Family

Derek and I have always dreamed of having a family together.  We never cared how, but, we always knew that we would adopt.  I should say that I actually told him from day 1 that he needed to be okay with adopting because it is a wonderful thing and I was going to adopt a child one day.  I would not have the amazing sister I have if it weren't for adoption.  

Derek and I had talked about what direction we should go with adoption: domestic, international, or foster to adopt.  For multiple reasons we chose foster to adopt.  One of the obvious reasons was money.  To adopt domestically or internationally you need to be able to come up with a minimum of $35,000 and upwards of $50,000.  Not wanting to break our bank we chose foster to adopt because everything I have read is that it is virtually "free".

"Free" always comes with a hidden cost though, especially when you are talking about foster care.   

"Free" comes at the cost of a child being frustrated and confused with why they are being removed from their home and put into an unfamiliar home with unfamiliar things and people.  "Free" comes with trying to help kids overcome.  Overcome anything from emotional trauma, physical abuse, sexual abuse, or the most common neglect.  "Free" comes with appointments, visits, and trying to rebuild a relationship between the birth parents and the child(ren).  "Free" means sometimes falling in love with a child who right when you think is going to be up for adoption is reunified with their family.  A bittersweet moment because after all the main goal of foster care is reunification of families.

No child chooses to be an orphan or a ward of the state, and they should never be treated differently than a "normal" child.

You're so funny

Oh Wisconsin, you crack me up sometimes.

Holy Hill

Lately, Derek has been wanting to plan surprise dates for us on one of his days off to which I am not complaining one bit.  The first surprise date he had planned for us was to Holy Hill.  It was recommended by his coworkers as "the place" to go view the fall colors.  Normally, I would comment on most of the photos; however, this is my second attempt at writing this post so I think the photos will have to do and I apologize they are in no order whatsoever.

This has to be my favorite shot of the day.  We stumbled upon the statue of Mary accidentally and saw that somebody had left their rosary as a gift and it was just too beautiful.

Skating surprise

So far within the month and a half of us living in MKE, we have had family here a few times.  My cousin Kylie has been skating since she was fairly young.  I was lucky enought to be there the very first time she put on skates that were too big for her as she fell over and over again; but, didn't want to stop because she was having so much fun!  It has been over five years since I have been able to see her skate in person so I was really excited to find out that she would be skating less than an hour from where we lived.  We kept it a secret that Derek and I were going to show up to watch her because what fun is it to know ahead of time?!

Her first time out skating we had a family weekend in Brainerd at one of my favorite places, Breezy Point Resort.  We always called it the "cabin".  They had skates for rent and since she had everybody wrapped around her finger, we all took turns with her and her brother, Niko out on the lake skating.

Kylie and Jamie

Kylie and Teej, her Godfather

Kylie girl and me.  And yes, that is my high school letter jacket to which I still own.

Niko, Kylie, and me.

She was like the energizer bunny and just wouldn't stop skating.

She would fall...

And get back up because of her determination.  I mean look at the concentration on that face!

This little girl who loved the cold is now...

...a beautiful young woman

She is so graceful as she skates.

This is her signature move and it is awesome to see in person.

She skated so beautifully and I was so happy that Derek and I could surprise her.  She has definitely improved her skating since the last time I saw her skate about 8 years ago.  I am so proud of this girl and her dedication and the woman she is becoming.

  

Oktoberfest

Derek's dad and step-mom were coming to town and I thought it would be a fun idea to check out the Oktoberfest that was going on in Milwaukee while they were here.  We haven't seen them in I would say a year so it was cool that they were able to visit our new house and hang out for a bit.  

Inside the beer tent

To say the least I was hugely disappointed as the fest consisted of a beer tent on one side of the river and then a Glockenspiel, beer, and three vendors on the other side of the river.  I guess I was disappointed because I like to see the vendors with authentic German garb and trinkets at the festival especially since I do not drink.  Derek and I also figured since we were in a bigger city that Oktoberfest would be huge and come to find out that at least the weekend we went it was smaller than the celebration in Ptown years before.

The first thing we came upon was the living glockenspiel, to which was fun to watch as with any live performance, things don't go as planned and things break and then you have to improvise.

The Hofbrau I believe put on the fest for this weekend.

The street off of the festival had some really great older buildings with fabulous architectural design to them.  This one just made me think of something I might see in Germany one day.

I am a good sport when it comes to being around people who are drinking.  And will even hold a glass to make it appear as though I am partaking in the events.

The problem with the beer tent is finding a place to sit.

Derek, Randy, and Barbara

Since the festival wasn't something that took a really long time, we decided to go find some authentic Wisconsin cheese curds since Randy and Barbara really wanted some while they were in town.  The first restaurant we went to, was out of them.  How do you run out of cheese curds in Wisconsin?  We ended up heading towards the parking garage to head home and stopped in at the Water Street Brewery before heading home and thankfully they were not out of cheese curds.  The curds ended up coming out before our drinks which surprised our very enthusiastic waiter.  These things tasted like fried cheese in a funnel cake.  And since I was feeling sick I only ate one; but, they definitely got eaten.

Here is to hoping the next festival I find for us to attend that it isn't a disappointment!

Call me, Betty

The house we purchased had a garden already in it with many butternut squash, yellow squash, and tomatoes.  All things Derek and I do not care for.  The first time we picked from the garden I ended up sending it all home with my mom and dad as a thank you for all their hard work on the house.  My mom ended up sharing a few of her recipes; but, recommended that I try making spaghetti sauce from scratch.  Derek and I proceeded to pick everything that was ready from our garden for the second time and ended up with more than we knew what to do with and then some.  Since I now have a bigger kitchen which makes it easier to cook in and currently had two dozen tomatoes on my hands I figured why not try out my moms spaghetti sauce recipe.

An apron acquired years after my grandmother passed.  I love so many things about it especially the pocket detail.

Things you will need:
Tomatoes (who would have thought, right?!)
Sharp knife (I used a paring and chefs)
Cutting board
Blender
Sifter
Spatula or spoon
Stock pot
Seasonings of choice
Tomato paste (optional)

Once you have clean tomatoes, core them and cut into quarters or chunks.

I did end up cutting all of the stripes (technical term of course) off.

Throw the tomato quarters into a blender and blend smooth.  The mixture will be pinkish and frothy looking.

Before blending

After blending

Pour the smoothed blended tomatoes into the sifter over your stock pot.

At this point I used a spatula to kind of help get everything moving through the sifter and leaving the skin and seeds in the sifter.  Toss out the seeds and skin.  Continue all steps until you have gone through all of your tomatoes.

Now comes the extremely difficult part, cover the stock pot and let the sauce simmer on the stove until you have nearly half of what was originally in the pot.

 As time goes on the sauce will reduce and begin to look more saucelike than frothy.

The sauce will actually look a bit watery before looking like sauce

 If the sauce is too watery, add a can of tomato paste to thicken it.  In my case I added three cans of paste partly because it was getting to be 9pm and husband and I were hungry.  Add whatever spiced you prefer to the sauce and enjoy when done!

Meatless sauce

Meat and mushroom sauce

 When making spaghetti I always split the sauce in two so we can use the meatless for pizza or freeze for future meat sauce.

I don't care for sauce; but, after tasting this sauce I have to say it was so flavorful.  Both husband and I agree that it was so much better than the normal homemade sauce I normally make as I refuse to buy pre-made sauce.

*NOTE: This recipe is not for the impatient!  The sauce will take roughly 4 hours (YEP, 4 long hours) to be complete.... so incredibly worth it.