Piñata Lesson 101

Here at Serenity, we’re never too old for a history lesson; and it’s always fun to find a reason to celebrate. Tomorrow is May 5, but sometimes it is better known in Spanish – Cinco de Mayo! For the festive occasion we decided to make typical Mexican pieces of art – piñatas.

Though they are famous in Mexico now, piñatas did not originate from this country. These interesting artworks were probably first made in China and then spread through Europe. Once they reached Spain they gained popularity and the people there used them to celebrate religious holidays such as Lent.

In the 16th century, Spanish missionaries attempted to use piñatas to convert Mayans to their religion. As it turned out, the Mayans had a similar tradition in which they would take clubs and sticks and break large feather-covered pots filled with trinkets. These pots were suspended by a string in front of an image of a god. When the pots would break the trinkets would fall to the feet of the gods as an offering. The two cultures mixed together to form the types of piñatas that are famous in Mexico today.

Now that we’ve had our history lesson, take a look at the piñatas we made today! We started by blowing up balloons and mixing together flour and water to make a paste. Once this was done we took strips of newspaper, dunked them in the paste and wrapped them around the balloon.

Once the whole balloon was covered and left to dry for an entire day, we finished by paining them festive colors. Take a look at these pictures to see all the fun we had! Pictured above is Arlene Tangen who is working diligently to make her piñata. To the right is Alice who is also hard at work!

Happy Birthday, Esther Olson!

Birthdays are always a fun time to celebrate our lives and how far we’ve come. But they are especially enjoyable when they coincide with other holidays! On the Fourth of July Esther Olson celebrated her 90th birthday. The Independence Day girl celebrated the Fourth of July with us and later that day we all celebrated her birthday. She’s definitely a party girl! Happy birthday, Esther!

Pictured above is Esther with her delicious cake. It looks great!

Independence Day Celebration

Every year the citizens of this country celebrate the United States’ birthday on the Fourth of July. This year we celebrated our nation’s 233rd birthday by having our Independence Day meal and enjoying a wonderful afternoon of patriotic fun. Our cook, Jacob, even dressed up as Uncle Sam and rounded everyone up for the occasion. The meal was great and we even had patriotic cupcakes for dessert! But we had more fun afterwards. We all waved American flags and even dressed up with festive hats and necklaces. And all our patriotic crafts sure gave the dining room some spirit! When all was said and done, it was a perfect day to remember all of those people who have given so much to protect our freedoms and to show some of our patriotism!

Take a look at Marilyn who is dressed up for the occasion! Below is our cook, Jacob, who is dressed up like Uncle Sam. He helped with the patriotic spirit of the day!

Red, White and Blue!

In just a few days the United States of America will be celebrating its 233rd birthday. And we’ve been busy getting ready to celebrate the holiday by making fun decorations! Today we took some time to make firecracker centerpieces for our dining room tables; and we had a blast. We told stories about the fun we had with fireworks when we were younger and had a few good laughs (we know some funny stories!). By the time we called it quits, we had made a beautiful bunch of red, white and blue patriotic crafts that will decorate the dining room tables for the rest of the summer!

Pictured above is Cleo who is working hard at making her firework craft!

Patriotic Fun

The Fourth of July is coming up and we’ve been busy making patriotic crafts to celebrate the holiday. Today we made creative sand crafts using vases and red, white and blue dyed sand. We layered the colors to make beautiful centerpieces for our dining room tables. They were a lot of fun to make and now we will enjoy them the rest of the summer.

And what would our Independence Day be without a lot of stars? We made colorful stars that are now hanging from the ceiling as decorations.

Last but not least, we painted patriotic placemats for our Independence Day meal. It was fun to stamp American flags, hearts and fireworks on all the placemats that will create a patriotic mood on the Fourth of July.

Take a look at these photos to see how busy we’ve been! Pictured above is Mary who is working diligently on her colorful stars and to the right is Sandy who is carefully making her festive centerpiece.

