Christmas will be up soon. I just need to go through about 206 shots.

Enjoy!

I’m a little dubious about the first full week of work in awhile, but it will be fine.  Destin has a short week at school; he goes back on Tuesday to end his holiday break.  Sheri has been the constant worker through the holidays.  Retail. Retail. Retail.  It actually hasn’t been that bad. We are excited to get back to the typical routine though.

As you can see, thehirschfam.com has some shiny new clothes that may freak some of you out (I hope not).  The site was/is long overdue for a rehaul; so I decided instead of going for a complete rebuild, I would just start with something I liked and work towards making it my own.

I’ve set this page is to keep the past 10 posts displayed at all times. I was a little embarrassed to see that, with this initial setting, it takes us all the way back to last Christmas.  I believe a couple are just apologies for not writing, so my pace was around 8 per year.  I’m hoping to beat that in 2009.

Enough with the administrivia, here is a very quick update.

We had a great Christmas with Gran and Pop Pop Hirsch visiting from Tennessee.  We hung out with Grandma and Grandpa Stackpole quite a bit as well.  Everyone was at our house for Christmas day which was the best gift ever.  Destin was properly spoiled as he should be this time of year.  We had to open his gifts in shifts!  What a lucky kid to have two sets of amazing grandparents.

We had the Wojtalik family and Huettl family over for a make your own pizza/make your our sundae party last night to celebrate New Years.  6 kids, 6 adults, 12 pizza and ice cream chefs.  I’m happy to report that everyone enjoyed their creations.

Our fall is shaping up pretty well. I don’t have time to get into this moment, but I’m hoping to get back on here tonight. Stay tuned. All good things.

The three of us have been enjoying the summer. We had Ty and Brandi’s wedding in June. It was great to see family and old friends. All the events around the day were awesome; the ceremony was beautiful; and the reception was rockin’.

Destin had a short stint in summer school in July. It was mainly a program for kids with special needs. The program had kids from all over the district, so it was cool to meet some new people.

Speaking of school, we had Destin’s back to school night last night at Tarver Elementary. He will continue to be a Tiger and starts kindergarten this coming Tuesday. Crazy stuff.

Destin is continuing to learn sign language. He knows about 35 – 40 signs now. More importantly, he is able to put some together to create sentences. It has been awesome seeing him learn. We are hoping that we can work this into the school year.

Sheri took on a part time gig at a Macy’s that is close to our house. She has enjoyed the interaction with other adults. They love her there; which was expected.

Work for me has been busy, hence the hiatus from blogging. As I always say, I’m going to try to be better. We’ll see what happens.

Concluded Destin’s IEP for Kindergarten
We worked with Destin’s pre-school and future kindergarten teachers to complete his Individualized Education Plan. We are happy with the results. There is a good mix of goals and challenges for him next year.

5th Wedding Anniversary
On May 10th Sheri and I had our 5th wedding anniversary. We celebrated in style; attending the Pat Green/Sugarland concert at Red Rocks. It was a little chilly, but it was a great show and night.

Molly and Tarpy’s Wedding
Our good friends Molly and Bill (Tarpy) got married on May 17th. We traveled back to Nashville to attend the festivities. It was on their farm, Sterling Hill Farm. They had a great day for it. We also used the trip to hang out with the Hirsch clan.

Signing
Last and certainly not least Destin has been using sign language for the past few weeks. It is truly amazing to see. We’ve always known that he understood what we were saying, but it is nice to have another level of interaction with him. His current vocabulary is:

• More
• All Done
• Daddy (My favorite, of course)
• Mama
• Go
• Swimming
• Bath
• Music
• Baby
• Fish
• Milk

…and a few more; I am losing track!

We had a pretty lazy Memorial Day weekend. Destin and I went to a BBQ hosted by our friend Amanda and her boyfriend Charley. It was good to see some old friends. Sheri and I did some chores around the yard. Most of the weekend was spend just chillin’; which was nice.

I know that it has been awhile since I’ve written. I have a couple things to discuss that have led up to this event, but can’t tonight. So stay tuned!

I have also been fighting a cold for the past few weeks. I think I’m on the other side of it now. Unfortunately, it appears that I’ve passed it on to Destin. Sheri seems to be fine so far, which is good.

The big news in the family is that Sheri got a new job! She will be working part time at the new Macy’s opening up near our house. There are some training sessions she is scheduled to attend next week but the actual store doesn’t open until April.

Today reminded me of Frank Sinatra’s song, Summer Wind. It was in the 70′s today. I had a few errands to run downtown and saw people eating on patios and wearing flip flops. Sheri, Destin, and I hung outside for a little while. The whole neighborhood appeared to be washing their cars or doing something outside.
We have some chores to do tomorrow and the weather isn’t going to be as nice. It was good to take advantage of it today!

March is typically the snowiest month in Denver; which a couple of heavy wet snows.

Can’t wait until spring!

He had another round of immunization this week. Sheri said that he didn’t even cry afterwards. He’s better than his old man.

We have been pretty mellow for Valentine’s Day today. Destin had a party at school. He got a nice stash of candy and cards. We vegged out this evening which was nice.

The painting of the kitchen continues. The ceiling is finished and the walls are prepped; ready to be primed. I’m hoping to finish this weekend with the extra buffer of President’s day.

I suppose I should mention Gran and Pop Pop and Ty and Brandi as well. Destin was well looked after by his grandparents, uncle and aunt to be. Which if you haven’t heard is big news in the Hirsch fam. Ty proposed to Brandi in December and they are getting married on September 13 of this year.

We have planned a third trip to Nashville in May. Our friends Bill and Molly are getting married. Needless to say, this is the year of the weddings for us. Which is a little crazy because we’ve seemed to have had 2-5 every year.

Destin has been doing the serial casting with his physical therapy since December. The cast is like one you would get if you had a broken bone and starts at his foot and goes up to the bottom of his knee. He gets casts cut off and put on again each week. With each iteration of these castings, his foot is set in a deeper stretched position. The goal is to get more flexibility in his lower legs.

We are happy to say that the process ended today with the cutting off of his final casts. He is relived that it is over, and so are week. It isn’t a horrible process, but it isn’t the most convenient either. The best thing is that it helped in stretching him out. We have some new instructions from our physical therapist and we’ll get cracking on those ASAP.

Sheri had Destin’s parent/teacher conference this week too. I, unfortunately, had to travel for business so I missed it. The conference was good, the teachers really enjoy Destin. On a serious note, the three of us have some decisions to make for next year that may not necessarily be fun. We have his Individual Education Plan (IEP) meeting coming up that will talk about what Destin needs to move on to kindergarten next year. From what we’ve talked about thus far he will move on next year because of his birthday.

We aren’t necessarily sure he’s ready for kindergarten. Every parent feels this at some point as their child moves into something that is unknown or challenging. Destin will have to have a great deal of help in the classroom which we are grateful for. There are wonderful helpers and programs that we will be able to take advantage of. We just want to make sure that school starts out as a pleasant experience for him. It is the balance of what the experts are telling us and what we want for our son.

I didn’t mean to end on a downer tonight, but this has been on our minds recently. That’s what the site is about anyway.

On the lighter side, we have a busy weekend planned. Sheri is going to spend some time with her friend Jill; I will be putting my painting clothes back on and starting on our kitchen; and the D-man will be hanging out with Grandma and Grandpa Stackpole.

I’ll be back with details…