a country lemonade stand

Ivar has been asking for chores lately, trying to earn quarters. He has his eyes on Mack, the truck from the movie Cars that carries Lightening McQueen across the country to his races. We told him he could wait until his birthday, or try to earn the money to buy Mack on his own. So he has been working hard. If he checks for eggs each day for a week he gets a quarter. If he helps me unload the dishwasher he can sometimes earn a quarter. We try to come up with good tasks and he has been very helpful.

Earlier this week, Ivar was lamenting how long it was going to take him to get Mack and then Rory explained another way to earn quarters. "Ivar. There is another way to earn money. You offer something that someone else wants to buy. You work hard to make something and someone else will give you their quarters and you give them the thing you made."

Rory explained the concept of a lemonade stand, and when I came home that night they proudly showed me the sign they had worked so hard on.

Can you see the joy on this boy's face?!! He was so, so proud! Rory was teaching him what to say when the neighbors came. For each person he proudly said, "How can I help you? One dollar will give you two cookies and one cup of lemonade." Rory showed him how to give them their lemonade and cookies first, and then to take their quarters. And then to thank them for buying his lemonade. It was so, so awesome. And Ivar was a very good salesman.

The funny thing about having a lemonade stand in the country is that we rarely have cars drive by! So last night I emailed our neighbors telling them that we would be selling lemonade and cookies from 6-7pm. I wrote that Ivar was working towards purchasing a truck to hold his favorite cars and we'd love to see them.

As a result, the turnout was great. Lots of neighbors came at the same time and it turned into a little catch up for everyone. And we loved that it was just an hour. It was super muggy and our kids' interest was about an hour in length anyway. Ivar worked hard, Elsie ate a lot of cookies and I fielded lots of questions about being 37 weeks pregnant. (Check out the side profile of me below!)

It was only right before bedtime that Rory helped Ivar count his money and found that, combined with the money he had already earned through chores, he had enough money to buy Mack and to tithe on his earnings. Everyone was very, very pleased. And Ivar didn't fall asleep until 10:15.