Camping Trip

Ellie, Lilah and Emma in the tent after a good night's sleep


Lilah and Ellie at the playground

Lilah and Ellie roasting marshmallows

Making sand angels

A beautiful day at the beach!

Over memorial day weekend we took our first camping trip of the year. The trip was designed to stay close to home (gas prices, ahhhhh!) and spend time with our friends who recently bought a new home near West Branch, Iowa. Due to the arrival of Miss Amelia Marie Faubus, we decided to take Ellie off Deanna and Billy's hands for a few days and took her with us . The weather was great for the most part (a little rain on Saturday morning) and the kids were great campers. We were able to spend time with friends at their new home and at the camp site in Lake McBride State Park. It was a beautiful four day trip and we hope to do it again sometime this summer.

Many of you know that we are planning to move to Iowa this summer, but that we are having a tough time selling our house. We decided that instead of losing money on the house in this down market, we would rent it out and then find a nice place to rent in the Story City/Roland area. We were successful! We found a small family to rent our house in Rochester and will rent an acreage just outside of Roland. We move sometime in June! We are very excited to put our family back together and be closer to my family. We will now be living equidistant from Nate's family and my family. No more long drives either way! The house and property are perfect for us! Check back later in June for pictures.

NYC

There was an earlier comment (thanks, Mom) on the blog that the title of the site (The Skaar Family) misrepresented the content since all the pictures and stories had Lilah as the lone subject of the posts. I have now remedied that oversight with this post about my recent trip out East. I went to NYC at the end of March for a national school psychology conference. This was my first trip to NYC so even though I was out there to present my research, I spent a great deal of time site seeing with my classmates.

This picture was taken in Central Park. This was the day we spent the morning walking around uptown Manhattan.


After a good lunch, we took the subway (I LOVE the subway!!) to lower Manhattan and Ground Zero. It was very moving to be on the site and in the area I so vividly remember filled with clouds of dust. There is a small memorial with photos of debris, memorial services, people in the aftermath of that day that accompanies the unbelievably large hole in the ground.
We allowed the tears to dry as we walked towards Battery Park. I picked up a Diet Coke and a hot dog from a street vender on the way - delicious!! We rode the ferry out to the Statue of Liberty. We were not able to stop at Ellis Island because we had to get back to the hotel to get ready for our night at the theater. We saw In the Heights, a musical, and it was the most spectacular theater experience I have had.


This is a picture of the girls starting the day in Times Square. It was a great day in NYC! The next day we actually had to attend the conference and present research. The trip was equally filled with fun cultural experiences and important professional education and opportunities. Next year we go to New Orleans, which I'm sure will offer it's own taste of American culture.

Easter Weekend

Easter was a great holiday this year, as you can see from the pictures. The weekend before Easter, Palm Sunday, we were able to spend time with Nate's family in Hayward, MN. We spent the beginning of Easter weekend looking at houses in Iowa. We found a couple we really like in Roland (down the street from my cousin's family). We just need to sell in Rochester - Anyone looking???? We are looking in Story City and Roland, which are both about 10 minutes north of Ames for those of you who do not know the area well. After looking at 11 houses, Lilah was pooped and ready to spend time with her cousin, Ellie. My sister lives about 10 minutes south of Ames so that puts us very close to them once we move. VERY exciting!!! We spent the weekend with Deanna and family coloring eggs and going on Easter egg hunts. We went to church with them Easter morning and then over to Belle Plaine for the big family gathering. The BIG news this year is that my brother, Jon, got engaged to Abbi just before Easter and they announced a wedding date of August 25th, 2007 (that's right, 2007). We are extremely blessed to have such a wonderful family!!

New haircut!

Yesterday was the final straw! At 3:30pm central time Lilah Pearl went to the salon for a haircut. She was not too happy about getting a haircut, but it absolutely had to be done! It is a very cute cut that is layered in the back and angled slightly to the front. Hopefully this will minimize morning fights about hair combing.

The truth according to Lilah

First of all, here is a picture of Sydney after Lilah has dressed her up as Princess Sydney. This is one of Lilah's favorite pass times. Sydney complies, but I don't think she really loves this game. Also, below is a picture of Nate and Lilah playing outside in our recent 13.5 inches of snow. We are currently getting more snow - YEE HAW!! I am angainst snow blowers because I feel it is stupid to spend $500 (which is a lot for us) on something that I can do myself with a little effort. I might change my mind if we get another foot in the next 24 hours.

Now for the real reason I needed to blog this week - Lilah's truth. This last weekend was the national wrestling tournament and the final wrestling tournament of the year. Unfortunately, the guys did not have a good tournament and Nate was thinking about how they could have performed better and looking toward next year. Lilah asked Nate was he was thinking about and he answered, "Wrestling." She asked him if his guys did not win and if the other guy on the mat had won. He answered and unenthusiastic, "Yes." Her response was, "Well, Dad you will get 'em next time. Sometimes you win and sometimes you lose." It was difficult not to laugh at her and we told her she was correct about that. Nate then followed with, "I don't like to lose," and Lilah quickly replied, "It's just a game, Dad." I'm sure Nate is still feeling disappointed with the season, but I think Lilah helped to put it into perspective.

We added a new member to the family over the Christmas holiday season. Deanna was married to Billy Faubus (I think that is how his last name is spelled - I guess that is something I should know) on December 22nd. We are happy to have him as part of the family! He did a great job getting through the craziness that is Christmas at our parents house. Our clan will grow again next year too with a new baby for Deanna and Billy and maybe one for us too (keep your fingers crossed and prayers going out).


The wedding was a lot of fun. The reception was held in Huxley at a local bar and grill. Many of us love to sing so karaoke was available at the reception. Ellie, Deanna's oldest, had her karaoke debut as she sang Jingle Bells. She was a crowd favorite. It was a great party and fun to see all the family for an extra celebration this year! Welcome Billy!

Now that the space underneath the tree is finally empty and the bundle of new toys and clothes are properly stored, I can take a moment to share our Christmas joy with you. We all had a spectacular Christmas this year! We had 5 occasions of present opening this year! There was a lot of traveling between MN and IA, but now we are done and very thankful to have had so much time with everyone! Everyone was very thoughtful and generous with their gift giving. We are very blessed to have such wonderful friends and family. Lilah, being 4 years old, really got into the whole Santa thing this year. She wrote several letters and even sat on Santa's lap to tell him what she wanted for herself and for Sydney, our dog. Santa brought her all the things she wanted and she was very pleased. However, she was puzzled that Santa was so good to her even though she had been naughty a few times. I tried to explain that Santa had forgiven her for her naughtiness because she had learned not to do those naughty things again. She seemed to understand that, but questioned if Santa had given gifts to a daycare boy who is particularly naughty each day. I'm sure she will ask him and his mother, and then I will have more explaining to do.