It's Never Too Late to Celebrate!

School really snuck up on us so the launch of Caedmon's kindergarten year and the inauguration of the Wood Academy of Awesomeness turned out to be rather anti-climactic.

Several factors were involved in my negligence...

1. All of the local schools started school a week after our charter school/homeschool started, which led me to believe that I had one week of summer left. 
2. Caedmon had a tonsillectomy a week prior to school starting so he was still not 100% on the first day. 
3. I taught at South Bay the day before school started.
4. The Monday that school started, Andy woke up with a high fever and strep throat. So we headed to Urgent Care that morning instead of our school room. 

I was feeling like a pretty lame mom that I didn't do ANYTHING to celebrate the fact that my first born was officially starting "real" school. No back to school clothes or new pencils or even a special breakfast that morning. (We actually took our breakfast to Urgent Care and ate it in the lobby.) 

But, alas, it is never too late to celebrate! That's why 2 weeks after we launched homeschool, we made a memory with Caedmon. 

South Bay had been selling tickets to a San Jose Earthquakes soccer game as a fundraiser for our mission trip to Ethiopia. The game was this past Saturday night so we told Caedmon that we were going to take him to the game for his "starting school celebration". Caedmon didn't realize that we were already planning on attending the game, and it didn't matter because suddenly we made the night all about him! The added bonus was that Caedmon and Andy got to go out on the field pre-game to receive the check from the Earthquakes. He felt like big stuff! 

We also got him a new set of markers so he'd have a little gift to unwrap.

Sometimes life sneaks up on us and we miss occasions that really deserved to be celebrated. Maybe you were out of town for a friend's birthday. Maybe your husband got a great performance review or a promotion at work. Maybe your child learned how to ride a bike. A celebration doesn't have to be elaborate. It could be a quick trip to get some frozen yogurt one night after dinner or a candle in someone's blueberry muffin at breakfast. The point is, the event was acknowledged and the recipient felt special. 

Celebrations make life more fun and milestones more meaningful. Who/what can you celebrate today?