that's right son....

just another night at the raetz house.

their, there?????

anyone got a rule of thumb when using the word there, their? I hate that I never know which one to use when writing. I am horrible at english and spelling, and this word killlllllssss me.

i heart funny people...

So Jo is a funny kind of gal, all us Meiers think, of course, we are hilarious. I think we all love being a little honory and sarcastic. Always done while batting our eyelashes and almost bursting with giggles inside.

Jo told me this story of a conversation with a twenty something tanning store manager.... I almost peed my pants.

Tanning guy: "do you have goggles."

Jo: "no, I have the stupid eye stickers you made me buy last time."

Jo pulls them out of her wallet, untouched and never used.
Tanning guy: "You didn't use them."

Jo: "No, I don't open my eyes in there."

Tanning guy:"I can't tell you how bad that is for your eyes, do you want to go blind?"

Jo: "No, I don't want skin cancer either, but I am still here aren't I."

Tanning guy: "uh, number 10 is ready for you."

A couple weeks later...

Tanning guy: " oh I remember you, I know you don't need goggles, do you need some lotion."

Jo: "oh yes, I would love to spend $40 dollars on a bottle of something that doesn't work anyway."

Tanning guy: "uh, I can't even deal with you today, number 8 is open."

Jo.... "heee hee heeee"

To bad Jo is the whitey of the bunch, and has to go tanning every once in awhile to get some color... so sad... but funny.

thanksgiving craziness....

We had a great thanksgiving. Me and B are foodies, I love to cook, and I love making delicious food for friends and family. I was so stoked when planning our thanksgiving day menu with mom. I made savory rosemary sweet potatoes, was forced to make the sweet marshmallowey ones... (seriously forced, everyone was throwing a fit when I put my yummy caramelized pecan and sweet potato dish in the oven, they wanted freakin marshmallows, totally ruined it), homemade cranberry sauce, and my favorite broiled brussel sprouts, with garlic and pecans. B made smoked gouda mashed potatoes that were so good the were almost deadly. My mom did the turkey, stuffing, and her almost famous cheese bread.

My mom has been making her cheese bread forever, it was a recipe from my grampa, and I always felt like my mom made it better. My gramps always used to overcook it, so it was kind of dry, Mom's most of the time is moist and soooo good. This is what we made every year for all our teachers for christmas. Since there were seven of us the bread was pretty memorable, and every teacher I had, who had previously had a Meier child, was so stoked when christmas came around.








It was a great day, hanging out with good people, good food, and good conversation. Our meal was a little potato heavy, but I was in heaven with my brussel sprouts so I barely noticed.



After our yummy meal we all laid around for awhile and than me and Jo went to hang out with the crazy holiday shoppers....








Our friend Michelle manages the Van Hueson store in the woodburn outlet, and needed help at there midnight madness sale. Me and Jo volunteered, some extra cash under the table, always good for me. It was INSANE... we started at 10pm, I totally thought michelle was kidding about how crazy it gets. I am not a shopper, I don't care how good the deals are, I do not go out in the middle of the night to shop with 8 million other crazy people. We worked from 10pm till 4am and it was busy the entire time, like lines out the door busy. It was also really fun, I haven't worked retail in years, and forgot that I actually do like it, it is kind of fun just talking to people all night. We got home around 5:45 am and I was up again at 9:30 am to hang out with the boys because B had to work. It wasn't to bad, but yesterday is a total fog to me. I know I took the boys on a bike ride and we ate up all of our leftovers already and I drank allot of coffee, other than that it was like one big dream. Kind of like how you feel the entire first year you have a newborn in the house. I was in bed by 8:45pm and slept in until 8:30am. I am feeling much more human today.

I am getting a little carried away on my black and white camera setting, but it looks so cool... someones gotta stop me!

from the mouth of ollie.....

I was doing dishes, the sun was setting, it was only 4:30 p.m.

Ollie is standing behind me saying...

"i'm doing it, i'm doing it."

His eyes are shut very tightly and his hands are in fists at his side.

I ask him "what are you doing?"

"I am making it light outside again, look, I am doing it."

I look outside, "it will be light in the morning."

