Stepping Stones

“Follow the yellow brick road!” Oops; I meant, “Follow the white stepping stones!” If you’ve lost your way to Serenity, hopefully you will find us now. Today we took the time to make personalized stepping stones!

We started by mixing plaster in a large bucket; then we poured it into individual pie tins. Once the plaster was poured, we personalized our very own stepping stones by writing our names in them and placing fun objects into the plaster. We had to act fast because the plaster dried very quickly, but it was a blast to see how everyone made their stepping stones. It was interesting to see how we showed our unique personalities through this fun project!

Take a look at these photos to see what we’ve been up to lately. Pictured above is Marilyn who just finished up her stepping stone, and to the right is a beaming Henrietta!

Spring and Easter Crafts Galore

If you know us, you know one thing – we don’t just sit around! Lately we’ve been letting our spring fever set in – we’ve been busy making lots of spring and Easter crafts.

Earlier this month you could catch us decorating windsocks. It was fun to get out all the spring and summer colors! Though they’re not all outside yet, we’re waiting for the day when we can go out and sit in the summer breeze and watch our homemade windsocks fly!

We also had a blast catching up with our friends while making craft Easter bunnies. Actually, we did several Easter rabbit crafts this month to celebrate the season. With our first project, we decorated small bunny stuffed animals with tutus and flowers. We completed these by attaching wings to make them fairy bunnies! After these were done we decided to make candy holders for when the real Easter bunny would come to visit – take a look at Orval’s picture! In our third project, we took the time to make bunny table decorations. These Easter rabbits were complete with big feet and perky ears; and we used them to decorate our dining room throughout the season.

And what would Easter be without some old fashioned Easter eggs? This week we sat down and dyed a mess of hardboiled eggs every color under the sky. It was fun to remember how we used to dye eggs when we were kids and how things have changed since then – including fun stickers to make the dyed eggs look like monsters!

Take a peak at these photos to really get a glimpse of the fun we had throughout this month. In the topmost picture is Henrietta who is putting her fairy bunny together. To the right is Orval who is showing off his Easter bunny candy holder; and on the right is Muriel who is dying Easter eggs! Below is a picture of the Easter rabbit table decorations we made.

Ladder Golf!

“It's spring fever. That is what the name of it is. And when you've got it, you want - oh, you don't quite know what it is you do want, but it just fairly makes your heart ache, you want it so!” ~Mark Twain

Mr. Twain said it right – and spring fever definitely has a hold of us here at Serenity. Today we decided to play a game indoors that was traditionally designed to be played outside!

This afternoon a few of us took some time to play Ladder Golf. It is an interesting game that involves two golf balls tied together on opposite ends of a rope. Players then throw the tied balls at a “ladder” and if the roped balls wrap themselves around a ring on the ladder, that person earns points for his or her team.

It was a blast for all of us to watch each other earn points for our teams – and there was definitely some competition! The first game the Blue Smurfs won, and the second game the Green Beans were able to come back to win! It was quite an exciting Friday afternoon!

Take a look at these pictures to see the fun we had. Above is Sandy who is throwing for the Blue Smurfs. To the left is Henrietta who is about to win it for the Green Beans, and to the right is Bonnie throwing for the win for the Blue Smurfs!

Happy Birthday, Henrietta!

Happy Birthday, Henrietta! She turns 94 years young today!

Everyone gladly helped Henrietta celebrate with a delicious cake this afternoon brought by her daughter, Marguerite.

Serenity's Bell Ringers

As all of us at Serenity know all too well, Henrietta is just one of those people who always wants to help out; and this is exactly what she did this past week. Michele Schuering and Henrietta took a short trip to K-Mart in Moorhead where they volunteered as bell ringers for the Salvation Army.

For those of you who may not know about the Salvation Army, it was founded in San Francisco in 1891 and has significantly grown over the past 100 years. Last year more than 25,000 volunteers earned the organization over $130 million; and the money was used to purchase food, clothing and toys for nearly 30 million people in need!

You will see the bell ringers until December 24th this holiday season; and all donations are used for needy citizens around the United States. So do a good turn and help out those in need through the Salvation Army!

Take a peak above at the picture of Michele and Henrietta volunteering for the Salvation Army. To the right is a picture of Henrietta actually ringing her bell!

