Is it Friday yet?

We *almost* had some birthday party angst yesterday when I realized that I had only reserved the party place for up to 20 kids and Emmelia has 20 kids in her class. I've always felt that, if you can, you should invite the whole class to parties. But I talked to Em and she really only wants to invite the girls because the boys are mean to her. And I know they are. And, hey, that gets us down to only 6 or 7 kids from school, leaving plenty of room for family friends (there are 3-4 non-school-friend boys she wants to invite, too, so it won't be ALL girls).

Anyway, I think it'll be fine.

Yesterday the Deac took one of his fire trucks over to the daycare and talked to the kids about fire safety for Fire Prevention Week. The kids and the firefighters all had a great time! They talked about what to do if your clothes catch on fire: Stop, Drop and Roll (the kids enacted this); what to do if there is smoke: crawl under it (the kids all crawled under a sheet held low by the teachers); and what a firefighter in full bunker gear and SCBA looks like (i.e. don't hide under the bed thinking it's a monster!). Then the kids got to go look at the firetruck. The little kids got to walk across the truck and look at the pump panel and the older kids got to help shoot water out of a hose. I was glad I made him take the camera along - the Asst. Director got lots of fun photos we can print out for the kids. And the Deac found this handout to send home with the kids, too. Here's some photos:









I've had a lot of fun making layouts that are a bit out of my element this week. Here's one I did as a challenge from my friend Amy (Doodleboogs at SOTB) using her "Pirates Drunge" kit and my friend Christine's "A Bit of Bliss" kit:
And I simply HAD to use some of those cute photos of Em dressed up a week or so ago on a layout. Here's what I came up with:

In other news, the Deac and I are working hard at finding "balance" in our life. We've started eating better and so far we've both lost a little weight. I'm excited about the changes we're making and, not to sound sappy, kind of feel like there is a brand new world out there waiting for us.