Memorial Day Celebration

Today is declared as the national holiday to remember what many soldiers have given up to protect the citizens and freedoms of this country. Memorial Day found its beginnings long ago, dating back to shortly after the Civil War when women in the South decorated departed soldiers’ graves. It was for this reason that this memorial celebration was first proclaimed Decoration Day; however, it is nearly impossible to link today’s Memorial Day with such historical information. Memorial Day also has roots as far back as 1868 when General John Logan gave orders that May 30th would be celebrated in the memory of deceased soldiers.

It is most likely that this holiday came into existence because many cities celebrated some sort of local holiday in memory of fallen soldiers. Despite this fact, President Lyndon Johnson officially declared the birthplace of our current Memorial Day as the city of Waterloo, New York in May 1966.

We currently celebrate Memorial Day on the last Monday of every May. Today we take the time to remember those who have gone before us, and to know that at this time they are thinking of us as well. This is the one day of the year in which we honor those brave ones who have given up so much to protect all of us here today; and not to forget those who are presently protecting our freedoms. Let us honor them with pride and patriotism; love and adoration.

(Source: http://www.usmemorialday.org/backgrnd.html)

Mothers' Day

The ladies of Serenity sure had a fun time on Mothers’ Day this Sunday. To celebrate the holiday many of us took the time to make and decorate sunhats with beautiful designs, craft flowers and other fun charms. It was an exciting way to have a few laughs and enjoy the special day!

Pictured above is Claryce who is enjoying the festivities. Doesn't that look like fun?!

National Nurses' Day

It is National Nurses’ Day and the ladies and gentlemen here at Serenity must have thought it would be a perfect time to honor our RN, Jodi. As we know, Jodi has been busy training a few new faces and also keeping everyone around Serenity happy and healthy. The day was celebrated by presenting Jodi with a giant cookie that read, “You’re a Good Cookie.” This commemoration was followed by a short speech from both Charles and Sonny. That cookie sure looks tasty!

Pictured above are Charles, Jodi and Hubert (Sonny).

Cinco de Mayo

Cinco de Mayo wasn’t just celebrated south of the US border this year as the ladies and gentlemen of Serenity Assisted Living had a bash of their own this past Tuesday. Contrary to what many Americans believe of the Fifth of May commemoration, it does not honor Mexico’s independence day.

The holiday celebrates the day the Mexican army conquered the French army and other Mexican traitors in the Battle of Puebla on May 5th, 1862. Though this battle did not win the war, many still recognize the courage this Mexican army demonstrated as it was outnumbered by thousands. To acknowledge the bravery of this army, the creative individuals of Serenity celebrated by designing party essentials such as piñatas. These paper mache projects entertained and truly allowed the individuals of Serenity show off their artistic talents.

After the hard work of creating these piñatas had come to an end, it was time to sit down and enjoy a few other aspects of the Mexican culture. For supper the ladies and gentlemen enjoyed some unique foods such as nachos and empanadas as well as a festive dessert. And what would a Cinco de Mayo party be without sombreros to capture Mexico’s unique culture? By the end of the day, even the original Mexican army from the Battle of Puebla would have been proud to have celebrated with the ladies and gentlemen of Serenity.

April Fools!

Around here, we certainly pulled out our bags of tricks for April Fool's Day! As a surprise lunch, when the ladies & gentlemen came down to the dining room for a bite to eat...they found the three tables pushed together in one big row and covered in colored paper. There were crayons on the table and everyone was encourage to color.

Richard came from the kitchen next with "Grilled Cheese Sandwiches." It turns out that these cheesey sandwiches were really angel food cake with frosting in the middle. After the backwards start to lunch, hamburgers & french fries were served right on the table...no plates or silverware! Richard went around the table and squirted everyone's initials in ketchup right on the table as well! Talk about one crazy lunch!

Check out Cleo Havlis's picture above...she knows we have tricks up our sleeve!

Lucky the Leprechaun

Check out our St. Patrick's Day video!

Happy New Year!

Evelyn Johnson along with the other ladies and gentlemen of Serenity celebrated New Year's Eve at Serenity. We all had fun finger foods. After lunch, there was a DVD slideshow of pictures from the past year.

Cheers!