(Source: www.salvationarmyusa.org)

Exercise Group

We all know the importance of exercise, and we aren’t the kind of people to miss out on healthy physical activity. This afternoon a few of us gathered in the dining room to have a little fun with a beach ball – and we soon found out that some of us are regular soccer players! It was a blast to just kick the ball back and forth to each other and have a few good laughs in the process.

Pictured above is Henrietta, who put quite a bit of force on that ball! To the right is Mary who would definitely be our forward if we had a Serenity soccer team!

Bird Crazy!

Next time you decide to stop by Serenity make sure to bring your binoculars! This summer we’ve made a lot of fun crafts for the birds such as birdbaths and our most recent project – Pinecone Birdfeeders. This afternoon a few of the ladies of Serenity decided it was the perfect day to get started on yet another of their exciting projects. We started by simply mixing a little vegetable shortening with corn meal and oatmeal to make the birdfeed and then we got our hands dirty by rubbing this mixture into the pinecones. Now all the birds around Serenity have food to eat, birdhouses to sleep in and birdbaths to clean up with. You could say that we just completed Serenity’s Bird Hotel!

Take a peek at these fun snapshots of our fun craft! Above is Claryce, Sandy and Henrietta who are all preparing their Pinecone Birdfeeders and to the right is a picture of Lois who is laughing at one of our jokes!

A Busy Afternoon

Here at Serenity it is important for us to keep busy; and did we ever have a busier day!? After lunch today we kicked off the afternoon with some old-fashioned tunes and sit-down dancing. It’s always fun for us to just relax with our friends and have a bit of fun getting a workout! And once we were finished with our dancing we decided to head to the kitchen to take a break; but Nathan was waiting for us with one of his projects.

We quickly started making Chubby Crayon Crafts which was a blast for all of us! First we found some old crayons, broke them into small pieces and then put all the different colored crayons into muffin pans. Then we melted the crayons in the oven and mixed the colors together once the crayons had turned into liquid. Once the crayons had hardened again we took them out of the pans and voila! Our Chubby Crayons were super colorful and fun! When we had finally finished the project we all took a well-deserved coffee break.

Take a peek at these pictures to see the good time we had. Above is a photo of Sandy, Bonnie and Gen getting the crafts prepared and below is a snapshot of Muriel, Henrietta and Lois who were waiting for the Chubby Crayons to melt.

Unlucky Seven

This afternoon Sandy decided that it was high time for all her new friends here at Serenity to learn how to play her favorite card game called Unlucky Seven. It was a great way to introduce our newest staff member, Tyler; and we all had a great time laughing and chatting about the warm weather.

If you would like to play Unlucky Seven it’s actually pretty easy! Here are a few of the rules of the game:

You can play with two or more players. If you would like to play with more than four, simply add another deck to the mix!

Take a deck and match the cards according to their suits. Once the cards are in four piles (one of each diamonds, spades, hearts and clubs) remove the kings, aces and sevens.

Each player then receives one suit and places the ten remaining cards face up in front of him or her.

Once it is decided who will roll first, two dice are rolled three times by each person. When the player rolls a number on the die, he or she flips the corresponding card with that number over to show the back of the card. The first person to flip all his or her cards wins!

But it’s not that simple. The unlucky seven part of this game comes when the player rolls a seven on the die. After rolling an unlucky seven the player must flip a card that has previously been flipped. This may sound confusing but it’s really not too difficult. For example, if a player rolled a six earlier in the game and flipped the six card to reveal the back and thereafter rolled a seven, the player must flip that card over again. It doesn’t necessarily have to be the card flipped directly before rolling a seven, however; you are allowed to choose which card you must play again!

Also, if you roll a number that you have already have flipped, you must skip your turn and if your neighbor doesn’t have that number flipped, he or she then takes that number and flips the corresponding card. For example, if a player rolls a six and flips that card and on her second try she rolls another six, she must look at the other players’ hands to see if any of her friends have a six. The one that does (in clockwise order) then flips his or her corresponding six card and starts playing from there. If no one else has a six she continues with her next roll.

It may sound a little difficult upon reading these directions, but it’s really simple once you try playing it! And we had a ton of fun this afternoon when we all sat down to play. Just take a look at our faces! Pictured above is our newest staff member, Tyler, who just won his first game. To the right is a group shot of everyone who played Unlucky Seven this afternoon (in clockwise order) Tyler, Florence, Henrietta, Sandy, Leona and Hubert.

