Big Girl Milestone

Not only did our girl turn 6 this year and start 1st grade, she has now lost her first tooth. We started this journey 6 months ago when the dentist told us that it was slightly loose. We couldn't even tell at that time that it had started to wiggle its way out of her mouth. Sunday night she was having a bed snack and bumped it so much that it hurt. She ate yogurt for breakfast because it still hurt. When I picked Lilah up from school that day she was less one tooth and it was ticked safely in her backpack in a small tooth treasure chest she received from the school nurse. Lilah recounted a story of eating a nugget at lunch and it just simply popping out into her mouth. She was very proud and excited for the tooth fairly to come. However, she did have one concern. She did not want the tooth fairy to take her tooth. We told her that she could write the tooth fairy a note and that she would allow Lilah to keep her tooth and still leave a reward for her bravery. So far no other teeth feel as though they are attempting to escape, but their time will come soon enough.

Labor Day Camping

Over Labor Day weekend we went camping at Beed's Lake with Brian, Barbara, and Micayla McGraw. Brian is one of Nate's assistant coaches and they have become good friends over the last year. Micayla is in 2nd grade so the girls really enjoy playing together. The weather was great so we were able to get out on the water in rented paddle boats and the girls had fun swimming with their dads.

The men took the two girls fishing for an hour one morning - they tried hard, but their were no fish in sight.

We had some nice family time while we were out there. We played bocce ball and had several contests of "the shoot game". This is a game Nate made up (surprise, surprise) based on a Seinfeld episode where Jerry and George shoot ones or twos to see who has to partake in some unfavorable deed. In this game we all sit around - 4 adults and 2 kids - and choose one of two options. The odd persons are out and the majority wins and continues the game. We started out "shooting" either one finger or two fingers, but it quickly got silly with alligators and sharks or covered eyes and covered ears. The last two people left did rock, paper, scissors and the best 2 of 3 won the game. Lilah was very good at this game and soon it became a contest between our two families. It was great fun! Another fun moment was when Nate helped the girls build a stick house. It started out as a way to get the girls out of our hair and turned into the masterpiece you see above. Nate and the girls were very proud! We had the best weekend - it was a great way to end our summer!

Dress up time!

One of the first nights in our new house, Ellie stayed over night. We spent some time in Lowe's and Target and the girls were so well behaved that they got to pick out a toy. They picked out dress-up clothes and had fun playing for hours when we got home. They love to pose!

Lilah painting

Lilah wanted to help paint my bedroom. She started painting the wall nicely, but then quickly became bored and started painting pictures on the wall. I eventually had to paint over her beautiful pictures. She didn't understand why I needed to paint over her pictures at first, but then I think she realized that all the walls needed to match.

Into the new house!

Here are a few shots of the new house. We are so thankful to be out of the apartment and into our own space again. We feel like the fire will soon be behind us and we can really begin to move forward. It was a long process to get here - as many of you are aware, the mortgage industry is really tight right now. We are blessed to have supportive family, friends and community. We have not has any water in the basement (while our neighbors across the street are not as fortunate), but we figure we are not due for a home disaster again for some time. We hope to see many of you here this summer!

Back of the house - view of the deck and some of the back yard. Behind us is the city park and two softball fields. There are games every night throughout the summer. We really enjoy sitting on the deck or in the 3 season porch watching the girls play and teaching Lilah about the game. She will start t-ball in July so we are trying to give her a little bit of a head start - you know us and our competative spirit :).




This is the family room (you will see many boxes and stuff that still needs to find a place) and a small view of the porch. We will enjoy fires this winter.

This is the kitchen. Since the house is multilevel, this view is from the family room. You have to go up 4 steps to get from the family room to the kitchen.


This is Lilah's room. It was painted like this when we moved in. She really loves it! She also has a play room which helps keep the mess a little contained - we can at least shut the door!

