Lemen Ade & Rocks & Beads

For three days Shelly was talking about having a sale. Selling some of her beads. Some rocks. Maybe some of the jewelry she's made. Archer said maybe he'd sell some of his rocks too.

On Tuesday she asked if she could do her sale, but I put her off. There was a heat advisory. I told her it was too hot, it was dangerous. We had to stay inside.

Wednesday she asked again. "You haven't made a sign to tell people what you're selling." I thought I might be able to put her off for another day or two, but no luck. They were determined. It only took them a half hour and by 12:30, they were outside. They had dragged a patio table from the back of the house to the driveway, they carefully arranged their products on the table. We discussed pricing and remembering to say thank you to their customers. They were open for business.

For the next SEVEN HOURS they sat outside, selling lemonade and occasionally a rock or a bracelet. Elijah was with them for the first hour or two, we tried to get him dressed but it turned into a big game with him running away... "Get me get me!!" Eventually I made him come inside for a nap, when he started swiping beads and rocks off the table (without paying, of course). Most of their customers overpaid for the lemonade and didn't wait for change. Every single sale prompted an update to me, "we just had a customer!"

In the late afternoon, Shelly started making more bracelets with her beads, while Archer rode his bike around the neighborhood announcing for all to hear, "Lemonade for sale, fifty cents! Bracelets for sale!" Shelly took her turn riding around too, advertising the sale.

There was the one guy who drove by, stopped to give them a dollar and say "I'll be back for my lemonade after work." There were the neighbors who live across the street from us, four out of the five of them stopped by throughout the day to support the young entrepreneurs. There were the people that passed by and completely ignored them, and the people that walked by and said they'd be back and then actually came back.

At supper time, Archer and Shelly took turns coming in to grab a slice of pizza and run out again. There were lots of trips in and out for more supplies, more snacks, mix up another pitcher of lemonade.

Finally, at 7:30, I was able to drag them back inside. They counted up their earnings... EIGHT DOLLARS! Pretty impressive! They split it evenly, Archer put some of his money into the Giving Jar (where we collect change for a charity), Shelly gave some of her money to Elijah, and the rest is all safely stowed away in their piggy banks.

The most impressive part of this whole thing is that for seven or eight hours, those kids were cooperating, not arguing, working together and completely occupied with a common goal. There was no intervention from me (except for mixing up some more lemonade and providing a pizza). They did a great job!

And also... thanks to all of the kind neighbors who stopped by, they gave the kids some great memories!

Now they're back out there again today, I told them they could only do it for a couple of hours and then we need to be done with it (don't want to test the neighbors' generosity too much!). Now if we can just come up with some other common goal to entertain them for another few days...