Friday, October 15, 2010

In Search of the Great Pumpkin

In light of this beautiful "fall" weather, we traveled to a farm in Scottsdale in search of the perfect pumpkin.  Nana and Papa joined us in the 105 degree heat to pick a pumpkin in the desert "patch".  The sun was as hot as ever, but we enjoyed the hayride and the laid back atmosphere of this real working horse farm.  Mia especially loved the horses (our little animal lover). 
Even Micah Drew got to ride his first horse.  He was NOT excited at first but that soon grew into a love-hate relationship with "blondie", his horse.
We all enjoyed a hay ride out to the pumpkin patch.  The kids even got a personal invitation to ride up front where the real cowboys ride! 

They had a petting zoo where Cam and Mia got to hold the sweetest little bunnies.  Mia of course was ready to bring them all home.  Cam enjoyed chasing the chickens around the pen and watching the goats climb up the ladder to their rooftop flat.


We carefully selected our pumpkins then headed back to the shade for a rest and a snack.  Nana always packs the best!

Lil' cowgirl (is she really this big??)

Gotta pick the best one...

Our sweet Nana and Papa


Papa keepin a close eye on the kids while they rode horses.  I love how his eyes smile!

Saturday, October 9, 2010

Here we go!

Changes.  Too many to count lately it seems, but 3 in our most recent history. 

We are all settled into our new house back in our old neighborhood in Phoenix.  It feels good to be back in the city again, close to friends and family!  We are feeling settled, although the "to do" list is still quite large. 

The second exciting change for the Stines family was sending our oldest, Cameron, to Kindergarten this year.  Wow, it still feels strange to say that...we have a Kindergartner!!  He is loving his 1/2 day class of 18 friends and is doing well reading, writing, and following all the rules.  If you know Cameron, you know this is his specialty (mostly enforcing them for others). 

The third change was not at all expected.  In fact, it was quite the opposite.  We have been growing Mia's hair out since she was a baby.  I've always dreamed of having a little girl with long hair I could braid, curl, style, etc, etc, etc.  Well, Mia loves to work on little art projects while mommy is working.  You get where I'm going no doubt....so she gets the bright idea to cut her own hair since she is such a good "cutter girl".  She came into the room where I was working and didn't say a word about it--just pretended like all was well.  I noticed the bangs right away, then she slowly turned and a long lock of hair fell to the floor.  I was horrified to find she had cut one side about 1.5 away from her scalp.  Ya...so she now sports the "modern bang" and a much shorter do.  Enjoy the pictures!