December is Here!

The first full week of December arrived and brought us some joyful AoA friends!  In trying to keep them focused, we went bowling, volunteered at GCOC, did "brain work," and had a work day at Eaton...but it was all fun to them!  We love their excitement this time of year!  Here's a look at our week...

Sunday, December 3

For anyone who missed the Williamsburg Christmas Parade, check out these pics!  Liz was a very adorable Barbie on a float for CDR, seen here with a young man named Zack, who was a very handsome Ken!

Do you see "Dr. Carol" in this photo?  She was checking out the brightly lit Arc van with board member, and Drew's dad, Andy.  In the parade, Carol was actually walking alongside the Sentara Hospital float with her son, David, who works there.  Carol looks great and so does the Arc van!  

Many thanks to Andy, and also Liz's dad, Greg (also a board member), for getting the Arc van ready to be in the parade!  It looks like a fun time was had by all!

Tuesday, December 5

As usual, we love the first Tuesday of the month when we go bowling and then enjoy pizza for lunch!  We had everyone in attendance today, and welcomed Cameron for a visit, too.  Before leaving for bowling, we had a few of the "earlybirds" work on Eaton tasks.  After lunch, we listened to our read-aloud, checked last week's blog, and ended the day with a fun video about basketball trick shots with the Harlem Globetrotters.  Today is National Trick Shot Day!

                      Sam's "strike" dance!

Followed by Drew's "strike" dance!

Followed by Erik's understated "strike" smile!

Congrats to Laura on what would turn out to be her first of many strikes and spares today!

                                              As her score below reveals, she didn't leave many pins standing today! 👏👏

🍕🍕Many thanks to an anonymous donor, and Cameron's parents, who sponsored our pizza lunch today.  We are very grateful for your generosity.  The pizza was very good, too...even if the photography wasn't! 🍕🍕

We loved the shots from atop high buildings, from roller coasters flying along the tracks, and whole-court baskets made while blind-folded!  These guys are good! 🏀🏀🏀

Wednesday, December 6

Today was our last day to volunteer at Grove Christian Outreach Center for 2023, and they really needed us since they had double the amount of food to sort and pack!  First, we sent the Wonderful Wednesday Workers to shelve books in the library.  Alexis, Laura, and Liz did a great job today.  Later, while one group was working at Grove, the other was working on "scent"sational ornaments, made with applesauce and cinnamon, which we hope to send home in our family gift bags if they don't break!  We also filled clear plastic ornaments with decorative paper confetti and pompoms so we could hang them in the room.  It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas! 

Dev, Liz, and Kate gave Moose some love, while Peggy and GCOC Executive Director Katie observed!

The first group who worked with Peggy and Joel today.

The second group with Peggy and Joel, and also Ursula and Tom.  The volunteers are so much fun to work with, and we look forward to seeing them each time we go to GCOC!

Mixing applesauce and cinnamon to make dough for our "scent"sational ornaments.

The cinnamon/applesauce ornament "dough" smelled so good!

                                                      Ornament crafting!

    Devin and Liz training Tessa on keeping the birdfeeders filled!

Nan requested a little Christmas music from Rod Stewart while we worked!

Lisa has been reading What Not to Do If You Turn Invisible to us since October.  It has 96 relatively short chapters (432 pages - our longest read-aloud yet) and we want to finish it by Winter Break.  Today she read chapters 78-80!

Thursday, December 7

Today we stayed put at the center and had a pleasant day that included one activity after another.  We did more crafting/decorating, had a make-up lesson about St. Nicholas Day (Dec. 6), learned about Hanukkah, which begins tonight, and cooked a super tasty ground beef stew which was accompanied by a green salad topped with heart healthy nuts.  We made Jell-O, too, and finished all that before lunch!  After lunch we knocked out 3 more chapters in our read-aloud and had an interesting lesson for Pearl Harbor Remembrance Day.  We love to learn!

Laura and Kevin were in charge of making Jell-O with mandarin oranges.

