Happy Thursday!  It was a lovely morning spent outside.  We began with some stretches before enjoying quite a few jokes and riddles.  What a good start to the day, moving and laughing!  We also had a wonderful time with finish the song lyrics and loved singing all those great songs together.  Lastly, we did some trivia and finish the phrases all about twos, doubles, and pairs.  After lunch and resting, we had an afternoon social.  It was a nice time together chatting and eating tasty cookies and chocolate bars.  Music Safari was after that.  Jennifer played hymns on the piano while everyone sang their hearts out.  It was wonderful! 

Happy Wednesday! Our morning was filled with fellowship, song and smiles today. We all gathered in the Hosanna Chapel for a lovely worship service with a guest Pastor that shared her fabulous stories of being a missionary all over the world. It was very inspirational and we all enjoyed singing beautiful hymns together. Next, our Catholic residents gathered in the Fountains chapel for Rosary and communion. All enjoyed the chicken or fish sandwich for lunch and the rest break after such a busy morning. We celebrated that it could actually get up to 70 degrees here... but with the rain, we had our popcorn party inside complete with a funny Charlie Chaplin movie! Next, we did some water trivia (weather appropriate) and closed out our day with Musical Moments with a Suzie Q sing a long! The sun will come out tomorrow!

Happy Tuesday!  Our morning was busy with the weather report for today, lots of fun trivia about the sea and boats and ice cream, and reminiscing.  Residents also stretched for a little morning exercise and then watched funny YouTube videos to end the morning.  This afternoon we enjoyed time together visiting and having an afternoon treat, cookies and lemonade.  Jim Roth came in to play the accordion today.  Everyone had a great time listening to all the music, especially the polka songs!  It was a wonderful day!  

Happy Sunday and Memorial Day weekend! Its been a great day with lots of visitors and outside sunshine for everyone! Our day began with a beautiful Classical Music Concert of Beethoven. Our usual Sunday morning pianist was out picnicking with her family today, so this was a nice substitution- the Chicago Symphony Orchestra was lovely and we all got a chuckle or two while watching the conductor. While the concert was playing we got to open up the doors to the garden and let residents enjoy a walk in the garden, free to go in and out at their leisure. It was perfect. After lunch we went back outside to enjoy and we sang patriotic songs and planted a few more flowers in our garden.  It was truly a lovely day!

Happy Saturday! Our day began with the weekend funnies and the weather report. We all were excited to hear the great news about the sunny weekend! After that we all enjoyed our morning exercise- stretching and flexing to the sounds of Abba- I think we did more dancing than stretching- but that's ok! Next we played a fun game of "Finish that song" and "Name That Tune". After lunch we attempted to go outside for a bit, the sunshine was great- but the wind made it a bit too chilly to stay out for a long time for the residents. BINGO was the best indoor game and our awesome volunteer Eli was here to share some smiles with all of us. Musical Moments was last on our agenda before dinner and today we watched some beautiful scenes from the musicals Oklahoma, The Greatest Showman and Singing In The Rain. It was a great day!

Happy Friday! It's Memorial Day weekend and we started our day with a real Patriotic bang! After our usual weather report and the news of interest we read some beautiful Memorial Day poetry- one poem was entitled "Peace" and a resident said it was one of the most inspiring poems she has ever heard. It was beautiful! Next we watched the US Army Band perform some favorite patriotic music and songs- we just had to sing along to the ones we knew the words to! Next, for Exercise, we stretched and flexed to some great Jazz music. Lunch was next... the residents enjoyed their egg salad on croissant sandwiches. After a bit of a rest break we gathered to make some fun patriotic decor- I have to admit I think I got the most glitter on me! All of the bright red, white & blue colors and all the glitter really helped to brighten our spirits since its still raining outside. After our craft project we all enjoyed listening to James play the piano for us! It was a great day!
PLEASE READ THE NEW ACTIVITY WE WILL BE HAVING MONTHLY IN THE WILLOWS ON SATURDAY"S....
​*Sacred Stories is a new faith-based program that begins in The Willows on Saturday mornings, June 8 and 15, 10:30-11:00 a.m.
The program’s facilitator, (Fountains’ lay minister) Stacey Eichenberger, will be using a storytelling method that provides a worship experience for all who desire to attend. The method is based on experiential learning and materials, created to bring to mind and spirit beloved Bible stories.*

What a busy Thursday!  Our day began with a concert from the All Saints Catholic School Jazz Band.  Residents had a great time listening to them and even dancing to the music!  After the concert, we enjoyed some morning funnies with quotes from authors, played Read My List game, exercised with the ribbons and watched travel videos of different islands like, the Canary Islands and St. Lucia.  How beautiful!  This afternoon was The Fountains Chorale concert.  It was a wonderful time listening and singing along to old-time songs with our choir.  We also had a good treat after.  More music was after that...Music Safari.  Residents listened to up beat music, played instruments (drums and shakers) and used the parachute.  It was a lot of fun! 

Happy Wednesday! It was a great day here at The Willows! The sun finally came out after 3 days of rain! Our day began in the most awesome way with a special concert from the McGuire Middle School Jazz band and Chorus. We had an amazing time listening to these talented young people and if you'd like to see it in action you can check out our Facebook page. Their were several LIVE videos posted of all the fun! Next, we came back to the Willows for some trivia fun and the weather report. Our Catholic residents gathered in the Chapel for Rosary and Communion with Deacon Jim. After lunch our Primrose Kindergarten kids visited and we made a great "grass head" craft! Both the residents and the kids loved making silly faces on cups then filling the cups with soil and grass seed- soon the seeds will sprout and the faces will have silly grass "hair". It was the kids last visit of the year, since they will be graduating the end of the month. The kids shared their favorite parts of Kindergarten with the residents and the kids were in awh when the residents shared some of their favorite times in school! One little boy stated, "I cant believe they had school way back then!". We all laughed! After the kids left we took a little break, as the day has been very busy, and then started up with Musical Moments to round out the day. 

Please be sure to sign your loved ones out when you leave The Willows community to go somewhere. There is a sign out sheet in the atrium of The Willows as well as one at the front desk- if you're not sure please ask! When a resident is not signed out, it can be concerning for the staff if they did not see them leave with you. Thank you so much for helping us make sure we are providing excellent care for your loved ones!

Happy Tuesday! It was a sunny and mild day today in Lakeville. Our day began with a Patriotic feel. I read some lovely poems about the USA and the flag from various authors. The residents really enjoyed it and we also had a reminiscence group about picnics- Memorial Day is right around the corner and we need to know who is going to make the potato salad! We spoke quite a bit about food and special activities usually done on the special Holiday! Fishing, boating, picnics and family fun. We also had our exercise class to Patriotic music... we all had a great time marching in our chairs to Sousa! We also had a great Patriotic sing along- and to think this was all before lunch! After lunch we had a fabulous popcorn party and rounded the day off with Musical Moments. See ya tomorrow!