Happy Birthday Drew and Annmarie!

 

What a fun week it was at the Arc of Abilities as we kicked off Spring Birthday Season!  We celebrated Drew on Tuesday and Annmarie on Friday, and we are so thankful for the wonderful time we had with their families.  We had a great day of service work and welcoming Allison back on Wednesday.  On Thursday we celebrated reading and cheese doodles (keep scrolling)!  Before partying on Friday we also worked at Pet Supplies Plus, but it was mostly a celebratory week!

Saturday

Before we get to our regular week, here are some photos from Saturday evening.  For quite a while now we have been assisting Patti and our Women of the Moose friends with their monthly Bingo Nights.  These usually take place on the last Saturday of the month, and some of our guys volunteer to be the Bingo callers.  We're happy to give back in this way to help our WOTM friends, who have been so gracious in supporting The Arc and the Arc of Abilities over the years!

Alexis and Devin paused from their calling duties long enough to get a photo with our dear WOTM friend, Moose Patti!

Over the course of about 2 hours, Devin and Alexis called several Bingo games, entertained the players with some silly antics, and had a great time!  The monthly Bingo Night helps WOTM raise money to support other great causes, too!  Great job, Lexi and Dev!  We're very proud of you!

Here's a throwback photo from December when Liz and Alexis volunteered.  We're proud of Liz, Alexis, and Devin, and we hope to bring on other AoA friends to volunteer in the future!

Tuesday

Usually the highlight of the first Tuesday of the month is bowling and having pizza for lunch, but today it was that AND celebrating Drew's 35th birthday!  Drew loves both bowling and pizza, so this was the perfect party for him.

That's a pretty cool shirt, Drew, and perfect for today!

We arrived at Bowlero to find that our "usual" lanes 1-4 were all in working order today.  We do like our routine!

Early on, we almost caught a high-five in action.  With Sara looking on, Erik was congratulating Patrick on a strike!

Bowling is a lot of fun as you can tell from these random shots.  We celebrate strikes, spares, "almost" strikes and spares, and just being together!

It was great getting to bowl on Drew's birthday, and we were also happy to welcome Abraham back.  He was visiting his sister in Missouri for a few weeks.  Apologies to Alexis today...we overlooked getting her in one of these random shots.

When we got back to AFCC, Drew's parents, Donna and Andy were pulling in with fresh, hot pizza for his birthday lunch!  This was a treat since they picked it up at a nearby Pizza Hut so it didn't have to travel too far.  Usually, we pick up pizza at Domino's on Richmond Road, and by the time we get back to AFCC, it's warm enough, but not exactly hot!  We LOVE all pizza, though.  It was just a nice change to get to eat it while it was still fairly hot!  Thank you, Donna and Andy, for celebrating Drew and hanging out with us today, and for the tasty (and hot) pizza!  The fresh fruit was also good, and of course, the cupcakes at the end! 🍕🍉🥳🍕🧁🎉🍕

Thanks also to Donna for sharing this picture of Drew with Carol, Nan, and Lisa.  They don't make it into many of our photos. 😉

Drew, we hope all of your wishes come true!  Thanks again to Donna and Andy for a party as sweet as these cupcakes!

Wednesday

Look who came back today!  Allison has a brand new knee and she is moving like a rock star!  We also welcomed Kate back today after a week long illness.  We were a full house!

Service Work Wednesday got off to a great start when we sent Liz, Sara, Alexis, Michelle, Laura, and Gail to help at the JRES Library.

We sent Alexis, Sara, Abraham, Thomas, Gail, Drew, Erik, Patrick, and Michelle to help bag nonperishables at GCOC with Peggy and Joel.  We saw Thom and Ursula briefly, as they were working in another area of the building.

As always, we are very thankful for treats provided by our friends Peggy and Ursula.  Today, Peggy had mini Moon Pies for everyone!  We enjoyed them after lunch.  Yum!!  Thank you, Peggy!

Also on our service work schedule today was making flower arrangements for Commonwealth Senior Living.  Tessa chipped in to assist Nan and Allison.  It was another colorful week!

While not service work, updating our calendar each month and preparing new room decorations is a very important task. 

