Fire girls

Frequently, Abby has some rockin' good ideas.  I was chatting with her a few days ago, thinking about what we should do next for our monthly family service project.  The sprout piped up with "Let's make cookies for the firefighters...wait, let's make brownies!"  This was a solid proposal, unanimously agreed upon by all.  So solid, in fact, that it turned into one of those warm and fuzzy hours with lots of smiles.

It turns out that my brother is a firefighter.  It also turns out that he was working the day after Easter.  It also turns out that we were planning on staying at my parents' house for a couple of days over Easter.  We finally took the opportunity to visit my brother's fire station while he was working, which we had been talking about and trying to do for at least a year.  It turned into a fabulous girl trip as the hubs ended up staying home with a stomach bug and I took the girls up to my parents' myself.  My nieces were also spending the night, so my mom and I took all four girls for a personal tour of the station.  My velcro baby was a curious little squirrel, so it's fairly impressive that I managed to take so many pictures.  There were a few more opportunities that I missed while baby wrangling.     

The rest of this post is largely pictoral for a visual change of pace.  Abby's and my nieces' facial expressions make me happy.

 Macy & Abby are listening to instructions from Grandma prior to starting making brownies.

 Sophie, Macy & Abby all got a chance to crack an egg.  For Abby, this was a new venture.

Abby does this at home, also.  Her nose is always in the middle of what's going on.

Despite what we think was a touch of salmonella from a raw egg brownie batter 2 weeks ago, Abby joined in on the licking.  Sophie, who has lived with an egg allergy since she was a wee, roly-poly bundle, was the designated beater holder.

Abby was in awe--soaking it all in.

This shot demonstrates both the rapt attention of the girls as well as what a great job Joe did showing and teaching the girls about the different equipment.  This job is perfect for him.

The girls are actually sitting on the front grill of an engine.  It's pretty impressive and huge.

 She's going to want to water our plants like this, now. 

Ever the goofball, Abby was tha-rilled about getting stickers and an activity book after getting a full tour.

As soon as we left the station, Abby emphatically told me that she wants to be a fire girl when she gets bigger.  Or a doctor.  Or a police officer.  Irony: her waffling wasn't emphatic at all.  And then, driving home on the interstate yesterday, she declared that she would like to drive semi trucks someday.  In other words, she's majoring in general studies right now.