Two Arabella Bedtime Stories

The dinosaur mommy has a pirate flag on her head because she doesn't feel good. Aargh! The End  


author's epilogue:  Arabella doesn't feel good either so she will play the Curious George puzzle. Achoo! Ouch! 




Second story:


The turkey does not sing. The turkey does not sing Happy Birthday. Because the trees are fall down on Arabella's hairs. Jessie hat hairs. Jesse sings. Turkey goes round and round a little bit. Phone goes in Curious George song - no the phone digs out. Baby goes in the crayon book. 




Arabella loves your responses to her stories - so comment on her mom's blog!

Can reading Gretchen and Arabella's blog change your life ?!?!?!?!

I found this cool (at least I think it's cool) free program on the Greater Good Science Center's blog - it's a free program run by BJ Fogg, a PhD at Stanford.


Here's the description from the website:

I’ve shared “3 Tiny Habits” with over 4,500 people around the world. I invite you to join me soon.

My 5-day method is simple and effective. And people say it’s fun.
A session runs like this: 

• Getting Set Up (12 min): You learn about habits and select 3 new habits you want.
• Monday - Friday (3 min): You do your 3 tiny habits, and you respond to a daily message from me.

That’s all! 

In less than 30 minutes total, you’ll learn skills that will benefit you for a lifetime.

Because this method gives great results, some say I should charge for this service. But that’s not my style. For me, it’s rewarding to help people. 

Doesn't that sound cool? I'm signing up for the July 2 - July 6th session - I hope some other people will want to join me. Now I just need to narrow down to the 3 habits I want to cultivate. 

What 3 tiny habits would you want to change? Or even one? Please tell me in the comments section - I am super curious!  

Babies are people too

» Listen to Our Babies, Heal Our Nation: Bloggers Unite to Humanize Babies Little Hearts/Gentle Parenting Resources

What Arabella did in Berkeley

I had 2 appraisals to do in the Bay Area on Monday and Keith and Arabella tagged along so we could have some family time, and I could type while Keith drove.  First house was in Livermore - there was a pretty standard little park nearby and we let Arabella get some energy out there before the drive to Berkeley.

Here Arabella is swinging on the monkey bars by herself. I am of the opinion that this outfit also makes her look like a mini Golden Girl - does anyone else see it? 

Then it was back in the car to Berkeley, where we found an awesome park near my last house - Cordonices Park. Here's their really cool concrete slide with cardboard pieces to sled on.

Slid at Cordonices Park (pic from Google) -Forgot to take pic of Arabella on there (Keith's fault)

Then we went to dinner at Filippo's on College Avenue - the pizza was awesome (I got pancetta, artichoke, olives and anchovies-Keith said too salty but Arabella and i knew it was good). I did not take a picture of the pizza - I need to start photographing everything for future exhibit on my blog!  We almost left when we weren't acknowledged after being seated for almost 15 minutes but once we got service it was great and pretty quick to get our food.

NO PIZZA PHOTO HERE - I FORGOT - BAD MOMMY BLOGGER

Arabella above the crowd on Daddy's shoulders in the ice cream line.

After dinner we walked down the street to Ici - it's a amazing little ice cream shop that always has a line out the door.

Ici in Berkeley

Sadly, they did not have chocolate chip

Fancy ice cream flavors - but no Chocolate Chip

but that was ok b/c Arabella saw the green tea ice cream and decided green was now and always had been her favorite flavor.  Mom and dad insisted that she try a sample first to verify her love for green and Arabella was effusive in her enjoyment of the greenness.

My Honey Rosemary and Apricot Noyeaux  ice cream cone

I loved the Honey Rosemary combo - it's a savory combo that almost tastes cinnamony. The Apricot Noyeaux was good and full of apricot-ness. I just googled the word Noyeaux while writing this (I thought it meant new in French - still think that is a good guess). It actually means "liquer made from brandy flavored with nut kernels". Super fancy! I wanted to get a better pic of my ice cream, as well as one of Arabella's green ice cream but the phone was almost out of juice plus this little shop is so crammed I really couldn't even raise my elbow out enough to get another good pic without sticking it in someone else's ice cream.


Here's a picture of a sign in the window of The Collector next door to Ici - I did a little windowshopping while waiting in the half hour line.

Sorry for the glare.    I love ice cream, dogs and toddlers too!!

Why can't the world be made up of more people like this store owner? I am sure we would all be less stressed and nicer to each other.


And then we got back to the car and realized I didn't have my phone (I took all these pics with Keith's phone - I thought I had left my phone in the car). Which could have been a real bummer ending to the night but wasn't since Dropsync had put all my appraisal pics into Dropbox already and I have phone insurance! So all's well that ends well.


And that's what Arabella did in Berkeley on Monday.

Random cute Arabella photo - She's #1 !

I just love this picture of Arabella and had to share it. Can't remember where or when I took it (but judging from the outfit probably after going roller skating or gymnastics class)

What Arabella did for Father's Day

 First ManiPedi on Father's Day

Last week Abby painted Arabella's nails pink and Arabella told me that I wanted to get my nails painted too and so would Daddy - she is very fond of telling me and Keith what we want to do.  If I correct her and say Arabella wants Mommy and Daddy to get their nails painted, she is insistent that WE are the ones that want to do this, not her.  Maybe she will be a marketer.  Anyway, her remarks helped jumpstart my brain about what we could do for Father's Day since I had zero time during the week to shop or get crafty. Keith gets really cracked heels and loves getting pedicures - if you leave off the nail polish, it's just as manly to do as getting a massage or going to the barber shop. Plus I could selfishly get my own toes done at the same time. 


