The wintery spring weather continued this week, but we didn’t care as we stayed warm Monday morning with Monday Movers seated exercise group! Stacey and Noel led residents in gentle arm and leg exercises, all while from the comfort of our chairs. Once everyone caught their breath, Stacey tuned up the guitar for a sing-along and our lively group sang to old hits like “Buffalo Gals” and “Beautiful Beautiful Brown Eyes.” After a little lunch Stacey and Noel helped residents create beautiful spoon flower art at Crafty Corner; with the snow still outside it was wonderful to see the bright spring colors of pink, green and yellow fill the dining room! Tic Tac Toss was the name of the game later in the afternoon; our huge group of players warmed up their throwing arms and it seemed we had some sharpshooters in the group! Kevin Bauer scored fourth place, Ivan Mason came in third, while Carol Bauer from the Seasons and Herb Tschumperlin tied for second. Mary Matzek was our first-place champion this week! After supper, Noel led everyone in an evening game of Bingo.

On Tuesday, we rearranged the schedule a little and had our bowling game in the morning! It was spring break this week for the kiddos, so we unfortunately didn’t have students here to help with pin setting and scorekeeping, but that didn’t stop us from having a blast. After four fun rounds, Shirley Klinski came in fourth place, we had a three-way tie for third between Carol Bauer (from the Seasons), Mary Matzek and Dorothy Pfaffe, while Janet Robelia and Jeff Halverson tied for second. We also celebrated a tie for first place: Kevin Bauer and Ivan Mason! The rest of the day continued like a regular Tuesday, with Aaliyah here after lunch to make delicious bowlfuls of buttery popcorn for our Popcorn Social. Afternoon church was a peaceful and uplifting hymn sing with Aaliyah in which she led residents in singing beautiful songs such as “How Great Thou Art” and “The Old Rugged Cross.” The day ended with supper and then an evening of games with Aaliyah!

Father Jojo visited the care center on Wednesday morning to lead residents in morning Mass and everyone gathered with a grateful heart to pray together in the week leading up to Easter Sunday. Thank you to Dick Fritz for doing the readings during Mass! Later, Wanda and Roxanne were here to help several residents with voting, which wrapped up just in time for lunch. The dishes were cleared away and tables wiped clean just in time for Fruit Bingo with volunteers Harriet Rothe (calling numbers and clean up) and Irene Helmueller (set up, clean up and prize delivery). Thank you for all your help: you ladies are wonderful! Nancy Bishop was the big winner of Blackout Bingo this week, taking home the prize of $1!  The day wrapped up with our Mid-Week Social, where we snacked on crunchy potato chips and either French onion or ranch dip…yummy!

Thursday morning brought Harriet Rothe to the care center to catch us up on the latest news in the community. At our Local News and Coffee activity, she read from the local papers and shared a steaming cup of java with us! After lunch, folks chose to stick around to participate in the monthly Resident Council meeting (led by Stacey) to recap the last month and to stay informed on what’s ahead on the calendar for April. This was also the time where they could bring up any issues they wished to discuss, as well as talk about what they felt was working well at the care center. Later in the afternoon, Aaliyah freshened up the ladies’ nails with manicures; most everyone stuck with their “tried and true” nail color of choice, but every once in a while, we help them switch it up with a bold new look! Many of the gals also chatted with each other while they were waiting for their polish to dry. We capped off the day with supper and then an evening game of Pokeno with Aaliyah! 

We prepared for the upcoming Easter holiday by coloring Easter eggs on Friday morning; Stacey and Noel decked everyone out with bunny ears and the “hoppy” helpers worked hard to decorate over 40 hardboiled eggs! Each and every resident will be gifted with a colorful egg of their own on their Easter Sunday breakfast plate. Lunch came and went, and then it was time to prepare for Happy Hour! We welcomed keyboardist Ryan Herman to the care center for our afternoon Happy Hour, which was also our monthly birthday party for all the residents with a March birthday! What better way to celebrate than with lively music and delectable vanilla cupcakes with sprinkles? The celebratory day (and week) ended with a delicious supper and then Movie Night, where we watched the family comedy “Peter Rabbit.”