a rainbow dinner

I have a friend whose husband works most Friday nights.  Gene and I have been talking about how to schedule some guy time for him on some Friday nights.  So, I decided that it would be great to combine the two and have my friend and her two girls over for supper on the nights Gene goes out with the guys.  This way my friend and I can double-team the kids and help each other out on these lonely nights when our husbands aren't around to help with dinner, etc.  

Tonight when they came for dinner, I decided that it would be fun to do a picnic on the patio along with a special meal.  First, I had the kids color a rainbow.  All the colors were written on the rainbow so that they were sure to get all the colors right.  

Then I presented them with a rainbow dinner in an ice cube tray!  We compared their dinner to their rainbow and made sure all the colors were represented.  At one point Callan said, "But why are we eating a rainbow, Mommy?"  I told him because it was a fun and special thing to do with our friends.

Red = ketchup/hotdog

Orange = carrots, orange

Yellow = mac 'n cheese

Green = green apple and green peppers

Blue = blueberries

Purple = pureed blueberries mixed into plain yogurt

And then some white cheese sticks thrown in on the end to fill the extra space on the ice tray.  :)

I also included toothpicks for them to use as "utensils."  They thought that was fun.  

It didn't look like much food when I was cutting it all up into tiny, tiny pieces to fit into the ice cube slots, but it took them all awhile to eat it all! 

I came up with this concept by combining two ideas I stole from here and here.