summer – Page 2 – Lemon Drop Pie

It’s the first full week of summer! Lily and Emmy have been out of school for almost three weeks now, and we’re slowly adjust to summer’s routine. I should write “lack of routine,” which is both freeing and horrible at the same time. We can sleep late, there’s no homework, and we can watch TV in the middle of the day. And we can also lie on the floor moaning about how bored we are and how no one will play with me, watch TV until we’re zombies and then not want to go to sleep at night because we’re not tired, and whine at the grocery store even though the cupboard are completely bare at home.

Yes, summer’s wonderful!

Our summer routine includes:

1. Swim Team for Lily. She has two hour practices every day, which wore her out at first. She’s becoming a stronger swimmer and has been working on diving off the block and flip turns. She was really looking forward to her first swim meet last week. Unfortunately, dark clouds rolled in and the temperature dropped into the 50’s, so it was cancelled. We were looking forward to her second swim meet on Wednesday…and then dark clouds rolled in and the Thor guard went off, and it was postponed. Ah, summer in the Midwest! Finally yesterday, Lily was able to swim in her first swim meet!

Lily swimming with her team during warm-ups.

She was so nervous, but she did fine! It was a home meet, and the coaches asked for parent volunteers to time the swimmers. I’ve never done it before…but I volunteered anyway. I figured if Lily was brave enough to do something new that made her nervous, I’d go ahead and do the same thing! It turned out to be an easy job, and I was able to meet one of the other swim team moms.

2. Vacation Bible School was this week! This was the first year I was not the VBS director, and I have to admit it was a welcome change. I can’t stay away from VBS, though, and I was the Bible Story Teller. When I started helping with VBS, I was pregnant with Emmy. Now both my girls are in the oldest groups for VBS! How did that happen?

Emmy VBS — Emmy came down with “leprosy” during VBS.

3. Daily Visits to a Playground: This was one of my goals for the summer, and while weather and schedules have interfered somewhat, we’ve gone to the park a lot! We’ve also been trying to eat plenty of ice cream to make sure we have energy to go to the park.

How are you kicking off your summer? Link up your summer posts here or tell us in the comments!

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Lily and Emmy began planning their big venture weeks ago. They consulted their dad and me on pricing, decided what hours they would work, and made a sign. They even made a list of supplies they would need.

Since they did all their planning so far in advance, I completely forgot about their lemonade stand until we were walking home on the last day of school. It was an early dismissal that day, so we were heading home early. They started talking about what they needed to do to set up the stand when we got home. “Mom,” they said, “You need to make the lemonade!”

In my own little head, I was imagining a picnic lunch with my two little girls, with the whole afternoon spread out before us and nothing to do. “Alright,” I sighed. “I’ll make the lemonade. After we eat lunch.”

“Mom! We’re opening at 1:00! We don’t have time to eat lunch!”

What? No time for lunch? Didn’t they remember how crabby ~~I get~~ they get when they don’t eat?

As I reluctantly dug a forgotten tube of concentrated lemonade from last summer out of the freezer, I wondered how long they would last out on the driveway waiting for someone to come buy their lemonade. I imagined I would be their only customer, and it was a long time before their father would come home to buy a cup. It wouldn’t take long before they would get bored out of their minds and lose interest in the whole thing.

Lily and Emmy soon had everything they needed. They had a tablecloth, napkins, cups, and change. After I delivered their fresh lemonade to them, I went into the house.

Imagine my surprise when Emmy ran inside just a couple of minutes later, letting the screen door slam behind her, yelling, “Mom! We had our first customer!” Our neighbor across the street had just bought a cup. I went outside to thank her, and we joked that I would have to put her dollar in a frame for the girls’ business.

As the afternoon wore on, some very generous people stopped to buy a cup. Lily and Emmy learned that setting their low price of 25 cents a cup paid off. The adults told them to keep the change, and the middle school kids that kept riding by on their bikes were willing to pay a quarter. In the end, they sold out and made $8.00. They excitedly split their earnings in half and were very pleased with themselves. I, on the other hand, was surprised by many things that afternoon. The girls had followed through on their plan, and it paid off!