What to do with Cheerios?

Target has a great deal on Cheerios this week. It varies by area, but all the ads are advertising General Mills Cereal for 4 for $11, then an item is offered for free for buying for boxes. Where I live, the offered item is a gallon of milk. I've also heard of gift cards and orange juice as the free item. To make the deal even sweeter, match it with some coupons. Money Saving Mom has some links on her blog, check it out here. http://www.moneysavingmom.com/money_saving_mom/2008/09/target-cheerios.html

But what can you do with all those Cheerios? In my house we usually eat them in the traditional bowl, milk and spoon manner. But here's a few other ideas. . .

1. I've heard they make good targets for potty training. I never tried it myself, because I had visions of boxes being poured into the toilet . . .

2. Make marshmallow treats - using Cheerios instead of rice cereal.

3. Prince Charming grew up eating fried Cheerios as a snack. He'll put them in a pan with some butter, fry them up, and season them much like you would popcorn. Some of our favorites are garlic salt and seasoned salt. Warning: these are addicting!

Conversations with an almost 8-year-old . . .

Sometimes talking to my children takes me down paths I never thought I'd wander. Here's a brief snippet of some of the things I've talked about with my youngest since he came home from school a mere three hours ago. . .

1. His hair isn't long enough yet, it doesn't need to be cut.
2. His teacher said today that sometimes bugs lay eggs in people's hair (I clarified this one a little - he says it was just a story, not that this happened to someone in his class. I'm still nervous).
3. His hair was cut too short.
4. The white blood cells and germs are still doing battle on his arm (this was accompanied by a "see?" at the dinner table). The following also took place at the dinner table.
5. Gettysburg was the bloodiest battle of the Civil war.
6. He can feel things happening in his small intestine, "and you know what comes next!"
7. Finally, he asked, "How can people die just by getting hit in the bottom of their brain?"

So much for asking how his day was . . .

Lunch Box Snack Ideas

Silly me. I thought I'd start blogging when my boys went back to school, but forgot that it means back to school for me too! I'm a substitute teacher, and although last year I wasn't in full swing until mid-October, I've subbed for 7 days so far this school year, and have another 9 scheduled.

My dear (brilliant) friend is blogging about lunch box ideas, so I thought I'd join in. Here are some of the successful items I've added to my guys packed lunches.

Popcorn
Cupcake or cake sandwiches (slice the bottom off the cake, put it on top, sandwiching the icing in the middle - my kids named them)
Graham Cracker Cookies (also named by my kids, they're simply graham crackers with icing)
A peeled carrot (It somehow is cooler to just eat it Bugs Bunny style)
Cheese sticks
Yogurt in tubes (freeze them, they thaw but stay cold by lunchtime)
Snack size applesauce
Pickle Spears (double wrap!)
Clementines
Apples
Snack Pack Puddings (bought on sale with coupons of course!)
Dry cereal

Check out my friend's blog for more ideas - http://raisethemup.blogspot.com/2008/09/lunch-box-treats.html