First Birthdays of 2020!

This week we were excited to start another year of birthday celebrations at the AoA!  It's always a fun day when we have a friend to celebrate.  We honored our custodian, Marvella, and our associate, Cameron, this week!

But first, on Tuesday, we went bowling!  This is a favorite outing for our guys and today was no exception.  There were so many strikes and spares scored, we lost count!

As they made their approach, Liz and Alexis didn't know Alexis was about to make a strike and Liz was going to come soooo close.



On her next turn, Liz expressed shock that she made a strike, because she turned to walk away thinking she had missed...but the pins kept falling!  Never turn your back on your roll!

Devin checked the scoreboard to see how many strikes he was up to as he had several on the day!

This is Abraham's look of excitement after HE made a strike, too!

Laura says don't forget that Lefties can make strikes, too!  And behind her is Drew; he also got a couple of strikes today!

We caught Sam pumping his fists after scoring a strike on one of his turns! But not to be overlooked is Patrick (in the background here), and several others, who made a number of spares today, too!  It was great seeing the guys play so well.

Something else that's great was our pizza lunch!  It didn't matter that the kitchen was out of paper plates and we had to use the smaller trays.  We still managed to enjoy it very much.  We send our thanks this week to Liz and her mom for their donation to the pizza fund.  Thank you so much for making our day!

Thanks also to Kevin's mom who donated several bags of sweet and crispy apple chips!  We usually have sliced apples with our pizza, so this was a fun, and very tasty, change from the norm.  We loved them!!

We had a couple of turkeys today! 🦃🦃 Kacie was beside herself when she rolled 3 strikes in a row (aka a "turkey") and then a spare!  She had today's high score of 147, which was also a personal best for her!  Congratulations, Kacie!!

Cameron also rolled 3 strikes in a row, but we missed getting his picture at the lanes.  Here he is with his score sheet at the end of the day.  His high score was just 1 point behind Kacie's, at 146!  Congrats to you, too, Cameron!  

Did you notice that the end of the lanes have been updated with new pictures?!  We find them interesting: bowling ball "moose" (or "deer") and mustangs?  Next time we'll have to find Ed and get the lowdown on the decorating style!

We began Wednesday with our dance warm up and then made birthday cards for Marvella, who has been our custodian for several months now, since Heike was promoted to lead custodian over the entire school.  We don't see Heike as often, but Marvella is here throughout the day to keep the Rec Center side of the building spic and span.  We also made these diabetic-friendly fruit pizzas for sharing with Marvella later in the day.  She is careful about her diet, so we were respectful of that.  (Her celebration is later, after yoga.)

 We watched part of the movie "Secret Lives of Pets, Part 2."  We don't watch movies that often at the center (since they are sooo much better at Carol's theater!), but Lisa and Carol needed some "work" time to get into the outside storage closet and organize/toss stuff!  Nan got the popcorn going, and the gang settled in for the movie.  (We watched the last part of it at the end of the day!)

Lisa and Carol got busy cleaning our big closet, which is in the hallway.  They didn't get a before picture, but here is how part of it looked after they finished tidying up!  Now we can better see what we've accumulated in almost 4 years!

Tuesday was Squirrel Appreciation Day, so we celebrated on Wednesday.  Alexis went to the public library and got some books about squirrels, and read parts of them to us so we could learn cool things about the pesky...we mean cute...little guys.  One of the cool things we learned today is that they use their bushy tails for umbrellas when it rains, blankets when it's cold, and as a parachute when they fall out of trees!  How INCREDIBLE is all that?!  Great job sharing facts with us, Alexis!

Next, we fashioned squirrel feeders out of empty milk jugs and filled them with broccoli and squash, which we learned were healthy foods to feed squirrels.  We also got some walnuts (in the shell), and then headed outside to leave the treats for the squirrels.  We're "appreciating" them today!

We hung the veggie feeders in the bushes outside our window.  Now we will begin the observation period, and see if the squirrels appreciate what we did for them!

Everyone had a walnut which they placed somewhere outside, too.  We learned that eating nuts with hard shells helps the squirrels keep their teeth sharpened.  We also had a special visitor today, Eva, who is the Director of Operations for The Arc of GW as of December. She is seen here (with her back to the camera) in the all-blue suit. Thanks for visiting, Eva! We apologize for not getting a proper picture with you. We love visitors! Please come again so we can make it up to you!