A Trip to the Zoo!

Learning about new creatures is always fun; but it’s even better when you can see them for yourself. So when we decided to take a trip to the zoo today we knew it would be a blast! Henrietta, Bonnie and Sandy all climbed into the car this afternoon and whisked away to the Red River Zoo in Fargo. Once we arrived we were greeted by all sorts of fun animals just in the welcome building alone! We marveled at insects, lizards, toads, tarantulas, monkeys and so many more creatures we had never seen before. Henrietta was extremely impressed by the huge bright green snake she saw as she exclaimed, “Well, look at that!”

Once we finally headed into the zoo we noticed the energetic meerkats. Bonnie loved watching them play hide and seek with each other! We continued on and investigated everything from camels to wolves. Sandy really enjoyed the peacocks; and we were even visited by a little chick!

By the end of the afternoon we had learned everything we could about all the new animals we had visited. It was a great day to enjoy the beautiful weather and have an adventure!

Pictured above is one of the camels from the Red River Zoo!

Jamaican Passport Meal

Yah, Mon! We’re in Jamaica! This afternoon we got a taste of Jamaican culture with our Jamaican Passport Meal; but we’ve been getting ready for the festivities this whole week. On Monday we had a blast tie-dying t-shirts that we all wore for the first time today. These were all so colorful and it was fun to finally see how all of our shirts had turned out! And we even had more fun with Jamaican themed crafts yesterday when we made Jamaican Bracelets. Making these taught us that patience really is a virtue; but it was a ton of fun putting them together. Today was the perfect time to show off all our Jamaican creations, both the t-shirts and bracelets; and it was really exciting!

To begin the party this afternoon we all held silly props in front of our faces and took funny pictures. All of these photos of our funny faces are now taped on our doors so that all our visitors can see the fun we had. It was a blast to see how funny we all looked, and now we can remember it every time we go out our doors!

After our photo shoot we started eating our summer-themed Jamaican Passport Meal. We began with a traditional appetizer called Jamaican Shrimp and continued the meal with white rice cooked with coconut milk and Jamaican Red Stripe Chicken as the main course. For dessert we all tried Fried Ripe Plantains which were very interesting. By the time we were done eating we discovered that Jamaicans eat quite well!

Above is a picture of Genevieve Sunde and Mary Joan Grubb with their silly facial props. To the left is a photo of Henrietta Van Dyke modeling her Jamaican Bracelet and to the right is a picture of Alfred Baumgartner sporting his huge sunglasses!

A Gorgeous Afternoon

“I scream, you scream, we all scream for ice cream!” All of us here at Serenity had a lot of fun making (and eating) our very own homemade ice cream today. After we were done eating lunch, some of us decided it was the perfect time to go outside and see what the weather was like. And we were followed by all the staff who had lots of fun activities for us!

We started the afternoon by making homemade ice cream. It was really fun! First we filled a one gallon Ziplock bag half full with ice cubes and added at least six tablespoons of rock salt. In another sandwich sized Ziplock bag we mixed ½ cup Half & Half, ¼ teaspoon vanilla and one tablespoon sugar. We then placed the smaller bag inside the larger one and shook the bag until our mixture became ice cream. It was a lot of fun and tasted great!

After we were done making ice cream we weren’t given much of a break before we began tie-dying t-shirts. We all began by drawing neat designs or writing our names on the shirts. Sometimes it took a while to think of the perfect designs to draw! Afterwards we twisted the shirts and tied rubber bands all over them so that once they were dyed there would be some really nifty designs left on them. Then we picked out our favorite colors that we wanted to use on our shirts and got to the messy part and started dying the shirts. It was fun to just look around at all the different colors our friends were using! We then let the dye sit for a few hours; and tomorrow we’ll get our freshly washed shirts back in time to wear them for our Jamaican night on Friday.

When we were finally finished with the exciting activities it was just nice to sit back and take it easy. After all, it’s summer!

To get a glimpse of all the fun we had take a look at the pictures from this afternoon! The top photo is a group shot of a few of the ladies who enjoyed making the homemade ice cream (from left to right: Muriel, Henrietta, Claryce, Cleo and Lois). To the left is Bonnie with her freshly tie-dyed shirt; and to the right is Abbie who is having a blast trying to find the perfect colors to dye her shirt.

