Best lemonade stand, EVER!

      For weeks, no, really months, Elijah has been pestering me about having a lemonade stand.  The last time we had one was probably 2 summers ago so I suppose we were due.  The problem is, he never understands timing.  It would be 6pm on a Tuesday night and he would beg and beg and beg. Relentless. I guess he figures that if a scary ice-cream truck can sell his wares, then we can too. And I guess my reason for not rallying behind the idea is that it would take time out in the heat, that we would have to go and buy lots of items, and I am always afraid our neighbors will tire of our "would you like to buy" prodding.  It was time though, so I gave in this past week.  I told him that Saturday would be the day and that he should go make a sign, which he promptly did with the lightest colors ever.  He included not only lemonade, but pink lemonade and berry blast kool-aid and 7-Up and A&W and anything he saw in our cupboard or fridge.  He was ever so proud of this sign. 

    After a week of VBS where the money went to Project: Clean Water, Elijah and Lydia decided they wanted to give some to that and some to their DisneyWorld fund (which is just an old pencil box full of coins). We started on Saturday morning around 10:30 or 11:00 and the whole family got involved.  Kenny went to Kroger to buy extra cups, ice, a new pitcher, lemons, more lemonade and cookies.  Elijah traded off sign-holder duties with his sisters, but he was the mainstay.  Lydia thought climbing the stop sign in front of our house would garner attention as she yelled to every car that drove by.  Lanie pranced around causing drivers to have that "oh, look at that!" response and stop their car.  I sat in the heat, poured lemonade when it was too heavy for the kids to pour it, and constantly reminded them how to talk to other people.  I couldn't believe how many times I had to remind Lydia to actually face the person she was talking to as she looked at me and almost whispered the cost of the lemonade and cookies.  I had to remind Elijah to start with a "Hello, how are you?" instead of jumping in with a checklist of what they could choose. And Lanie, I just had to remind her not to drink everything.  

       Because the kids had a cause and a goal, our neighbors were quite generous.  I also like to think the lemonade was just that good.   At 4:30, they were shutting down only to have our neighbor who is a photographer for the Houston Chronicle stroll up with his camera ready to take a picture of a lemonade stand for the HC summer fun feature.  Unfortunately, his pictures of the kids taking the table down and into the house didn't make the cut and we missed what would have been a great newspaper clipping day for us.  We even offered to get everything back out but apparently the Chronicle features can't be posed.  Who knew? He ended up going to the splash pad and taking pictures there.  It was disappointing, especially when the kids were all psyched up to be in the paper.  Just the way it goes with us.  Fame is not our forte.

       But, the lemonade stand was truly a success with a final total of $86.  I know!  Can you believe that?  It was with a lot of pride that they took bills (not coins that we usually scramble to find) to offering the next day.  And after a few months of not thinking about Disney World, the discussion is back, the tour books are out, and the excitement is building as more coins were added to the pencil box.  I had a friend ask me if I had considered surprising the kids with this November trip to "the happiest place on earth."  I have often wished we had.  I love the Christmas commercials where the kids are in the car and the parents break the news and the screaming and the hugging and the screaming.  It always makes me a little teary-eyed.  But after this weekend, the pleasure of watching all 3 of them work toward a goal, and count their coins, and make plans about what they might spend it on, may have trumped my desire of a surprise trip.  Hard to say.
       But I can now rest easy knowing Elijah got his wish.  The lemonade stand was great and hopefully out of his system.  Or it could have just prompted him to think of more money-making schemes. If Elijah starts calling or emailing you trying to sell his toys, you have been warned.  

Taking  a lunch break under the table.  Notice the Joker-like face of Lanie.  Lots of berry-punch.