Hannah at 9 months!

Hannah Jo Reynders has grown too fast! She is such a big girl! We sure love her. She is such a joy to be around. She loves to laugh and giggle. She loves to stand. She can get on her hands and knees in the crawling position but hasn’t quite figured out what to do next. She just rocks back and forth. She can also get up on her feet and hands. Quite impressive :) 

Hannah loves to knock down block towers. We build small towers in front of her just to see her knock them down and laugh. She loves her brother and sister. She loves to interact and play with them. Peter loves to make Hannah laugh. He makes faces and tickles her. She adores him!

Stats from her 9 month doctor appointment:

Weight: 20 lbs. 7 oz. in the 80%
Length: 28.5 in. in the 85%
Head: 18.25 in. 95%

We love our calm, happy, smart, beautiful, little Hannah Jo!

Easter Celebrations

David and I were asked to speak in our main church meeting last Sunday, Easter Sunday. We were humbled and honored by the opportunity to speak. We enjoyed preparing our thoughts for that special day, Easter, the day we celebrate the greatest victory of all time, the victory over sin and death. I focused my words on celebrating the life of our Savior. I shared passages from the New Testament telling of our Savior's life and mission here on this earth. We celebrated His life and the gift of the atonement by remembering all that he has taught us. He is our perfect example. He asked us to follow Him. Let's do it!

David spoke beautifully as perusal. (This was actually his second time to speak on Easter since we've been married.) David titled his talk, Agency and the Atonement a Foundation for Hope. He focused his thoughts and words on how we can celebrate the atonement by choosing to use it. I feel I can not do His or my talk justice by atempting to write a brief overview, so I will leave it at this. We love our Savior, Jesus Christ. We are grateful for the peace, hope, and joy Christ has given us. He is our Redeemer and He lives!

One last spiritual thought. If you haven't seen this short video, watch it! It is amazing. Everything is because of Him.

Now... Here are some photos of the fun we had on Easter. Our good Bishop and his family had us over for Easter dinner. They are wonderful people and have a marvelous way of making you feel a part of their family. They also did an Easter egg hunt outside with the kids and Peter dyed eggs.

Easter Morning!

Happy Birthday Daddy!

David turned 29 on Saturday the 12th of April. We had a nice relaxing day, just what he wanted. After a yummy breakfast, David, Peter, Evelyn and I did yard work together while Hannah had her morning nap. Peter was so excited to help daddy mow! I edged the lawn, and Evelyn just kind of played. Though she did help Peter and I water our flower seeds. We planted them about three weeks ago and there are several little green sprouts! They are so excited about it all.

Here is a picture of Peter helping dad Saturday morning...

And here is a picture of Peter helping Grandpa Reynders (Poppy) about 2.5 years ago!

After lunch and before naps, we celebrated with a large, warm chocolate chip cookie and ice cream. Yumm!

After naps, we went for a walk as a family. Then David made a neat kite out of a grocery bag, yarn, duck-tape, and Popsicle sticks. The kids loved it! They couldn't get enough! It was a perfect blustery day :)

Then the lovely Kate Reynders, David's sister now working and living in Kansas City, MO, watched the kids while we went out for dinner. 

We had a lovely day celebrating the life of a truly amazing man. David is a wonderful husband and father. I am truly blessed to have been sealed to him for time and all eternity in the Fresno, CA Temple almost six years ago. We have learned and grown so much together. I am grateful for my David!

I asked the kids to tell me a few things they would like to thank their dad for, and things that they like to do with him. These are the answers they gave:

Peter said:

        - "Thank you for working."

        - "Thank you for doing silly faces."

        - "I like to dance with dad." [David does have some sweet moves ;)]

        - "I like to snuggle daddy."

        - "I like to play basketball outside with him."

        - "I like to draw with dad."

        - "I like to be silly with dad."

Evelyn said:

        - "I like to play with dad?"

            I then asked: "What do you like to play with dad?"

        - "Basketball." [???]

            I then asked again...

        - "I like to play guitar with daddy." [yes she does!]

The kids love their dad! Hannah lights up when she sees him. We have the best dad anyone could ask for!

We sure love this amazing, handsome man!

Conference in Saint Louis

We spent conference weekend in St. Louis with our awesome Uncle Rod and Aunt Jana and two of their amazing kiddos. Robert and Paige were there too with their kids and so was Kate. We had a PARTY!

General Conference was amazing as usual. We enjoyed being able to watch with family. It sure is a wonderful feeling to be surrounded by family that shares our belief in Christ and in His doctrine. We are so blessed to have had the opportunity to receive guidance, counsel, and strength from the Lord through the words of His prophets, seers, and revelators. I know that as we strive to live in accordance with the doctrine of Christ we find true joy and peace. I can testify of this. We have felt it in our family.

Well... Here are pictures of our PARTY at the Thorley's in St. Louis, MO:

Handsome men all ready for the Priesthood session.

Robert being a midget...

Tru baby :)

We decorated an Easter tree!

Happy birthday Robert!

Discovery Center & Reynders' Visit

I mentioned in the previous post that we went to the Discovery Center over Spring Break... well, let me tell you how much we love it! I had heard good things about the Discovery Center in Springfield, so we decided to go check it out. We enjoyed it so much that we decided to buy a membership! This was a pretty easy choice. They allowed us to use our entry fee toward the membership. Our entry fee was a few dollars less than half the cost of a membership for our family! So, if we were to go one more time the membership would be well spent. And we did go again!

David's parents and his sister Kate came for a visit last Monday (just after David's Spring Break). We love having the Reynders around. We hung out in Bolivar on Monday. We went to the park and enjoyed some relaxing time together. That night I had my championship basketball game... We won! Yep, were pretty awesome ;)

Tuesday we went to the Discovery Center! Once again, I'll let the pictures speak.

Digging for dinosaur bones.

Bed of nails! David and I thought this was neat, the kids couldn't care less.

We launched airplanes.

Our news broadcasters Evelyn and Peter Reynders.

I couldn't drink from this fountain...

Vacuum Maze

Yumm!

Putting on a show with Aunt Kate.

They made me do it...

Making bubbles with Grandma Jo.

Reading with Poppy.