Welcome Nathan Thomas Hynds

We are pleased to announce that our second son, Nathan Thomas Hynds, was born at 11:09 a.m. on May 21, 2011, weighing 8 lbs., 4 oz. and 21 inches long.  It was a very fast delivery (he was born less than two hours after we arrived at the hospital), and both he and Angie are doing well.

Here are a few pictures of his first week.  There are many more on my Facebook page as well.  Our larger family is doing very well!

Thank you!

I'd like to offer a BIG thank-you to Angie's aunt Jenny for coming down and helping paint all day, to Hannah Osborne for watching Noah today, and to my parents for picking Noah up and staying with him for a few hours while we finished. I'd also like to thank Angie and Jenny for painting all day while I just put up painter's tape. They don't care for taping, and I don't mind getting out of painting, so it's all good. We would be up to our necks in housework if it weren't for all of our friends and family!

Happy Valentine's Day!

Happy Valentine's Day, everybody.  One of the happiest days of my life was the day that I met Angie.  She is the most wonderful wife, and such a great mother.  I am so happy and blessed to have her in my life.  We will be celebrating five years of marriage later this year, which is so exciting.  I love you, Angie.

Fun Times at the Manatee Park

Here is the first of what I hope will be many blog entries about our recent trip to visit Angie's parents Bill and Linda at their winter home in sunny Florida.  On our first day there, we went over to the Manatee Park, located near Fort Myers.  This park is located near a power plant, and the warm water near the plant provides the manatees a place to go when temperatures cool down.  There had been a cool spell right before we arrived in late December, so the place was full of manatees.

Here are a few fun pictures we took at the park:

Here, Noah is gently reminding us not to feed the alligators.  Contrast this to a picture taken at the same spot the previous March:

I also like this self-portrait we took back in the nature trail.  Angie is quite adept at self-portraits.

Finally, here are a couple of pictures that we took near the big manatee statue.

As you can see, we enjoy taking pictures near large, inanimate objects (see here, here, here, and here).

This is a great place to spend a short while if you are in the area, especially if there is cool weather.  Along with watching manatees, they have a butterfly garden, picnic areas, and a playground for the little ones.  It is also very affordable - all you have to pay for is parking at $1/hour.

This was just the beginning of a great trip, and I thank Bill and Linda for bringing us down.

The Shell Factory

On the second day of our Florida vacation (New Year's Day), we paid a visit to The Shell Factory.  It's a kooky little place in North Fort Myers.  They sell shells, of course, but there is also a fun park and nature park.  We just walked around the shell displays and the fun little exhibits (a good portion of this is free to walk around in), and took some fun pictures.

One of the most important rules in the Hynds family is this: If you are near the skeleton of a large shark's mouth, you must take a silly picture with it.  Angie obliged.

Then, we all joined in on the fun.  Honestly, how many chances do you get in life to pose for a picture inside a shark's mouth?

Then, we roped Bill and Linda in.  Okay, enough with the shark.  Let's move on to more important things...

...like a triceratops.  Once again, you can't pass up an opportunity like this.  If you see a triceratops, take a picture with it.  No exceptions.

We will soon post all of the other pictures on our Facebook pages.  It was a fun way to spend an afternoon.  On a side note, it rained profusely when we got there, and we all got soaked!  Unfortunately, this was the beginning of the cool spell that hit Florida and stayed for more than a week.

One more note about New Year's in Florida - it was the first time in my life that I was in the Eastern Time Zone when the ball dropped at Times Square.  I got to ring in the New Year at that moment, instead of having to wait another hour.  It's the little things, really, that get me excited.

Why My Wife is Awesome

Let me tell you why. On Tuesday, I had all four of my wisdom teeth removed. Something that you may not know about me is that I can handle minor surgeries well, but anesthesia, and particularly painkillers, mess me up pretty badly.

We got home about around 12:30 on Tuesday, and I was still a little woozy. Angie got me my pills, a drink of water, and a vanilla milkshake from McDonald's, and brought out a blanket so that I could sit on the recliner. She also brought up some of my favorite DVDs for me to watch. I tried to watch "The Simpsons Movie," but I only remember seeing about 30 minutes of the entire movie, as I was dozing off for most of the afternoon.

I started to feel okay, but still had some mouth pain, so I took a painkiller. Big mistake! I fell back asleep, started to have stomach problems, and before you know it, I'm pale and really sick. This cycle continued throughout the night, where I eventually decided that I'd rather have a sore mouth than be sick.


Why does this make my wife awesome? Well, she did all of the grocery shopping, called home to check up on me, took care of some holiday shopping, took care of Noah, took care of me, cooked dinner, and did all of the housework, without doing a bit of complaining. Below is a picture taken from that evening, illustrating just how useless I was that night.




I joked with Angie that now she knows what it's like to have two kids. I promised her that the next time a simple, minor surgical procedure leaves her unable to do a single thing, I'll help her out too.

I'm happy to report that even though there is still some soreness, I have my appetite back and I'm able to pull my share of the work, hence why I will soon be ending this post and getting back to housework, as Angie is working a substitute teaching job right now and I need to return the favor.

Even if all of this didn't happen, Angie is still an awesome wife, and I thank God for her every day. In the midst of a busy life, sometimes it takes things like this to sit back and realize how good I have it.

Noah's Belated Five-Month Blog

I'm nearly two weeks late, but here is a picture of Noah at five months. Noah's fifth month was pretty eventful. To start off, we dove into the world of solid foods. It began with rice cereal, and now has branched out to several foods, including sweet potatoes, green beans, apples, squash, bananas, avocado, and oatmeal. Angie has been making Noah's food, buying fresh produce and pureeing it. We recommend the Wholesome Baby Food website, which contains tips on when to feed each food and how to prepare them.



Over the 4th of July weekend, we went to Danny and Marianne's wedding in Chicago. Noah did a good job handling us being stuck in Chicago traffic, and he slept well. He slept through the ceremony, which made Angie happy. He also made it through a decent part of the reception. It was nice visiting all of our family, and it was a beautiful ceremony.

On Tuesdays, Angie and Noah have been attending Baby Talk. Baby Talk is an organization that provides resources to parents of babies. They do weekly meetings throughout the area, all free to the public. It's a great organization that got its start right here in Decatur, Illinois.

One of Noah's favorite things to do right now is sucking his big toe. Those of you reading this on Facebook have probably seen the video by now.

Noah is making a lot of noises. One of his noises sounds like he's saying "Hi." Right before he falls asleep at night, he will roll around in the crib and talk to himself.

Noah is doing some discovering. He likes to grab faces now. He also likes to scratch things, to see what they feel like. When we go on walks (which we've done quite a bit, thanks to the nice weather we've had this summer), he looks around at the trees. One thing that he's not a fan of, though, is the grass. We laid him down in the grass, and he voiced his displeasure.

The fifth month was fun, as you know. It was a real blessing to have reduced work hours this summer, so that I could spend more time with the family. I'm not looking forward to having bigger responsibilities again next week.

Well, the next update shouldn't be too far away, given that I was so late with this one. Stay tuned later this month for the big six-month update.

Our New Driveway (sort of)

Last week was a big week for the Hynds House. I spent last Thursday, Friday, and Monday resealing the driveway. It was long overdue. I didn't have the foresight to take a "Before" picture, but this is a big improvement.

It took five gallons of crack filler (tee hee!) to patch up the major cracks, and then just over two 5-gallon drums of sealant to patch it up. The whole thing was preceded by a long night of powerwashing. There were a lot of weeds that refused to give up, and had to be either pulled out or cut out.

Strangely enough, I had to wait a couple of days before finishing the project, as the materials are not supposed to be used when the temperature gets below 50 degrees. That didn't quite happen last weekend, but it came pretty close. I didn't expect that kind of barrier when I decided to do this in the middle of July.

