Hello few readers we have! Hope everyone's April has been going well. I know you Minnesotans are a bit discouraged with the snow that came today. Boo. Sorry bout that! Here it was a crazy 84 degrees! It seemed very hot! A bit unusually hot for this time of year. I'll take it over snow though!

We have still been doing well despite a nasty cold we all got after our Easter festivities. We are almost over it. We had a couple rainy days too, so we were stuck in the house, but being sick it wasn't too bad. All we wanted to do was lay around anyway. Logan is still really enjoying his swimming lessons and he is starting his gymnastics class on Saturday. He is excited about it! 

Evelyn had her 15 month check up today. She is getting 3 teeth right now, so not the happiest camper. She is 19.5 lbs (6th%) and 30 in in height (31%), so she's a petite little thing. She has a belly though. 

We are really missing Sean but get to talk to him almost everyday. We do a quick skype call so he can see the kids and then sometimes he calls me so we can talk a little better. So far since he's been gone I've mowed the lawn with Evelyn strapped to my back, weed whipping,  changed the bulbs on our high hanging light out front, and figured out (with dad's help on the phone) how to use a huge air compressor. Doesn't seem to be much of an accomplishment, but when those things aren't usually my job, it is to me! We've also been picking lots of weeds and planting a few things (avocado tree and carrots). 

My neighbors have been really sweet and checking in a little on us. One across the street came over and dropped off two "kid sized" gardener kits. Logan loved his and walked around with it all day. Evelyn liked hers too. 

 Here is Evelyn with pig tails and a silly face!

 The kids wearing their "team Noah" t-shirts!

So, again, if anyone wants to escape the snow and come visit us in sunny California, by all means, give me a call! We would love company!

March Madness...wait, it's April

Hello all,
  As usual, it's been a while since the last blog post. Sorry, but as usual, thinks have been a bit hectic. As most of you know, Sean has left on his deployment, and we are trying to get into a normal routine. Things are going pretty well so far. The weather here has been fabulous so the kids get outside to play a lot. Logan got a pedal bike with training wheels, so he is learning to ride that. Today we went for a run/bike ride in the vineyards and he rode his bike 2 miles! He also started swimming lessons, which he really enjoys. He passed his first class (preschool 1) which mainly tests if they can put their face in the water, do a front float with help, and have water poured over their heads. I am debating putting him in a gymnastics class too. I think he would really enjoy it, and keeping busy will be the best for us until Sean gets home, I think.

Evelyn is getting so big! She will be 15 months soon and is an energetic little sweetheart. She loves watching Logan, following him around, and doing the same things as him. She loves animal books and making the animal noises. Most of all, she loves being outside and exploring. If she hears a door open, she bee-lines it to try to escape outside.

I have been trying to get a good start on my paper. I found a good babysitter that I have coming a few times a week while I get away to the library to do some work. So far it's going well, but we are only a week into it. We made a long chain of construction paper, one chain for everyday Sean will be gone. I think Logan can visualize when daddy is coming home. It's a long chain =(. I know it could be much longer, so trying to count our blessings. He should be back at the beginning of June, and we are planning to make a trip to MN after he gets back sometimes. Possibly over the fourth of July.

Soooooo, if anyone wants to come out and hang out with us, we would love some company!!!! We have a spare room!
Here are some cute pics and vids of the kiddos.

 Easter Egg hunting in the neighborhood.

 An avocado tree the kids and I planted in the back yard.

 Evelyn and Mommy

 Evelyn and Logan playing out back

Short video of Logan at swimming lessons

YAY its almost Spring

Hello Everyone,

Well, what can I say other than it has been a really long time since I have written anything on here and see it's been awhile since we posted any pictures or videos. Well everyone, we are all in luck.... we finally splurged on a new mini digital camera with plenty of both to show all.

So, the kids are going like a pair of weeds lately. Literally...
Evelyn is walking everywhere nowadays. She loves to be on the move until she climbs up into your lap  to collapse and snuggle for a few minutes. She knows quite a few words now too. Up, Momma, Dadda and dog are her favorites. Apple is right up there too though.

Logan has been waiting all winter for the rain and cold to finally go away. It's hard to get too enthused about playing in a wet sand box in the cold. He's been going to Tot-drop a couple times a week for a few hours which he thoroughly enjoys. With the weather finally changing, its been sunny and mid 60's this week, hopefully he will get back into leading Toulie around the backyard exploring again and crushing things with his sandbox machinery soon.