This is our bedroom. I painted this when we moved in. I do enjoy painting. I also did the family room, half bathroom, and entry way. There wasn't too much painting to do, but it was nice to put our color preferences in a few key places in the house.

Midnight & Sydney

Midnight, the cat, has decided that he wants to live in Barbieland. Lilah has a little Barbie house and whenever it is on the floor, he is lounging in it. Lilah gets annoyed that her Barbies have to walk around the cat.




The picture below is a rare shot of Sydney and Midnight relaxing together. Could it be possible that Sydney has finally calmed down in her old age?

Easter Time!

The kids had the chance to meet the Easter Bunny a couple weeks before Easter. The Easter egg hunt was, of course, inside this year. That didn't stop the kids from gathering eggs, playing games, and having fun.


This picture is from Easter morning. The Easter bunny brought Lilah some ears to wear during the day. She didn't get to wear them to church, but did sport the ears at grandma Barb's house later that day.


Lilah and Ellie spent the day chasing Tyler (Nicki's cousin who is 12) in their beutiful spring dresses. I think they both ended up with holes in their tights and Ellie ended up on the roof of the barn at one point of the day. They have such a great time together!

A New Home

THANK YOU again to everyone who has supported and prayed for us over the past several months. Your support has allowed us to begin putting our household back together.

It's been nearly two months since our last post, and now we finally have news good enough to share with everyone. We have a new house and will take possession on May 15th. We are SOOO excited! There is also other fabulous news that allowed us to make the decision to buy a home in Roland - I accepted a school psychologist position with Heartland AEA 11 beginning in August. Finally I will have a regular salary again! This will be my internship year and I still have a BIG project left to finish before I am awarded the degree of PhD, but most of the major hurdles are behind me. Below are a few pictures of the house - we will get better pictures posted once we move. We have several projects in mind for this place and maybe we will even stay for a few years :).

The hotel was fun, but...

Tomorrow will mark three weeks since the fire. Time has gone by so quickly! I am amazed by the progress we have made in that short amount of time. I have to send out a huge thanks to our families for their help in the clean-up and moving procss. Also, thank you to our church members who brought meals night after night while we were in the hotel. Last, but certainly not least, to all of you who have given so much to help us put our life back together. We hope that we can pay it forward to others in need.

We are in our new apartment now and have settled in over the week. Lilah and I are sleeping in the same room and Nate is out on the couch. This is typical behavior for him, but he is not quite sure about the new couch. Of course, we had broken in the old couch over 10 years so it was nicely molded to his body. He will have to work on the new one. Lilah is adjusting nicely to our new arrangements; however, she is missing the swimming pool (see pictures and video below). Her swimsuit actually survived the fire! She is glad to have Sydney and Midnight back with us, and I think they are happy to be with her too. The animals are thankful to the Faubus family for the excellent care and attention they received!

We are all back to our full schedules - me in Minneapolis once a week and all over cental Iowa the other days, Nate working his way to the national tournament, and Lilah having fun each day with her friends and teachers at school. We continue to give thanks for our blessings and look forward to the fun of setting up a household again. Stay tuned...

Pampered Chef Fire Fundraiser

I’m Nicki’s sister, and I have been a Pampered Chef consultant for over 6 years – so you can imagine that Nicki had a kitchen full of Pampered Chef products that she’d purchased herself, or that I had given her as gifts over the years. She had some favorites that she’d like to get replaced right away, so we are doing a sort of shower/fundraiser to get them replaced for her. If you'd like to participate, keep reading. Her Wish List is posted on my website under NEWS.

Also, if you wish to purchase anything for yourself, your order would go towards her Host Benefits. I’ll be contributing my commission to help her get even more. Here’s how to order:

1. At my website: www.pamperedchef.biz/deannafaubus. Her Wish List is under NEWS.

a. Click on Order Products.

b. Host for the show is Nicki Skaar.

c. Order the items and ship to host.

d. Enter credit card payment information.

e. Email me which items go to Nicki, and which items go to you.

i. I’ll be offering discounted shipping rates for items to you.

