Saturday

This was the day of friends.

I got two long distance phone calls today from friends who have moved. Wait - THREE - Charly called twice. ::snort:: Charly's daughter does these amazing history fair projects. This year's project is on "conflict and compromise". They are going to use Queen Esther as her historical character. She needs four sources for information - original are best. We brainstormed. If any of you know of good resources...please leave them in the comment section. The book of Esther in the Bible refers to the "Book of the Medes and Persians". Has anyone located this book?

Julie H (as opposed to Julie O) also called. What a joy to hear from old friends....we were in AK together. She and her family are going to GREECE for two years! An ACCOMPANIED remote assignment. They offered for Michael and I could fly out for a second honeymoon sometime in the next two years.

This evening Michael took Jared and his friends: Matt, Steven and Mike out for a few rousing rounds of paint ball. What a dad! Steven and Mike are the sons of my friend, Debbie, whose husband deployed last week. She came over and visited, with the younger ones and I, while the older ones fought it out.

Stacia cracked us up yelling at her birthday bird. She was telling it to "stop it" and "no" and "quiet" and it kept parroting her. That had all stopped by the time I remembered video...but here is the infamous birthday bird.

Friday

Curves. No produce co-op. Michael's day off - he only went in for 3 or 4 hours. ::snort:: Actually, he had a suspense that needed to be met - that's the way life is in today's short manned military. There is talk of taking some time off next weekend. We'll see what happens.

In school the younger ones made "snake throwing sticks". It was another great day with paint. I need to buy some varnish and then we'll play a game with our snake sticks. This activity was a God-send. I'd been praying in the a.m. that I'd like to find some games that were played in Ancient Egypt. I've not had time to really read TOG. I didn't want to order more things. Arielle was thumbing through *Old Testament Days - an activity Guide* by Nancy Sanders, and asked to do an activity. The activity was to make snake sticks and there are directions to play an Egyptian throwing game. We've enjoyed all the things we've done in this book to date. We talked about how Moses would have grown up throwing snake sticks and how God later gave him confidence by telling him to throw his stick which turned into a real snake. (Note to self - buy new wooden spoons). Stacia covered herself in GREEN paint on Friday.

Michael came home and decided he needed to get me out of the house for a bit. We went out to lunch and then on to Sam's club.

Mike had missed *Facing the Giants*, it came out when he was deployed. We watched it last night. Then we set up for Hogan's Heroes. I went to get into jammies and came back and they had on WALTONS!!!! What a fun surprise for me. They watched Hogan afterwards and I went to bed.

We are getting a very late start today. I did make crepes. We'll see what else the day brings.

Palacsinta (Palacheeta- Hungarian Filled Pancakes - Crepes)

Palacsinta (Palacheeta - Hungarian filled Pancakes - Crepes) Given to me YEARS ago at Malmstrom AFB by Sarah H. 

 5 eggs 1/2 C sugar (honey, rapadura, agave nectar all work- adjust liquids) 1 tsp sea salt 1 tsp vanilla 2 1/4 C Flour (I use soft white wheat - but any would work) 2 1/2 C milk Beat eggs. Add sugar, salt, vanilla. Beat well. Add flour and milk gradually beating until smooth. In a lightly greased pan put 3T batter, rotate pan to cover evenly. Brown on both sides. Keep crepes warm until all are fried. Serve with jelly, fruit, butter/Cinnamon, Peanut butter/Syrup, or cheese filling (authentic choice ::snort::) Cottage Cheese Filling 1 carton cottage cheese 1/2 C sugar 1 egg 1 tsp vanilla pinch of salt Mix well. I wouldn't know what the cheese filling is like - we've never tried it. I have no trouble keeping these warm, they disappear as fast as they are done. Horrors - my children LOVE these and I've not made them for quite a bit of time. Nolan asks for them every Saturday and often during the week. I decided to make them and couldn't' find the recipe. I thought it was on the blog and it wasn't - now it is. And now I'll go make some crepes for breakfast. Thanks for sharing your old family favorite with us Sarah, it's become one of our family favorites. And to think those little kids running in base housing are now GRADUATED adults. LOL