Happy Birthday, Carol...and a Snow Day!

This week we were excited to return from Thanksgiving Break with a birthday to celebrate!  Carol kicks off our "Winter Birthday Season," which isn't as busy as fall and spring, but still reason to celebrate!  We went bowling on Tuesday and celebrated Carol, volunteered at Grove, and made flower arrangements for CSL on Wednesday.  On Thursday we enjoyed a visit with Marisol and the corgis, celebrated National Dice Day, and continued to decorate our room for December.  We had an unexpected snow day on Friday and missed our Eaton work day!  Here's a look at our first week of December.

Tuesday

What a cold and rainy day it was to bring in December!  A few of us commented that it was "sleeping weather," but once we got to Bowlero, everyone was wide awake!  The first strike of the day went to Cameron, who was visiting from Staunton.  We'd like to thank his family for sponsoring today's bowling adventure.  Brian and Stacey, your contribution made a big difference, and we really appreciate it!  Thank you for bringing Cameron to visit each month, too.  We always enjoy hanging out with him!

Four of our friends were absent today, and we missed them, but here are a few shots of the rest of us!

Devin, Erik, and Patrick take their bowling seriously, but enjoy friendly competition, too.

Nan cheers for everyone and Gail, Thomas, Alexis, and Abraham gave her plenty to cheer for today!

Laura and Liz tried to catch Xavier for a high-five after he made a strike.  He was on his way to a great game!

Bryan recently got his own ball, and he's getting used to it.  He had at least one strike today.

Kevin likes to use the purple ball and will wait for it to come back instead of going with another color!

Here are a few of what our guys call "bowling butt shots!"  😭

It was almost 12:30 by the time we returned to AFCC for lunch, and we were ready.  Many thanks to an anonymous donor for today's pizza!  We truly appreciate your support of one of our favorite lunches!

After lunch we had a quiet, but quick afternoon.  We enjoyed Choice Time, and read another chapter from our current read-aloud, Road Trip by Gary and Jim Paulsen.  Then, we made birthday cards for Carol and called it a good day!

Wednesday

We were glad to see the sun today for Carol's birthday!  We had a busy morning, and then a fun celebration.

Carol took a group to volunteer at GCOC where they gave Peggy a flower arrangement and birthday card from us.  She and Carol share a birthday!  Peggy was very touched. 💖

There was a good amount of canned and boxed goods, so we set up the assembly line and got to work.  Thom and Ursula were traveling so we missed them, but with Peggy and Joel's help, we were very productive.

Thank you, Peggy, for thinking of us on YOUR birthday!  We scurried off this morning and forgot to get a picture with you and the awesome dipped and sprinkled pretzel sticks you made for us.  Please know that we enjoyed them later today, and they were crunchy, sweet, and salty...in other words, delicious!

Our group at the center was productive, too.  Cameron, Devin, Drew, Abraham, and Allison worked on flower arrangements for Commonwealth Senior Living.

We had a birthday lunch to prepare.  One of Carol's favorites is baked spaghetti, so after cooking the pasta, we got busy on the sauce.  Thomas sauteed onions and decided we should add some garlic.  Good idea, Thomas!

Patrick helped to brown the ground beef which we then mixed with the onions and added tomato sauce before putting together our two casseroles.

We had a great salad, team, too.  Patrick also popped up here along with Gail, Nan, and Drew.  The salads were great, even if Lisa did forget to buy those little tomatoes we love!  Note:  We ran out of gloves and had to order more, but we made sure we washed our hands very, very thoroughly for today's cooking activities.

Before lunch we played a party game.  Carol is something of a movie buff, and she and her family enjoy their home theater watching all kinds of movies together.  So we played Movie Jeopardy, but when Carol took the first turn and got "Name the 7 dwarfs" for a question, her reaction was "Oh, no!"  No worries, though.  Carol had lots of friends to help her with the answer!

Our baked spaghetti lunch was delicious, but obviously we were so ready to eat that we forgot to take a picture. 😏

But we remembered to snap one before digging into the delicious and homemade cupcakes Allison made for the party!  Isn't it adorable with the sprinkles and edible glitter?!  Allison's specialty is "baking with bling!"  Thanks, Allison!  They were so good!!

