Saturday, May 8, 2010

"Jelly Beans for Sale!!"

Forgive me. I started this post a few weeks back and never finished it.

I'm finally finishing it now.

Not long ago, Whit decided to open a road-side jelly bean stand.

Not lemonade.

Not ice cream.

Jelly beans.

Innovator.

I train 'em right.

So, he went about preparations for opening his store.

He made a store front sign.



He gathered supplies.


He finessed some investors (aka Papa Joe and Hon).

And, he purchased his first pack of jelly beans to sale. Not just any ole' beans, either; only Jelly Bellys for Whit's shop ('cause we're high class like that).


On Thursday afternoon, the timing was right for the official grand opening of "Whit's Jelly Jumpe Shop." (Jumpe is pronounced Jump-ee, just in case you were wondering.)

He "hired" his sister as his assistant to set up shop. He bossed her around and told her what to do. (This must come naturally to some.) Then the strangest thing happened.

She followed his orders and did as he instructed.

{Insert cricket noises here.}

Finally, they were ready to open.


He had the signs, the product, and the assistant.

Lucky for him, he also had time to kill.


Poor kids sat there for 30-45 minutes before anyone even noticed they were there. They alternated between walking up and down the sidewalk screaming "Jelly beans for SALE!!" and sitting in the chairs.

Here's the view from my seat on the porch.


Then it happened.

They had their first customer.


They were so excited, I thought they were going to wet their pants. Truly.

They scurried around and bumped into each other.

Whit assured me they had it under control and wouldn't let me come out to the curb. The customers gave me a reassuring nod and so, I sat back down and watched the events unfold.

At one point, Olivia got so confused, she almost gave the dollar bill back to the customer.

That is, until Whit realized what was happening and quickly put a stop to it.

When the jellly beans were scooped and packaged up, I heard Whit say, "Thanks for stopping by our store! Come back this weekend, the jelly beans will be FREE!"

Wow. A marketing scheme. At six years old. Just wow.

It was really too, too cute. They were as proud as I've ever seen them.


And, honestly, I think I was as proud of them as I've ever been.

Since that initial opening, we've opened the jelly bean shop once or twice more.

We've had a few more customers.


We've added a few more workers/volunteers (they get paid in jelly beans).


And, if we can just keep from eating the profits, we might just make enough money this summer to donate to the relief efforts in Haiti.


Because that's how we roll in the summer time.

6 comments:

Stacy said...

Wow, never heard of a jelly bean shop,but my hubby would LOVE some. He only eats that "high class" kind of jelly beans:)

They both looks so happy!Way to go Whit and Olivia!!

emilyb said...

So cute and I love that Livi is assisting in her binkini!! I think Whit could talk Papa Joe into investing in anything he wanted to do... just glad it was jelly beans and not something much bigger :)

Erin said...

That is the cutest thing ever! I love how you guys "roll"!

Summer said...

too cute!!! Brynn has been begging to have a lemonade stand for the past couple of summers. She's finally going to get her chance when we go to the beach :)
by the way...loved Livi working in the bikini ;)

Anonymous said...

I loved to read this Jelly bean adventure!!
TFS

Anonymous said...

hysterical! business owners in the making!