Cooper Family Slumber Party

Tonight we had a Cooper Family Sleepover. When we got home from school and work, Bryan and I told the kids our plan, and Tayan wanted to know what the special occasion was. I told him it wasn't anything in particular, just something me and Daddy thought would be fun to do. He barely believed me, thinking that there must be some occasion we weren't admitting to him.

We all got in our pjs, ordered pizza, and watched Into the Woods in the livingoom. We had fresh-baked chocolate chip cookies, too. After the movie, we all headed up to the attic for the slumber party.

After a brief freak-out episode of Zene crying because he had already fallen asleep during the movie and was convinced he wouldn't have ANY fun and his FIRST slumber party was RUINED because he was too tired to stay awake and we tried to re-assure him and tell him to get up out of bed and/or drink another orange Fanta and/or eat some Doritos. Eventually he sat up and ate some Doritos and got a second wind.

While Bryan and Tayan played Punch-Out and Gauntlet, me and Zene built an amazing wall-coaster which almost had a loop de loop, but that ended up not working out. It did, however, have an amazing set of steps, some cool turns, and eventually a completely flat track that made the marble come to a complete stop before falling off of the end.

(Floyd was banned from the sleepover for peeing all over the floor near the front door because he was too excited to keep chewing his bone to go out and pee).

After all that excitement it was about 10:30, which is about as late as Zene has ever been up. We layed in bed and watched a funny Youtube video, then Bryan, Tayan, and Zene talked about favorite sleepover memories from the past, and other conversational fare... while I typed this.

It was an epic Cooper Evening, and reminded me how very special it is to have bright, happy, healthy kids. These years are so few, and we spend too few hours like the hours we spent tonight, enjoying each others' company, laughing, and loving life.

Bring on 2015

2015 is going to be a great year. I felt it on New Years Eve as we were surrounded by friends in our house having a great time. I felt it even more on New Years Day when I awoke feeling an underlying energy I hadn't felt in a long time. Changes are coming for me this year; some of them I'm already aware of, some of course are unknown.

One change I am hoping for is visiting this blog regularly. The time when I was regularly writing here was some of the most personally productive time in my past. I was physically in the best shape of my life, and had a great confidence in myself.

In the 2 years since, I've been productive in another way. I've developed my career to the point where now, I'm about to embark on a chapter that is beyond what I ever thought I would achieve. It's been a tumultuous couple of years getting to this point, and it's taken its toll on me both physically and emotionally. I believe this transition is coming to an end, and feel like I'm about to emerge on the other end of this tunnel.

So, bring on this new year! I'm ready for a new leaf, and eager at the opportunities and challenges that await me.