Saturday, August 31, 2013

No se nada limonada

Christopher came home with a wild hair idea yesterday.  He's been bugging us all summer to do a Lemonade Stand.  But he always chooses the most inopportune times to  ask about it.  For once, he asked afterschool on a really hot Friday afternoon.  And for once, I was totally game to the idea.  A hot day is perfect lemonade weather.  So I suggested, as I had before, that we make a list first.   (After all, so many issues can be solved by first starting a list. ;)  ) So we did.  We made a list of supplies we'd need.  And as soon as we were done with our list, I thought that would be the end of it.  But No, he and Sam immediately started dashing about the house looking for things to use on their list.

First was a Sign.  So we took a page from a large activity book, and Chris idea, turned it over, and he wrote Lemonade.  When I asked him how much he was going to charge, he spit out 25 cents.  He said it was fair, and I agreed.


Chris with the sign, list, money jar and cups we'd retrieved for the list.  

Then came the Fun part - the making of the lemonade.  


We had to make sure that both boys were Equally involved in the lemonade making process.  So Sam poured the powder (with a little help) from me on pouring into the cup.  And Chris did the stirring.  


Daddy arrived home just in time for us to tote our goodies out to the end of the driveway and help us set up.


First someone had to do Quality Control.  Sam volunteered of course, as lemonade (with no red 40) is his favorite drink.  He immediately dug in drinking for Quality Assurance testing, you know, for Science.  


And the lemonade was met with his stamp of approval. 


Then he offered brother a sip - you know, for Science. 


Chris approved.  


Once the product was satisfactory to all parties, then we proceeded to open for business.  


We were just in time for "rush hour" in our little neighborhood.  We opened from 5-6.  

 
Our first customers were our neighbors, Jaime and her littles Noah and Ella.  
Daddy and Jacob were happy to aid in supervising...though it quickly got too hot for Jacob to stay outside.



Ella smiles as she drinks her lemonade. 


I loved how happy Noah was with his.  


We had a surprising number of customers who supported us.  Just as we've supported the local police department in the past, we were so happy to help quench the thirst of this thirsty officer!

We were only open for an hour on Friday night, it was oppressively hot, and the kids were doing a wonderful job, but we ran out of ice, it was 95 degrees outside.  

Saturday morning, while Chris and I were out at karate, Willman Lemonade Stand took a call asking for our Saturday hours.  Grandma and Grandpa wanted to come by.  And our friends the Saupes were interested. 
Well, with 2 requests for business to open again, we just had to oblige.  


So on Saturday morning from 11-12, before it got too hot, we were open for business again.


Jake and I stayed close to home, it had taken a while for me to get Jacob cooled down after his last lemonade selling experience, but we could see that once again the boys were getting lots of support from neighbors. 


And before we knew it we had some special visitors.  
Grandma and Grandpa couldn't wait to support our little businessmen. 


For a total of 2 hours of  "work", the boys made $16.60.  Not a bad showing, why it's above minimum wage, still they have to spit their earnings, and give their tithe to church.  I don't think it's going to be quite enough to go to Disneyland like Chris wanted to, but it was still an amazing experience.  The boys surprised and impressed me with their salesmanship...now all we have to do is work on their math, and change giving skills.  I'm pretty sure none of our supporters got any change.  But then again, they were probably just being generous in heart and pocket.   The boys had a great time, and I'm sure they'll want to do it again next summer.  



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