Happy Birthday, Kate!

 

In case you've lost track, we celebrated Spring Birthday #3 this week!  It was Kate's turn and she turned the big 3-0!  We had a party for her after our visit to the master gardeners on Tuesday morning.  On Wednesday, we were back at Grove to volunteer in the Food Pantry, and we also added a new weekly project of arranging flowers donated by Trader Joe's that we will deliver to Commonwealth Senior Living.  We spent Thursday at AFCC celebrating a couple of food "holidays" that you'll have to read about to believe... It was all business on Friday morning when when we worked at Eaton, followed by lunch at the park... with the mayflies! We are enjoying the warmer weather, but hoping it doesn't get too much buggier, hotter, or humid too soon!  Here's a look at our week:

Tuesday, April 22

Our day began with a visit to Freedom Park for a session with the master gardeners.  Today, we checked on the seeds and bulbs we planted two weeks ago, learned about the herb of the day, chives, and made something called flower seed bombs!  (But they are a surprise for Mother's Day, so don't tell the moms! 😆)

We checked on the veggies we planted two weeks ago, and the potatoes that Karen and Steve planted before that.  A couple of potato plants have flowers about to bloom which means the potatoes will be growing underground!  The onions are growing, as are the carrots, beets, radish, and lettuce.  There was only one small spinach plant popping up through the soil, so we are hopeful the spinach will take off soon.  Bryan assisted Barb in planting kale, too!

 

We tried something new today!  Karen had air dry clay, soil, and wildflower seeds.  We combined it all into a ball that will harden and become a "flower seed bomb."  Once they are hard, you toss them into an empty area (where there is soil) and they "explode" releasing the seeds which will disperse, and hopefully take root and grow into pretty flowers!  The clay will break down and wash away, after it's protected the seeds until conditions are right for germination.  (We're going to include the flower bombs in our Mother's Day gift, but that's a secret! 😜)

The herb of the day was chives, which we learned have an oniony/garlicky flavor, and are often served on baked potatoes.  Krafty Karen made a tasty chive dip which the MGs served us with carrots and lemonade for a snack.  It was so tasty!   At the end of the session, the gardeners shared cut flowers that are growing in their yards at home.  Barb and Joanne showed a variety of irises, and Karen had beautiful azaleas.  In a touching moment, the MGs showed us a small oakleaf hydrangea they planted in remembrance of our late friend, Beka.  Beka always loved our time with the master gardeners.  We miss her. 💚💙

Enjoy Carolyn's lovely Journal Update for today's visit!

We were excited to get back to the center so we cold celebrate Kate's 30th birthday!  Her parents, Elizabeth and Mark, and our friend, Sandra, were bringing lunch.  Sandra provided her delicious pork and rice with salsa verde, and Elizabeth and Mark brought cupcakes and sodas!  Lunch was delicious!  Sandra, we are so happy when you cook for us, and somehow it's even tastier when we have it for Kate's birthday!  Thank you, and Elizabeth and Mark, for making today very special for Kate, and fun for us all!

We are grateful to Kate and her family for introducing us to Sandra, who is from Colombia, many years ago.  We have lost count of the many times she has prepared her delicious dish for us.  

We appreciate her kindness and love when she calls us her angels!

Kate, we hope all your wishes come true and you begin your 30s with a great first year!

T

Wednesday, April 23

Today we spent the morning doing service projects and the afternoon learning about Shakespeare!  How cool is that?!

Devin, Cameron, Emma, Bryan, Laura, Annmarie, Erik, Kevin, and Xavier worked at GCOC filling food distribution bags with our favorite volunteers, Joel and Thom (show here), and Tom, Peggy, and Ursula (shown in the 3rd pic).

Our group also helped unpack several boxes of donated Easter treats and get them ready to go on the shelves at GCOC's market, The Gathering Place.

Many thanks, Ursula, for the delicious brownies!  We appreciate the treats very much. 💖

While our Grove group was busy with canned goods, the AFCC group was busy with flowers!  How, and why, did we go from this...

 

...to this???

We began a new service project today.  Trader Joe's donates unsold flowers to the Arc, and we will be learning to make small arrangements with them which will be delivered to the residents at Commonwealth Senior Living.  We have a learning curve, as flowers must be handled with care, and gently placed in the jars, but we will persevere!  

Some of the gang rides back to the Rec Center in the afternoon when we return the vans, and their families pick them up from there.  They will be delivering the flowers on Wednesday afternoons when we stop at Commonwealth Senior Living.  Today, Patrick and Gail made the connection.  In addition to the small arrangements we made, we also gave them the leftover flowers to share with the residents.

After our busy morning of service work, we enjoyed perfect weather for a nice walk around the back of the school.  It was a sunny 65 degrees and the humidity was low.  After the walk, we took a group photo on the bleachers.  Don't we look great in our Arc shirts?! 

After lunch and Choice Time, we read to an exciting part in our read-aloud, The Wild Robot Escapes.  We think the author, Peter Brown, writes very well, and we are enjoying his series about Roz, the robot.  

Our next lesson was about one of the greatest English writers of all time, William Shakespeare, since today is Talk Like Shakespeare Day.  We learned from our video that he is credited with adding over 1,700 words to the English language.

