I have come to the somber realization that I am the mother of a preschooler. Tomorrow I will take Grace to preschool open house. It is hard to believe that she is four years old and ready to leave her mommy. I suppose I shouldn't be that surprised as she has already informed me she can go by herself to check in to sunday school. I am amazed at the amazing young lady Grace is becoming. She is an absolute joy and though I will miss her for the short hours of preschool, I am excited that she will be learning and experiencing new things.
Lena had her cast removed on Friday. She didn't even cry when they were sawing her cast off. The doctor was pleased with how well her break healed. By saturday afternoon she was starting to walk around. She still has a slight limp, but is doing so well getting around. Hopefully this will be the only broken bone in the Buskard household!
Micah is keeping us busy, but I am truly enjoying his personality. For the most part he is a laid back little boy, but he has made it clear that he wants his mommy's undivided attention.
Also, if you could please keep my dad in your prayers. Tomorrow he will start another round of chemo. He will undergo chemo for an unknown period of time during which time he will also be taking a promising drug. Please pray for strength for my dad and also for effectiveness of the treatment.
I am incredibly blessed to be the daughter of an amazing man of God. I know I take for granted the privilege it is to have an earthly father who exemplifies my heavenly Father. Please continue to pray for continued healing and encouragement at this time.

Cute kids and Grocery Blessings!

I have to start this post off with some pictures of my adorable kids I took this morning in the back yard.Grace is looking so grown up! Its hard to believe that in 2 weeks she will start preschool.
Our sweet Lena. She has just one more week in her cast!! She is just now figuring out how to walk with the cast on, so by the time she perfects it, she will have it off! Here's Micah in his awesome soccer outfit that the Orme's gave him! I absolutely love having a little boy around! Though I am severely sleep deprived at the moment- I am loving being a family of 5.All 3 of my kiddos in soccer gear! Oh how kids in soccer gear can melt my heart! I feel that we are adjusting well to being a family of 5. So far there has only been one day where the house was a mess. I feel like that is a major accomplishment!!!

In other news, if I wasn't busy enough, high school soccer is in full swing. I am coaching the JV girls team at DC again this year. It is going to be a little crazy but I love coaching.

We have been blessed with a couple very successful shopping trips this week!!! I was so thrilled I even took pictures. The first picture is of my $15 meijer trip.I was even more thrilled with my trip to kroger's. See if you can guess what everything in the picture cost me...........


.................... and the grand total of my trip to kroger was $7!!!!! Thank you God for your blessings!!

Well, I had better get some things done before heading to soccer practice. We are looking forward to a quiet weekend of family time!! Yay for Erik being home for the weekend!!!

Quick Update

Just a quick update on life around here.
Today my dad went in for the results of his latest PETscan. The three spots that showed up on his last PETscan 3 months ago have continued to get larger. This is definitely not what we were hoping and praying for, but are tying to trust God's direction. From here, my dad will have a biopsy performed on one of the spots and his oncologist hopes to put him on a promising drug along with chemo. Please continue to pray! Pray for God's peace for my dad and my family, pray for continued healing, and please pray for wisdom for the Dr. as they decide what course of treatment would be best.
This week Erik returned to work. It has been a hard week for him at work and a stressful one for me at home. Lena is not handling her cast very well. She has been a wreck almost everyday- and when she gets frustrated the whole world comes to an end. She has yet to put weight on or try to walk with her cast on. We are hoping she will try to start to walk soon.
I am very thankful for our neighbors! Yesterday they took Grace to the park. She definitely needed some time away from the chaos. It was great that she was able to spend time playing with her friend Alli.
Today Grammie and Papa took the girls to a movie. I definitely enjoyed the time with Micah and the girls had a great time enjoying some special attention! Its amazing how quiet the house is with only 1 child home!
This afternoon I took Micah for his 2 week checkup. Our little man has grown quite a bit! He is now 10lb 14 oz and 23 1/4 in long! WOW! It has been such a joy to get to know him! We are all absoutely in love with this newest member of our family!
That's all for now- hopefully I will start updating more regularly now that we are settling into live as 5!

Adjusting, Crazy Trips, and Broken Bones!

We have made it through almost 2 weeks as a family of 5! It has been an exciting, busy, and crazy 2 weeks- but it feels great to be able to start adjusting to our new life with Micah.

He is definitely a sweet baby. He is a pleasant baby and doesn't cry much unless he is hungry. We are emjoying watching the girls interract with him, and shower him with "love" (or slobbery kisses)!

Last week friday we packed in the car and headed to MI to visit family. I do have to say there are not many mothers out there that would pack three kids in the car- one 4 days old- and take a long trip. It wasn't that long ago that mother and baby would still be relaxing in the hospital, being waited on! We had a great time visiting with family while we were there. I will have to post more pictures when I have time but some of the highlights of our trip were spending time with the Genthers, enjoyed 2 trips to Lake Michigan in one day, driving around Grand Rapids reminiscing about old times, seeing Grandparents, spending an afternoon with Uncle Brett and Cole, and my husband was especially thrilled with Michigan Warmups for the girls from Grandpa and Grandma Buskard ( I think the girls will be wearing these out!!). We did what we could to make it everywhere- but I think we did a pretty good job! Next time we visit we hope to make it more places when Micah is older and I haven't just had a baby! :)

Our trip did end on a low note. While playing, Lena slid on a toy and fell. Right away I could tell that she truly did hurt something. We waited a couple hours and then decided that we needed to take her to an urgent care to get checked out. We saw a very nice older doctor who did x-rays and even sent them home with us. We drove into the early hours of the morning to get home and then took Lena to our pediatrician on Tuesday. They sent us to do more x-rays, but didn't see anything. After 4 days of not being able to put weight on her leg we were able to see a pediatric orthopedic who confirmed that she has a fracture in her lower leg. So, our poor girl has a very fashionable hot pink cast for three weeks. She hasn't quite figured out how to walk with it on, and is getting very frustrated with us that we can't take it off for her. I am so thankful Erik was still off from work this week! Please pray for complete recovery and also for Lena to not be so frustrated! It is definitely going to make for an interesting 3 weeks- a newborn, a preschooler, and a toddler who isn't able to walk!

Here's a couple pictures I took the other day. I know I am partial, but I think I have the cutest kids!