Carol, we hope all your wishes come true.  Thank you for everything you do for us at the AoA!  We appreciate you!

Our last activity was Part 1 of preparing our holiday tree!  It will be the last one we ever put on the entry wall to our room here at AFCC, so we're making it with a little extra sentimentality.  Here's a peek at today's work on it.

Thursday

The highlight of this morning was a bonus therapy dog visit with Marisol and the corgis, Tucker, Louis, and Nellie.  Marisol brought books and Bingo, and we had a great time!

Right in the middle of the story about a corgi who saved Christmas for all the pets, we had an unexpected fire drill!  When Heike was here, she would often give us a head's up about planned drills since we have a couple of friends who don't care for the surprise, but everyone handled it very well today and it turned out to be just a brief disruption to our wonderful morning.

Also unexpected were these delicious and homemade chocolate chip cookies that Marisol brought for us!  Thank you so much, Marisol.  And thanks for the gluten-free version for our friend, Xavier!  The cookies were just as sweet as you!

By lunchtime, a few of our friends were checking their weather apps and social media, and speculation was brewing that we might have a Snow Day tomorrow, the day we were scheduled to work at Eaton and have a holiday lunch celebration.  So, Carol decided we should run the work we completed this week over to Ethan at the warehouse...and also deliver his birthday cards...just in case we wouldn't get to see him tomorrow.

Lexi, Kate, and Drew posed with the completed tubs of work, and Christmas card for Eaton, and an envelope full of birthday cards for Ethan.

Laura, Kevin, and Xavier accompanied Carol to Eaton for the delivery.  Led by Kevin, and joined by Kim, Rosemary, and Bernie, they sang their hearts out to celebrate Ethan's birthday, which is Sunday.

They also presented Eaton a Christmas card we made, and told them we hope to see them tomorrow, but just in case...

Merry Christmas, to all of our Eaton friends, and thank you for another great year of vocational partnership.  We learn many valuable skills when we work, and we are grateful for the opportunity!

Bernie, Kim, Xavier, Ethan, Kevin, and Rosemary

We continued working on the circles and finished enough to construct our tree.  It's still not finished, but we're getting there!

December 4 is National Dice Day, so we had fun with some dice-themed activities today!  Earlier, we cranked up some Christmas rock tunes for a movement activity.

 We ended the day with a game called "Don't Break the Dice Ice" in which the object was to poke holes in the tissue covering the top of the cup and try not to let the dice fall through.  It takes a long time to poke enough holes before the dice fall through, but our players persisted!

Friday

It was a little surprising, but sometimes the calls are made to be on the safe side.  We hope everyone enjoyed an unexpected day off, and we'll see each other next week.  Here are our plans:

Tuesday:  We are going to The Art Museums of CW today to see Christina and all the beautifully decorated trees on display.  Departing from AFCC at 9:10 today! We would also like to get a group photo for our annual Christmas card, so please wear your holiday colors. The forecast looks mostly sunny, but a little chilly, so bundle up as we may wander around CW to find the perfect photo spot!  Back at the center, we will go online to select and order this year's card.  Lunch on your own.  JRES Cafeteria is offering Chicken Fajitas or Pizza.

Wednesday:  It's Service Work Wednesday so please wear Arc shirts.  One group will volunteer at GCOC and the other group will arrange flowers for CSL.  Other activities today will include making crafts/decorations and visiting the Night Before Christmas art exhibit at the Stryker Center after lunch.  Lunch on your own.  JRES Cafeteria is serving Spaghetti w/ Meat Sauce or Philly Cheese Steak Sandwich.

Thursday:  Today we will visit with Mike at the Watermen's Museum for our annual holiday lesson and pomander making activity!  We'll return to the center for lunch on your own.  JRES Cafeteria has Domino's Pizza or Deli Sub on the menu.  After lunch we will work on holiday gifts for our families.

Friday:  It's a PSP Work Day so please wear PSP shirts.  The AFCC group will add another decoration to the room and then prepare hash brown casserole with ambrosia salad for lunch.  After lunch we will finish our family gifts, and welcome visitors for an overview of our day program.

Have a great weekend and stay warm!

Lisa, Carol, Nan, and the AoA Gang