Apple picking to apple pies

Wow today was an exciting day. We left the house at 8:05 to take M to school. We then headed out to Star Orchard to pick apples with about 15 other families. I had a bit of road rage due to the fact that I had to drive about 15 minutes out of the way since the college ave. bridge is closed, but felt much better upon arrival at the orchard:0) AP and AR were very excited about the whole trip. They were conversing before we left this morning. AP kept trying to explain to AR that we were going apple picking not strawberry picking. I just listened in on the whole 5 minute back and forth conversation, very humorous. While we were out there AP managed to climb into a tree, but was unable to get herself back out. I helped her, but she sort of jumped at me. She landed on my face and almost gave me a bloody nose. It was actually pretty funny. They ran all over the orchard with some of the other children. We ended up picking 35 pounds of apples. Some were Mackintosh and some were Galas. Once we were home I couldn't wait to make dutch apple pie. It is the only apple pie that I like. I made it for the very first time at a MOPS meeting back in fall 2005. I have been using it every year since. I made 2, to make sure we had plenty to share with neighbors. I also made a pan of apple crisp for my husband to take to work. I was really in the mood to bake. I think apple picking brings that out in me. By the time I got the kitchen cleaned up and the rest of the activity planned for today it was time to get M from school. Today I only have apple picking pictures and not preschool lesson pictures. I was busy helping the little ones do the project today. We continued working on leaves and fall. I read, Hooray for Fall, an Oswald from Nick. I read 2 poems about fall.

The leaves are falling down.
The leaves are falling down.
Red, yellow, green and brown.
The leaves are falling down.

Down, down, Yellow and brown.
Fall the leaves All over the ground.
Rake them up In a pile so high,
They almost reach Up to the sky.

We also sang 2 songs

5 Little Leaves

5 little leaves so bright and gay
Were dancing about a tree one day
The wind came blowing through the town
1 little leaf came blowing down,
4 little leaves, etc...,

Gray Squirrel, Gray Squirrel
Shake your bushy tail
Gray Squirrel, Gray Squirrel
Shake your bushy tail
Wrinkle up your funny nose
Put a nut between your toes
Gray Squirrel Shake your bushy tail

Once we were done with that we talked again about the colors of leaves. I helped them make a book with different leaves. There were 6 pages in the book. Each page had a different color leaf, green, red, orange, yellow, and brown. The last page had the leaves are falling poem. There was also a cover which read My Leaf Book and had there name on the cover. I gave them fall stickers to decorate the cover with. I wrote the color word under each leaf. The younger 2 had a hard time on their own, but enjoyed it with my help. Both AR and S really seem to enjoy glue. The older 3 seemed to catch on to what needed to be done. By the time we were all done with that S and G's dad came to pick them up.

We ate dinner and rushed over to soccer practice, which I thought went amazingly well. I have been doing a bit of reading on how to coach 5 and 6 year olds soccer and I think the people who wrote the book really know what they are talking about:0) We play our 3rd game on Saturday. I can't wait. I think sometimes I am having more fun then they are even, though that would be hard, because they all really seem to love playing.

We finished our day with a piece of freshly baked apple pie, which was very tasty.