The Lipowski Family

Sunday, January 9, 2011

A couple of random shots...

Before Thanksgiving we made chocolate pretzel rods and rolled them in tasties like Thin Mints, coconut (mmmm!) and chopped butter toffee bits. Obviously, AJ's cup runneth over with chocolate chips...

When Darrin, our Schwans guy, comes AJ always takes the orange sticker with the next date he's stopping by our neighborhood on it from me. Darrin will give him a whole sheet of them sometimes... This is what was going on while I was putting the order away!

We drive by Daddy's office often since it is on the way to the Y and other places we frequent. Andrew will wave and say hi to daddy as we pass by. There is a spire on top of the building that has a red light. He was building 'Daddy's work' out of blocks.

Curious George Live!

In the sidebar on Facebook this one day I saw 'Like Curious George Live!' and I 'liked' it and was given updates where they were touring. I said to Steve that if they ever came anywhere close to Wausau that I would get tickets for it. Well it came up on my Facebook home page on Tuesday night that they would be in Minneapolis that coming Saturday. We didn't have anything going on so I asked Steve if he wanted to go and bought the tickets. I am SO glad I did since that was the last show date they did!! I read after we went that they closed the show. Such a shame too because it really only traveled to places on the east coast. It was a darling musical and AJ loved it. He was at the perfect age to get it and sit for the whole show.

When the kids walked in they received chef's hats. AJ wears his every time we are baking in the kitchen now.

Anxiously waiting for the show to start...

'It's George!'

Happy Halloween!!

Who said Halloween was just for kids? We went to an awesome Halloween party this year and got all dressed up. And you know, Halloween is my favorite!

Steve went as a knife thrower. He does not share my enthusiasm for Halloween!

And I went as the knife thrower's assistant. My mom sewed two little girl's skirts to make mine. And my friend, Kendra styled my hair into a finger wave circa 1920.

AJ wanted to go as Bob the Builder this year and since he has been 'retired' since about 2007 or 2008, I got creative and made his shirt and tool belt. His tool bucket was his candy bucket! Bob has an assistant and thus I was Wendy! I am wearing a blond wig and Wendy wears large red earrings so I glued big red rhinestones onto posts and wore those. Otherwise she wears a green shirt and jeans and a blue hard hat (spray painted). A very successful Halloween!

Making Pumpkin Bread

AJ made some pumpkin bread for his class Halloween party and a loaf for each of his teachers. Everybody loved the recipe so you can find it HERE.

No one said baking with a 3.5 year old was mess free! He loves to bake with mommy!

Chicago

Steve and I got down to Chicago at the end of October. We did the Chicago Architecture Foundation River Tour. A lot has changed since I did the tour with one of my high school classes in 1991!! It started raining as soon as we got on the boat and stopped as soon as we got off. Plus it was cold. Our tour guide was phenomenal. She knew everything. From memory. All the sailboats had to be off Lake Michigan so they were opening all the bridges up the river for them. They looked like they were having fun!

With our $2.00 garbage bags on. Wish I would have thought of that!

We went in the cabin because the monsoon was a little much and we were freezing. We went back up after awhile because we couldn't see anything down there.

We also ended up at one of my favorite museums, The Art Institute of Chicago. My favorite piece (America Windows by Marc Chagall) was off display until the next weekend. We met my friend, Mel and her husband Sean later for dinner at Fiorentino's down the street from their place. It was delish! Oh, and we stayed at the most fabulous hotel!! The Talbott Hotel was neighborhood-y and super friendly and just a couple of blocks off Michigan Avenue near the John Hancock Building. We are definitely staying there again!!

Carving Pumpkins

AJ wanted to make his pumpkin scary this year! I drew it out but he did most of the cutting on it. We think it looks spooky!

It was so nice out that we played a little too! Daddy was at the Packer game.

Playing in the leaves on a very warm day in October

We shouldn't be playing in the leaves in shorts and t-shirts! ;)

Grandparents Day at AJ's Preschool and an Art Tour or Two...

On the first of October, AJ's school had Grandparents Day. Since my mom and I were headed out on Friday to do an Art Tour that weekend she was the only one to come. She did puzzles with AJ, saw his classroom and had milk and breakfast treats in the cafeteria together.

My mom and I then headed to Menomonie and then south to Pepin, Stockholm and Maiden Rock. The artists open their studios to show off their wares and demonstrate their talents. We stayed in Pepin at the cat pee motel that dropped our reservation for Saturday night- their fault and since everything in the area was full or a small fortune- we found ourselves in Wabasha, MN for Saturday night. The cat pee motel didn't offer any discount or what not (or much help finding a new place to stay) but they sent me a Christmas card with a gift certificate for a free night in 2011. Yeah, like I want to stay there again. We ate in Pepin at The Pickle Factory on Friday night. It was casual, bar type place with good food and a nice view. We got to about 5 galleries on Friday.

On Saturday we were up and ready to hit the galleries and get the stink of cat pee off us! We were up a little early though! We stopped at a diner-esque spot in Pepin where the waitresses wore the most adorable aprons. And served some AWESOME biscuits! We also stopped for some caramel apples at a farm that were delish (although we enjoyed them after dinner that night). Stockholm and Maiden Rock are artist magnets! We saw (and bought) some really cool art. There was A LOT of pottery, one of my faves. My favorite was a shop in Stockholm called Abode. The below funky stoneware sculptures were done by John Turula and I believe his partner in art, Margy Jean Balwierz.

After driving the beautiful hills and along the lake in Southwestern WI to visit the many galleries we headed to our new motel in Wabasha. It had a toilet sized for a preschooler but the beds were ultra comfy. We went out to find a decent place to eat and stumbled upon a fantastic place called Vinifera Vine & Dine. Yummy!! The next morning on our way back north we went to a few art studios (homes, really) in Osseo, Augusta and Fairchild. It paled in comparison to the tour in Stockholm.

We did come across the Dells Mill in Augusta. Beautiful, isn't it?

On our way out of that area, we were lost kinda and ended up on a road we thought might take us in the right direction. It did and it took us right by my Uncle Ron and Aunt Kathi's house! They were out working in the yard when we surprised them. We stayed to chat awhile which was very nice. After that unexpected visit we were homeward bound.