Celebrating Cameron's 34th birthday this week with a visit from him, and welcoming Sara (between Thomas and Liz) as our newest member of Arc of Abilities. We also welcomed Hannah, far right in pink, for a trial visit this week.
February got off to a great start, first of all, with temperatures above freezing during the daytime, and second, with our monthly bowling excursion!
It was also great to welcome our newest member, Sara! She is shown below on the left with Drew, Alexis, and Patrick at bowling.
We also welcomed Hannah, shown here in the pink, for a weeklong trial visit as she is interested in joining our waitlist. Beside Hannah, is Cameron, Liz, and Xavier. Another great thing this week? Celebrating Cameron's birthday!
Erik, Bryan, Devin, and Thomas were the only all guys group today, and they had a fun time bowling together. Nothing like a bit of friendly competition!
Kevin didn't mind bowling with a few of the gals, Tessa, Annmarie, and Gail. They were one of the quieter groups, but still enjoyed their games!
Today's high scores went to Cameron (134), Drew (122), Erik (124), and Devin (121). Congrats to them! 🎳🎳🎳🎳
After bowling we picked up pizzas and returned to AFCC to celebrate Cam's 34th birthday! We'd like to thank his family and an anonymous co-sponsor for providing today's lunch. We appreciate their support! Nothing hits the spot after bowling like pizza! 🍕🎉🍕🥳🍕
Cameron, we hope all your wishes come true!
Wednesday
Today we hit the ground running for Service Work Wednesday! First, we sent a crew to the JRES Library to shelve a stack of books. Sara, Alexis, Gail, and Liz worked speedy quick and got the job done just as a class of students was arriving to check them out again!
Next, we sent a crew to GCOC to set up an assembly line so they could fill bags with nonperishable food items. There were 12 food items to place in the bags today!
Joel, Peggy, and Ursula were pleased with our focus. We missed Thom who had another obligation today. Hannah joined this group and she was a quick study! The group worked for almost 2 hours!
Thank you, Ursula for the tasty treat. The crunchy chocolate and oatmeal bars were perfect after such a productive work morning.
Meanwhile, we also got the flower arrangements made for Commonwealth Senior Living. We started with some of our "early birds" doing set up, and then as others arrived, we kept at it until we finished by the time dance warm up was over!
We heard from Allison that her knee surgery went well! Alexis and Drew took a package of cheer cards we made for her to the JRES office mailbox. We're thinking about you Allison, and sending you lots of get well juju and love from your favorite Snowmies! We missed you today!
Next, it was on to updating our calendar for February. As usual, we divvied up the tasks and within an hour, we were done! (Of course, February is the shortest month!)
Tessa glued event labels on the squares.
Thomas and Erik removed January decorations to make room for February ones.
Patrick looked for event pictures online while Cameron and Gail colored FEBRUARY bubble letters for the wall.
Erik also worked with Drew to reset the calendar and later add the event squares.
Alexis taught Sara how to print the event pictures she had found online for cutting and pasting onto the calendar squares.
Fun February loaded!
Tessa also went around to every groundhog we made last Friday and removed the shadows! We decided to ignore Punxsutawney Phil's prediction of 6 more weeks of winter in favor of Chesapeake Chuck's prediction of an early spring! He's the local groundhog that resides at the Virginia Living Museum.
We enjoyed a bonus therapy dog visit with Marisol and the corgis this morning, too!
Sara, Alexis, Drew, and Marisol getting the doggy love from Nellie, Tucker, and Louie!
After reading a fun story with her, we played a game where we had to think of answers to questions about random Valentine's Day things. Spending time with Marisol and the corgis was a great way to unwind after our busy morning of service work! Thanks for the bonus visit, Marisol! So much joy!!
During Choice Time, Xavier, Kevin, Hannah, and Gail enjoyed working on some of the new puzzles we recently acquired.
We ended the day with craft/decoration time. We made "heart trees" and began coloring 20 pictures that we will piece together into a large collage when we finish it tomorrow. Our room is starting to look like February!
Thursday
We were at AFCC all day and had much going on to keep us active and engaged. We began with our dance warm up, and then we welcomed a new Arc board member, Anna Thomas, for a visit. Anna is a Coordinator for Special Education at WJCC Public Schools, and The Arc is excited to have her join our team! As often happens when we have honored visitors, we forgot to snap a picture with Anna, so she kindly sent us this one from a time she posed with Baker Bear at WJCC's Exceptional Games Day. We're sure some of our members will recognize Baker Bear! We are looking forward to working with you at The Arc and the Arc of Abilities, Anna! Welcome!
After our visit with Anna, we had another movement break with a video from Coach Joe, who's in the UK! It was high-energy, and we kept up pretty well!
We had time for brain work today. First, we watched Mystery Science to find out why our teeth chatter when we're cold. We learned that if our bodies are cold, and we aren't moving enough to create the energy needed to keep our muscles warm, the muscles will begin to involuntarily twitch in an effort to warm up. That's why we shiver, and since there are muscles around our mouths, our teeth chatter when those muscles twitch!