 Erik cut small potatoes into smaller pieces.

After carrots and chopped onions went in, Patrick added green beans.

The secret ingredient:  Spicy Hot V8 juice.  It added flavor, not heat...try it sometime!

Indoor exercise stations!

Tessa's family is Messianic Judaic, so she wore her fun Hanukkah sweater today!

St. Nicholas came!  (Even though we were one day late getting our shoes out!)

Friday, December 8

It was indeed a Happy Friday when we realized we had a lot of food, toy, and coat donations to deliver to Eaton's Holiday Drive!  We wish to thank our Arc of Abilities families and members of The Arc's Aktion Club for your generous donations.  We're proud to deliver all of this to Eaton today!

We worked steadily for 2 1/2 hours before our lunch break.  One team assembled 144 PowerSlide Doors while the other teams sorted hundreds of parts and emptied a huge bin of different parts into smaller tubs.  We listened to a Holiday playlist Liz had put together for us, and the time flew by!

Laura, Annmarie, and Drew sorted parts.

Devin and Patrick transferred parts from the big blue bin to smaller gray tubs.

Michelle inserted lenses into the PowerSlide Doors that Sam unpacked and placed on her table.

Tessa and Xavier secured the lenses with nuts and bolts.

Erik tightened the nuts and bolts with the electric screwdriver.

Some nuts and bolts got mixed together and Kate sorted them.

         Lexi, Carol, Liz, and Nan were snipping tabs off of these white plates.  

Here's a closeup of the snipping job.

Laura is great at packing switch covers so we can consolidate and save tub space.

After lunch, our friends at Eaton gave us gingerbread cookie decorating kits.  We worked diligently on these before getting to eat the cookies!  What follows here are a lot of pictures to highlight the wonderful time we had!

David and Kayla, from Eaton, joined Erik and Annmarie to decorate cookies.

Rosemary made the rounds checking out our creative cookie work!

                                                              Another Eaton friend, Collin, joined the fun, too!

Thank you sooo much, Eaton friends, for providing this fun activity for us today, and for helping us create such tasty treats!  We enjoyed decorating our gingerbread cookies, and we enjoyed hanging out with you, too!  We hope your holiday season is merry and bright, and you have a joyful time with family and friends.  Thank you for being an amazing vocational partner to us.  We'll see you in 2024!

By the time we returned to AFCC, it was after 2, so we skipped yoga and enjoyed Choice Time before calling it a wrap for the week.  Next week will be here before we know it, and here's a look at our plans:

Tuesday:  This morning we will bake and create a few special cards for delivery to our community partners.  If the sun is shining and it's not windy, we will take a walk in CW after lunch and check out the decorations.  We'll also celebrate National Ding-a-Ling Day...it's a day for reaching out to someone you haven't spoken to in a while, so we will make a few phone calls!  Lunch on your own.  JRES Cafeteria is available for Beef Soft Taco, Taco Salad, or Pizza.

Wednesday:  We'll welcome our therapy dogs and friends today as we celebrate the holiday season, and Cocoa Day, with reading, games, and hot cocoa!  We'll also catch a lesson on the Ice Age with Mystery Science, and inch closer to finishing our read-aloud.  Lunch on your own.  JRES Cafeteria is available for Popcorn Chicken Bowl or Hot Dog.

Thursday (REVISED as of December 10):  We're going to see Mike at the Watermen's Museum today, so please wear Arc shirts.  Our artist friend Jeff will join us in the afternoon for one more project in 2023, so we will return to AFCC for lunch.  JRES Cafeteria will be available for Domino's pizza, deli sub, or chef salad. 

Friday:  Our last work day at Pet Supplies Plus for 2023 is today, so please wear PSP shirts.  The Cooking Crew will prepare pasta with red sauce and side salads for lunch, and also do more baking.  We'll make birthday cards for Christina (she's coming here next week!!!), and end the week with yoga, so dress to stretch, too!

Happy Weekend to Everyone,

Lisa, Carol, Nan, and the AoA Gang