Tuesday, December 22, 2009

Twas the night before Christmas

A tribute poem to the Child Life Staff of Golisano Children's Hospital, written by Jennifer Schaefer-



‘Twas the night before Christmas
When all through Strong Memorial
Not a small child was crying
Not even Julio

The wagons were lined up
In the hallway with care
In hopes that the families
Wouldn’t steal them from there

The children were nestled
All snug in their beds
While visions of needles
Danced in their heads

And Jessie in her sweater
And Jen with her keys
Had just settled down
To cough and to sneeze

When out on the play deck
There arose such a clatter
Wendy burst through the door
To see what was the matter





Away to the window
She flew in a flash
Knocking the Christmas tree
Down in a crash

The moon shining down
Through the windows in the ceiling
Made the dirt left by housekeeping
Now quite revealing

When what to her wondering eyes
Looked so big
But a miniature sleigh
And eight tiny pigs

With a loud sloppy driver
Pushing his way through
Wendy knew in a moment
It must be Swine Flu

Faster than cheetahs
Onto the play deck they ran
Wendy clicked the web paging
For help from her clan

“Now Mary, now Eva
Now Rachel and Chris!
Come Patty, come Jessie
Colleen, Geri, Melissa!”

“Come up to the play deck!
Come up here right now!
We must get rid of
This sickening sow!”

From all over the hospital
The specialists they sprang
Armed with their bubbles
And the VCUG bag

And then in an instant
They heard on the roof
The stomping and clomping
Of each ugly hoof

Wendy lifted her head
And was turning around
When onto the hockey table
Swine Flu jumped with a bound

He was covered in germs
From his head to his toes
His sweaty hoof wiping
His runny nose

His eyes how they drooped
His cheeks how rose
The oxygen running
Through a tube to his nose

He was chubby and plump
A horrible pig
And we cringed when we saw him
And knew this was big

A bundle of piglets
He had flung on his back
All ready to run
And make the attack

One cough from his mouth
Would spread sickness with ease
Wendy said “My child lifers,
We must kill this disease!”

“You’ve stolen our siblings
And family visitation
The Tuesday picnic
And Halloween celebration.”

“But you won’t take our Christmas”
Wendy said to the flu
Then she turned to her staff saying
“You know what to do! “


With a nod of their heads
And a quick steady hand
They pulled all the Cavi wipes
Out of the can

They went straight to work
Wiping up that darn flu
They sent that pig packing
And his little pigs, too

Then they heard flu exclaim
As he left for vacation
“I’ll get you next year
Before your inoculation!”

Wendy turned to her team
As she waved to the swine,
“Merry Christmas to all,
Now, who’s got the wine?”

Merry Christmas my wonderful friends-

Tuesday, December 15, 2009

Thomas is 27!!!




We just finished celebrating Thomas' 27th birthday this weekend...yay!  We started with Morgan and Hayley up for dinner- our fabulous friends who also fixed our fireplace (bonus).  Sunday morning was a french toast breakfast party filled with a day of more friends.



Highlights from Thomas-
Peanut buttter sent all the way from Chester Springs Pa.  Big kids love JIF
Peanut butter on french toast
Eating peanut butter- you get the idea...
Touching the world's fastest Indian (a motorbike).
Skyping with family
Prezzies from his wonderful wifey (me)
Going to a farm machinery museum owned by Ken's Auntie Joan.

We celebrated the big birthday weekend a bit early in Nelson with friends.  Such a beautiful area of the country, we were so lucky to have a whole weekend off to explore.  We love exploring!


Thomas' prize catch- the kahawai fish.  We saw a guy- Rob fishing on the beach.  He had already caught about 3 in the 10 min. we were watching him so Thomas went to say hi and see what he was catching and Rob told him to grab a pole and start fishing.  I think within about 5 minutes he got this!  He is quite a guy that Thomas.  They offered to let us bring it home, but we both agreed 4 hours in a hot hot car isn't the best situation with a dead fish, Thomas needed some convincing about that, but we managed in the end.  
Happy Birthday to a wonderful man!

Wednesday, December 9, 2009

"Oh Christmas Tree, Oh Christmas Tree"


Merry Christmas time.  We have finally started our Christmas decorating.  We have been picking bits and pieces up along throughout the travels and have a little collection started. Our little silvery Christmas balls are my favorite, and they fit so daintily on the little lemon and mandarin trees Thomas picked to be our Christmas trees.
With a little Michael Buble playing in the background, the perfect start to a special season.