This week in the run up to Mothering Sunday residents at Hill House have been celebrating all the special Mums out there. The sun has been shining all week and we have enjoyed having quizzes in the garden and being able to go out for walks to the see the daffodils and visit the fish pond. On Mothering Sunday when we had a lovely coffee morning and then treated all our amazing residents to a treat from our Special Mums Treat Cart with a choice of gifts from hand creams and soaps to delicious chocolates or biscuits to choose from.
Monday morning started with a group Mother’s Day quiz to get our all about Mums week started. We reminisced about motherhood and shared our stories of bring up children.
One to one time with staff on the computer doing some brain training.
In the afternoon it was time for lots of exercise. Exercise not only helps to keep our bodies stronger and more flexible but is also shown to improve moods and helps reduce anxiety and depression. We started by warming up with a group seated exercise session with lots of fun and laughter.
After our seated exercise we played balloon bounce, working hard to keep the balloon up in the air, first with the parachute, then using our hands for a game of balloon tennis.
Residents then all voted for a game of skittles with competition high on who could score a strike and get all the pins down in one go.
In our garden view lounges we played card games and spent time one to one with staff being creative with some therapeutic colouring.
Tuesday morning, we watered the herbs we have growing that were planted during a recent gardening themed week. We are very proud of how they are coming along.
Its always lovely to receive flowers from loved one.
Our interactive projector is popular with residents who enjoy touching the table to make the images move.
Tuesday morning on garden view we played several different board games to keep our minds active and enjoyed time socializing and chatting with each other.
Others spent time out in the garden soaking up the spring sunshine or joining in with arts and crafts making beautiful paper flowers.
In the main lounge we spent the afternoon creating pretty paper flowers ready to decorate with on Mother’s Day.
One of our talented carers treated us to some piano playing afterwards while we joined in singing along to our favourite tunes and getting us to guess the song.
We celebrated a special ladies birthday on garden view on Tuesday afternoon with a with a tea party in the garden making the most of the sunny weather.
On Wednesday morning we went for walks in the garden admiring the flowers and getting some exercise.
Afterwards our needlework club got together and we got creative embroidering some pretty bookmarks to give to our loved ones or just keep to use ourselves. Needlework is not only fun and produces something useful at the end but also uses fine motor skills keeping our hands exercised and flexible.
In the garden view lounges it was time to get our minds working solving jigsaw puzzles.
On Wednesday afternoon some of us chose a quiet afternoon with a newspaper and a nice cup of tea.
With the lovely spring sunshine, a group of us chose to go out to the garden together and take part in some whiteboard games, after a discussion about what we named our children, we took up the challenge to try and think of boys’ and girls’ names beginning with every letter of the alphabet.
In the Garden view garden, we were also enjoying the sunshine, looking at the flowers and reminiscing about the gardening we use to do.
On Thursday Teressa the hairdresser visited and many of us got to be pampered, feeling beautiful. Others helped cutting out decorations ready to celebrate national waffle day on Friday.
The sun continued to shine and we continued to make the most of it, with walks in the garden and visits to the fish pond to feed the fish.
Flower arranging club on Thursday afternoon saw us arranging the flowers that we have delivered every week. It is always a popular group and we love to see what flowers have arrived for us this time.
A word search to keep the mind active.
Friday Morning, we had a visit from Norma the dog who is always popular with staff as well as residents.
Therapeutic colouring of Mother’s Day pictures.
Friday afternoon we had another birthday celebration.
Then it was time to celebrate national waffle day with our waffle cart, taking delicious hot waffles round to all the residents with a selection of toppings to choose from.
Delicious and moreish.
Saturday, we watched a little television, went for walks in the garden and enjoyed having our families and loved ones visit.
Hill House Cooking Club got together in the afternoon making a Lemon and blueberry loaf cake ready to serve at the Mother’s Day coffee morning the next day.
On garden view we played dominoes, picture pairs and sang and danced with carers.
Mothering Sunday was a chance to spoil all our very special Mums with a Mother’s Day treats cart full of gifts of chocolate, biscuits, hand creams, soaps and jewellery for our resident Mums (and Aunts, step mums, grandma etc) to choose a gift from as a thank you for being the amazing people you are.
We also all got together for a Mother’s Day coffee morning, swapping stories over a tea or coffee and selection of cakes including the lemon and blueberry cake made by the Hill House cooking club the previous day.
