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.
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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. |
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