Kate and Kevin removed the February event labels and reset the calendar for March, which wasn't too challenging today since both February and March began on a Sunday!

Liz and Bryan (with an assist from Alexis before she went to GCOC) prepared March calendar squares with pictures to represent some of our upcoming activities.  Bryan is getting speedy quick at this skill, which involves finding images online to cut and paste onto our squares.

We appreciate our bubble letter crew, and they take pride in their designs!  Laura, Annmarie, and Xavier used rainbow colors to get the MARCH letters ready to go on the wall.

Kate also assisted Devin in removing all of the February decorations from our walls and window sills.  We were particularly ready to bid farewell to the snowmen... 😂

The sunshine and warmer temperatures gave us a taste of spring today.  We enjoyed being outside after our work was done inside!  We walked and talked, and some of us shot hoops.

Bryan and Alexis removed pine needles from our herb garden.  We hope to get it moved to the new building soon, and the master gardeners want to help us refresh it for the upcoming herb growing season.

Today was National Marching Music Day, so we enjoyed learning about the process marching bands go through to create their performances.  It's really cool how they can get all of their steps in sync while still playing the music.  This smaller band was performing at Disneyland once, and right away we recognized the song!

It got Drew and Abraham on their feet!  

We were really impressed by The Ohio State Marching Band's Disney tribute show.  They included formations from several of our favorite movies.  This is Simba, from The Lion King!  Our guys appreciated the amount of practice that goes into something like this, and we all agreed we'd love to see a live performance!

Thursday

It was another gorgeous day as we hung around the center all day doing a variety of activities.  We began with a Read Across America Day celebration which was inspired by Dr. Seuss's birthday, which also happens to be Drew's big day:  March 2nd.  Even though we were a few days late, we enjoyed our lesson.

We loved Drew's shirt, and the alternative colors for the hat, but the words got cut off in the photo.  It read: "Be Original" and suited Drew to a T!

Look at all the spirit gear some of our guys brought in support of our lesson!  Tessa wore Horton on her shirt and brought the book Horton Hears a Who.  One of Kevin's favorite books, Sam and the Firefly, was writted by P.D. Eastman, who we learned was a protege of Dr. Seuss.  Laura wore Cat in the Hat and brought a collection of books, including What Pet Should I Get? (more on that later).  Elizabeth shared several books that belonged to her mother.  What a treasure!  One of them was Ten Apples Up on Top, which was written by Theo. LeSieg, which we learned was one of Dr. Seuss's pen names.  Kate and Drew were on the same wavelength as they brought Green Eggs and Ham to represent their favorite Seuss book, and Alexis also brought a nice collection of books she and Lisa have gathered over the years.

We watched a video about Dr. Seuss's life and then split into groups to read the many books our friends brought to share.  What we seemed to "prove" is that one is never too old to enjoy the clever rhymes and imaginative illustrations of Dr. Seuss!  Happy Read Across America Day!

Another activity we did was a Dr. Seuss Scavenger Hunt.  This is a fun way to learn about a topic .  We have a series of questions and we search for fact cards like this to get the answers.  Laura brought the book What Pet Should I Get?, and Lisa read it to us.  It was the first time we'd heard the story that wasn't found or published until after Dr. Seuss passed away.

Celebrating National Cheese Doodle Day was a hit, for us and the birds!  First, we watched a short video to see how the Wise factory makes cheese doodles, and we learned what an "extruder" is.  We also learned that cheese doodles are made from corn meal and tossed in a "liquid cheese" mixture.  We had samples, and yes, we got orange fingers!  Next, we used cheese doodles, peanut butter, birdseed, and paper products to make birdfeeders.  We read that it's ok to give cheese doodles to birds once in a while and in small amounts. ✅🐦

Outside, we removed last week's TP feeders and hung today's creations.

By the end of the day, there was at least one chickadee enjoying the treat!

Friday

Today was awesome!  First, we worked...and then we partied.  We love days like this!

After the PSP crew hit the road and our dance warm up was over, the rest of us got busy decorating for Annmarie's 30th birthday party.  We wanted to make a poster she could take home, and also have lots of other "30" decorations in the room, so everyone chipped in with coloring, cutting, gluing, and taping!

