I'm smiling because it happened. :)

Yes, fall break is over, and while I'm sad it's over, I'm filled with such JOY that it happened.  I love the weather. I love that it's during Halloween, and I love that it comes at the perfect time for teachers and students to get re-charged to finish out the 3rd 6 weeks before Christmas break.   We went to WDW last fall break, and of course, I loved it.  This year, though, was even more special because we were blessed to visit our very special friends, the Latta's during our break.  These sweet friends moved away (VERY close to the beach, I might add) to serve the Lord in Children's ministry.  God is using them in a mighty way at their new church, and I feel so happy and blessed every time we get to visit their church. 

While we were visiting this time, we did a lot of visiting, some blogging, some shopping, some eating, and even stuck our toes in the sand at the beach for just a few minutes.  :)  My favorite part, though, was attending the "Heavenly Harvest" festival at FBC Foley.  Shane did an amazing job coordinating this event, and there ended up being approximately 400 people there!  What an awesome ministry!  There were games, two jumpy/bouncy thingys, yummy snacks, a hay ride, and a dunking booth (in which the "dunkee" allowed Matthew to purposely push the BIG RED BUTTON just so Matt could see him fall in...what a great sport!)   Here is a collage of pics of the kids at the festival:

Notice Connor is only in one pic and is not in costume.  He was going to dress up as a soldier, but decided not to because he didn't have boots.  He thought tennis shoes would look dumb, so he opted out of dressing up.  Makes me sad. :(  However, I did get to accompany an explorer (like Diego), and a butterfly fairy (who turned into a butterfly when her fairy tutu dress got too uncomfortable).  It was a fun night, and the weather was PERFECT!  I loved our visit and I love the Latta's!  I can't wait to go visit again!

I thought I would attach some other pics from the last few weeks,  since I'm not very good at blogging consistently.   The pics are not in order...sorry!

Our whole crew going on the hay ride/scavenger hunt to the pumpkin patch. 

Claire and me. I love her so much!  Connor opts out of pics with mom most of the time...especially when he has a friend with him. 

 This was the nice horse.  I was so proud of Claire for being brave and going back to pet the other horse.  I was so afraid that she would forever be afraid of horses!

Candy corn face painting.  :)

Heading home...just couldn't resist this shot from the back. 

Connor and D

Grinding corn.

Claire and her favorite guy.  :)

Claire and Connor love all things jumpy/bouncy.

This is her booboo face.  :(  Not bad for being hit in the face by a horse's mouth, being knocked about 4 feet in the air, and landing on your back.  She's a tough cookie.

After we got home, she wanted to climb in her favorite tree.  :)

Last week, we had a book hat parade at school.  Students decorated a hat to describe their favorite books.  Claire's favorite book (at that time) was My Big Pink Book of Everything, and that's how we decorated her hat.  :)

the back of the hat...

Whew!  I know that was a lot to take in, but I'm glad to be caught up!  :)   For our last day of fall break today, we slept late, woke up and had "brunch", VOTED, shopped for groceries, cleaned (a little), Connor had a soccer game (which Claire and I did not go to this time), cooked chicken and dumplings, and updated my blog.  Hmmm...I thought my day was pretty unproductive until I wrote it all down.  Looking forward to a work/professional day tomorrow at school.  Then, Thursday, the kiddos come back and we'll all be re-charged and ready to take on the rest of 2010! 

Keep checking for fingerprints,

Kellie

"May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit."  Romans 15:13