What A Blast!

Sometimes it’s just fun to get out some bright colors and paint. Today we decided to paint fireworks because of the holiday season. The colors certainly made our days a little brighter and it was great to get a chance to express ourselves with art. Some of us made fireworks by blowing on wet paint through a straw; that was pretty neat! We all also painted festive fireworks with normal paintbrushes. Once our paintings were finally dry we hung them around the dining room. It was a blast!

Pictured here is Henrietta who is blowing paint into firework shapes.

Jewelry Fun!

Jewelry is always fun to wear, and today we discovered that it is even more fun to make! Today we made beautiful bracelets and had a fun time just chatting with everyone as we made this enjoyable craft. Aside from the jokes, interesting conversations and just plain fun, we all loved the final products! The bracelets can be seen on wrists all over Serenity. Henrietta even made a necklace! Just take a look at these pictures to get a better understanding of the fun we had.

Pictured here is Henrietta with the beginnings of her necklace.

Birdbaths

Many of us here at Serenity enjoy watching the birds come and go throughout the summer months. And just to make our flying friends stay a bit longer we decided it was time to build a few birdbaths! We rounded up a few birdwatchers and got to work.

First we carefully painted terra cotta pots and saucers with our favorite colors. After we were done painting we glued the pots to the saucers and then finished with a few touchups. We finally sealed them and now they are ready for the birds! You can come for a visit to see these creations or just take a look at the pictures here.

Above is a photo of Florence and Claryce working diligently to create a couple of the birdbaths. Henrietta, Lois and Muriel also fashioned some of the beautiful creations!

A Lip Smackin' Lunch!

Barbequing is one of the most anticipated aspects of summer for many Americans. It presents a time to enjoy friends, family, summer weather and (of course) delicious food!



Because Fargo knows that many of us here in the Red River Valley love barbequed ribs, it is hosting its annual Rib Fest this week. And after we heard about the “Lip Smackin’ Lunch Special” we just couldn’t resist. We loaded up two vehicles with anyone who didn’t mind getting their fingers dirty with a little barbeque sauce and headed to the Fargo Dome where Rib Fest was being hosted.

Upon our arrival we discovered that we were not the only ones looking for some good food (the place was busy!), but we soon collected our fair share of ribs. The delicious food was well complemented with two scrumptious side dishes and cold drinks. It was a tasty treat for everyone! Just take a look above at the picture of Hubert enjoying a juicy rib! To the right is a picture of Simone enjoying the warm day; and below is a group shot of the whole gang (with full bellies)!

Flower Power!

Flowers often have a healing power and creating pieces of art has a way of making us appreciate the small things in life. Today we were able to combine both of these when making our tissue paper flower arrangement. Florence and Henrietta took some time this afternoon to make a lovely bunch of flowers complete with petals, leaves and stems. These creations were then bunched together into a bouquet of beautiful pieces of art. It was fun to chat about perfect color schemes and to design the ideal flower arrangement. Just take a look at this picture of Florence and Henrietta with their lovely bouquet!

Breakfast on the Farm

It was a big weekend in Hawley to kick off the city’s 50th Annual Rodeo Fest; and we couldn’t just let everyone else have all the fun. On Saturday morning we rounded up a few of us to go to “Breakfast on the Farm” which took place at the Hutterite Colony five miles west of Hawley. Hubert, Esther and Henrietta decided it was time to saddle up and enjoy the morning with hundreds of others who came to celebrate the occasion. Not only did we eat pancakes, sausage and eggs but we enjoyed all the various events that were happening all over the farm. There were horse and tractor rides for everyone, train rides for the children and many various booths set up to celebrate the occasion. Hubert especially enjoyed watching the kids ride around in carts behind the tractors! And once it was time to drive back home we all had the chance to talk about growing up on the farm as all three of those who came with on the trip had grown up on farms. It was an exciting way to start the weekend and an enjoyment for us all.

To get a better idea of our fun trip just take a look at this picture of Henrietta and Hubert as they enjoy their coffee at the “Breakfast on the Farm!”

Happy Birthday, Henrietta!

Henrietta Van Dyke celebrated her 93rd birthday today with her family! They dined on sandwiches, punch and yummy cake. Henrietta's official birthday is Tuesday this week!

Happy Birthday and best wishes to you, Henrietta!