Delay in Pictures...

Okay, there was a delay in getting these pics up due to a great big problem - I literally ran out of space on my computer. I have so many pics on this thing that it refused to hold any more. I went out this morning and bought a 500 GB external hard drive so that I will (hopefully) never run into this problem again! Enjoy - you guys cost me an extra 100 bucks ;0 Just joking - it had to be done...

Dad: "Dayton, give me your poppy (aka pacifier), so I can understand what you're saying!" Dayton follows up by chunking the poppy at Daddy...




Happy Boy!




Dayton, the flutist...




Here's the cute bath pics I promised the other day!



















Here is Dayton's new learning choo-choo. It's the cutest thing and he loves playing w/ it...




Ricebird Friday...













Samantha and Date at the bay on Saturday evening. He's getting to be quite the picture taker - even leaned in for this one!




Peek-a-boo - Dayton playing in his playhouse at the bay. I got a few pics before my camera went dead :( Missed the sunset though...







Dayton at the St. Philip picnic on Sunday - we had a great time. I would've taken a pic of him in the choo-choo train, but I had to ride it w/ him - fun times! Bumpy 10 minutes tractor ride while I had to pee realllllyyyy bad - ouch!




Dayton got his hand painted rather than the good ole face painting - it was cute none the less...




Our spoiled little boy! Dayton wanted a John Deere wagon, so PaPa Zabodyn got it. Dayton also got a mini porch swing from Mommy and Daddy. I'll get some pics of it. Right now it's sitting in the middle of our living room. He loves it...




That's all for now. Hope everyone has a great week. Brandon leaves for the ACTS retreat on Thursday so we'll be spending time w/ my mom since my dad will be on the retreat also. I'm sure this weekend will involve some sort of shopping! If anyone wants to write a letter for BZ, please do so. I would appreciate it so much!!! JZ

*A Time Out from Dayton's Blog*

I know this is Dayton's blog - just about everything on here revolves around him which pretty much reflects the way Brandon and I live our lives. However, I wanted to take a small time out to talk about myself for a minute. I know this isn't my blog and I rarely write about myself, but I had something to share. Most of you were w/ me my first weekend of my Weight Watchers journey eight weeks ago, so I thought it fitting to give you an update on my progress. I weighed in last night which marked eight weeks and I am very happy to announce that I've reached my first "goal". I've lost 17.4 lbs total, so I'm really excited about this. This has been a huge deal for me. This change in lifestyle has done wonders for my confidence level and energy level. I am feeling great, and while I still have a ways to go, it feels good to know that I'm on the right track. I promise not to bring it up too often. I try not to talk about it w/ people. I realize it's my own personal journey for the good of myself and myself alone. I just felt proud of myself and who better to share the news w/ then you guys. Also, my mom started the same time I did and she too has reached her first "goal". She's lost 18.4 lbs so we are traveling this journey together. It's been something great for us to share. Anywho - I'm done w/ my timeout, so I'll get some cute bath pics of Baby Date posted on here soon - I got some good ones the other night. In the meantime, he is very cross today. Ran a horrible fever all night, up half the night and woke up pretty cranky this morning - fun times! I'm pretty sure it's his allergies. Why he runs fever when he gets allergies I don't know, but the two always seem to run hand and hand around here...

Following through w/ my Promise...

As promised, here are some pics from our busy weekend. Friday night we went to the EC football game in Wharton. Saturday Brandon and I went to the UT game in Austin and Sunday we had a family reunion. Dayton slept until 9:15 this morning (very unusual), so needless to say, we are still worn out from the weekend!!!

Here's a pic from our evacuation trip last week. This was right after the big haircut, but you can't tell b/c of the way he's sitting...


Here is Date in front of the big Bevo behind the co-op. We've got a few pics of him in front of this same statue from a few trips we've taken to Austin. It's amazing how much he changes in so little time.


Date at the pep rally on Friday morning...


Playing w/ his choo-choo on Friday - so innocent! Yeah right!


Dayton and Brandon pose for a pic at the game on Friday night:


Me and Date - I know I'm smooshing his face, but it's the best one Daddy got of us...


A pic from our seats at the UT game - so much fun!!!


The band takes the field...


Didn't want to ask someone to take a pic of us together so here I am by myself - Hook'em!


Anna and Grandpa at the family reunion:


MeMe and Luke...


Here's a cute one of Scott and Brock:


The boys:


Uncle Scott holds up Will while Anna and Bryn look on.


Anna and Bryn - The Rod Princesses:

No New Pics...

