Yes, it does thanks to Audi and a sunny, productive day to himself. Two Fridays ago I had a sub day with my class, and Jayden and Josie went to see Great-Grandma and Grandpa Manger. Audi had the whole day to himself. I thought he would clean out his toolbox, set up our computer media center, and play a little Wii perhaps. Nope. He cleared out a bunch of junk, devised a plan, measured, calculated, went to Lowe’s, measured and calculated again, hung two shelves, put up a hook rack for our golf clubs, put hooks up for a bed frame we’re not using at the moment, AND put up hooks to hang the beanbag game and the ladder. I was very impressed when I got home. It’s so awesome to have everything organized and where I can see it. We put some stuff in the attic this summer - like our tent and Christmas decorations - but things I get into every month or so are still in the garage. Now it all has it’s place and the cars fit perfectly. I’m definitely going to enjoy it, and I’m sure Audi will too when he doesn’t have to scrape snow off the Explorer this winter!

Jayden is doing very well with the new bedtime routine. It took a little longer for him to fall asleep tonight, but he slept all night in his own room last night. Yeah! The Morning Fairy came and gave him a present. The Morning Fairy is a friend of Santa Claus and goes to houses where big boys and girls are learning to sleep in their own rooms. If Jayden sleeps all night in his own room, the Morning Fairy puts a present outside his door. It was all wrapped up with his name on it. He thought it was so cool. Of course he noticed that the Morning Fairy has the same stickers as Mommy. (Can’t fool this kid long.) I’m going to have to get more stickers!

We’re trying something new here in the Scarpella household. It’s called - a routine. Ever heard of it? Yeah, me neither. I’ve thoroughly enjoyed not having to get up early, but I do not enjoy fighting with Jayden every night for two or three hours to go to bed. Therefore, I read a 387 page book in less than an hour and made a plan. It’s called the no-cry sleep solution for toddlers and preschoolers by Elizabeth Pantley. It’s a very good book - I highly recommend it. Anyway, it went great last night (our second night of staying with the plan). Jayden is doing very well with it. I’ve almost completed his checklist so he has a visual to follow as well. It was so cute when I asked him what would help him sleep in his own bed all night he said - and I quote because I wrote it down verbatim - “I would like you to stay in my room all night and sing me a song.” I used to sing him to sleep all the time, but I haven’t since, well, before we moved. He even remembered what song I sang and requested “Twinkle, twinkle, Little Star.” He was asleep in less than five minutes! Of course, the bedtime routine is over an hour, but it’s nice because it gives him a chance to slow down, and it gives us a chance to have some relaxing, bonding time together. I’ll keep you posted on how it goes! The hardest part for me is sticking to it. It’s worth it, and I’m going to have to start sometime before they head off to school. I might as well enjoy the stress-free bedtime sooner!

Amazing.  Absolutely amazing.  It was so awesome I can’t even begin to describe the experience…but I’ll try.

The concert was at the Historic Embassy Theatre in downtown Fort Wayne, Indiana.  I found a hotel less than three blocks away that took my Entertainment card so we got 50% off the rack rate ($59 for the night - not too shabby) so we checked in and walked down to the theatre.  There were so many people there.  People younger than us.  Audi and I were saying to each other, “How do these people even know who Ben Folds is?”  He has quite the fan base.  There was a woman probably five or six years older than I with her eight year old daughter right in front of me in the line for the restroom.  Audi said there was a group of fifteen year old boys spazing out while he was in the restroom.  Crazy.

Anyway, the first set was just the philharmonic.  They played a more upbeat set due to the fact that they knew they’d have a younger crowd that night.  It was great.  The fourth piece actually made me cry.  It was a Beatles Suite.  It started with “Yesterday” then moved into “Here Comes the Sun” (one of my top five Beatles’ songs) and then into “Come Together” (one of Audi’s favorites).  After that it was “Can’t Buy Me Love,” “Let It Be,” and “All You Need is Love.”  It was just so unexpected to hear Beatles’ music played by a symphony.  It was gorgeous.  The conductor said before the performance, “We didn’t want to try to sound like the Beatles because it can’t be done, so we decided to give their music their dues and play it up in true symphonic style.”  Mission accomplished.

After intermission, Ben’s conductor came out and started the first song with the symphony.  Ben joined them just as the overture was ending to start the song with the piano.  Audi grabbed my leg as soon as he heard the overture, but I didn’t know what song it was until Ben started playing.  It’s my current favorite of his - the one I really wanted to hear at his last concert and started to yell out as a request before he started playing it - “Zak and Sara.”  It was so cool.  When it comes to Ben’s music, it’s hard to have a favorite because they’re all so good.  The entire set was incredible.  There wasn’t one song that sounded off or needed something else added or taken away with the philharmonic instruments.  I loved all the songs he played, and we were even surprised at some of them Ben decided to orchastrate.  The one that got to me (yes, I cried again) and I know it got to Audi was “Gracie.”  It’s about his daughter and it fits perfectly not only with Josie’s personality, but with her name as well.  Whenever I sing it in my head, I always say “Josie” instead of “Gracie” and that’s what did it for me.  It was beautiful.

We got him to do an encore with the philharmonic, “The Luckiest” - another great one.  Then, it was obvious that the members of the philharmonic were done, but we (the young audience) were on our feet and kept clapping for about five minutes until Ben came back out.  It was so funny to see the faces of the philharmonic.  They didn’t know what to do.  When Ben started playing “Army,” we all cheered and sang along with him.  There’s even a part where we are his band.  The song was from when he was with Ben Folds Five so there are “band members” missing; and therefore, instruments missing.  I’m not sure if it’s just two trumpet parts or a trumpet and saxaphone part, but anyway, we didn’t need any direction.  We jumped right in when he needed us with half the audience taking one part and the other half taking the other part.  He turned to the philharmonic who was just shocked and kind of shrugged his shoulders like, “What’s up?  I got my own orchestra!”  It was so cool.  We would definitely not hesitate to see a show like that again.  Audi wanted to drive straight to Lexington, Kentucky, where he was playing the next night with their philharmonic.  It was a great experience.  I’ll never forget it.

Check out this link for some pictures:http://www.joelfaurote.com/site/?p=194.