The glamorous life

When I started this blog, I intended to write long blog posts, pontificating on the life with a chef. Somehow it seems that I've gotten far away from that. Part of the reason is that it is not easy to write about our every day travails without getting Anthony in trouble at work. :) The trials and tribulations of a chef seem to be never ending and I guess that keeps life interesting. From food critics, to messed up paychecks, to no show staff, to incompetence in the office, to being told he would be 'fired by Gordon Ramsey!' by a guest, no less. Honestly, the list is never ending. And could make for some very entertaining blogging. But, sigh, I have tried to be responsible and so have drifted away from my objective.
However, this last week has been a busy one for one wife of the chef and thus I feel that I have the right to write about my experiences. Actually, after sitting with a table full of 'bloggers' perhaps I have a responsibility to?? Or is that going too far?
Last Friday I was 'summoned' to eat dinner at the restaurant with the owners and their children. We scrambled for a babysitter (which is a WHOLE other post) and I put on my new little white dress and headed out to eat. The occasion was the visiting of 3 former 'guest chefs' who were going to make dinner for the restaurant. There were 2 entree options and 6 courses in all. Not bad for the price and most people there seemed to be friends of the chefs and therefore there for a good time. And a good time was had. By the guest chefs - not necessarily by MY chef. The idea of turning his kitchen and restaurant over to a group of old chefs, none of whom having apparently cooked professionally in many, many years, was about enough to send him into cardiac arrest. He restrained himself as best he could and calmed himself by being the expediter, which turned out to be a good thing, as the wine was flowing. In the kitchen. And I don't mean into the pans. ;) But, though it took about 3 hours to eat, it was fun to be waited on and not have even one little boy to entertain. I had a 'wife of the chef' martini (yes, it's mine :) )and we had a great bottle of Bordeaux. Great.
So then I was asked to return last night for dinner with a group of 'bloggers'. I have to say I was a little apprehensive about this dinner. But some wonderful friends of ours offered to watch all 4! boys, overnight even!!, so I didn't make up some excuse about projectile vomiting or chicken pox, and went to dinner. Apparently, since I have a small, not even mentionable, wine blog about the wines we taste from the inn, it was suggested that I could sit with these people and have something to talk about?? First of all, I must say that I was somewhat disappointed when nary a one from our table was interested in wine aside from one of the owners and me. Can you be a food/restaurant blogger and not like wine?? Really? It just seems so much of the experience. And the pairings of great food with great wine is such a big thing these days. I was really surprised. The couple I sat by was nice and sweet and though I think he has one of the biggest blogs in the city near us, they didn't seem pretentious or snobby at all. The other couple wasn't very impressive at first glance, (I'm trying to be nice here) but I got the impression as dinner went on that they really had their fingers on the pulse of dining in our area. So I sat nicely while they took pictures of each course, drank fruity mixed drinks and otherwise kept fairly poker faces. My food was good. Delicious actually. I should have gotten out my camera and taken pictures! But I honestly couldn't tell you how the reviews will fare.
As I had NO BOYS! for all night, I stayed at the restaurant and drank wine and watched Anthony finish his prep for the next day and clean up. It sounds boring but it was kind of fun. Some of the bloggers stopped in about midnight to ask him some questions and that was interesting.
But wait, its not over! Today a large wine event was planned in our city and Anthony had gotten a table and was serving at it. So once again, a fabulous friend said she'd watch the boys for a bit, and I dressed up and ran up there. It was far less impressive than I'd hoped but anything that has to do with wine and tasting is still fun. It was disappointing that all of the wines had to be wines you could purchase at a particular local grocery store - who was sponsoring the event. Anthony tries to not carry any wines that you can find in the grocery store so I guess it was fun to try ones we don't usually drink... It was an expensive affair, which is when it certainly pays to be married to a chef! It was about 90 degrees outside and I worried about Anthony, who was wearing his chef pants, shoes, T and full jacket. He stood out there for about 10 hours. He's still not home! Still, it was fun and is definitely becoming one of my favorite extracurricular activities. :)
So that is a week in the life... Maybe I'll do a day in the life next...