Well, I've done horrible w/ my camera over the past week. After missing the great photo ops at Build a Bear and Visible Changes, I've also managed to miss a few more. The mornings have been so beautiful here this week that we've spent a lot of time outside. Instead of toting my monster memory maker around w/ me, I've chosen to just enjoy my sweet little boy and play right along w/ him. I missed some good pics at my parents the other morning. He was sliding down the slide, climbing up ladders, poking his head out of the play house windows - lots of good shots I could've got, but I was too busy chasing him up the ladders, holding his hand down the slide and playing peek a boo out the window. This morning we went to Prasek's w/ my dad (we go atleast once a week for "piggies" and coffee). Then we came home and went on a small little nature walk down the neighborhood. Lucy went along, too so my hands were full, to say the least and the camera sat at home once again. Oh well, hopefully the weather will cool off for good pretty soon and I'll be able to get lots of pics. I have one picture of his new haircut on the camera right now and you really can't even tell it's cut. Tomorrow we'll be going to the pep rally and football game so I know I'll have pics of that. I think Brandon and I will be attending the UT/Rice game on Saturday - got some awesome tix for free that we couldn't pass up! I'll try to get some pics there. Then, on Sunday, we've got a Rod family reunion, so I'll get pics of all the kiddos there. Here is my weekend vow:

"I promise to point and shoot at every opportunity that arises so thereafter, my blog will not remain so boring...."

Have a good one! JZ

We're Back

Well, we are back from our weekend adventure. We were so lucky to dodge such a big bullet. I feel so sorry for all those who weren't as lucky as us.

We headed out on Thursday afternoon when Brandon got off of work - so much for a great birthday for him! My parents had a hotel room booked in Bastrop for a couple of months now. They were going to a golf tournament w/ some of my other family. Since they had the room, they decided to go ahead and evacuate there for the weekend. The tournament was cancelled, but they decided to make the most of it. My mom was able to get us a room by the time we got there, so we wouldn't have to impose on Clint and Megan.

It was great - we had a mini microwave and fridge in our room which is pretty unheard of these days. We've spent a lot of money on hotel rooms in the past, and this inexpensive one was one of the greatest rooms ever. It was cozy, the people were nice, and being able to store all of Dayton's snacks, milk and juice in the fridge was fabulous!

Brandon got to play golf on Thursday w/ my dad and my uncle. While the guys were playing golf, us girls (and Dayton) went shopping in the wonderful town of Bastrop - basically, we went to Bealls and HEB. We got Brandon a chocolate chip cookie cake that said "Happy Birthday Daddy" on it.

Thursday night Brandon decided he wanted to eat at Nancy's Steakhouse so we went there. It was very tasty! We went back to the hotel and had cake. I think Brandon ended up having a decent birthday. We tried to stay positive and make the most of it.

Friday, we woke up, got dressed, ate breakfast and headed to Austin. We started at the mall, not really needing anything, just killing time. I have been dying to let Dayton make a build-a-bear forever and finally Brandon gave in. We were in no hurry so he said we could. My camera was in the car so - no pictures :( but he chose to make a monkey named "Poppy" which is dressed in fishing waders and a fishing vest w/ a fishing pole. It's pretty funny! We burned more time looking at appliances at Sears (exciting, I know.) Brandon had a wild idea to get Date's haircut, so we took him to Visible Changes and got him in. He screamed (again, no camera), but eventually settled down and did quite well. I told her I didn't want a blunt little boy hair cut. Date has to have some stylish little whispies hanging down, and she did great! We got rid of the mullet but kept the messiness that we like so much.

We headed to Clint's to see his new place and let Date take a small nap. After catching up w/ them, we went to Austin Pizza Co. on the drag for some pizza (and salad for me). They had the weather channel on in there and I was freaking out by that point. I was so worried about our families at home. It was hard for me to concentrate on anything for the rest of the day, but we did got to Tyler's and the Co-op, then back to good ole' Bastrop. We ate at Chili's that night.

I stayed up all night off and on watching the t.v. and was out of bed by 6 and eating breakfast by 6:30. I just couldn't sleep w/ everything going on. After it had passed and we knew how fortunate EC was, we decided to head home so that we could beat a lot of the traffic. We got home about 12:30 on Saturday. Saturday was my mom's b-day so we had pizza and peach cobbler at our house Saturday night.

Yesterday, we rested and recovered. Today, it's back to work! I've got dancing tonight from 4- 8 - ahhhhhh!!! I hate Mondays!

Anyways, that's our small evacuation story. Not exciting, I know, but thought I'd share. We are soooo blessed to back in our house w/ no harm. My heart and prayers go out to all those who suffered any damage and losses in this horrible natural disaster. Mother Nature is a crazy thing!

*Brandon is going to go CRAZY if he has to watch anymore coverage of the storm. He missed almost all of his football games this weekend and there has been nothing on tv all day today again. Dayton's getting to watch a lot of Sprout today, b/c all of Mommy's shows aren't on. Seems that some people would like to take their minds of the storm for a while and have a little normalcy in their lives, but these channels are relentless, they're all going to keep showing it as long as their competitors don't give in -ahhhh! Hope I get to see the finale of Big Brother tomorrow night! I'm not trying to be inconsiderate, I just want some normal tv!!!*

If Ike won't take a hike, we will!!!

