James Turns 10!

 

As usual, it's better late then never over here!

 

Our James turned 10 at the end of May and even though I'm a bit (very) late, I would still love to share his special day with you all.

Yet again we went with the amazing Ian from Cakes Against The Grain. He made James his specified cake 'a big rainbow cake with vanilla and raspberries!' I think you can agree the cake looks amazingly colourful and it was just as tasty as the others!

James had school on his actual birthday which is never too bad as he gets to hand out some sweeties to his class mates. He also saves one for me, the sweet heart he really is!

For his family birthday dinner he requested a Japanese theme. We've never done that before so it was exciting. Usually we go with an Indian or Chinese or maybe a big old home-made burger and chips. This time I was challenged.

I made a Katsu Curry which was lovely. The rice was cooked in an actual rice cooker we borrowed from the boy's Mum and I must admit I cheated a little with the chicken..I bought it already breaded at the supermarket..It was tasty though and I had a free from one as well so that was a win.

We had Mochi as well as cake for pudding. The guys learning to use chop sticks was good fun. I think Will got it pretty quick, James took a while then went and ate with his hands as per usual and A took a while but was very happy when he actually managed to do it. Midge on the other hand totally gave up and just wanted to eat!

One thing I wasn't going to attempt, not because I didn't want to but more it was super time consuming, was the Sushi. I ordered a lovely platter of sushi from a local sushi take away who made it up and dropped it all off for him just before dinner. I've never had sushi before and I actually really liked it.

James definitely had an awesome day. He loved all his gifts (mostly money because he is the hardest child to buy for) but he also got a sweetie box (some what of a tradition now!) clothes, neon laces for his trainers and some gaming money. 

At his Mums party he had a big van rented out with games consoles on. He invited some of his cousins and his siblings over and they all had such a great time gaming on PlayStation, Xbox and their mobile phones in the van before having a huge take away of their choice. It was so lovely that they could all be together and James thought to invite A and Midge.

So that is all the kids birthdays done this year!  

How I Proposed

Announcing our engagement a few weeks ago was so much fun that I really wanted to share how I proposed (mostly for the fact everyone keeps asking me how HE proposed) and well, anyone who knows me knows I can't have him looking like the soppy one and taking all the credit! 

To be fair, it is quite unusual, even in this day and age for a woman to propose to a man. According to a 2019 survey that I found before typing this up, I would be one of the 16% of women in a heterosexual relationship to propose; I knew it was low but not that low! 

Martyn and I had spoken about getting married many times in the past being keen to make sure we were on the same page. I think I always knew to some degree that I wanted to get married again some day but for a long time I know Martyn wasn't thinking of marriage. Until a while ago and that all changed.

The only question really left in my mind was when? I felt ready but I wasn't sure if Mart was the same. I knew he would say 'yes' but would he really be ready? I also worried with his terrible indecisiveness that I could be waiting forever! So it was time to just go for it.

Initially, I planned to wait until the summer when the boys were with their mum for a day or two and my two would be away with their dad. I thought about cooking a dinner and doing it at home, then realised my cooking sucks a bit but neither of us would be happy to eat out and be the centre of attention. 

I thought it might be nice to go to our favourite park but I couldn't work things out. So I actually prayed about it all one night and it all just hit me.

I ordered my ring. I loved doing this. I got to look for ages at pretty rings, I didn't have to worry about budgets because I could use my own money, I could buy exactly what I wanted knowing I would love it and knew it would fit me perfectly. I absolutely love it. My ring is from a small business seller on Etsy called The Aladdins Cave and it is lovely.

I then bought an old American coin from DogsandHats on Etsy. The purpose of this was that I stumbled upon it and it bears the words 'In God we trust' and the seller had engraved the words 'will you marry me?' as well. 

It was just perfect.

On the 14th April, 7 days before the anniversary of us officially getting together, I couldn't contain my excitement. Martyn knew something was up.

 I gave him a small brown envelope. 

"Are you asking me to marry you?"

"Yes I am," I smiled. 

"Yes, of course, he replied. I'll need to get a ring now!"

I then pulled out a little blue box and handed it to him. He loves my organisation and it made him laugh. I let him pop the ring on my finger, (perfect fit of course) and we both just enjoyed this quiet moment.

