Ice-cold lemonade & Jaden's new bike!

Jaden is at that age where he wants/begs for toys whenever we go to the store. I usually say, "Is it your birthday or Christmas? You can put that on your wish list for when it is." Occasionally, I do oblige him with a small toy or trinket even when it isn't his birthday or Christmas. Since it is hard not to as his birthday and Christmas are only 13 days apart! This summer I started letting him earn some money for doing small chores around the house (i.e. 50 cents for folding towels). He loves earning extra money and often asks me if I have any jobs for him to do. Erin and I decided that it would be fun (and a learning experience) for Laurel and Jaden to run a lemonade stand at the entrance to the dog park up the street from our house. The young entrepreneurs (and their moms;) thought it would also be a good idea to sell some dog cookies too! Here they are making their lemonade stand sign. All set up and ready for business. We taught them to say, "Come and get your ice-cold lemonade!" They were a little surprised when some people wouldn't stop by, but they did get a few customers. Counting up the cash, Jaden's favorite part! We stayed a little over an hour and they made around $10. The next day we took them to Toys R Us to let them pick out something special. Jaden really wanted a Star Wars lego toy that was $35 so I pitched in the rest of the money.

Jaden also got a new bike this month. He outgrew his old bike that he learned to ride without training wheels last fall. We chose this BMX brand since it can grow with him and will (hopefully) last a few years.
Here he is riding it the first day: