Cookie Capers

The neighbors were getting annoyed. I was wondering if our decision not to give the girls an allowance had backfired. How many lemonade/Gatorade/hot chocolate/sweet tea stands should one group of sisters have in a given week? I knew I needed to step in when they started to sell their hand-woven scarves in 95 degree heat. So I laid down the law: only one stand a week, and drinks only!

Wouldn’t you know it—the first day they had their strictly sweet tea stand, Mrs. Martini said, "Oh, I was hoping you were selling cookies." I must admit, I have a weakness for cookie baking. The girls gained a bit of neighborhood fame the day we sold Christmas cookies and homemade hot chocolate on our corner. But I can’t take any credit for what happened next. The girls came up with the idea to start a cookie business. They made an order form on the computer, which their dad and I whittled down from about 30 dessert options including cheesecake to 6 cookie varieties. The plan was to make a batch to sell at the next lemonade stand, and hand out the order forms as well. While we were thinking of it, we brought some order forms to the allergist, the orthodontist, swim team, and sent some to work with Dad. We haven’t even had a Gatorade stand, and the girls are swamped. It was like: BAM! Orders flew in. I think they have had about 20 dozen cookies ordered so far.

I suggested to Christiana that she should pay for her youth group trip to the IMAX theatre. "Mom!" she said. Sometimes you need to hit them over the head with a ton of bricks—or cookies.