we were looking forward to next week.  Here's what we have planned:

Tuesday:  We will remain at AFCC in the morning as our Master Gardener Friends are coming to visit!  They will give us a lesson on spices and help us make a "sweet" keepsake, too.  We're excited to welcome them to our place!  After a busy morning with the MGs, we'll have lunch on your own and then travel over to the Art Museums for a visit with Christina.  Please wear Arc shirts!

Wednesday:  We're celebrating Random Acts of Kindness Week!  First, members of the LEAD Team of Greater Williamsburg are coming to show us kindness by volunteering in the morning.  They will help us with a kindness project:  making heart-shaped bird feeders for everyone to take home.  We will also prepare Chicken Tortellini for lunch since it's Tortellini Day, and we will treat our volunteers as another act of kindness!  Also, Patti will be back for  Valentine yoga, so dress to stretch!

Thursday: 💘💘💘 It's Valentine's Day and we love to celebrate this day of love and friendship with each other! We will have a fun day with games, dancing, and activities, and those who wish are welcome to bring Valentines to exchange (a list of names was sent home last Wednesday).  Lunch on your own...bring protein and veggies! 😉 We will make a sweet treat for dessert!  On a sad note, we will say goodbye to Mr. Howard today, as he is taking another position within the school system.  We will miss him very much, but he says he will be around every now and then to check on things.  We sure hope so. 💔

Friday:  We'll have another fun day as we celebrate Heike's birthday!  We'll make Chicken Caesar Salad for lunch and Heike said she wants to bake her own birthday cake!  Not because she wouldn't like ours, but because she loves to bake and since she doesn't have family in the area, it's a great time for her to share.  (She's an AWESOME baker!)  We will also mark Presidents Day, which is Monday, with some educational activities.

Please keep our volunteer Becky in your thoughts this week as she is having minor surgery on her foot.  We will miss her presence each afternoon.  Take it easy, Becky!  If you feel up to coming to the Valentine Party, we will be happy to give you some TLC! 💝

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 within a couple of weeks. 🎂🎈🎉

Have a great weekend,

Lisa, Carol, and Nan