Not to brag, but I'm pretty proud of myself. You see, I'm not what they call "handy," so this went way beyond what I thought I could pull off. Sure, nobody will look at it and say, "Hey, did you hire Dunn Company to do your driveway?", but it looks good enough, in my opinion. Plus, the whole project cost just above $100, and those are savings that you can take to the bank. The money bank!

I'd like to thank Angie for her support. She took care of Noah, since I couldn't come inside. She also prepared a couple of meals for me to eat outside, and provided a great deal of moral support. I also want to thank Don Reining and Bill Austin for letting me borrow some materials. Finally, I want to thank Sakrete for making the products that were used. (I'm hoping Sakrete will reimburse me for giving them the plug.)

Good night, and happy paving.

Noah Lee Hynds is here!

We'd like to welcome Noah Lee Hynds to the world. Noah was born on Sunday, February 22 at 3:24 p.m., at 9 lbs. 5 oz. and 22 inches long. He has brought tremendous blessing and joy to Angie and I. Here's the first of many pictures of our little guy. Noah and his mom are both doing well.




There will be a lot more pictures and videos both on this blog and on Facebook. We can't wait to share his stories to all of you! A big thank you goes to all of our family and friends for their caring and generosity.

Our Baby Shower

Angie had her baby shower back on January 17. It turned out very well, and we'd like to thank everybody for all of the books, all of the gifts, and the great food. Special thanks to Sherry and Nicky for organizing the event, Dad for preparing the soup, and our mothers, grandmothers, aunts, and friends for helping out. The pictures can be seen on Sherry's Facebook page.

If you see Angie, ask her what she thought of the fruit salad.

Thank you all for a great baby shower, and our little guy will be here before you know it!

My Goals for 2009

I know we're already in the 11th day of 2009, but I thought I'd share some of my personal goals for the year. I got the idea for doing this last fall, when I read the book 48 Days to the Work You Love, by Dan Miller. It's a great book that deals with how we approach our careers, and how our career should be more than just a paycheck. It's a book that I recommend, no matter what you think of your current job.

One of the chapters in this book mentioned that often we want our lives to improve, but we don't lay out a plan for making it happen. I have been guilty of that; sometimes, I want to change, but I'm too afraid to take a chance, or I'm simply too lazy to do anything about it. So, for 2009, I decided to set some personal goals. I made 11 goals total, although I'm going to keep some of them private. Here they are, by category:

Spiritual
1) Read the entire books of Psalms and Proverbs, as well as all four gospels.
-I want to deepen my relationship with God, and I can't expect to do so if I am not more diligent about reading his word. I often lack the motivation to read the Bible, and I hope that challenging myself to do so will help. I will need about two months for each book. I'm cheating a little here; I was already halfway through Psalms when the year began. But Psalms is a pretty big book anyway. Hopefully, I'll have a better understanding of these books at the end of the year.

2) Pray every day, and pray for Angie and our (future) son every day.
-If you never talk to your spouse, the relationship never goes anywhere. Thus, if you never talk to God, that relationship also goes nowhere. I learned this during a good sermon that I listened to a few weeks ago. As a result, I'm going to try very hard to pray every day, even if it's just a small prayer, and I always want to be praying for Angie and our boy.

Finances
1) Work 300 hours at the M.E. Barber Company and teach two summer courses at RCC.
-The summer courses are already in the schedule, and I made a month-by-month account of how I will get to 300 hours for the year, based on what I worked in 2008 and how my schedule will be this year.

2) Bring our emergency fund to have three months of expenses saved up.
-We were at that point near the end of the year, but car repairs set us back. However, it was nice to have the money to pay for those repairs. This is where the extra hours at the Shop and teaching summer courses comes into play.

Physical and Relational Health
1) Spend 30 minutes on the treadmill (or walking outside) at least once a week.

2) Have a "date night" with Angie at least once a month.
-This will especially be important after our boy is born, so that our marriage can stay strong.