Well, we are officially "evacuating". We'll be leaving tomorrow around 2 or so and probably sit on the road for 8 hours on the way to A-town. We'll be at Clint's apt so we'll keep you guys posted. I pray that we have something to come home to :) Our main concern is the electricity situation - we can't have an 18 mth old at home w/ no electricity. Our baby sweats worse than his momma - he needs him some AC!!! We will have internet on and off up there, so I'll try to update when I can - I'll have my camera.

Everyone stay safe, please - I love you all!!!

JZ

Another Week...

Here are some pics from the past week or so. Samantha's birthday party was on Wednesday, we went to the football game on Friday night, and my mom's surprise party was on Saturday morning. I forgot to take my camera to the surprise party - ahhhh!!! Amy got some pics, so if she emails them, I'll get them up on here. My mom was truly surprised, it was great! Saturday night we went to the Texas Exes Wharton County Network game watching party at Firehouse. It was a good time. Yesterday we were lazy all day, then went swimming in the evening, and revised house plans all night. Our electricity was out here this morning for over on hour. Just trying to catch up on a few things while Date is napping...


Dayton gets ready for Sam's party. He loves playing w/ his farm animals, tractors and barns. He's such a little farmer - it's hilarious!



Brock and Bryn at Sam's party. "Bring us some chicken nuggets NOW!!!"



Here's a cute one I got of the kiddos looking out the window. Poor Bryn, Dayton probably weighs as much as she does!



Got lucky on this one - turned out great. He leaned back against the garage door and his hat got tilted to the side - too cute!



Doesn't Brandon look great w/ a little girl??? She is so precious - Emma, Travis and Melody Cobb's daughter...



Paci - check. Football ribbon - check. Lovey - check. EC cap - check. Hey Mom! I'm ready to go to the pep rally. (Except for that hair, kid...)



OKay, I couldn't resist. What is wrong w/ this picture. Look closely... Poor lil' couple...



Go Birds!!!



Look at the white belly - Dayton goes for a dip yesterday. We found a water bug and Dayton was amazed. He's obsessed w/ bugs. Any time he sees any sort of bug or flake of dirt, he yells "Buu, Buu!" and points.



Looks like Ike is coming our way - depending on the weather, we'll still plan on having BZ's party after the football game on Friday night! Go away IKE!!!

Brandon's B-day

Hello All -
Brandon's infamous b-day is next Thursday, 9-11. I was thinking about doing something for him on Friday or Saturday night. If anyone is going to be around or has any suggestions of what we could do, let me know! I know the EC game is on Friday night, but maybe we could have something afterwards at our house or we could hold off til Saturday night. Let me know if anyone wants to participate. I need some down time away from my kiddo!!!!!!!!!

JZ

Football and Fishing...

Here are some pics from our weekend. We were successful in the football area - go Birds and Horns - and not successful in the fishing area - caught no keepers :( Who would've ever thought I'd become the fisherman that I am - I'm in love w/ it! I even went out on the boat w/ Brandon and Wayne. I won a hot (and I mean HOT) pink rod and reel at the CCA banquet and now I'm putting it to good use :) Take a look at a few pics:


Dayton was a little timid at the beginning of the game, but he warmed up fast. He loves him some football!!!



Here is Date and Sam at halftime. He was looking at her like "Why are you dressed like that?"



Here's a good one of Anna and Dayton - I just love the expressions on both of their faces!



Dayton and Anna look on. I was having a lot of fun w/ the black and white and lights of the stadium. I think it made for some great pics...



Daddy and Date...




A great view for Dayton






Dayton finally got into the game enough to cheer, clap and yell various vowel sounds at the players...



It was extremely hot out there - Here he is a little sweaty, but still cute!



If anyone ever doubted that he got his eye color from me - take a look at this pic...



At the bay...



Our little, big boy gets help from Daddy as he walks down the stairs.



Like father, like son - Mommy was out fishing (again) and came in to find this site...



I always seem to get the best pics of him when he's walking away and not facing me. It doesn't call for a smile or "freeze" pose. It's just him, Dayton, completely natural.






Well, that's it for now. Not much else to report. We came in from the bay on Sunday and drove into Houston yesterday to look at house stuff again. We haven't even started building and I'm already sick of this! :) It'll be well worth it, I know. Dancing has been busy but great. I have a wonderful group of kids this year and I'm looking forward to pushing them to the limits and teaching them a lot of new things! Today is Samantha's 18th birthday, but since her mean boss (me) made her go to work today, we'll be celebrating her birthday tomorrow night at Firehouse Grill. Saturday we're throwing a surprise birthday party for my mom - shhhhh! She doesn't read this, so the secret should be safe. I think she'll be shocked, mad and happy all at the same time. It'll be fun. Have a great rest-of-the week! Love you guys! JZ