We also learned that Shakespeare was the first to use phrases such as "wild goose chase," "good riddance," and "in a pickle."  Emma said she thought they sounded more "modern" and was surprised they were coined over 400 years ago.  We ended our lesson with a fun game called Is It Shakespeare or Taylor Swift?  We read quotes and had to decide if they were written by Shakespeare or Taylor Swift, and it was not easy!  It was fun, though!

We got another exciting and encouraging update from Tessa's mom today!  Tessa is able to get up and down steps, with support, so she is able to be outside more and take rides in the car.  Watch as she swings her legs around, something we take for granted!!  She's making such good progress!

Thursday, April 24

When we have a day at the center with no traveling, we have to keep busy and today, we did that with cooking and cleaning to cornhole and counting (money)!

We celebrated Pigs in a Blanket Day, which is today, and Lima Bean Respect Day, which was Sunday.  It made for an easy, and tasty, lunch menu.  Xavier, Devin, and Kevin had two important tasks:  first, clean the microwave and the Nina, and second, get the lima beans seasoned (we used chicken bouillon) and on the burner to simmer until they were soft and creamy! 

Kate and Patrick were bakers today.  They prepared a simple recipe for cake mix cookies which we topped with a dab of frosting and colorful sprinkles.  Sam, Lexi, and Erik made napkin rings with an adorable pig in a blanket on the outside!

 

Speaking of pigs in a blanket, we had Drew and Bryan work with Nan to grill the "pigs" before Laura, Thomas, and Michelle wrapped them in doughy blankets so we could bake them in the Nina.  We think they taste better if we grill them first.  Lately, we have been enjoying clementines with our lunches, and Annmarie and Emma made a great team peeling them for us today.

While we waited for time to eat, we enjoyed another gorgeous weather day with a cornhole game.  Annmarie was about to score a point for her team, the Wienies! 

Next up was Thomas, who was scoring for the Beanies today.  

In today's Wienies vs. Beanies game, we had two 1st place winners!  The score was tied at the end, 22-22!!

The actual beanies and wienies we were waiting for!  Yum!

We're halfway through The Wild Robot Escapes.  Roz was briefly reunited with her adopted gosling son, Brightbill, but he had to continue his migration south.  He will return in the spring to help her escape the farm where she works, and where the children know her secret and have vowed to help her.  (Roz is a defective robot because she has developed human emotions.  If the farmer finds out she's not just a machine, he might send her back to the factory to be destroyed...)

Our last activity of the day was in recognition of Teach Children to Save Day.  We watched a video that explained the importance of saving for emergencies as well as dreams and goals.  We discussed that any money can be saved, whether it's earned from employment/allowance, or received as a gift.  Our brain work consisted of counting money for a shopping game, and matching coins with their values.  

Friday, April 25

First thing this morning, Laura trained Bryan on how to take attendance, in case she ever needs a substitute!

It's been a month since we last worked at Eaton, so we were looking forward to today's experience.

We are very good at unpacking and transferring parts from the large boxes to the smaller tubs.  It takes a while, but teamwork gets it done.  The group at the table was using clippers to snip small plastic pieces off of the white plates.

After a two hour shift, we had emptied all the big boxes and filled these tubs and tall boxes!  We are good at packing the tubs neatly so lots of parts fit in, and after we finished today, we had 4 empty tubs that we didn't need to use.  

Our next stop was New Quarter Park, where we stayed long enough to eat and take a short walk.  If you're wondering why we didn't stay longer, play the video that follows this picture!

Before returning to the center, we stopped by MG Barb's house since we were in the area.  She has the most enchanted front and back yards.  When she moved into the house 6 years ago, the yard was overgrown grass.  Now, it looks like a beautiful park!  Things are starting to bloom, and the color will only pick up as the spring and summer progress.  Barb told us to knock on her door if we had a chance to stop by, and she was home today!  We thoroughly enjoyed a tour of her enchanted yard!  It's just gorgeous!  Thanks for showing us your lovely plants and flowers, Barb!  What a lot of work you have done!

After visiting with Barb, we returned to the center for Choice Time, and then it was time to go home.  Here comes the weekend, and we are ready for a few days to chill.  We'll be back next week, and here are our plans:

Tuesday:  We're going to visit Bluebird Gap Farm in Hampton today.  We had a very enjoyable visit there last year, so we want to go again before it gets too hot or crowded with summertime visitors!  Please bring a bagged lunch.

Wednesday:  We will volunteer at GCOC today so please wear Arc shirts.  We'll also arrange flowers for delivery to Commonwealth Senior Living, begin our Mother's Day gift project, and welcome visitors from the Arc Board of Directors.  The HIGHLIGHT of today, however, will be celebrating Devin's birthday, Spring Birthday #4!  His family is treating us to cheesesteak sandwiches for lunch!  Thanks, Scott and Roxanne!!

Thursday:  Today we will visit York River State Park for a ranger-led program that Tracy arranged for us.  It will include a hike, too!  Thanks, Tracy.  We look forward to hanging out with you today!  The forecast looks promising, so bring a bagged lunch for a picnic after the program.

Friday:  It's a Pet Supplies Plus work day, so please wear your PSP shirt.  The Cooking Crew will prepare Grilled Ham and Cheese Sandwiches, Side Salads, and Chips for lunch.  We'll end the week with yoga with Jaime.

Enjoy the last weekend of April!

Lisa, Carol, Nan, and the AoA Gang