our little business woman

Over the weekend I had a garage sale (it was a neighborhood garage sale, so there were probably 30 or more sales around our neighborhood on Friday and Saturday).  My object wasn't so much to make money, but to get rid of baby stuff.  TONS of baby stuff.  And I'm happy to say that it's all gone--what wasn't bought was picked up Sunday by a guy who organizes a free store for his church.  I was sad to see some of it go, knowing that I'd never have another baby to use it, but I also feel that much more free, having huge piles and boxes of stuff out of my house.

A few weeks ago I asked Rachel if she'd like to have a lemonade stand at our garage sale.  When we go to sales, her favorite part is buying a cookie or lemonade from kids, so I figured she'd love it. She was SO excited about the idea and talked about it for weeks leading up to the sale.

The day before school started we bought the supplies and made the poster.  My mom found her an actual lemonade stand at a garage sale she went to, and brought it down for her to use (My mom has been here for several days, helping me while my husband is off climbing Mt. Whitney in California this week--which ,by the way, he accomplished this afternoon!  I received a call from him from the summit!  So proud of him!). 

Friday she had kindergarten.  I was outside very early in the morning, getting ready for the sale.  Rachel wanted to help, which means she was up and ready for school early as well.  The bus comes at 8:30, but at 7:30 Rachel was already out at the bus stop, waiting (all by herself, seeing it was an hour early!).

She couldn't wait to get started with the lemonade stand when she bounded off the school bus at noon!  We got it set up and the selling began.

She LOVED it!  She'd ask everyone who came up, "Would you like to buy some cookies or lemonade?" 

Sales were good on Friday.  The customers at my garage sales were kind and stopped to buy from her--probably because she was so darn cute!

Friday night she asked if she had enough to go to Disney World (she made about $13 that day....).  We told her no, so she asked, "Is it enough to go get ice cream at ______?" (insert name of our favorite ice cream store.)  Like ice cream is the next best thing, second only to Disney World!  She really has NO concept of money!

Saturday our sales were pretty slow.  She was excited to get started (I wouldn't let her start selling until 10 AM, because most people wouldn't want to buy lemonade or cookies before then), and all of the neighborhood kids had heard about her lemonade stand and were gathered around most of the morning, either helping with the sales or buying cookies.  She was the most popular kid in the neighborhood!

But around noon, they all were gone and slow sales had our little business woman bored.  Lucky for her, help was on the way, in the form of her cousins.  They were coming down for lunch, and her cousins, Ethan and Alex, were excited to man the lemonade stand for the rest of the afternoon.  Her cousin, Emma, entertained Rachel and Rebecca.

I made Rachel pay her cousins a little bit for their time manning the store, since she really didn't have anything to do with the lemonade stand that afternoon.  Even after paying them, she still made almost $25 this weekend!  The most money she's ever had is $4!  I don't know what she'll do with her earnings. 

Since it won't get her to Disney World, I guess she'll be eating a lot of ice cream!