Better then Shopping......

mercy me, i have shopped more in the last three weeks then i think i have for the entire year combined. i don't think it is any secret i would rather shop for food, but this is the week to get ready for school...since they all decided...including my soon to be kindergartener...they would rather go to school then stay home in their pj's with me!  i know, i know....there should have been no contest! but there i was and i lost, so like the gracious looser that i am

{picture my #4 with her left hand up to her forehead in an L shape....yes...dearies...I know that you apply this to your dearest mother!}

i promised that i would not wait until 7 pm on the saturday before school to go shopping....again i am not a fan....but because i have many wonderful fashion forward friends

{who secretly apply the L shaped formation to their head for my fashion decisions...or lack of them.....doesn't cargo maternity pants count as fashion forward?}

that inspire my darling girls and offer to take them shopping for the newest and greatest fashions and thus further pushing me down the who's cool ladder...and my fear of what they will bring home....I ventured out.

with a good attitude i might add!  my knees and feet would later curse me as would the twins (though they adored the shoes!) and the baby...who really didn't care as long as she got fed......and again thank you sweet sales lady for the use of the fitting room....or was it the 90 bucks my daughter dropped when buying your jeans.

did i mention i had a good attitude....because it wasn't my buckaroos being spent, the gurlies have been working hard all summer and used their own money!

WWAAAHHOOOOO!

did you hear the echo?

that and my husband had instructed me that it is a mother daughter tradition that i need to learn to love...or fake it....

so i have survived the starter-gun-goes-off-and-the-rush-of-sweaty-smelly-buses-smashed-lunches-and-hands-held-out-for-money-begins...

aaannndddd...........because we are all hectic and running around like crazy, at least i am, and need something easy and relatively quick to make that is healthy and semi nutritious, and not loaded down with fillers and preservatives.... and then a wonderful friend shared this french bread recipe from Tasty Kitchen here, after she was sweet enough to make lunch for a frenzied few of us! it is fabulous...my kiddos love it so much we have made it three days in  row....it's that easy!

AMAZING FRENCH BREAD

• 2-½ cups Warm Water
• 2 Tablespoons Sugar
• 1 Tablespoon Salt
• 2 Tablespoons olive/coconut Oil
• 6 cups Flour
• 2 Tablespoons Yeast
• 1 whole Egg, Lightly Beaten

Preparation Instructions

In a large bowl combine warm water, salt, sugar, oil*, 3 cups flour, and yeast. Beat vigorously for 2-3 minutes.
Stir in the remaining flour and then leave the dough (spoon still in the bowl) for 10 minutes. Then beat down the dough.
Let it sit for ten more minutes and then beat down again. Repeat this process until you have beaten down the dough 5 times. This part of the recipe is not very forgiving. A few minutes here and there won’t mess it up but don’t leave your dough for longer than 15 minutes or it will change the final product.
Turn dough onto a floured surface and knead just enough to coat the dough in flour, making it easy to handle.
Split the dough in half and form each half into loaf. Coat pan with oil and, if desired, dust with cornmeal.
Place loaves on pan(s) and let rise for 30 minutes.
With a very sharp knife make 3-5 slashes on the top of the loaves and brush the top and sides with the beaten egg.
Put in a preheated 400 degree oven immediately and cook for 20-30 minutes or until golden. Remove from pan immediately and cool on racks.

so good warm slathered with butter, a bread & butter pickle sandwich and french toast!!!  I can't wait to make pizza on it!!!  But I will have to make some more!!

and oh yeah...#2 may kill me for the picture...we were both in tears before she left for school...her first day of high school......but she looks so much better then I when bawling!!  She did great..and we both survived.