New Situations

This morning there was snow falling as the children woke up. I was in a panic thinking that preschool would be closed. I needed that 4 hours to do a few things. Our neighbor and her 4 year old son came over to play. On Mondays the children go to a preschool together from 2 until 6. I usually take them and my neighbor picks them up. With an hour to go until school , we thought it would be best if she took them and I picked them up, since I have 4 wheel drive. We were not sure what the weather and roads would be like later in the day. My daughter would have nothing to do with the neighbor or school when it came time to go. She started to throw a fit, worked herself into a tizzy and refused to go out the door. This is typical behavior if she is in a new situation. I finally got her to calm down after I said that I would take them. This of course made her happy because it was the norm. She then charged out the door to the car. I do not want her to get her way, but what can I do to get her to take on new situations? I am hoping she'll outgrow it.
This is also the way she acts when it comes to spending the night without Terry and I. Just like I need her to go to school on Mondays for 4 hours, I need her to stay the night at my parents. This way my husband and I can have a date night without children. In the last 4 years I have been without children over night once. One night my daughter spent the night at her Godmother's house while we went to a wedding recepiton. It turned out to be a disaster. She worked herself into a tizzy and threw up everywhere. We had to go get her bright and early that morning. My husband goes away on business trips frequently so he is without children often. He will say it is not the samething but he also says that I have had 2 nights without children. The second night he is talking about is when I was in the hospital giving birth our son!
Lately, my daughter has been talking about having a sleep over with the neighbor. I think that is in the near future. It can't hurt. If she works herself into a tizzy we can walk across the street and pick her up. I need her to do things like this so I can have time with just my husband. Oh if you are wondering, my son would be fine spending the night without me as long as he had food to eat.