Friday, February 24, 2012

Going Bananas

I love the produce guys in our local Ingle's grocery store. After bananas have been on the shelf for a couple of days, they bag them up in these great bags and sell the entire bag for $1.49. This is an especially good deal considering that bananas usually cost around $0.59 per pound and this bag is usually between 5 and 6 pounds of bananas.




Whenever I find these bags of treasure sitting out in the produce section, I grab them all!

The bags sit on my counter for a couple of days as the bananas are usually still a bit green and quite suitable for eating. After the green is gone from the stems, I peel and freeze all but one bag. I put three bananas to one quart freezer bag because this the the amount needed to make our favorite banana bread. This is also the amount we use in a family size run of smoothie mix.

The one remaining bag of bananas sits on the counter for a few more days and is slowly used in banana bread and banana muffins. Yum!!

Tuesday, February 14, 2012

Homeschool Valentine



What an awesome opportunity to thank all of the other homeschool blogger moms out there who have encouraged me for the past couple of years.

For a long time we were the only homeschooling family in our church and until we found our current homeschool co-op, we knew very few other families in our area. The only homeschooling contacts I had were online.

Over the years I have gleaned everything from curriculum advice to moral support from some of the greatest moms out there.

You all have been the jelly in my peanut butter homeschool sandwich and the chocolate chips in the cookies of my homeschooling days!



Thank you all so much and Happy Valentines Day!!

Monday, February 6, 2012

Homeschool Monday ~ Daily Notebooks

I recently discovered a new concept that has allowed me to add so much to our school day and accomplish it all much more efficiently. I read a blog post from 1+1+1 about daily calendar notebooks. I loved the idea because this would streamline out daily “group work” which included reviewing the days of the week, months of the year and such. This new notebook style daily review would insure first that we would get it done every day and second that we would not miss concepts. I loved it!

If you have never seen this concept before, look here and here for some free printables and even videos of daily notebooks in use.

It didn’t take me long to see many other ways to use the daily notebooks. I now have the following pages in my 4th grader’s notebooks:

Daily Gratitude List
Fruit of the Spirit Sheet
Habit Sheet
Hymn of the Month Lyrics
Composer Sheet
Artist Sheet
Poet Sheet
Spelling Sheet
Book Log
State Sheet
Weather/Season Sheet
Daily Drawing Page
Number of the Day Equations
Color Spelling/Penmanship
Shape Spelling/Penmanship
Book of Centuries Sheets
Daily Schedule
Chore List
Daily School Checklist

The possibilities for daily notebooks are endless. Kids can quickly flip through the notebook and cover section by section easily. This might be a great concept for someone who likes the idea of workboxes but does not have the space.

Sunday, February 5, 2012

The Gratitude List

I am starting my gratitude list over this year. If I am thankful for all things, find grace gifts all around me, I will quickly surpass 1000gifts.

I am reading the book again, reminding myself. It is so easy to forget. I can’t forget, not for me and not for the children. They must learn to practice eucharisteo. It is easier learned in the innocence of childhood. I added a page to their daily notebook to help, a simple reminder that His gifts are all around.

Their child clear eyes must be trained to see grace and beauty before they are covered by scales of heartache, world blinders. They must learn to look, actively look to be able to see.




#1 – Fresh Brown Eggs
#2 – Hugs from Mom
#3 – Toothless smiles



#4 – little boy pounds gained
#5 – new words
#6 – family of 6 + 1 dog and 1 cat all in one bed
#7 – Robins in winter
#8 – fluffy chickens
#9 – roosters crowing at 5:30
#10 – little fingers tapping my face in the middle of the night
#11 – stolen kisses in the laundry room
#12 – warm sunny days in January
#13 – skipping school for sunshine
#14 – dirty toddler faces
#15 – clothes covered in sidewalk chalk
#16 – mushy bananas
#17 – dishes piled high from 3 meals gathered around the table
#18 – warm spots in on the bed from sunlight streaming in

holy experience

Langfordism ~ BYOB

It is not an uncommon occurrence at our house, when we are gathering around the table, particularly if this mealtime is more chaotic than usual, for one of the children to say, "Mom/Dad, is it "BYOB" tonight?"

This is where it generally becomes very easy to separate the regulars in our home from the newer guests. The regulars casually listen for a response from Mom or Dad and then comply along with the children with our response.

The newbies, however, have a wide range of responses that usually begin with a short surprised gasp and a jaw hitting the floor.

With new folks, there is almost always an immediate halt to conversation and activity. You can almost read what is passing through their mind from the look on their face. The mental dialog goes something like this: "What? Surely they aren't going to break out liquor bottles at the dinner table, with guests! They are good church going folk!"

I always enjoy that moment! I admit that with the new folks I hesitate just a moment longer before I respond to the child who asked the question. I know, I know....it's sick enjoyment at my guests' expense. I am new at this whole hospitality thing.

Imagine the confusion when, if Dad or I answer in the affirmative, the children that already have their food politely bow their heads and pray. I sometimes wonder if the new folks think the kids are praying for conviction on their parents.



Fortunately for all, the confusion doesn't last long. Typically, one of the children politely explains to the new folks, with their mouths still hanging open, that BYOB means "Bring Your Own Blessing."

Saturday, February 4, 2012

The Dad's Perspective



I was so excited that I nearly squealed like a little girl when my husband, Stacy, aka "the love of my life" told me that he wanted to be a part of The Langford Life blog.

He will be dropping in a few posts here and there to offer a dad's perspective on some of my regular posts plus blogging on a few topics of his own.

This is especially exciting for me since he is part of the new inspiration behind my blog. You can read about that here.



Stacy is a totally hands-on daddy. He loves his kids and I love to watch him play with them.



Maybe the "hands-on" part comes so natural because he is just a big kid himself. He loves riding bikes, hunting and off-roading. I am encouraging him daily to start his own blog about his adventures as a homeschool dad. Trust me, there are some pretty exciting adventures around here!




Check back tomorrow for Stacy's first post on his new workout plan and how he plans to lose 40 pounds in the next four months.


Enjoy!