Boys

Wow. Things have been rough lately. Summer time just seems hard. I feel like I want to be one of those mothers who are SO glad when school is out, who LOVE all of the time they get to spend with their children and look forward to it all summer long. I TRY to feel that way. Honestly. But it is hard...
I've decided that maybe I just need to learn my limitations. And not say yes to things that I know might not go well. A large, unfenced outdoor area with surrounding woods is just not a good place to take 4 little boys, 2 of whom live for exporing, catchin bugs, digging in the dirt and other things that make it hard to not lose them in wooded areas. If we're on our way to a party or playdate and things are not going well - they will not get into the car, they are fighting, someone is crying - I should trust my gut and maybe just stay home. It isn't going to get better. Being stubborn and optimistic about it doesn't seem to help.
A friend (actually 2) told me today that I just look frazzled and stressed lately. I hated hearing that. I don't want to be a 'stressed out' mom. I don't want people to feel like they don't want to have me or my children over because it will be 'stressful' or sometimes insane. But I'm not really sure what to do about it either. Is there a magic formula for keeping little boys from fighting?? Or convincing them there are fun things to do in one small confined area? To make them turn on their listening ears when their mother is talking to them?? Do other mothers of 7, 5 1/2, 4 and 1 year old boys have these same problems??
Sigh. I'm tired of being embarrased and frustrated in front of my friends and family. Or even strangers. Maybe I should just keep them home until they get older?? Will that help?
Raising children is really a tough thing. If any one of the children had been a girl, I believe the dynamic would be different. Especially between W and E. A particular kind of evil seems to ensue when you put an 'energetic' 7 year old with an 'energetic' 51/2 year old. Jumping off of the dresser onto the bed, running off into the woods to keep from having to get in the car, whipping the cart around in wide circles in the grocery store - causing their mother to fear for the safety of their baby brother, as well as others, sneaking every kind of bug and amphibian they can catch into the car and/or house, wrestling each other down to the ground in the middle of the store, yard, other people's living room, etc.
So anyway, I guess I'm glad that school will start again soon. I'm ashamed to say it. But it's a fact. I'll miss them. And I'm sad that E is old enough for kindergarten. But it's about time...
On a side note - whichever sister gave the boys the Che Guevara T, it's very popular and quite a conversation piece in some circles. :) I just received another compliment on it today.
I've just been provided a gun (made of train-track pieces) so that I can 'protect myself' so that's all for now. I guess I forgot to mention how fun they are! :D

Summer Happenings

Here are a few things that have happened at our house over the last month or so.

Emmanuel's fish, after 6 months of life?? passed away on May 23rd. No one seemed TOO upset (least of all his parents) so it was handled pretty well. Anthony took the boys out to bury the fish and have a small funeral.

Wyatt had his end of school program.

Christian had his second skin allergy test. He took the test like a champ, only flinching as she applied each of the 6 plates. However that evening his eye swelled up so he could hardly see out of it and was still swollen the next day!

The largest red spot is peanuts. He also reacted to dust, tree pollen, ragweed, cats and only slightly to eggs. Sigh. Poor boy.
As I posted before, our anniversary was this month, but Anthony had to work all day. When he got home at about 11:30pm that night, he brought in this large box. Note the amount of plastic wrap on it! He LOVES plastic wrap. Must go through ROLLS at the restaurant.
At first I didn't pay any attention to it. I thought it was something for work. So he had to urge me to go over and check it out. This is what was inside!

Isn't that sweet!! So yummy too!! He knew EXACTLY what to get me. :)And finally, It's FATHER'S DAY!!! This is what the boys made for Anthony.
Jens 'helping'! Now we're off on a 14 hour trip to Minnesota. Fun! So there should be more posts to come. ;)

