Lemonade Stand

Parenting can be so frustrating but you have to love it when everything comes together.  This weekend was one of those rare occasions when the stars were all aligned.  Nolan had recently seen a new Wii video game he wanted, Bethany was having a garage sale, I was home with no major projects or plans and so I presented the idea of Nolan running a lemonade stand. He seemed excited enough so, of course, I saw this as a great learning opportunity and put on my coaching hat...

Step #1

He got out a pen and paper from his "spy drawer" in his closet to make a list.  The 1st thing his mind came to was A BOX.  I told him a table might be more sturdy and he agreed.  After completing the list he drew the boxes and checked everything off that we already had at the house.  The next day at the store he make an executive decision to get both regular and pink flavors. He and I both learned that the Koolaid packs are much cheaper than Countrytime, especially when you tap into Mom's sugar supply..haha (we spotted Mom a free cup or two for that one)

Step #2

Set up was a little delayed. We had every intention of getting started at 7am when the garage sale started but he and I both woke up around 8:30am, whoops.  We were set up in no time though and making sales right away.  (Nolan was right; the pink flavor was the most popular).  The popcorn you see was a nice touch that Nolan's uncle Benni did.  Unfortunately his item was not as much of a hit.  I thing a 14 yr old having a little less cuteness factor may have played into it a bit.  (Sorry Ben, you are still cute in my eye's..haha.)

Step #3

This was one of the most important steps, finding are target base.  It seemed like the 2 yr old brother was the bulls eye.  He must have gone to Mom for a quarter to get lemonade about once every 15 minutes.  As faithful as he was we sill have to give a shout out to our customer's of the day:  Our friend Kristen from church and her Mom took this award when they left a nice big tip.  I'm pretty sure Nolan met his quota and could have packed it up as soon as they left. (I think the stand had been in operation for about 2 hrs total at that point.)

Step #4

Having fun was the main agenda and with two full days of sitting there had to be some wrestling at some point. He also managed to take a break each day to go to the pool but I must say he stayed pretty focused.

Step #5

Accounting was the last step which proved it was a great success.  Nolan learned a little more about counting money, profit and loss, as well as tithing.  He also made sure he paid me back for spotting him a few bucks at the store.  I told him to keep it since he worked so hard but he insisted.  I have to say that made me pretty proud.

For those of you wondering about his video game; he is almost there.  The stipulations were that he could get it if he paid for half ($20), did a chore everyday for the month of June, and read all 6 of his library books.  He has a few days left of chores and one book to go.  I guess now I will have to post a pic of him playing the new game wen he gets it (to be continued)...