"but can we ride our bikes now."

I know little man, I know... it gets dark way to early for me too.

being all artsy like...

I had to take a photo for an etsy article... here it is...

Our Camera has a setting that is black and white except for a some tones, it was fun to mess around with. I was walking around the house making everyone be artsy with me... Max was taking a nap and I had to get the photo in that day, that is me, always waiting till the last minute... so he did'nt make it in the photo, but I think he will be okay with it.

B was so stoked, can't you tell, I made him put on a green scarf... totally goes with the tough guy image.

Little man turned two...

As of Saturday our littlest man is no longer a baby. By the time your two it is official, you are a kid.

My favorite birthdays growing up have never involved the gifts that I got, they always involved special traditions my family did. Like getting to choose what we had for dinner, not where we went for dinner, but what my mom made for dinner. Your birthday was a day you got to ride shotgun all day long, and didn't have to fight for it. You got to go to the grocery store, just with mom, and one time I got to go alone with my mom and dad, and on the way home, we stopped at DQ and shared a peanut buster parfait. My memories are all of the special time I got to spend, not how much money my parents spent on me, or what lavish gifts they got me. As my boys are getting older, I am trying to keep that in perspective, trying to hold onto the memories I hold so dear, and trying to make there birthdays just as memorable, without being materialistic. I fall short of course, because who doesn't want to lavish your kids in lots of new fun stuff. We didn't do too bad. Nana Barb sent a fun package for thanksgiving and for maxes b-day, so he got quite a bit of gift opening experience this year.

on the morning of, max and ollie both woke up early, at 6:45 am... gasp... so as I was sipping my coffee, and B was getting ready to run to the store to get some balloons, we decided to load everyone up in there jammies for a little freddys adventure. We let Max pick out one toy, and we let Ollie pick out a toy to give to max. It was really cute, and I think Max had a good morning. It is rare you get to hit up the store in your jammies.


Max picked out this little vacuum. He is obsessed with our big vacuum. He has spent the last two days attached to that thing, on his birthday night I had to put it to bed with him, all snuggled in next to a vacuum, crazy kid. I keep kicking myself, I should have got one that actually does vacuum, like a dust buster, it would have crossed one thing off my chore list.

Ollie picked out a little bottle gun, we'll he got one for himself too. We never have really bought gun toys for the kids, an occasional squirt gun in the summer, but man, my kids turn everything and anything into "shooters" how do kids pick up on that kind of stuff.

We celebrated with some friends and family that night at Old Town Pizza, originally we were headed to mississippi pizza pub for live kids music. But man that place was packed, so we turned around and went to plan B. It worked out nicely and the kids got to run around like crazy monkeys. I got to eat yummy pizza and drink a pint, so I was happy.













































Almond got Max a little sesame street bongo video game. It plugs right into the tube, and is pretty freakin cool. Super easy for the boys to use, and educational too. The boys had a blast the next morning hangin out in there jammies and taking turns.

all systems go...go...burdy... go

I had my meeting today with july krause, well, phone conference.

If everything goes as planned, my line will be carried by their showroom starting in January, for a soft launch...
and in February we will launch and start taking orders for fall '09.

They want me to add bottoms to the line up... looking at AA Karate pants... and thinking of a cute skirt for girls... maybe pants with a ruffle at the cuff... hmmmm...

anyway I am a little scared, a little stoked, and a lot excited.

thanks for all the prayers, good thoughts, and happy dances... even got some lucky dust thrown in there...

Yeah... burdy.....

cheddar broccoli soup....

** the recipe below was amended from it's original posting, it should be 32oz chicken stock, not 16oz...oops...

I had to make this one more time, just to make sure my last success was not a fluke..

Here is the recipe in all of it's confusing, doesn't really measure things, glory... but I did make notes on the measurements last time I made it, so this is fairly accurate.

the rue....
4 tbsp butter

1/2 cup and a little more flour

you need...

32 oz of chicken stock

1-2 cups milk,

(or a can of 2% evaporated milk, plus about a cup of whatever milk you have in the fridge)

2-3 heads of broccoli (chopped up stems and all)

a couple of shakes of red pepper flakes

salt and pepper

and about a cup or more of shredded cheese.