Telling the kids some time later was so much fun. We got them to open envelopes with different words on and they put it together. All very excited and all happily overwhelmed they posed for several photos before life went back to normal. 

I think we did things the best way. I was getting all hooked up on what people would think, what society expects and I'm glad I went 'sod it' to it all. I loved asking Martyn, I loved taking the pressure he undoubtedly would have felt off his shoulders, I loved having the kids here with us and I loved doing it our way.

We will plan our big day for April 2023 and there's no danger of this becoming a wedding blog!

We Are Getting...

 Married!

I feel so happy and blessed to be able to share this news with my lovely readers! After 4 years together and being friends for longer than that through the blogosphere, Martyn and I are happy to say we are indeed engaged.

I am so excited!

I was never going to be one of those people who separated from their partner, got divorced and would swear to never get married again. I am a hopeless romantic, so much so it was actually me, ME! who asked Mr K to marry him.

We are not the conventional type in this house!

Thank God we are all slightly crazy and totally original. We are an open family, we do some things differently from other families. I love our set up and the kids think it is awesome that I proposed to Martyn instead of the other way around.

I've wanted to propose to Martyn for a couple of months now. I thought waiting until summer would be the ideal time. I could wait for all the children to be away with their other parents, I could take Martyn to one of our favourite spots and do everything that way. I also thought I should wait until we had more understanding about Martyn's Dad's health and William's EHCP process.

I decided to pray about my plan. I heard clear as day in my head 'What are you waiting for?' 

My heart swelled and I smiled as lay sleepily in bed. I knew then that at some point in the week I had to propose. 

We spoke a while ago about wanting a marriage this time and not a wedding. We were both so young and caught up in the wrong things when we married our ex partners. This time it was about us and our children.

So our children have been involved. They all had to open an envelope with a word on and get together in the right order to make the sentence. 

We are so excited to spend the next year together knowing we will be man and wife. We will enjoy our engagement for a year while saving up and plan a small, intimate and geeky little wedding that will put us and our kids at the centre in 2023.

I hope you will all continue to come along for the ride! x

Birthday Boys and Double Digits!

I usually blog about the children's birthday individually but as the time has flown by since then I will have to pop them together. As it is, thanks to lockdown, neither A nor Will did anything that requires a lot of writing about!

First of all A entered double digits! He is now 10..TEN? I can't believe he has finally entered the doubles. He still seems so much younger than his peers but it is what it is (tries to stop thinking about the secondary application she has to fill in this autumn)

A was originally meant to be in Cornwall for his birthday but it didn't work out so I got my boy for his special day again. We didn't plan anything (obviously) but as usual the children always request their special birthday tea and we keep them to some sort of routine in terms of birthday breakfasts and gift opening etc.

Enjoying the Snow!

I was inspired by Kim from Life As Kim to write about our snow day here in Kent yesterday. 

We haven't had a decent snow fall for a couple of years now in Kent and the children have been moaning for months about it snowing almost everywhere else but here. Finally, we got snow!

I Have a 13 Year Old!

It may be late but it's better late than never! My Midge has officially turned 13. A teenager. 

Its mad to think I've kept this being, this wonderful, caring, sensitive and truly unique being alive and well for 13 years! 

Over her 13 years already she has moved 12 different times, gained step siblings and half siblings, moved away from family to set up a new life with her brother and I, had to settle into a blended family, start several different schools and has now settled into year 8 in this rather bizarre year.

Our 2020

So 2020 has finally left the room (hope the door smacked it on the way out!) and I am here to do our usual summery of the year. I have hardly blogged in 2020, I mean I really didn't see the point. Home learning with 4 children and riding the rollercoaster of emotions meant I also didn't really feel very much in the mood or have the energy to write really anything at all. 

I haven't had some meaningful blog break, I did consider jacking it in, I even went and set up a new blog but it didn't feel right in the end. This year Cupcake Mumma would be 10. Ten!? I cant give that up just yet. So I am going to carry on with my traditional yearly post, see if by some miracle I managed any of my 2020 goals and set some new ones for 2021 because well, it gives me something to do! 

Here is our (hopefully not too long) post about what the Cupcake Kitneys got up to in 2020.