Merry Christmas

We had a great first Christmas as a married couple, but we didn't take many picutres :( We spent a few days here in Dallas with Zac's family, then made the drive down to Texas City to be with my family for a few days.Our first Christmas tree:

College Graduations

Each of our brothers graduated right before Christmas. First we headed to College Station for Matt's graduation.Then we headed to Texas City for Jason's graduation. Oh gosh - can you believe they gave him a gun?

Happy Thanksgiving

Our first Thanksgiving as a married couple was wonderful! My parents and brother came to town for a Ladd/Clement Thanksgiving at our home and on our new china :) Zac's parents and brother came over for lunch and some football. Lunch preparations started the day before. Suzanne even came over to help and personalized one of our dishes.
Serving table set up with all the ingredients needed:
Preparing:Family before lunch:The day after Thanksgiving we loaded up the cars and headed to Canton for First Monday. It was cold and rainy. Several, whose names I will not mention, said they will not be going back :) Look at everyone's smile at the end of the day!Even Roxie got something from Canton!

Shelton Homecoming

This week has been very busy for Team Ladd. Zac is the Student Council Sponsor at Shelton and they are responsible for all the Homecoming festivities. This year's theme was Back to the Future: 50's, 60's, 70's, and 80's. The week started out with a Fashion Show and Pepnic (pep rally/picnic/parade). Zac was the host :)Then the students and staff had dress-up days. Zac really likes the 70's :)
Friday afternoon we started decorating the school for the dance on Saturday and then went to the football game. Zac had to stand on the field during the announcement of the Homecoming Court. Shelton slaughtered All Saints 46-0.
On Saturday we spent the day decorating and then chaperoned the dance that night. Homecoming was a great success! I am very proud of my husband :)
Sunday was clean-up day. We are exhausted!

Happy Halloween

Happy Halloween Everyone! Zac and I celebrated in a very traditional way :) We watched It's The Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown, carved a pumpkin, and roasted pumpkin seeds.

Birth Control???

This weekend Zac and I had the privilege of hanging out with four of our favorite kiddos...Avery, Gage, Ellie, and Wesley. We had a blast, laughed a lot, learned some lessons, and had some "firsts". At least Zac experienced these "firsts", thus many laughs for me! We got there Friday afternoon and it was time for the evening routine: play, dinner, more play, baths, and bed. Zac has been a part of all of these but baths before. He was quite shocked and not sure what to do with naked kids running around laughing and not sure what his role was when it came to bathing. He knew he needed to help because we needed all hands on deck with 4 kids. I just laughed under my breath during the entire process. We had a fun slumber party...Zac and I in the bed, one kid on the floor, one kid on the couch, and one kid on a blow-up mattress...all to avoid kids waking us up in the middle of the night at different times...we all slept through the night! The next morning Zac went on a donut run and then it was time to get ready to take the two oldest kids to Upwards Basketball. I had to go in the gym with them so left Zac with my purse and the two youngest girls. When try-outs were over this is what I found...
These kids love him! Yes, I'm starting to get jealous because I knew their mom and dad before they had kids and have been around for over eight years! Zac has only been around a little over 1 year and is stealing all the attention. Oh well, I guess it's fun to have a guy around.
For lunch was the famous trip to Wild About Harry's (that's hotdogs for those of you not in Dallas).
After lunch it was time for Wesley's nap, so the rest of us played baseball in the front yard for two hours. Once Wesley woke up we headed to the backyard to swing, play four square, etc. This is when Zac's real adventure started. He experienced more "firsts": helping a kid wipe after pooping, clogging the toilet using too much toilet tissue because he had never done that before, AND dropping the toilet paper holder in the "full" toilet after it sprung apart :) Yes, just picture all of this in your mind and laugh...I sure did! Well, it is now time for everyone to go to their space and have some alone play time. Whew...Zac and I thought we'd have a break...watching football, the little one resting on Zac....
Well, from upstairs you hear, "I'm throwing up!" I had started dinner with Wesley so did not want to upset her by stopping mid-feeding so, guess who gets to handle this...yep...Zac. I was a little nervous for the kid, but at the same time cracked a smile because of Zac. After that, it was time for dinner. Zac gladly volunteered to go pick up dinner...I think he needed a moment of respite. After dinner, the evening routine took place again...Zac was much more at ease this time :) Whew...what a weekend...I crashed on the couch while Zac watched football in the chair...it's only 8:30pm. The kiddos' parents came home and Zac graciously recapped the weekend for them...mom was in stitches, I was laughing so hard I was crying, and dad offered to buy Zac a beer. We had a blast and can't wait to do it again! Even with all the adventures, Zac's comment at the end of the night was, "Dang it, I think what I thought would be a good birth control weekend is backfiring!"

Hurricane Ike Evacuees

As Hurricane Ike approached the Texas Coastline, Zac and I took in some evacuees. They included my mom, dad, brother, and a chihuahua named Roxie. Zac's parents took in my brother's dog, Bandit.

Our family was very lucky. They had minimal damage when compared to others. The seawall in Texas City did it's job and protected the town from the storm surge. Our home had some wind damage including a downed fence and tree, outside fan destroyed, roof damage and upturned flower beds. Where the roof was damaged, water got in my brother's bedroom. They will have to rip out the sheet-rock and re-do. We are very thankful!

Our Home

We have spent many hours this summer getting settled in our new home. Here are a few pics of our townhouse. We are still waiting on our new kitchen table and chairs.

Landon Wayne Baker

Zac and I had the privilege of being a part of welcoming Landon into this world. His mom, Crystal, and I were best friends growing up. Her husband Larry blamed us for coming home and sending Crystal into labor early...meaning he did not get one more weekend to sleep in. Thanks Bakers for letting us be a part of this sweet miracle.