A new diagnosis

Well my young son was finally diagnosed yesterday with asthma. Brock has been dealing with chronic croup almost his entire 2 years of life. Anytime he gets a runny nose here comes the croup, or at least that's what they called it until yesterday. We saw a different doctor than we usually see and she looked through his medical history closely and asked some questions I've never been asked before like does he have a hard time breathing out or in and have we tried the nebulizer and does it work. We were told the medicine they give him in the office is treats both asthma and croup so that was an interesting discovery. Anyhow, Brock has trouble breathing out and does wheeze when he gets into his coughing fits, etc. Our new course of treatment is as soon as he gets a cold we are to whip out the nebulizer and albuterol and help him that way. He had the medicine in the office yesterday and two breathing treatments between then and bedtime and had a great night. Usually he coughs so hard at night he throws up and that did not happen. I am thankful for a new diagnosis and that this is something that can be helped unlike croup, just wish we hadn't have gone through the whole tubes in the ears and adnoid removal to get to this point, a little uneccessary for sure. Okay I've rambled enough just needed to get my thoughts down. I'm hoping to get him allergy tested when he is old enough to find out if there is anything that brings on the asthma besides colds.

More storage

I think the theme of March for us was storage, storage, storage. My lovely husband has been whining for what seems like years for a shed. We are still not accustomed to not having a basement. In Spokane we always had storage in our basement and could park in the garage or at least just have lawn equipment but at the houses we've had in Oregon there aren't basements, thus our garage turns into a storage unit. It contains hand me down clothes, toys, bikes, wood working tools, lawn equipment, freezer, misc. junk I mean stuff! We found an awesome deal on craigslist this past weekend a 10x12 metal shed never assembled for $100 we found the same one online for $550 so Friday night we went and picked it up. Saturday we spent the afternoon in the rain putting together the floor and putting in the gravel it would sit on. Sunday we braved the moody weather, sunny, rainy, windy, calm and put up the shed. We both ended up with sunburned faces but found we do work well together on contruction projects. I vow to never put together a metal shed again, it was a PAIN! We hope this next weekend to load the shed full and organize the garage so that I can finally park in it! I am so excited about that and Don is excited to have an organized garage. I don't know what we will do when our house is completely organized, hmm maybe start an organization business, NOT! Anyhow, here's a super exciting picture of our shed along with some yard toys I didn't feel like moving!

More socializing

We haven't taken the week off from school but our friends have and we have enjoyed getting to hang out with some of them. My friend Charity and her girls Madison and Natalie came down for the day yesterday, we haven't seen them since September so it was great to catch up while all the kids played. Morgan especially enjoyed having some girls to play with.

Bowling

Our friend Hudson, the little guy on the shirt looks just like him!

Hayden and Brock

We went bowling on Tuesday with my friend Danielle and her kids who I also watch and had a great time, can't beat dollar bowling!

Funny pictures by Gullett kids

Sometime during the morning the kids thought they would steal my camera and take some funny pictures of Brock. My camera is off limits but the pictures sure are cute.

Our impromtu photo session

Well my title explains it all.

Peek a boo!

We were all a little lazy and under the weather a bit this weekend so we did a lot of napping and laying around. I got a cute picture of Don trying to take a nap, needless to say Brock was playing hide and seek under the blanket at the same time, the two don't work well together oh well.

More bread

I am such a bread dork, I decided to try raisin braided bread, I wasn't overly successful with one of the braid jobs but it turned out great and was delicious, I used my handy Betty Crocker cookbook, thanks Betty she'd be my friend if she was a real person I'm sure lol!

Book recommendation

I was recommended a book a few weeks ago by a friend and I am trying to recommend it to everyone I know. Blue like Jazz by Donald Miller it's about nonreligious thoughts on Christian spirituality. There haven't been many books in my past that changed my way of thinking but this was one of them for sure. One of the biggest things I took away from the book was how selfish I am, I don't want to admit it but also know that revealing myself to others shows my own humanity which in turns helps others feel like I am a real person instead of this got it all together person I try and portray. I also use love as the author calls it as a commodity it is not something that I give freely as God gives it to me, since I'm supposed to live my life trying to be like Christ that is something about myself I must change. I know not everyone will agree with some of the things Miller says it definetly will give you something to think about it is a very convicting but encouraging book at the same time. Thanks for listening to my ramblings, forgive me of my selfishness if it has affected you and know that you are loved!