Katie has had her hands full all winter long with trying to find productive things for them to do. It's hard to force yourself out of the house everyday to go do something "fun for the kids" but she has managed as best she could. It's that or turn em loose to eat crayons and tear all the cushions off the furnitures for forts and nerf gun wars.... I dont know who taught him that... hmm

Well I figured I needed to get at least one blog post in before I head back overseas the middle of next month. I'm sure Katie will try to update the site as much as possible. She's gonna solo it this time around for the most part unless they can get back to see the extended fams for a couple weeks.

Anyway, without further ado, here are some great pics of the west coast clan

S

A New Year!

Hello Everyone! Happy New Year!! We hope the start to your new year has been great! Time really does fly when you are having fun! We just recently got home from our Christmas trip to Minnesota. We were there for 10 days, and boy, did it go fast! We had a wonderful time seeing family and the kids had so much fun playing with their cousins. It really breaks my heart to think that they could play together like that all the time if we just lived closer. Sadly we didn't really take many pictures. Our point and shoot camera died a long time ago, so we only had our phones. We really need to get a new camera.

We had three Christmas gatherings that we hung out with family, ate great food, and gave and opened awesome gifts. Below is a pic of my Christmas Eve cuties.

Christmas morning we opened gifts and had delicious eggs benedict, made by my dad (and Adam helped). Eggs benedict is a tradition now =). 

Logan got to go to Cabela's with daddy and his cousins. He loves to go look at all the animals and nature scenes. 

Logan also got his first experience with Pink Eye. Poor kid. It was nasty, but he managed to keep his spirits up and nobody else got it, so that was great! 

There was snow! It snowed a few times while we were there and we got to go sledding numerous times! Even Evelyn got in on the action! It was fun to watch the kids sledding on the hill that I grew up sledding on with my brother and sister. They really had a great time!

A special "Thanks" to my parents for hosting us for those 10 days. I know it wasn't easy to have our crazy, messy family in your place. We had a wonderful time! Also a special "Thanks" to the Harts for watching Toulie for us. We couldn't have done it without you either! 

Next up for the Kirsch fam is getting settled back at home for a few weeks. It is Evelyn's birthday next week, so we will probably have a small little celebration for her. Then we will get geared up to go down to SoCal for a wedding weekend extravaganza! One of our friends is getting married down by the beach, so I'm sure we will have a great time! Stay tuned!
P.S. Today is Sean and my FIVE year anniversary! Whahoo! Happy Anniversary to US!

November?

Geesh, time is flying, as usual. Can't believe it's been over a month since we've posted. Sean has been gone a lot, so that doesn't leave me much time to blog. His last trip for a little while was a conference in Lake Tahoe, so I drove up there with the kids to visit. We had a nice time and there was a little snow up there. Logan got to go sledding and hot tubbing.
Logan had a great birthday. His party was a Chuck E Cheese, which he loves. He wants to go there ALL the time. He loves to play the games. He really enjoyed getting all the presents and playing with them. Thank you all.
Evelyn is growing so fast! She's got quite the personality too. Dramatic and demanding, just what a girl should be, right? She stands up on everything and eats everything too. She is hilarious. If she catches a glimpse or whiff of anyone eating anything, she crawls right up to them and demands some of it. Pretty funny stuff.
Now we are awaiting Sean's Mom and Bob out here tomorrow. Finally! Someone to spend Thanksgiving with! We have never had visitors for Thanksgiving nor have we gone anywhere since we have been out here. Yay! Here are a couple pics of the kiddos.

 One of Logan's birthday presents, a big train track!

 Evelyn, getting so big!

 Bathtime together!!!

 Who doesn't love swinging with a view of Lake Tahoe?

 Brother and sister love!

Logan and daddy on a rock they climbed many times!!

An update on E.

So Evelyn had her 9 month appointment yesterday. She was 16 lbs 10 oz (10th %), 28.5 in long (77%) and head 50%. We continue to have long, skinny kids.
(At Logan's 9 month appt., he was 16 lbs 13 oz and 30 inches tall, very similar!).
She is doing everything a 9 month old should be doing and more! Being a preemie has not held her back much at all! She was a couple months later when it came to eating pureed fruits and veggies, but now she gobbles them up with no problems. She loves to eat now!!
She babbles a lot and crawls all over and pulls up to stand on anything. As most of you know from facebook that she likes to climb the stairs like crazy too. Geeze.
She is extremely dramatic though. No one but Sean and I can hold her, touch her, talk to her, etc. She cries a lot!! It is frustrating but hopefully only a phase! Mommy needs a break!

Here is a video of her being goofy. This was about a week and a half ago when she started pulling up and now she does it quickly with no problems at all!!

Check out some new pictures of us