Cheerio for Cheerios!

Who doesn't love Cheerios?

I grew up with Cheerios, and now I can say the same for my little ones.  

They are most certainly growing up with Cheerios!

Do you eat Cheerios?

Do your children?

READ ON to see how YOU can try some for FREE!

Thanks to General Mills, through MyBlogSpark.com, we've been able to try the new packaging that General Mills created to make the product better for the consumer and better for the environment.

• By reducing the amount of air in each individual bag, these enhanced containers fit 10% more cereal than before and use less packaging.
• While each box contains more cereal, packaging material has been reduced by over 200,000 lbs, saving 1,000 trees and taking 130 Cheerios trucks of the road, decreasing CO2 emissions. 

That may look like a few lines of meaningless statistics, but it means that General Mills is committed to making a quality product, and MyBlogSpark has partnered with them to make them available to US!

Check out this QUICK VIDEO for more information!

You can purchase these at Sam's Club, Costco, or BJ's

We're currently enjoying our FOUR HUGE boxes of Cheerios, 

and you can too...for FREE!

Leave a comment about how you think this new packaging would benefit your family or why you might enjoy trying it.

Little Louie = Love at First Sight

If you've read this blog for any amount of time, you know a few things for certain:

1. I think my husband is amazing, and we have a newlywed kind of love
that just gets better and better with every passing day.

2. We think our kids are one of the greatest blessings of our lives, and we are so grateful that I have the opportunity to be home with them as they grow.

3. Phil has an awesome job, and he LOVES it!

That, point #3, is the reason behind this post.

Phil brought home a baby kangaroo last night, 

and it was love at first sight for our little animal lover.

 She immediately wanted to be a part of EVERYTHING kangaroo.  She wanted to touch him, hold him, feed him, talk to him, sing to him, and help him go potty.

 Clare + Louie = LOVE

It was so fun watching Clare and Daddy, 

and I loved listening to her questions about "her new pet."

 Louie has a broken foot, so he needs to be hand-reared until he heals.

 I think Clare secretly hopes that his foot never gets better.  

She wants to keep him forever.

  Isaac, who is no where to be seen in this post (unless you look very carefully), must have inherited his mother's genes.  He really couldn't have cared less about the adorable little guy (not to say that is how I felt...I just don't have a natural affinity for animals) who joined our family for the night. 

 Even I was enamored by little Louie.

 Endless smiles!

 The highlight was when Clare got to bottle feed Louie before bedtime.

The following pictures are from September of 2010

 Oliver, an orphaned baby wallaby, stayed at our house for a few days.

 Even though Clare was only 2-years-old, she still remembers it very well.

 She got to feed him bananas and watch him run around the house.

 He was a spunky little guy...kindred spirits with our little Clare Bear!

Thank you, Daddy, for bringing home more than just the bacon.  :)

We love your job almost as much as you do!  :)

4th Annual Diggin' Desserts

Our spring trip to Michigan wouldn't be complete without the annual 

Diggin' Desserts competition.

 With nine entries, you would think that the American Dental Association would be knocking our doors down.  It was a tough competition this year with Clown and Fisherman Cupcakes, Rolo Bars, Pecan Bars, Sticky Toffee Cake, Cinnamon Twisty Fries, Homemade Vanilla Bean Ice cream (with an assortment of toppings), Fresh Strawberry-Rhubarb sauce, Pistachio ("Ninja") Pie, and Chocolate Peanut Butter Pie

 Tabulating the votes...

(Every adult votes for TWO desserts, and the kids each vote for one.)

  Anxiously awaiting the results.

Keith with Baby Frankie (5-months old)

 Some of the cousins playing games.

 Uncle Adam on the floor with the little ones (he's SO GOOD about that!).

 Brian and Elissa caught snoozing...SUGAR CRASHING!

 The KID Table

 And...the 2012 WINNERS!

 Bill/Grandpa/Buddy won the Kid's Choice Award with his adorable cupcakes.

 Phil won (after a tie with my mom's Sticky Toffee Cake forced a vote-off) 

with his Cinnamon Twisty Fries.

All of the Hillary Cousins:

Clare, Maria holding Frankie, Jeb

Isaac, Will, Grant, and Gabe

 And this is what it takes to get a good picture...

 Our Little Happy Family

Do you have a famous dessert recipe that you would submit in a dessert cook-off?  

Please share!