Sara glued pictures to Annmarie's poster while Kevin, Nan, Gail, Devin, Tessa, and Drew kept 'em coming!  We used a lot of pink and purple, Annmarie's favorite colors.

Other preparations needed to be done, too.  Patrick and Xavier covered the party table and Xavier also helped prepare gluten-free pasta as a side dish for his lunch.  Devin and Liz went to the JRES Cafeteria where the workers there are always happy to share ice with us!

While the AFCC group got ready for the party, the PSP crew did a great job helping at the store.  Laura and Annmarie worked well together as they folded and rolled fresh towels to be used in the grooming salon.

Erik, Abraham, Michelle, and Alexis worked with Roxanne to shelve cat food.  There was not a lot of product to stock today because the delivery truck had not arrived, so we also chipped in to help with cleaning.  Thomas and Bryan swept up a lot of dog hair and Laura and Annmarie dusted shelves.

In honor of Annmarie's birthday, the gang chose to highlight birthday themed items for our furry friends!  Thanks for a great work experience this morning, Roxanne!

Next thing we knew, the PSP crew was back and it was party time!  Annmarie's parents, Andy and Teresa, arrived with the most delicious fried chicken, mac and cheese, and fresh veggies!  This is the birthday girl's favorite meal, and we are so happy she and her family chose to share it with us!

Thank you, Teresa and Andy, for this annual tradition on your sweet girl's birthday.  She was excited all week looking forward to her party!  We really appreciate the fried chicken and fixins, along with the tea, lemonade, and chocolate cupcakes at the end.  We always enjoy visiting with you, too!

Happy 30th Birthday to our "Shortcake," Annmarie!  We hope all of her dreams come true!!

Annmarie slipped away to get the weekend started early, but we still enjoyed a game of birthday corn hole!  

Even though it was sunny, it was actually a bit chilly outside, so we moved the game inside for the second half!  Here, Alexis takes a turn for Team Rainbow.

Devin scored some points for Team Sunshine.  (And by the way, his PSP shirt is true, as our crew found out this morning! 😄)

After 4 rounds, Team Rainbow emerged victorious with a score of 37-31!  

That was a fun way to end a really fun double birthday week. We won't have two birthdays in the same week again for a while, but we sure had a blast with them this week!  🥳🥳🎈🎈🧁🧁🎉🎉

There are no birthdays next week, but we'll be busy with other activities.  Here is a look at our schedule:

Tuesday:  The weather forecast looks gorgeous so we hope it doesn't change.  We plan to celebrate National Pack Your Lunch Day with a trip to York River State Park.  We'll get fresh air, play, walk, and explore the Discovery Center, too.  Bring a bagged lunch and wear your walking shoes!

Wednesday:  It's Service Work Wednesday so please wear Arc shirts.  We'll work in the JRES Library, make flower arrangements, and volunteer at Grove's food pantry.  We're also cooking hot dogs for lunch with chips and grape/pineapple salad, and we'll try a new cookie recipe that takes just 3 ingredients.  We'll also catch up on some thank you cards and play Bingo since we've recently acquired a nice selection of new prizes from our friends at APEX-PT!

Thursday:  We're excited for a new outing today:  We're going to tour the Swem Library at William and Mary.  Our therapy dog friend, Marisol, has arranged this for us and she'll join us, too.  We're also welcoming Liz's dad and Arc board member, Greg, who will introduce us to some of his former colleagues from Ferguson Enterprises (Greg is retired now).  They are also touring our new building at McLaws Circle as they look to support The Arc of GW.  After lunch we'll celebrate National Popcorn Lovers Day, with a light popcorn snack while we watch a couple of I Love Lucy and Gilligan's Island episodes.  Lunch on your own.  JRES Cafeteria is offering Domino's Pizza or Assorted Wraps.

Friday:  It's an Eaton work day, so please wear Eaton shirts and bring a bagged lunch.  If the weather is nice we will enjoy a picnic and walk at New Quarter Park before returning to the center to wrap up the week with some preparations for our celebration of the Arc of Abilities' 10th Anniversary next week!

Enjoy the shorter weekend!  Don't forget to adjust your clocks so you'll be on time next week!

Lisa, Carol, Nan, and the AoA Gang