Residents started the week off on the right foot at Monday Movers with Noel Monday morning.  She led a HUGE group through a great 30-minute workout and everyone did a fabulous job! All that wonderful energy carried over into Karaoke Sing Along and the tunes kept everyone smiling and in an upbeat mood. Lunch ushered in the afternoon and then it was on to Kitchen Corner! Noel and Alice Brantner (along with music provided by Elvis!) worked together in the activity office to make Candy Corn Poke Cake and it was quite a cake to make. Layers of yellow, orange and white batter, one on top of the other, baked together to make a whimsical and colorful confection! It was a lot of work but the two ladies had a lot of fun. Tic Tac Toss was the next activity and everyone was on top of their game Monday afternoon! Alice Brantner and Shirley Klinski tied for fourth, Kevin Bauer and Herb Tschumperlin tied for third and Janet Robelia came in second. First place this week was a tie between Milda Bautch and Yvonne Sinz! A little supper refreshed everybody and then Kathy Luebker arrived to help with Monday night Bingo. Her assistance was definitely appreciated as we had 23 players for the game!

Tuesday morning Father Jojo and Terry Pelzel arrived for Mass after breakfast and residents welcomed the peaceful start to the day. The service ended just in time for some lunch and once the meal was cleaned up and mail was passed, Stacey prepared for the most anticipated Tuesday activity: Popcorn Social! She had the popcorn machine popping away and folks came out in droves for bowls of the salty and savory snack. The smell of fresh popcorn alone is enough to bring a smile to everyone’s face! Once the last kernel was consumed, Stacey went around with her guitar and beautiful voice for musical room visits. Residents love this one-on-one time and even join in by clapping and singing along! Later in the afternoon saw Pastor Pfaffe from St. John’s Lutheran here for church and many people filled the dining room for his service. Supper was served soon after and then Willow arrived for an evening of games with everyone! 

We reached the middle of the week in no time and everyone came out for bowling Wednesday morning! Ave Maria students Ava and Cooper were also here to help with pin setting and scorekeeping. They kept score, which ended with Kevin Bauer and Ivan Mason tied for fourth, Kathy Geraets and Judy Thorn placed third and we had three-way tie for second: Milda Bautch, Janet Robelia and Eugene Leonard. Yvonne Sinz was this week’s first-place bowling winner! Lunch and mail delivery began the afternoon and soon it was time for everybody’s favorite activity: Fruit Bingo. Wanda Ebensperger and Lana Ingli joined in the fun, as well as helped out so much, and we played for a whole hour before Mike Solveson beat everyone at Blackout Bingo, winning the $1 prize! After our lovely volunteers, Wanda and Lana, assisted with clean up, it was finally time to tuck into the colorful Candy Corn Poke Cake at the Mid-Week Social. Everyone admired the way their pieces resembled candy corn and we all agreed that it tasted as good as it looked!

We celebrated Halloween on a Thursday this year and the day of treats (but no tricks!) started with Local News and Coffee, this morning with Harriet Rothe! She read residents all the latest from the local papers, as well as shared a few old Halloween photos of her and her friends dressed up in costume for the holiday. Lunch followed and once the meal was over and mail was delivered, it was time for our Halloween festivities to begin! Residents and staff dressed up in their best costumes and gathered in the dining room for the students from Ave Maria to parade through and show off their costumes too. Once the parade ended and all the candy was passed out, folks stuck around to play a game of Pumpkin Toss with Noel! Mary Matzek came in fourth place, Yvonne Sinz was third and Donald Melstrom claimed second place. Judy Thorn was our first-place pumpkin toss champion of the afternoon! Willow arrived to visit with residents and there was even time for her to give a few ladies manicures. After supper, she gathered everyone together for our evening Pokeno game! 

At the end of the busy week, everyone was ready to enjoy a slow and leisurely day. Friday began with Noel delivering activity calendars for November as it was the first day of a new month; everyone was in shock at how time just seemed to fly these past weeks! Lunch was served next and once the meal was finished and mail delivered, Noel and Jeff jazzed up the dining room with pumpkin tablecloths in order to get ready for our Halloween Happy Hour. Larry Radle arrived a little later with his guitar, strumming and singing while residents and guests slurped down sweet and cool orange Creamsicle floats! All too soon it was time for supper and then on to Movie Night, with folks watching “Yours, Mine and Ours” in our dining room “theater.”