The home fires burning...

A few weeks ago, a fellow mom and I were discussing when it was that kids stopped having big birthday parties. Last year, it seemed that Emma was invited to some huge all-class birthday party every other weekend. This year, I think we've been to two parties so far. My friend and I agreed that it was in first grade that most kids (or more likely, their mothers) decided to forgo big birthday bashes in favor of much smaller affairs or no party at all.

So, of course, Emma promptly gets invited to two birthday parties this past weekend...so much for my theory. She went to a slumber party Friday night and then went to another party Saturday afternoon at one of those big gymnastics places. Needless to say, she was pooped by Saturday night. She went to bed at 8 and didn't wake up until almost ten this morning. We skipped church (since she pretty much slept through it) and ended up going to see "Hotel for Dogs" (really cute) since it was too cold to do anything else.

When we got home, probably because of the cold, on total impulse, I decided to build a fire. I haven't used our fireplace since adopting Emma. Fire and young children just didn't seem to mix and making and tending a fire is a lot of work. But much to my surprise, I got a fire going in a short time and Emma was thrilled. I snapped a couple photos of her in front of our blazing inferno...



Unfortunately, we didn't have any marshmallows to roast...but it was still fun. Now I'm sitting here waiting for the embers to die down so I can close the damper before I go to bed. This is the part of having a fireplace I don't like!