To further show how much we appreciate the squirrels, we did squirrel-themed worksheets for our educational lesson!  This group found words that begin with "squ" and matched them with pictures and definitions.

This group learned a new way to make new words by changing, dropping, or adding letters to prior words, in a chain-like activity.  They started with the words "nut" and "back," and ended with the word "shell."

Next, they turned the papers over and made up their own word chains.  Here, Alexis was giving Sam a clue that would help him turn the word "cat" into the word "bat."  These groups stuck with this activity for quite a while.  They love a challenge!

Patti came for yoga even though she wasn't feeling well.  She said someone ran into her backside with a shopping cart, and her hip is really hurting.  She's had some tough luck lately.  

Still, she came and "talked" us through our practice, and as you can see, we did a great job.

Marvella stopped by after yoga and we sang and enjoyed the fruit pizzas with her.  She blew out the candle on one of the grapes, and made a wish.  We sure hope it comes true.  Thanks for everything you do for us, Marvella!  We appreciate having such a clean room each day!

On Thursday morning we discovered several of the walnuts we put out on Wednesday were gone!  There were a couple of squirrels hanging around the bird feeders, but it didn't look like they had gotten into the hanging feeders we made and filled with squash and broccoli.  We went outside and put some of the broccoli and squash on the ground, and by later in the day, one of the squirrels was eating it!  (In case you're wondering, the frisbee on the wire rack is our idea of a way to leave water for the birds!)

It had been a while since we had a group cooking experience, so everyone was excited that it was Missouri Day and we were having "toasted" (which is really fried) ravioli for lunch.  We learned that it was made popular in St. Louis!  Devin, Liz, Kate, Alexis, and Kacie were in charge of prepping the ravioli by dipping it in egg, then bread crumbs.

Laura, Abraham, and Sam worked with Carol to prepare a fresh tossed salad.  They also combined the fruit left over from yesterday into a fruit salad.  We were doing a good job countering the "fried" ravioli with fresh fruits and veggies!

The birthday boy, Cameron, had to help cook the ravioli!  He did a great job!  He loves cheesey food like pizza, so we knew toasted ravioli would be a hit with him today.  And it was!

Nan gathered up Kevin, Patrick, Drew, and Xavier (who may have been at the bathroom!) to set the tables.  Not as easy as it looks, since they also had to gather up the needed supplies!

Yum!  Thank you St. Louis for leading us to toasted ravioli, and thank you Cameron for having a birthday so we could make this for you!

Lisa came up with a new fitness routine after lunch.  Called the "Ravioli Race," we had to walk laps around the Rec center hallway all the way down past the bathrooms and back up and around the foyer since our tummies were too full from ravioli to enjoy Cameron's cupcakes.  One lap is about 110 steps, and we did 10 laps!

Becky had been MIA for the past week with a really bad cold (flu?), but she was back today.  Because she still had a bit of a cough, we had her sit out the Ravioli Race and give us encouragement as we came around the foyer instead!

Turns out this area makes a decent "track" with enough room for us to walk at our different paces, and we got in a good walk during a 15 minute effort!

We enjoy learning about the states.  Some of the fun things we learned about Missouri, besides the ravioli recipe, were that it's bordered by 8 other states and its nickname is The Show-Me State.  It was an interesting discussion explaining what that means to our gang!  We also learned that the state bird is the Eastern Bluebird and their state tree is the dogwood, which is the same as Virginia's.  

We finished celebrating Cameron's birthday at the end of the day by singing and eating delicious cupcakes his family provided for us!  Thanks for your patience, Cameron.  The cupcakes were worth the wait!  We hope you made a special wish before blowing out your candle, and we hope it comes true, too!

Liz was excited to get this shot of a bird at the window feeder on Friday morning.  The birds have only recently begun stopping here while we are in the room.  Guess they are getting used to us!  Nice pic, Liz!

Also on Friday, our MG friend Elizabeth came to introduce us to the art of crochet.  We couldn't talk any of the guys into trying it, but these girls were interested.  Kacie has crocheted before, but for Liz, Kate, Alexis, and Laura it was a new experience.  After a few minutes, Laura decided she wasn't so interested anymore, but the others stuck with it.  MG Elizabeth patiently explained about types of yarn, hook sizes, and how to make a basic chain stitch.

