Last week, I shared information about the sendCheer campaign from Cheerios® and the USO aimed at sending “Cheer” to military families. We were so excited to participate this week, and we’ve been searching high and low for the specially marked Cheerios boxes. Finally, we found them yesterday.

Right now Emma’s favorite thing to do is color and paint, so she was excited to decorate the postcard that came with our box of Cheerios. We set up a special spot and got to work.

We carefully cut the box open and found the postcard inside along with instructions.

After cutting out the card, we laid out all of the supplies. She wanted to use glitter and glue to decorate the postcard, but settled for crayons and markers.

Tada! The finished design. Emma was so excited to send it off to a deserving member of our military.

We live near two military bases, so naturally we know quite a few military families. Some with family members who are currently deployed. I don’t know a better way to comfort someone than with a sweet treat, and since we don’t generally eat regular Cheerios (we like Multigrain), Emma and I decided to make these cookies to show our appreciation for our local military families. Because other than creating art, Emma’s second favorite thing to do is to help mommy bake up treats.

Cheerios® Oat Cookies

Ingredients
1 1/2 cups sugar
1/4 cup butter or margarine, softened
1/2 cup fat-free egg product
1/3 cup canola oil
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 1/2 cups Gold Medal® all-purpose flour
1 cup quick-cooking or regular oats
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
3 cups Cheerios® cereal
1 cup raisins

Directions
Heat oven to 375°F.
In large bowl, beat sugar and butter on medium speed until blended.
Beat in egg product, oil and vanilla.
Stir in flour, oats, baking soda and salt. Stir in cereal and raisins.
Drop dough by slightly rounded tablespoonfuls 2 inches apart onto ungreased cookie sheet.
Bake 9 to 11 minutes or until light brown.
Remove from cookie sheet to cooling rack; cool.

Keep your eyes out for special Walmart displays for the Cheerios sendCheer campaign, and pick up your own box! Your kids will love sending cheer, and it helps teach a valuable lesson. For each postcard received, Cheerios will donate $1 to the USO to help support programs for military families. Cheerios has already donated $150,000 and will donate up to an additional $100,000 based upon the number of postcards received by November 30, 2012.

This post has been compensated as part of a sponsored charitable opportunity for Collective Bias. All thoughts and opinions expressed herein are solely mine.