Personal Development
1) Read six books (one for every two months).
-I can already see some of my relatives laughing at this one. Reading, at least reading books outside of work, has never been a passion of mine, but I know that I need to read if I want to get ahead in life. I read two books for pleasure in 2008, so I hope to increase it this year.

2) Cook a meal once a week.
-I'm lousy at cooking, and that needs to change. Angie shouldn't have to cook every meal, so I want to help out.


And those are some of my goals for 2009. Why have I posted these on my blog? It's easy; it's a good way to stay accountable. All of you who read this are allowed to e-mail me anytime this year and ask how I'm doing, and you can demand that I be honest. I hope that this has inspired you to think about what you want for this year, and how you can make it happen.

Here's to a fantastic 2009!

Christmas in Knoxville

I plan on spending this week posting pictures of our past Christmases. Today, here are some photos from our trip to Knoxville, Tennessee last year. We went there the weekend after Christmas for a family wedding. Here were some pictures from our walk through downtown Knoxville.

Here is the nice downtown tree. The weather was really nice this weekend; sunny, highs in the 50s. It was a pleasant walk around town.

Here, Angie is standing next to the giant Christmas present. I love her so much that I gave her a gift that is almost as big as she is. No, I'm just kidding. We all know that I can't afford to give her such a gift.

And finally, here is Angie talking to Santa. Also, some idiot is taking pictures of her in the background. Santa was using his down time the weekend after the holiday to take tickets at the historic Tennessee Theatre. Angie is asking Santa some intriguing questions. Fun fact: Santa spends all year there, except for Christmas Eve.

We had a great time down there, and we later went on to Nashville. More pictures will follow. Bye for now.

P.S.: This isn't the first post involving Knoxville. Click here for an earlier post from Knoxville with an interesting picture.

The First Christmas Photo of 2008

Merry Christmas, everybody. Here's the first photo of the blog for this year. It was taken in front of the tree at our old church last Christmas.

Another Big Birthday

Angie's grandma celebrated her 90th birthday on November 13. We had a celebration over at Sherry's, and we all had a great time. It sure is fun to have her around. Here are some assorted pictures with her daughter, granddaughters, and great grandchildren.

Linda's 60th Birthday

Back in October, we all celebrated the 60th birthday of my dear mother-in-law, Linda Austin. Here are some pictures from the festivities.

Here, Linda is having a moment with Brianna and Jonathan. Such a good grandma.

Speaking of grandmas, here's the mother of the birthday lady, Grandma B. She celebrated a big birthday herself recently. Look for more pictures in a future blog.

Angie was five months pregnant in this picture, but Bill was even more pregnant.

The ladies, plus Chase.

The Wii was a big hit. Here, Bill is playing Mario Kart with the grandchildren.

This made the adults jealous, so they played some Wii of their own. You can't tell, but Jeremy is using his home-field advantage to blatently whip us at Mario Kart.

More adults joined in. Jenny is clearly giving it her all. Most of the kids have left the room by this point, and we're starting to lose Zach. I don't think the kids are supposed to lose interest before the parents.

It seems funny that the guest of honor is only in one of the pictures, but that's Linda for you. A fun evening was had by all. And this is just the beginning; watch for many holiday gathering pictures in the coming months.

Welcome

Welcome to The Hynds Quarters - a new blog about the goings on in the Hynds family. I hope to use this to post pictures and videos, and provide updates of the non-stop action that is our daily lives.

It's worth noting that it was three years ago today, October 1, 2005, when Angie and I went on our first date. So it's a pretty cool day to start this.

Funny thing - some of you might remember my last blog on Xanga (September 2005-January 2007). When I started that blog, most of my postings were about the White Sox, because they were about to win the division and ultimately win the World Series. And today, I happen to be posting this the day after the Sox beat the Twins in a tiebreaker game to win the division. Could another World Series title follow? We'll find out.

To end the first post, here's a picture of our trip to Arthur last fall, where we posed with the scarecrows.

Happy blogging, everybody!