Our Art Museums of CW friend, Christina, was also able to stop by and she happens to know how to crochet, too!  Thanks, Christina!  It was nice to have an extra set of hands to help the girls, as Lisa is a lefty and was struggling with this herself.  Krafty Karen had hoped to be here, but she was under the weather, and we missed her.   Carol, who knows how to crochet, was on the way to Alabama to visit her new grandson, Dylan...so she was no help!  Thank you, Elizabeth, for sparking an interest in crocheting with our girls.  They all took their materials home and promised to keep working on the chain stitch.  We will look forward to another visit with you so we can learn the next steps!

The guys who didn't join the crochet group stayed in the main room with Nan and occupied themselves with computers, puzzles, coloring, and music.  Nan said they were content and happy!

Friday was National Opposite Day, so we watched a funny episode of "Sponge Bob Square Pants" that dealt with him trying to act the opposite of his usual self.  Next, we played a game where everyone had to take turns giving the opposite of these words in order to uncover a piece of the picture.  

Once we were all warmed up on opposites, we broke into groups and got busy with some thinking work.  Becky's group had three different tasks and worked with some tricky pairs of opposites such as "grief" and "joy," "include" and "exclude," and a strange one..."king" and "queen."

Cameron and Nan helped Laura and Kevin with an opposite matching activity.  Even though they had picture clues to go along with the words, they had to think about the correct matches.

Drew, Xavier, and Abraham worked on the same skill sheet.  They thought some of the matches were funny, like the "slow turtle" and "fast cheetah."

Everyone was good sports when they found out our Bingo game was more work on opposites!  They really do like to show how smart they are!

They also like to help one another, and they are great at this.  Patrick helped Abraham read some of the words he wasn't sure about.

Alexis encouraged Kevin to find words by using beginning sounds.  Liz helped Drew narrow down some of his choices.  Both girls were ecstatic as their partners found answers!  We're so proud of all of our guys for working together!

We end this week's news with a shout out to our friend, Annmarie.  She was with us on Tuesday, but by Wednesday she had been admitted to the hospital with a case of pneumonia and the flu!  We were shocked, and we missed her the rest of the week.  On Friday morning, we made cheer cards for her.  Lisa dropped them off, along with a coloring book and a pack of crayons, at the end of the day.  Annmarie wasn't home yet, but we hope she was on the way.  Take care and get lots of rest, Annmarie.   We hope you feel better soon!

We're looking forward to a great upcoming week, even though we will miss Grandma Carol!  Here's what we'll be up to in her absence:

Tuesday:  It's National Have Fun at Work Day, so we'll give it a shot!  We'll make cards to send our yoga friend, Kiley, who recently moved to Minnesota.  It's also National Kazoo Day, so what could be more fun than making our own?!  AND, it's National Blueberry Pancake Day!  WoW!  Blueberry pancakes for lunch!  If weather is nice, we'll visit a park after lunch for some fresh air and exercise, otherwise, we'll stay at AFCC all day.  No need to wear Arc shirts.  Finally, we'll welcome Laura's mom, Lisa P., to help out in Carol's absence!  Thanks, Lisa P.!

  Wednesday:  We will welcome our Rotary volunteer today and work in the computer lab with him.  It's also National Puzzle Day, so we will find lots of ways to have fun and learn from puzzles.  Dress to stretch for Yoga w/ Patti, too.  Lunch on your own.

Thursday:  Today we are learning about Arkansas, which was the 25th state to join the Union!  Wow...we are halfway through the United States and we have learned so many cool things about our states.  There is a big connection to rice with Arkansas, so we'll have a chicken and rice casserole for lunch.  We're also going to make "snow paint" today for an art project, even though it doesn't seem like snow is relevant this winter!

Friday:  We'll gear up for Super Bowl weekend with activities related to football today, and make football-themed snacks.  It's also Hot Chocolate Day, so we will make that to go along with lunch on your own.  Feel free to wear your favorite sports outfits today, if you'd like!  Hats/caps allowed today!

Have a great weekend!  It's the last one in January...

Lisa, Carol, Nan, and The AoA Gang