When Life Hands You Lemons...........

When life hands you lemons........you cut em up, squeeze them dry, add sugar and water and sell lemonade to raise money for a cause. In trying to teach my children to give back and be a blessing to others we hosted an Anthem Lemonaid Stand for our local Children's Hospital @ VCU and the Children's Miracle Network. If you don't already know The Children's Miracle Network is a foundation that helps to research and find a cure for childhood cancer as well as cancer treatment. They supplied us with CountryTime lemonade, cups, pitchers, balloons, stickers and the cutest (not to my 15 year old) lemon slice hats. Of course, me being who I am I had to add fresh lemons and sugar to the mix(not to brag but they were coming back for seconds;)). We also cut up lemon slices and made a lemonade stand sign. I loved the idea of a vintage style stand so I had to be just a tiny bit over the top. I originally wanted to get a Snoopy costume and have the kids dress up like Peanuts characters but time did not permit......maybe next year. Our setup location was at Walmart and due to the weather they were kind enough to let us setup inside. But the girls had a great time and luckily my youngest slept through the whole thing. The motto "kids helping kids" was definitely in motion on this day. They pretty much did it all by themselves as I watched; and as my role of momager I had to referee since they were fighting over who would pour, who would take money, and who would get the lemon slice. In four hours we raised $199.31!!! This was a wonderful way to get the kids involved. It was something that was fun, rewarding and lemonade for the soul. It was selfless and they understand how much four hours of their time made a difference. Please get your children involved. If you want to learn more about the Anthem Lemonaid Stand or the Children's Miracle Network please visit www.anthemlemonaid.com.