In a large soup pot, (like my lovely dutch oven) start heating the chicken stock and milk. You want to get it warm so when you add the rue, you don't shock it.

start your rue, melt the butter in a sauce pan and add the flour. Let it cook over medium high heat. Stir it around and get the flour all mixed in there. You want a pastey consistency. When it starts to cook it should get bubbly.... make sure you stir it around so it doesn't burn... I do this for about 5 minutes, till it is a nice golden brown, and kind of bubble grows (bubble grows is a very technical term) in the pan.

Than I add a couple of ladle fulls of the chicken stock and milk to the rue and whisk it till smooth. Than add the thinned rue mixture to your soup pot and stir it on up, bring it to a slow bowl. This lets the rue work to thicken up the soup.

After it cooks for awhile, add your pepper flakes and salt and pepper, and toss in your broccoli. let it cook over medium heat stirring until the broccoli is tender, and bright green.

once the soup is pretty much done, reduce to low heat, it may be a little thin, but when you add the cheese it will thicken a little more.

Let the soup cool down a bit before you add the cheese, or you will have a sad looking congealed soup.

Once not super hot, sprinkle in your cheese and stir it on up... yummmy goodness to follow.

Your soup is done and hopefully looking gorgeous..

cross your fingers...

Okay, so I have a conference call on Friday with July of www.julykrause.com , the showroom I have been talking with in LA...

Everyone cross your fingers, say a little pray, and do a little dance for burdyflyaway..... Maybe soon coming to a lot of boutiques near you!

the postal service came through...

At Halloween we were so bummed. Nana Barb had sent the boys a box of new jammies and warm new winter clothes. The boxed shipped on Oct. 24th and we thought it was lost for good as the days of anticipation turned into weeks.

But On Monday Nov. 17th it arrived.... Yeah... it was a little tattered and torn up, but all the goods were inside, and boy, were we stoked.

Ollie loves his new jammies. He was so heartbroken when all his winter jammies were handed down to max. Every night we had wars over footie jammies, Ollie trying to squeeze his long lanky body into any and all of the footie jammies from last year. Nana Barb did a great job, and now he is nice and toasty warm, just like max.

Thanks Nana Barb!

drama for your mama

We have being dealing with our fair share of stress at the raetz house.

My Mom and her partner of the last 8 years are splitting. Quite a shock for us, and my Mom.

Michael, aka Papa Mike, is up and moving to the Philippines. Leaving my mom in a home she can't afford, not to mention a very sad heart.

He has given us reasons, all factual, and business like. All pretty much relating to money and how cheaply he can live overseas. It is sad really, nothing has been off in their partnership, just a man choosing money over loved ones. Sadly, my mom told me, "it is not that Michael doesn't love me, he doesn't love me enough." How sad is that.

So now all these suppressed emotions from when my parents divorced and my dad died are rearing there ugly head. My ground seems unstable and I feel like my net is gone. I know I am an adult now, I have my Husband and my own little family. But it definitely shakes a gal up.

It is hard to not be angry. My mom is dealing fine, I mean as fine as when your future suddenly becomes uncertain. One thing my mom does know how to do is pick herself up and dust herself off. It sucks cause he isn't leaving for a couple of months, so it is business as usual with them. It is going to make for a very uncomfortable holiday season.

terrible two.

can someone, please anyone, save me from the terrible two's.



As I wrote the last post, I had a little almost two year old run up to me stripped down to nothing more than a diaper with his older brothers buzz lightyear underwear on over his head. Yelling at me that he wants candy, thank you halloween.


Anytime I tell Max anything he replys by saying... "but, Mom." Where did he get that.

Me: "Max stop yelling!"
Max: "but, Mom."
Me: "Max get off of the coffee table."
Max: "but, Mom."
Me: "Max get off your brother."
Max: "but, Mom."
Me: "Max stop biting ollie."
Max: "but, Mom."
Me: "Max put the food in your mouth."
Max: "but, Mom."
You get the idea.