Bread beautiful bread

Some may think this is the lamest post ever but I was so excited yesterday I had to share. I have been researching bread pans and found a great deal on a Le Creuset stoneware bread pan and tried it out yesterday for the first time. The loaf came out so beautifully, I only bought the one so did the other loaf in my regular pan, I'm going to try the pan a few more times to make sure yesterday wasn't a fluke but I'm thinking these may be the bread pans that last the rest ofmy life! Woohoo!

The one on the right is the one with my new pan isn't it a beauty?

Randomness

I finally broke down this past week and took Cale to a real barber, I must say barbers are quite talented people, I think from now on if Cale keeps his hair longer we will continue going to this guy. He is looking like such a young man, Ty on the other hand is begging us to buzz his hair off again, we are putting that off in case he changes his mind AGAIN!

Brock has really been in to standing on a chair at the island while Don and I cook and naming all the ingredients, this past weekend Don let him stir up the pancake batter, he was so proud of himself. Don reminded me that while Brock was stirring the batter he kept calling Morgan, Cale, and Ty asking them to come watch. He at one point was yelling "Hurry up, look me doing" Another good husband in training I hope!

We purchased a new to us entertainment center on craigslist, it turned out to be much larger than we thought when we got it home so we in turn had to rearrange our entire living room, it has made the toy area much bigger which is great for the daycare. The entertainment center has so much storage we can fit all our dvd's, xbox games and I'm hoping our vhs movies, we however don't have a vhs player anymore so we are looking for one of those on our beloved craigslist, too. The whole purpose behind the center was our tv of 16 or 17 years bit the dust and some dear friends of ours gave us, I repeat gave us a tv. It still amazes Don and I that someone would bless us this way and we want to say to that couple thank you so much again, we so appreciate you guys and your friendship!

My vacuum cleaner boys

Seems we must have the cleanest carpet in the neighborhood, we've now vacuumed three times today, I did once this morning and Cale did this afternoon and now he and Brock are going at it again. I think we all get grossed out every time we empty the canister to see how much dog hair, etc. is in our carpets. Hey at least I have kids that like to help do it I guess, one interesting little thing Don pointed out was that our furnace filter doesn't have to be changed as often lately because of the new vacuum, the idea of that kind of grosses me out and excites me at the same time. Who doesn't love a little cleaner air to breath? Let me add our carpets aren't in need of vacuuming this often but we've grown so used to having them freshly done that it's almost an obsession now!

Beads, bead everywhere

A while ago at our local Goodwill I found a vase full of beads for the kids to play with. I've been holding off on letting the kids play with them because of the mess they would produce. Last night my worst nightmare was realized, they were EVERYWHERE! The kids had fun which was the goal of the beads but those little booger hurt to step on in your bare feet!

Finding a quiet spot to do her schoolwork!

Fancy manicure.

Curly sue!

Channeling her inner Nellie Olson

I have been doing quite a few Morgan posts lately guess she is the one that wants the most attention right now huh?

Look at Cale's new toy

Cale has been saving away and was finally able to afford the electric guitar he's been pining over! I love the picture of pure joy on his face as he strummed it the first time. Now we are on the look out for someone who can do lessons. I envision him playing in church in no time!

Kitchen update

In my last kitchen post I had my microwave moved onto my counter and let me tell you it drove me crazy, I am used to having that bit of counter so I used our old microwave stand, moved the cabinet over and voila. Don thinks it looks weird but I enjoy my countertop space too much to give it up. I was able to put my main baking ingredients in the bottom part of the cabinet so I don't have to go into the hall to get them every time the baking bug bites!

Silly Ty

Ty evidently bumped into another kid at my house and got a black eye, oh and we get to go to the doctor with this, lovely day!


I caught Ty sleeping like this, does not look comfortable does it?

My sweet Morgan!

Don decided to let Morgan have a chance to make something all by herself. She was like a little professional baker. Don was shocked when she frosted the cake not really needing any help, it looked great, no cake showing through or anything. I think them helping me so much in the kitchen is paying off with their confidence for sure. One funny thing Don said Morgan commented on was that I hadn't gotten out the camera to take pictures of her making the cake so he got a few and then when he told me what she had said there I was snapping away. I love the one of her presenting her cake, Don took that one! Morgan is going to make a great wife and mom someday for sure!