Happy Birthday Stephanie!
Our niece, Stephanie, turned four yesterday, so we headed off to the Leep house for some birthday fun. She looked cute as a button sporting her new short hairdo and showing off one of her newest skills: the wink.
We enjoyed a fun night of pizza, presents, and cake. (The perfect birthday trio, don’t you think?) I worked on a special birthday project for Stephanie this spring, a cross-stitch project that I made into a pillow, so it was especially fun to see her open up that gift.
We hope you had a great birthday, Stephanie! Enjoy playing with all those new gifts. 
Here’s a picture of me and Stephanie with the pillow I stitched for her. I’ve been trying (rather unsuccessfully) to bring a cross-stitch revolution to my circle of influence, so maybe I can begin my web campaign here. I know that the contemporary crafty trend is scrapbooking, but I also know I’ll never be able to keep up with all my pictures.
So I’m opting for cross-stitch. Some of the patterns out there are rather outdated, but if you look a little, there are some unique and fun options. (Like the pillow pattern I made for Steph) I can stitch from the comfort of an armchair, the supplies are minimal and inexpensive, and there’s no pressure to “keep up” with an endless supply of photos. Sounds good, don’t you think? So why not grab a needle and some floss and join the revolution today!
(This message has been paid for and approved by the Amy’s Cross-Stitch Revolution Committee.)
iPhone Crazynesss
Howdy Ho, blog friends. Brian here. I had a brief post for all you techies out there:
During our recent trip to Chicago we stopped by a mall to take a break. We ended up on the second story catwalk, trying to find a reasonable lunch option (yeah, fat chance of that), and looking down we found ourselves staring at a large crowd of well-dressed twenty/thirtysomething geeks:
Looking right, we saw what drew the crowd:
That’s right: we had stumbled into the middle of the iPhone waiting line. I figured there were 120 people in line. At $500 a phone, that picture at the top represents $60,000 waiting to escape. Crazy world we live in…
Summer at the Tols
It’s been awhile since I (Amy here) added anything to our family blog, so I thought I’d chime in with a few words on life at the Tols. We’ve kept busy over the past weeks enjoying the outdoors with Noah, working on a deck project, celebrating Brian’s birthday (see his nice birthday sombrero above!) and visiting family and friends. I had a couple writing projects in the mix as well, which is why my commentary here on the blog has been so scarce lately. Of course, no amount of busy work can keep us from grabbing a few shots with the camera. So sit back and enjoy this mini scrapbook of “Summer at the Tols”
Summer means bugs! Noah likes playing with his little bug beads, especially when he gets to wear them around the house.
The DVD Collection: One of Noah’s favorite “toys” right now. (Notice his keen interest in Star Wars. Daddy is proud!)
We found this cozy little chair on sale at Target, and it seems that we made a good purchase. Noah thinks he’s quite the hotshot with his own special seat. (Now if we can just break his habit of standing up on the new furniture…)
 |
 |
Brian and I had a short weekend getaway in Chicago at the end of June. Noah stayed with Grandpa and Grandma Tol for a night while we enjoyed some time in the Chicago suburbs. We visited the Frank Lloyd Wright Home and Studio in Oak Park, and also spent a pleasant day at the Brookfield Zoo.
We picked out this nice FLW home in Oak Park. We figured it’s a good idea to know what kind of real estate to look for in the event that we become multi-millionaires.
And of course, we have to let Mocha make a little appearance on the blog. She’s spending a lot of time in hiding these days. Take a look at the video below and you’ll see why.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b7O1LWq0Qyc]