Raising Kingdom Trained Champions: Apples, Apples, Apples

On Sept 22nd, the first day of fall, I woke up to find Keaton looking out my window. After asking him what he was doing, he responds with "I'm looking to see if the trees have changed!" During our calendar time, we have been discussing the season and started counting down to the first day of fall. Keaton seemed to be overly excited about it compared to his brothers. It was a disappointment to explain (again) that with our trees in Arizona, it would still be a few more weeks or even months! :(

Living in Arizona in September and October is the hardest time of year for me. As much as I dislike the heat, I can handle it. The heat in August is expected, but come September when other parts of the world are starting to experience cooler, dropping temps and we are begging for it to stay under 100, I start to get restless. The heat has definitely overstayed it's welcome, in my own opinion. Thankfully recently we have been having cooler mornings and evenings. I am definitely welcoming them!

We may not get to experience fall at it's best, but I definitely don't keep that from allowing us to experience it other ways. Our theme in September was apples and it was so much fun. A lot of fun activities!!

A little Apple Investigation:

Making Applesauce!
I have never done this before. It was so yummy.

Ta Da!!

The Finished Product (After we had eaten some) Yum!

APPLE DOMINO's!

APPLE TASTE TESTING! (verdict...red won!)

DEHYDRATED APPLES!
My Mother In Law gave us this dehydrator when we were back visiting in KS one time. I honestly wasn't sure how often we would use it, but I love it! We've used it a few times and I was so happy to have it for this theme. We all loved them so much!

APPLE PAINTING! my nephew was around for this fun activity.

APPLE MATCH GAME!

APPLE LEARNING!

He is spelling apple

APPLE ORCHARD!
3 years ago, we started the tradition of going to the apple orchard. We went two years in a row and realized that the 3 hour drive was probably a bit much for every year (even after staying in a hotel the night before the 2nd year) so we skipped a year and went this year. I have to say that I think this year was by far the best just because we had been studying the apples for so long. It was so much fun to be able to see and apply what we had been learning together. I think in that sense it made it so exciting, but every year has been great and I can't wait until we do it again!! This year my sister joined us.

I created these travel books for the boys and made sure to include some fun apple activities. Thanks Pinterest!!!

PUMPKIN PANCAKES WITH APPLE SYRUP!!

Aren't they a cute group!

LET THE FUN BEGIN!!

Tractor Ride:

Bagging up the Apples:

HOW MUCH DOES THIS CUTIE COST?

After a fun picnic lunch, we headed over to the pumpkin patch where which was a great kick off for our Pumpkin theme for October!!

FIRST STOP: Fun in the corn:

Our friend was so thoughtful and created a pumpkin hunt for us. We were on a search for a:

stem
vine
flower
leaf
seed
green pumpkin

SO MUCH FUN!

Here are a few photos of when we first went in 2009:

AFTER LOOKING AT THESE PICTURES, I REALIZED T WORE THIS SAME SHIRT THAT K HAS ON 3 YEARS LATER TO THE ORCHARD. NOT ON PURPOSE. HA!

HERE OUR FAMILIES ARE IN 2010: (i couldn't find my apple orchard pics, but these are pics we took at the hotel the night before.)

EVERYONE IS GROWING UP. BOO HOO!

And just a few other learning activities we ended our month with:

Carsten matching colors

LOTS OF READING GOING ON AROUND HERE!

I'm still so impressed at how well he is doing with reading. For being a very active boy, he is loving every minute of it and so proud of himself. As are we!!