Dinner on the Kids

Madison and Jake have been receiving mysterious letters and notes giving them instructions to do different activities. A couple weeks ago they had to make a list of 30 activities that they could do without spending money and then they were sent on a frog hunt. Last week they received an even more mysterious letter that had them mix up a potion with some powder and based off clues from this they were sent to a local park to search for their next clue. In that note they were told to make a meal together that involved only one color. So, we decided that last night would be the night they were in charge of dinner.

They worked together to come up with foods for different colors - even Mike and I were getting into brainstorming. In the end they decided on the color yellow and their menu included chicken, noodles, corn, lemonade and ice cream (vanilla) for dessert.

Maddie was in charge of cooking the chicken. She wasn't so sure about the grease splattering thing and let out more than a few little screams until she got used to the process. Mike overlooked her shoulder at one point and wanted to know what was going into the chicken. I told him it was going to be buttered noodles. I guess being the dad means he gets a veto power - he wanted some type of gravy or something with a little more taste than butter. Luckily in the cupboards we found cheddar cheese soup - YELLOW! Jake and Maddie wholeheartedly agreed to add it.

Jake was in charge of lemonade. Jake LOVES lemonade so this was so exciting for him. He even got to taste-test it to see if it needed more sugar. After that batch, he and Mike pulled the corn out of the freezer and got to work getting that cooked up. When dinner was served - here's the miracle. Both kids ate all their corn without complaints - AND ASKED FOR MORE!! I dived for the corn before they changed their minds. Who knows if it was that "they" made it or if it was because it was frozen instead of canned, but we'll definitely be trying it again!

The finished product needed a name. During the cooking process they decided they felt like "Ratatoille" and decided to call their dinner "Rata-pa-toille". I told them I didn't think it sounded very appetizing. Then, once dinner was all laid on the table, we brainstormed some more. They said we needed to write it in the recipe book as the "sunshine dinner".

This morning we found another note taped to the front door. It said that we are supposed to go to the Shakopee Library on Thursday and meet up with a specific person there. The kids are trying their hardest to figure out who the mysterious person is and they are wondering if the person at the library will be able to drop any clues. Good thing Maddie is so into Nancy Drew - her clue sniffing abilities are at their peak!