Rainy days & fire alarms

Oh the joys of going to preschool at a college. After getting about 5 inches of snow 2 days ago, it started raining last night, which pretty much melted most of the snow. That's the way it is around here. It wasn't bad, just enough to be a nuisance. I dropped Emma off at school & went home. When I drove back to the school to pick her up, I noticed that a lot of the students from Wightman Hall, where the preschool is located, were outside the building, milling around the sidewalks & parking lots. I parked, got out of the car, and only then realized that I heard the faint buzzing noise of a fire alarm. It didn't really hit me until I was walking up the stairs to the classroom that that probably meant the kids weren't there. I turned around & saw a teacher running towards me, telling me that the kids were at the back of the parking lot. I walked over there, and saw about 10 kids in a huddle, being surrounded by the teachers & assistants, trying to keep them warm. Because this wasn't a drill, and was completely unexpected, the kids hadn't been able to grab their coats on the way out. So they were stuck out there, in the rain and cold, until they determined if the alarm was warranted, just a mistake, or a prank. Poor kids. I took off my coat & wrapped it around Emma to walk back to the car. Then we had to sit & wait for the teachers to be allowed back into the classroom in order to get Emma's jacket & backpack. So, it was an exciting day.
So far, we have 5 kids coming to Emma's birthday party on Saturday. I even got an RSVP via a teletype, with someone transcribing my words for the person on the other end. Apparently, one of the girls' mom is either deaf or very hearing-impaired. I know a few of the other parents are staying, as well, so it should be fun.
Sarah will be getting her 2nd flu shot tomorrow. Because she's so young, she needed to get it in 2 doses. Of course, I have to pay $20/each, which seems pointless, especially since she's getting the same shot as older people, just 1/2 & 1/2. Oh well.
School ends this week for both Emma & Jeff. We have a pizza party to go to on Thursday evening for Emma's preschool & we have a parent-teacher conference next week. I'm really nervous about this. I'm afraid they're going to tell me what a hellion Emma is and how they don't want her coming back next semester. Either that or they're going to tell me, I think Emma needs to be in preschool for another year, as she isn't ready for Kindergarden. Either way, I'd feel like a failure as a mother.
Jeff has finals next Monday & Tuesday. Then he can relax until we fly to California on the 17th. We're still trying to figure out when & how we're getting to Southern California to visit everyone there. We're looking into renting a car one-way for each leg of the trip, but not sure if that would be cost-effective. It's nice that both Jeff & I are 25, so we don't have to pay that extra "you're under 25 & therefore must be a terrible driver" fee. When we came out here last year to check out the job at CMU, I was the only one who could drive because I was the only one who was 25. So hopefully we'll be able to find a way down south to visit everyone.