With "winter" as a theme, some of us worked on visual discrimination as we found hidden pictures, and others worked on addition with regrouping. Notice how much focus there is when we do brain work! It's awesome! 🤓
While Lunch Lady Liz is out of town, her substitutes Gail and Alexis handled the pick up of lunches from the JRES Cafeteria very nicely!
We're continuing our focus on America's 250th Anniversary this year as we read a time-travel themed novel called George Washington's Socks. It's set during the crossing of the Delaware River by General Washington and his 2,400 troops on Christmas night, 1776, as they surprised the Hessians (German mercenaries hired to help the British) during the Revolutionary War's Battle of Trenton. We watched another episode of a series we have enjoyed recently called "Historically Correct," which helped us visualize what the Continental Army endured during this important battle, which they won. Check it out by clicking on this picture, and learn how the Hessian leader made a fatal mistake by ignoring a message...
After the video, we participated in a reader's theater to further help us try to imagine what it must have been like at that time, when the Continental soldiers were hungry, tired, and in desperate need of shoes as many of them wore rags on their feet. We enjoyed bringing this idea to life.
Devin, Alexis, Erik, Kate, and Sara portrayed General Washington, his officers, and his soldiers. The rest of us represented the Hessians, who surrendered to General Washington. None of the Continental soldiers lost their lives during the battle, but some had died on the march to it. Conditions that winter were brutal.
Our last activity for today was a lesson for National Optimist Day. It's always a good time to remind everyone that we can choose to change our mindset most of the time, and see things in a more positive light. We listened to a video story and then rated ourselves on optimism.
Friday
Today we had work and cooking responsibilities, but then we got to enjoy a Super (and Souper) Bowl Party!
Our Pet Supplies Plus team consisted of Kevin, Xavier, Bryan, Hannah, Alexis, Michelle, and Erik. PSP got a huge delivery yesterday so we had a lot of inventory to help put on the shelves!
Great work, PSP Team!
While the PSP crew worked at the store, Patrick, Gail, Drew, Thomas, Devin, Annmarie, Sara, Kate, Tessa, and Laura helped to prepare a delicious lunch of vegetable beef soup and cheese toast, plus football brownies, punch, and lots of Super Bowl decorations for our party!
😋😋😋
After lunch we had a "lesson" about this year's Super Bowl teams, and learned that it's the first Super Bowl in history where both teams' head coaches are named Mike! Each of us predicted who we thought will win and colored a helmet for our annual graph. By 11-9, we predict a victory for the Seattle Seahawks!
After making our predictions, we set up our party table with chips, dips, brownies, punch, and mini-cupcakes. Thanks to Laura's parents, Tom and Lisa, who stopped by to say hi and brought us the mini-cupcakes. We enjoyed our party snacks while playing corn hole.
Laura, playing for Team Patriots, scored one point by keeping her eyes on the board as she tossed the bag. She said she had to "focus." 👀
We always enjoy ending our week with a fun game of corn hole, and as usual, our guys cheered for each other, regardless of which team they were on! It's a joy to observe their support for one another!
Here's a look at next week's schedule. We'll be ending that week with a party, too!
Tuesday: We'll start the week with a lesson on the Winter Olympics. After lunch, we're going to visit the "big" library on Croaker Road to check out books for next week's visit with the therapy dogs. As we anticipate our move to McLaws, we need to establish a library connection to replace being able to visit the one in the school. If you have a library card and wish to check out books, we will assist you. If you would like to get a library card, we can assist with that, too. (Families, please let us know.) Lisa will check out the books we'll use with the therapy dogs. We will either return to the library next month (if this goes well), or we can return the books at the book drop when we get vans at the Rec Center. Plus, we're welcoming another friend, Mike, for a trial visit this week. He's interested in joining our waitlist. Lunch on your own. JRES Cafeteria lists Beef Soft Taco, Taco Salad, or Pizza as choices today.
Wednesday: It's Service Work Wednesday, so please wear Arc shirts. We'll volunteer in the JRES Library and at GCOC and we'll arrange flowers for the folks at CSL. After an early lunch, we'll head to APEX-Physical Therapy and Movement Center for a Rock Steady workout in the gym with Kelly, Scott, and Bret! Feel free to bring workout gear to change into if you'd like. Lunch on your own. JRES Cafeteria is serving Asian Chicken w/ Veggies and Rice or Assorted Flatbread Sandwiches.
Thursday: We'll spend today making preparations for tomorrow's Valentine Party and we'll play card games, too. We're also cooking Tortellini Casserole and Salad for lunch since tomorrow is National Tortellini Day. After lunch, we'll decorate bags to hold valentines from tomorrow's exchange!
Friday: It's an Eaton work day, so please wear Eaton shirts and bring a "lite" bagged lunch. We'll eat lunch when we return from Eaton, and then have a Valentine Party/Exchange with dessert and light snacks. Don't forget to bring your valentines and feel free to bring your Valentine's Day outfit/colors to change into if you'd like. Work first...then fun!
Note: Exchanging valentines is optional, but a very popular activity with our group! We will decorate bags to put them in, and do the exchange during our party, helping each other as needed.
Have a great weekend,
Lisa, Carol, Nan, and the AoA Gang
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