So we went to Noodles & Company first to get lunch - Keith's favorite place to eat at the Fountains. I've never really been in love with any of their dishes so I usually whine and get Keith to go to Boudin or The Counter (RIP) instead, but this was Father's Day.  I don't know if it's new on the menu or I just never noticed it before but I ordered the Japanese Udon noodles with steak and it was delicious (forgot to take a picture - sorry).  I think I will just keep whining though when Keith suggests Noodles & Company so he feels like he got his way.


Our favorite place for pedicures is Joli Nail Salon at The Fountains. Even when they are very busy, we've never had a wait for walk-in pedicures, there's never a nail polish smell, and the massage chairs/jetted foottubs are great. We had to pass Me Gusta! Kids to get there since it's right next door and Arabella recognizes it immediately, so I let her get a bottle of nail polish there from their non-toxic Piggy Paint nail polish for kids- her final selection was Dragon Tear's green. 

I asked Arabella to show me her nails so I could get a picture -
so she balled up her hands and wiggled her arms instead. 

Arabella was pretty excited to be there getting her fingers and toes painted with mom and dad. When the manicurist was putting the clear base coat on first, she kept saying "Arabella wants green" in a little voice over and over until I heard her and explained that the clear coat goes on first and she would definitely get green. 

Arabella's pedicure in process.

Gross! What is that? (Keith and I got the paraffin wax treatment and Arabella wanted to take this gross picture of Keith's feet in the wax bag.)

Left Foot

Right foot

Checking out her hands while her feet are getting done.

I'm glad I got these photos here since we headed to Great-Grandma's for BBQ and swimming after this. Non-toxic Piggy Paint dries kind of like a decal sticker in one piece and the nail polish on most of her nails slid off in the pool (but the white flower and the sparkly center is still there)

Behind the Scenes in the Epic Del Popolo Pizza Truck | Slice Pizza Blog

Behind the Scenes in the Epic Del Popolo Pizza Truck | Slice Pizza Blog:

Blogging this because I don't want to forget to tell Keith about it when he comes home. The construction of this SF pizza truck is awesome.

Ninja Warrior Princess - Even better than a Magical Unicorn Pony!

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

Watching this video made my day!   Watch it now! Girl Power! 

(And figuring out how to "embed" it on my blog in under 10 minutes was pretty uplifting too!)

If you are here now reading my blog, then you truly are a magical unicorn pony. 

http://www.etsy.com/listing/76227185/magical-unicorn-pony-5x7-print



Happy Friday!

Do You Want to Raise an Obedient Child?

My subversive link post for the day.


"Obedient children grow into obedient adults. They're less likely to stand up for themselves, more likely to be taken advantage of. They're also capable of terrible acts, because don't take responsibility for their actions; they blame whoever told them to do it.

Yes, it's embarrassing when my kids don't immediately do what I ask of them in public. But then I think of articles like this, and I'm thankful my children are respectful, but still have minds of their own."


Thanks Dr Laura Markham of AhaParenting!


 Want to Raise an Obedient Child? 

Arabella's Bedtime Story

Here's a lovely bedtime story shared by Arabella. I have typed it as faithfully as possible:


Start. Green monster on the cup him trapped. I goes in couch and me trapped it in blankie and he goes away. Daddy put him away. K, put him in the laundry. Him go "Owww" in there and get water. Gets out and Daddy saves him, gets him sick in there. Monster doesn't feel good. You hold remote and Dad took it. Him hold it him talk. Oh yeah him talk to Daddy and says "Oh, me very nice" Him talked to me (Arabella) and monster hold him in my hand and he talk to me and I hold him in my hand. Me Arabella can't walk very good  (the monster) because he got sick. Him go to the doctor cause him got sick in his mouth cause his princess talk to him she say "oh me very nice too". Girl talked to him not very sick anymore. Girl named Belle That's the end of this story. 


(Apparently this was inspired by Beauty and the Beast)

Arabella's Story of the Day

Bear ran on the dinosaur boat - the baby bear ran on dinosaur boat. He said "Let me get on board so me doesn't float away." Yeah, and on back of his neck hop on board on there. That's all flute and him said "hoo, hoo, hoo". And he get in the picture with Papa Wes and Nana at Abby's beach house.  And that's the story. The end.

Can't believe I finally stopped procrastinating and made a blog!

I finally did it!  I thought I was going to give up at just the title, but after 2 hours on thesaurus.com looking for the perfect verb for a "-ingArabella" idea, the title "what Arabella did" popped into my head.  I assume just about everybody that is reading this will be family and friends that already know me, but just in case this blog takes off and I become the next Pioneer Woman or Momastery, here's a little about me: I'm a work-at-home mom (real estate appraiser) to my darling daughter Arabella, age 2.5 years and wife to my stay-at-home husband Keith. We live in Roseville, CA in a bungalow at the house next to Mango Street. Even though being around each other all day can be stressful, I wouldn't give up this opportunity to be with my family for the world. I think this blog is going to be mostly about parenting, and recording Arabella's adventures and stories for posterity but who knows where inspiration will strike.  My goal is to post consistently at least, even if my posts aren't especially profound or prolific. Done is better than perfect.  And that's all I have time to write for now. Yay - I am now officially a mommy blogger!