I’ll return email you with a correct totals (if applicable) for your products.

2. Via email: deannafaubus@yahoo.com

a. Email me what you’d like to order off her Wish List and for yourself.

b. b. You can send me a check in the mail.

All checks can be made payable to Deanna Faubus. My address is 703 Parkridge Ave, Huxley, IA 50124.

The fundraiser starts today, February 1^st and all orders must be submitted by Wednesday, February 13^th.

Thank you again for your generosity and helping out the Skaar’s after their house fire.

~Deanna

New Account Open

For those wanting to send cash donations - a benefit account has been set up at:

Ackley State Bank
PO Box 128
Story City, IA 50248

Please enclose a note that states it's to be deposited into the Skaar Fire Account.
Checks can be written out to Nicki Skaar.

If you want to send personal notes and/or gift cards, please continue to send those to me at:

Skaar Donation
Deanna Faubus
703 Parkridge Ave
Huxley, IA 50124

THANK YOU again for all your prayers and generosity!

THANK YOU!!!

This experience has brought an overwhelming sense of frustration to our family, but at the same time we have never felt more loved and supported! We are feeling pretty good about the progress we have made in the last 10 days. There is no way we would have made such progress without the love and support of everyone out there who has sent an email or a card or taken the time to say a little prayer. It seems "thank you" is not enough to express our love for you all.

We hope that you all have taken the time to put fire extinguishers within reach and have checked your insurance policies. We hope that our experience can be a learning opportunity for many. Also, please support your local Red Cross. They were on the scene of the fire within 2 hours with financial and emotional support. Of course, we are lucky to have family so close, but for those without family and friends near, the Red Cross is there to act as a much needed surrogate.

SO, thank you VERY VERY VERY (not enough "verys" to match how thankful we are) much for your generosity!

Nicki, Nate, and Lilah
(Sydney & Midnight too)

First Move

The Skaar's were able to secure a one-bedroom apartment from their same landlord in Roland. They've gotten the keys and are slowly moving this week, with hopes to be completely out of the hotel by the weekend.

Yes, that's right, I said "one-bedroom" - it'll be a big change from the spacious 3-bedroom farmhouse. But for now, getting out of the hotel was a priority and there doesn't seem to be a lot of other rental properties in the area.

Please pray for another home to become available in the Roland-Story school district for them, as I'm sure the apartment will soon become cramped! But, when you don't have much stuff - maybe it'll be just fine!

Fire Safety

While this is a time to think in your mind, "I hope that never happens to me!" and you are thankful it's not you going thru this - the Skaar family would like you to get informed on fire safety and prevention to help prevent things like this from happening to you!

• Know where your fire extinguishers are - don't just say, yeah, I know where they are. Go look, right now! And make sure the gauge tells you it's full or isn't expired.
  
• Review with adults and older children how to use them.
  
• PASS: Pull pin. Aim low. Squeeze. Sweep.
  
• Check with your insurance agent about your coverage.
  
• Do you have enough?
  
• Inventory your most expensive room and take that amount times the number of rooms in your home.
  
• You may have inexpensive things, but to replace them is expensive.
  
• Is it replacement value, or just a set amount?
• Will it cover you to stay somewhere else for awhile (like a hotel)?
• If you rent, do you have renter's insurance for all your stuff?
  
• Practice candle safety.
• www.candle-safety.org
• Never leave a candle unattended.
• Keep candles out of reach of children and pets
• Even if they could bump into it while playing, or hit it with a happy dog tail.
• You may trust your children, or they are old enough to "know better," but they could accidentally throw something or bump into a table that it's on and cause the candle to fall.
  
• Never place a candle near things that can easily catch fire, like garbage cans, draperies, and furniture.
• Be sure your smoke alarms are all working. Don't say, "Yeah, they are." - go check them now.
• If you don't have a fire extinguisher, the quickest source of water in your home is the toilet.
  