*The conversations listed are only a fraction of our morning this morning.

soup redemption

remember this... remember how gross my soup was, and how sad I was.

well check it, I have been redeemed.

Notice the lovely dutch oven I am now cooking everything in. That was my b-day present from B. It is beautiful. The one I had before worked, but it wasn't really a dutch oven. It was a slow cooker three-in-one thing, the pot came out and could be used on the stove top, or in the oven. I used it a ton, and have been lusting over the lovely le crueset dutch ovens at sir la table. This is not one of those, I can't begin to tell you how much I love high quality cook ware, but I can't justify spending $240 on a pot right now in my life, but someday.

This one is from Cost Plus, and I am very pleased with it so far. B always does a ton of research on things before he purchases them (sometimes that is really annoying) and like me, we believe in buying quality, in the long run it saves money, by not having to replace crappy imitations. This one is good, heavy and gorgeous. It for sure will give us years of yummy meals.

they don't care...

I pulled out our Halloween costumes last week, and at the last minute decided I should grab Ollie a new costume. This quick decision was made as I was walking out of our local Fred Meyers, they had costumes at 70% off, and the deal consumer in me kicked in. Of course the costumes are made horribly, probably in china (i didn't check), and even though only paid a small amount, it was enough to cancel out my once in awhile coffee splurges for the week.

I think I actually spent more on the styrofoam bird than I did on the costume, but it kind of made the outfit.

Ollie was stoked when we first got it, Max was too. They spent the day taking turns being Captain Hook (we love the old peter pan movie at this house).

2 Years ago I bought the chicken outfit on clearance at old navy for 5 bucks. It was a size 4 and ollie was only 2 but it worked, i was huge pregnant and we didn't go anywhere anyway. That is the best little suit, it is made with good fabrics, is super warm, and I must say pretty darn cute. I was disappointed this year with the old navy costumes, they just don't seem as cool, or as well made as the chicken.

By Halloween night Ollie was not so stoked on his Captain Hook costume. The fabric is so lightweight we had to try to layer him up, which he was not cool with. So he ended up being the Monkey, Max's costume from last year, a size 12 month. In the end they don't care, I could have thrown sheets over them with the eyes cut, and told them they were ghosts, that is what my mom did. So smart!

Don't get me started on how weird a tradition trick-or-treating is, who decided knocking on strangers doors to get candy was a good idea. I think next year we might be re-thinking our way of celebrating.

I get teary...

Last night I had my two little men watch as history was made. I ran to the porch and shouted "Yeah, Obama" with them when the votes flew way over 270. I sat with my husband and got teary eyed at our President-elects acceptance speech. I am truly proud to be an American today, probably for the first time in my adult life.

the beard...

I am sure you have noticed B's beard. He thinks it is fantastic. Which, don't get me wrong, I like it, not saying anything bad about it, but it is getting burly, kind of in a homeless man kind of way.

Since these photo's he has shaved off his mustache, in what I think is an ode to the Amish. Ollie is very distraught, and keeps saying "daddy lost his mustache." in a very sad worried tone.

I have to say I love B's facial hair, he is quite meticulous about it. I love that he takes on his goatee and sideburns like a piece of art. Someday I should just do shots of B and his facial hair statements over the years... okay, I'll stop, it's getting kind of weird talking about facial hair.

the leaves never change...

One huge, horrible, and sad thing I noticed while visiting Becki in Austin, the leaves don't change.

In the lovely pacific northwest, our surroundings from the end of September to about mid to late November are visually stunning. Our leaves turn to gorgeous, bright, vibrant colors. Driving in over the Fremont bridge the whole city almost looks like it is on fire, all the trees turn shades of bright green, yellow, orange and red. It is seriously one of my favorite things about fall.
We talked about it in Austin, the city is beautiful and has a ton of trees, allot of huge old living oak trees. They are beautiful but they stay a dull moss green, or brown color all year round.

Me and the boys decided aunt Becki needed a little bit of home in Texas. We collected quite a variety of leaves to send. I hope they make it in one piece, otherwise she is going to have leaf confetti. I carefully pressed them between sheets of paper before I mailed them off. We shall see if that works!