I remember going to the grocery store before I had kids.

I was just married, pushing my cart up and down the aisles, buying ingredients for elaborate dinners with complicated names.I could take my time, reading the backs of boxes, discovering imported gems in fancy French bottles, lingering over the exotic cheese section.

Now, I rank going to the store just above a root canal.

The fist fights that almost ensue in the cereal aisle are that of legend. Each child selecting their own box, solely determined by the colorful cartoon character on the front and the best prize inside. Never mind what the cereal actually tastes like.

“Cereal? There’s cereal in the box too, mom?”

After I snap them all in their car seats, gleefully oogling their boxes, I load the trunk a little older, a little more defeated.

I got Huggies, right? Yes, okay.

Milk, toilet paper, detergent…check, check, check.

I got something for dinner, right?

Hmm..I think…it’s all so blurry. Oh well, I’ll just make something up I suppose.

As per tradition, I can’t unload a single item or take my coat off until I stand in the middle of the kitchen and open and retrieve all three cereal toys from their boxes. It’s a skilled process, you see. Getting my hand in there just gently enough as to not disrupt the shape of the bag, lest the box will never close properly again, the cereal will stale, and I will back at the store repeating this whole process again next week.

Once I’m alone in the kitchen, I put away the cold items and start taking stock of what’s been blindly thrown into my cart. And, then I see it. A pretty new package of Huggies Little Movers diapers.

So shiny and perfect. I’m giddy, because inside every single package is a winning code. Inside that package is my chance to win iPods, awesome giftcards, bicycles, music, and bonus reward points.

As I slip my hand inside the box and reach around for the Keep Up booklet with my unique code, and suddenly, I remember just why boxes of cereal with prizes inside are just so darn exciting!

- Brittany, Barefoot Foodie