Let's Try This Again

Boy, it looks like it has been over a year since I have post anything. It has been a very busy and crazy year. I will not attempt to go back and put it all into words. I will just make sure to post last years annual letter, this years annual letter, and ten just pick up from here. I have a lot going on in my mind, and figure I might as well put it out here. 

I Miss Her

July 9th, early in the morning, my grandmother took her last breath. My uncle Steve, who had been staying with her, was able to be there with her. Many people felt relief, as she had been suffering from enphazyma for some time, but the truth is I wanted more time.

Eliza and I were lucky enough to be there the evening before, and although my grandmother could not talk very well, or open her eyes, her face lite up when she heard Eliza come in the room. It meant a lot to me that they had such a close relationship.

With the passing of my grandmother, Eliza's migranes that had started the month before, went away. It was the anxiety of losing her that was causing the headaches. And although th headaches have not been back since, there has been a lot of tears from the both of us.

She was a great lady, and I hope to be a grand-daughter that brings her honor.

Barbara Joan Freed Rusk

11.29.1930 - 07.09.2010

Proverbs 31

June 2010

June is recital month for our family. This year, it was extra special for a few reasons. First, the owner of the studio that Eliza dances for, was moving. Many people thought that the studio would be closing, but we were all pleasantly surprised when it was announced that another family member would be taking it over. Although we will all miss Amy and her family I am personally very excited for them, and excited to see what the changes will consist of.

Even more sad to me, was that it was going to be my nephew Reid's last year of dance. He had danced for the studio for 10 years, or which I was there for them all. He is getting older however, and wanting to try new things, and dance did not allow him time to do so. It is still hard to not have him a part of the studio, but I do enjoy going to the games. He is in Football, Basketball and Baseball. That is a lot of yelling.

Eliza did great in the recital and was able to be in the finale this year, as she is now a part of the team. She did so good!!! I cannot believe she learned the dance in only a few practices. Dawn and I both did the mommy dance again, and that was kind of weird to think that it would be the last time we would be doing that together as well. Another thing we were having to get ready to let go of was my Grandma Rusk. She was the last of our living grandparents, and probably the one that I was closest with. As the month continued it became more and more obvious that she was in her final days. We were over there a lot that month.

As the month finished off we made our annual trip to Minnesota. It was gorgeous weather of course, and so refreshing. While we were there, Eliza decided to experiment with the idea of being a hair stylist. She ended up with a new hair cut and pink hair!!! According to my dad, I need to "let the child express herself". I think my dad was shocked at the amount of expression I allowed when he saw the magenta hair! (LOL) Although he should know by now I have  a tendency to be all or nothing about things.

May 2010

This month flew by! I had a class, Middle Level Instructional Strategies, that was only three weeks long. And yes, we were expected to do all of the work for a 16 week course in the three week time frame. Interesting enough, I learned more from this class than some of the longer ones. Of course I lost a lot of sleep as I was up until 3AM most nights, just trying to get all of my homework done. 

For this class I chose to focus on my other area of concentration, Science. I created a mini unit on Environmental Science. Each lesson consisted of a PowerPoint and included the required instructional strategy that we were learning at the time. I feel like a nerd sometimes when I think of how much I enjoy this stuff!!! :)