Earthquakes Rock

We were all just sitting in the living room and then felt some shaking. Occasionally we feel this when a big truck drives by, but we concluded that this was different than a truck.. I didn't think Hungary had earthquakes?

A Memorable Party

Madeline shared her birthday with friends and they celebrated with a dance party....

A Girls Dance Party

For her 10th birthday, Madeline had a dance party with seven other girls. A dance teacher came to the house and taught them choreography to the song Fireworks by Katy Perry. After a few rehearsals, the put on their dance clothes, sprayed sparkles in their hair, added a bit of makeup and were ready for the performance.


















Of course no birthday is complete without a game of 'pass the parcel.'









And there's got to be sharing cake with friends.

Attempt at Fondant

I think that fondant is a beautiful thing when you see it on professional cakes. I thought I'd give it a try for Madeline's birthday cake. When I looked up the recipe on the internet, I noticed that it had a few unique ingredients like gelatin and glycerin. Well I checked my cupboards and sure enough I had both of those things.. so I went to work.

After quite a bit of confusion about how to keep it from drying out so quickly (add drops of water) and not sure what the design was that I was aiming for, I managed to get something put together. I'm still not sure how you 'stick' the fondant to the cake (use icing sugar??) and I wasn't up for adding details with icing sugar, although I'm sure it would have made the cake look more 'professional.'

P.S. It is supposed to be a pair of dance shoes on the top.

Sorting Begins

And so the sorting begins.. As we prepare for a move to Doha, Qatar, we realize the enormity of clearing a household. All of those cabinets, closets, boxes, drawers, must be sorted and minimized.











We already have people coming to pick-up small furniture items that we will not be taking with us. I have a feeling that our house could feel very empty very quickly.

Rock Climbing

The children love to be active and have things to do. During the Christmas holiday we had an opportunity to use the school's rock climbing facility.