an apple a day . . .

On Monday, Holden and I had a fun apple-themed morning! I think that I have decided I am going to steal some ideas from another, much more creative momma. And so, hopefully we will periodically have a fun themed day. And before we know it, Pax will be joining in on the fun. But for now, most mornings he takes a late morning nap and that is when our activities begin. Holden loves our one-on-one time. Especially when I have special things planned for him to do. And just so you don't feel sorry for Pax, he normally gets that one-on-one time with me in the late afternoon, while Holden is still snoozin'. He still hasn't let go of his 3-4 hour afternoon naps. And you won't hear me complaining about that. So here is the fun we had from our APPLE DAY!

We began by making applesauce in the crockpot with these beauties.

I peeled and chopped the apples. As I worked with the knife, Holden colored a picture of an apple.

I let Holden add about 1 cup of water, 1/2cup of sugar and some apple pie spice. He loved helping me with the "cooking".

We left the crockpot on low and periodically stirred the mixture.

Once the apples were going, we worked on another little craft. I had cut up some green squares. He told me he wanted to make a green apple rather than a red one. His favorite color is green right now. So Holden's job was to glue the squares inside the apple. I have tons of gluesticks, but Holden's favorite is the real deal glue. The messy stuff. So that's what we use for our crafts involving glue. It's so easy to clean up. It's cheap. And he just loves it. So we made a glue-y mess and he had a ball working on his apple.

Next, he made a painting using an apple as a stamp. I didn't get creative and cut out a shape with the apple. Basically, I just let him have fun using the apple to paint. Again, he chose green. :)

Eventually it turned into finger painting which is always fun! Amazingly, he wore the same clothes all day and I never noticed a drop of paint on him. He stayed super clean. I'm still not sure how we managed that.

Pax woke up during all of the fun and was completely content to sit in his chair and watch.

After painting, we cleaned up Holden and ate some lunch. Then I let Holden mash the cooked apples until it became a chunky sauce.

I dished up the boys a small bowl of applesauce. Pax wasn't having it, so instead he ate some plain apple. After Holden's little bowl had cooled off, he enjoyed the fruits of his labor. And I do have to admit, it was delicious!

What a fun morning this was for us! It benefits me well when I put a little planning into our day. Things go better with the boys and our home is happier place. And the little effort it takes on my end makes Holden such a joy. It's like he knows I've planned all of these special activities for him. There will be many more days like these in our future.