• Immerse a towel in the toilet.
• Use the towel to smother a small fire.
• Or to cover yourself to escape a burning or smoky home.
  

If you have more great tips - email me at deannafaubus@yahoo.com
For extensive information go to: http://www.firesafety.gov/
This is another great source: http://www.kidshealth.org/parent/firstaid_safe/home/fire.html

Donation Inventory

THANK YOU for your offer to help and donate to help the Skaar's put their lives back together. Yes, it's just "stuff" - and the real important thing is that those there made it out safely! But sometimes we need some "stuff" and already we have received so many calls and emails offering up things.

We'll be keeping track of things needed, and things received here - so that they don't receive 14 queen sheet sets, and 7 full sized beds!
Contacts for this effort are:
Deanna Faubus, Nicki's sister: deannafaubus@yahoo.com
Kathy Skaar, Nate's sister: kathy08292002@yahoo.com

Things Needed:
Furniture:
end tables
dressers

Electronics:
dvd
movies
clock/radio
cd player

Other household:
bookshelves
hampers
family/adult games
children's hangers

Kitchen:
blender
waffle iron
see Pampered Chef Fundraiser

If you live far away or don't have "stuff" and would still like to help - Gift Cards are always super helpful too! Here is a list of some local stores in our area - but anything would be fine!

Target
Kmart
JCPenney
Sears
Kohl's
HyVee
Cub Foods
Casey's

Any items can be dropped off with a family member or gift cards can be sent to:
Skaar Donation
c/o Deanna Faubus
703 Parkridge Ave
Huxley, IA 50124

Things Received:
Dining Room table w/ chairs
2 over-sized chairs
19" color tv w/ remote
glass tv stand
3 men's jeans
1 men's shirt, 3 pair socks
women's clothes & shoes
women's scarf x2 and gloves
twin canopy bed
twin sheet set
full sized bed with bedding
bath towels x 6
queen size sheets
used computer & desk
loveseat
3 table lamps - 1 Lilah, 1 bedroom, 1 living room
kitchen linens - 4towel, 3 dishcloth, 1 hotpad
6 kitchen towels
drinking glasses x 4
crayola art kit
games: yatzee, go fish, crazy 8's
guesstures game
crockpot
coffeepot x 2
picture frames - 21 - various sizes
computer desk
paper, pencils, ruler, sticky pads
picture frames
VCR
toaster
qu bedspread & blanket
3 quilts - full size, 1 kids blanket
2 throws
plate shelf
set of coasters
set of dishes - 6 settings
3 stuffed animals, uno, cards, some puzzles
1 teddy bear
large mixer
summer clothes for lilah
more puzzles for lilah, and more
1 bedside table
2 duffle bags
children's movies - VHS
vacuum
iron
laundry basket
cleaning supplies
4 pillows

House Fire

The House

The Kitchen

The Living Room - where the fire started

This past weekend, on Saturday evening, January 12, we had a house fire in the home we were renting in Roland, which is just north of Ames. Everyone is okay – Nicki, Lilah and Ellie were there when it happened. It was started by a candle – and Nicki tried desperately to put it out, but it all went so quickly.

The home is still standing – but all the stuff inside was ours and it’s either burnt completely or has considerable smoke and/or water damage. It’s been a very devastating couple of days.

- and you can see the original posting of the house at http://skaarspot.blogspot.com/2007/06/new-house.html

American Red Cross

We are of sincere thanks to our local American Red Cross. They sent someone out to the house before the fire was even out! They provided information and money to help get us started putting our lives back together. In the midst of tragedy, there are organizations like this that are there to lend a helping hand.

If you are able, follow the link to make a donation to the Red Cross - supporting them allows them to continue doing what they do. Below is the link for our local branch in Ames, or the National site to find the one nearest you. Thank you!

http://www.lincolnwayarc.org/
http://www.redcross.org/