Closer to 2 Than 1

Our handsome little man was 18-months-old on the 9th of May...

thus making him now closer to a 2-year-old than a 1-year-old.

Isaac is in a precarious stage right now.  He knows what he wants, but he doesn't have all of the words to communicate effectively.  Therefore, we still (as previously mentioned in his 17-month post) have a LOT of screaming.

Perhaps his screaming is the loudest part of his personality, but it isn't the most dominant.  He is a sweet, affectionate, and tender little guy.  He gives HUGS (more specifically head nuzzles) to anything smaller than he is,
and he especially loves babies and animals.

His only grumpy time of the day is when he wakes up from a nap.  He takes a few minutes to perk up, and he usually seems ravenous.  Isaac is typically ALWAYS happy in Papa's arms, but post-nap time is just rough.

Isaac is currently OBSESSED with noodles.  He loves any type of noodle (as long as it has butter and salt on it), and he will eat an insanely large portion of them EVERY DAY!

When he finally hits his point of saturation, he just starts balancing them on his head.  This goes with anything: chicken, grapes, cheese, avocado, and even his empty bowls.  Strange, indeed...but at least he's consistent.  :)

Our little GOOF BALL!

The budding artist loves coloring and scribbling.

Isaac's vocabulary is growing steadily, but he doesn't usually say much unless we specifically ask him to repeat/say/sign things (a.k.a. perform on command).

He's apparently terrified of pirates.  There's this one scene, in just one of our DVD's, that has a pirate.  He starts crying EVERY SINGLE TIME.  You would think that we would refrain from showing that particular DVD (I can just anticipate the comments that I will get from my sister), but we never remember until he erupts into tears.

One of his new little quirks is crossing the fingers on his right hand.  We don't have a picture of this, but he does it several times throughout the day.  It is pretty strange, and seemingly unexplainable, but cute nonetheless.

He does his very best to keep up with his big sister.  He runs around after her, laughs when she laughs, hides when she hides, squeals when she squeals, and just wants to be near her.  With all of that close proximity, there comes a good deal of sibling squabbles.  At this stage it's kind of funny, but we anticipate that things will ramp up over the years.

Isaac is DEFINITELY an outdoorsy guy.
He finds his shoes and walks around with them until we get his less-than-subtle hint.
He would spend the entire day outside if given the opportunity.
At 18-months, Isaac is:
28.8 pounds = 80th percentile
35 inches = 90th percentile
19.5 in. head circumference = 90th percentile

Ramping Up and Running the Riverbank

Phil and I have been preparing to run the 5/3 Riverbank Run for months, and this past weekend was the big event!  Most of our training was in the Florida heat, but we were able to go for one run in Michigan before the race.  I can't think of the last time that we ran in long sleeve shirts.

 Friday, May 11th, was the race expo...and it was a family affair.

Clare enjoyed being with her cousins...

 ...but her true highlight was probably the cotton candy (and sucker)

 Phil's brothers also ran on Saturday:

Keith (far left) ran the 10K and Brian (far right) ran the 25K.

 Clare was one of our cheerleaders on race day.

 Team Hillham or Durllary bright and early on race day.

 My mom, who has been chasing races for years, is the best cheerleader a runner could ever ask for...and her little prodige made it even better.  :)

 Pre-Race = Lots of Smiles

 The first minute of this video shows Phil, then Brian, then my Dad, and then me.

 Dad, feeling a little less perky than at the one mile mark, got a boost of energy upon seeing his #1 fan.  His look perfectly reflects how we all felt at the 14-mile mark.  Whew...

 In the end, however, we were all smiles again.  Running 15.5 miles is an accomplishment in and of itself, but we all felt good about our race.

 Phil's first Riverbank was a success, and he made his goal of getting into the elite 2-hour Club.  I was so proud of him!!!  This was my fifth Riverbank, and I beat my fastet time by eight minutes, thus making one of my goals.  My Dad, having completed his tenth Riverbank, was happy to finish feeling strong and healthy.  After years of being in the 2-hour Club, he is now just running for the health of it. 

For record keeping sake:

Phil - 1:55:37 (7:28 per mile)

Corrie - 2:03:33 (7:58 per mile)

Dad - 2:16:40 (8:46 per mile)

For my Dad's sake, I want to note that his personal best in the Riverbank was a 1:46.  That's incredibly FAST (approximately 7-minute miles), 
and he is still my running inspiration!