Congratulations...to us

Ten years. Today we've been married ten years! It's crazy. Seems like a milestone to me. Like it should really stand for something. Feels like I should have gotten a cruise?? or a trip to Europe?? or something after all these years? Oh well. Anthony spent the day at work, starting his summer menu, and I spent the day at church, at home with 4 boys and at a swimming pool birthday party. Great fun had by all.
Anyway, it feels like we couldn't possibly have been married so many years, but when I think back over all the things we done, I guess you really couldn't pack it in to much less. A summary:
Married June 12, 1999 in Mankato, MN. Lived there for a couple of years, in a little downstairs apartment, both working for McDonald's. Becky gets a job with Northwest Airlines in January 2001 and we make the move to Minneapolis - Burnsville to be specific. To a smallish 2 bedroom, 2 bathroom apartment with an underground garage. The best part! Have Wyatt in 2002 and Anthony decides to go to culinary school in 2003. So Becky and Wyatt move to Indiana to live with Minka and Grandpa and Anthony takes off for New York City and the French Culinary Institute. Have Emmanuel in November 2003 and Anthony returns, an FCI graduate, in December. Hang around in Indiana and have Christian in 2005. Move to Long Island the summer of 2006 and return to Indiana in December. And finally to Ohio in 2007, where Jens was born in 2008.
Wow, so that's 7 big moves, and 4 boys in ten years. And every year of it has been wonderful!! Honestly! I wouldn't trade a single day together for anything. I recommend marriage to anyone. It's the best!

WOW

That's all I can say. It was the last day of school today. I feel like we slid in, holding our breath, and somehow made it to the end. And this is only year 1!!! of like many, many, many!!! I panic at the thought of real homework and 2 in full day school next year. But we have the summer to chill before we have to worry about that... rriiiggghhhttt. I feel like our summer is totally filling up already. Garage sale, VBS all next week, festivals at church, trip to Minnesota, 4th of July parades, Anthony and Jens' birthdays, PTO meetings, sister's moving and a wedding. The time is going to FLY by. I know it.
So they had field day during the morning at Wyatt's school. Jens and I went to help out and it was so much fun! I was the only parent that showed up to help his teacher so I got to be in charge of leading 20 1st graders through super crowded hallways from one activity to another. I found that I could do it! And first graders are kind of fun!! And they are up for doing almost anything you ask of them. They jumped as far as they could from a line of tape on the floor. They cheered each other on in the sack races. They threw rings at a post that was WAY too far away. And then they turned around a drew beautiful pictures of things they did throughout the year on a big piece of poster paper. It was awesome. It's great how they can just redirect from one thing to another and then throw themselves completely into it. I had to leave after the freeze pop station - which was everyone's favorite. :) Except one little boy - he turned on the projector in one of the rooms so he didn't get a freeze pop. I felt bad. You could tell he felt bad too. That's why I'm not sure I could be a teacher. It would break my heart to tell a kid they had to sit out of Field Day because they stuck their little finger out and popped that switch on the projector... He looked so scared right after he did it. Wyatt's teacher is great though and she did the right thing. Wyatt said she was crying at the end of the day. :( But he gave her a hug.
I am going to miss seeing Christian's teacher every day too - shout out to you!! :) She did such a fabulous job this year and forgave me EVERY time I forgot something. We won' t see her again next year :( but hopefully we'll see Emmanuel's teacher. We were so blessed with teachers this year!
Sigh. So now I'm sitting in total darkness, except for the tv and computer, trying to get the boys to finally go to sleep (Wyatt's first comment when he got in the car was 'now I get to stay up all night') and keep the baby sleeping. And there are how many more days left of summer??

Soccer is over

Well spring soccer ended last week. It was great fun. We took Emmanuel's team out for ice cream at DQ after his last game. Wyatt's team had a party on Friday. They both got trophies. Very exciting stuff! :)

Here are some pictures of Emmanuel playing soccer.

Chillin' in between quarters.

Get that BALL!!

Leading the pack! GO EMMANUEL GO!!

More Soccer!!

Here are some picture's from soccer - as promised. We had games Monday through Thursday last week and then Monday and Tuesday this week. Sigh. I'm so happy for an evening at home. Now if only the boys would go to sleep...

Anyway, here are pictures of Wyatt. He and Emmanuel have been playing at the same time lately and as Anthony is coaching Emmanuel's team, I've been watching Wyatt. But Emmanuel has a game on Saturday morning so I'll take some pictures of him then. I guess he's getting quite good.

Diving for the ball!
Super stellar kick! As Emmanuel would say 'very impressive.'
This is absolutely the cutest thing ever. They have to 'take a knee' if someone gets hurt. There are other times when they are scattered around the field down on one knee. I'll try to get a picture of that. It's just so cute. And I'm glad they're being taught to be considerate.

I have a picture exactly like this from when he played his first season. It's amazing how fast they're growing! You should come down and watch them play! They are getting good! :)