Is this a tick in my house?

My son ran into the kitchen the other night to tell my wife there was a tick on the living room ceiling. My son, who is already taller than my 5 foot 1 wife, couldn't reach it so I don't know what he thought Aubree was going to do. She gets freaked out by bugs so there was no way she was going to climb a chair to do battle and give up the advantage of a quick exit. But she went in to look and told him to stop worrying; that it looked like a spider and not a tick. So it was left alone for the time being.

Hours later when I got home from work this thing was still there barely having moved from its original spot. I "took care of it" as a Jersey mobster would say. I tried to not crush the hell out of it though because I wanted to see who was right, my son or my wife. Now I don't know what to think. I'm leaning towards tick, but is it common for them to get in the house? As I've mentioned a lot lately, we moved somewhere that has a lot of woods right near by. I always warn the kids when playing out there to check for ticks when they get back in. I know they will latch on you, but is it normal to find them in your house? That's a big concern because we have a 6 month old baby just learning to crawl and a 2 year old toddler. Lyme disease is nothing I want to think about for anyone in my family but they would be the most vulnerable.

So I took these pictures. This thing was very small so it's not the best focus on my camera phone, but it might give you an idea. The white background is a paper towel I laid it on. Take a look.

Notice there are 8 legs. So you might think spider. But I looked it up and I'm reading ticks have 8 legs when they are an adult. Plus the shape of the body isn't looking spider-like to me. Here's another picture with a different angle.

Like I said, best I could do photowise with something so tiny. So what do you think? I'm really hoping this is not a tick because the thought of them being in my house with the little ones is scary. If it is a tick, then I'm wondering all sorts of things. Such as how do they get in? Most likely a random incident where one was on someone's clothing then fell off once inside before having a change to bite into someone's skin, right? Or is it possible that ticks just find their way into homes just like other bugs? Then if that's a possibility, the next question I'd have is can you do anything about it? Does anything repel a tick? Or kill a tick? I've seen all kinds of products for ants and roaches like traps and sprays but is there anything like that for ticks?

I'm just a guy trying to keep my kids safe from Lyme disease so if you have any thoughts on this can you please let me know? Use the quick poll or you can use the comment section here for more detail or send me an email to DD@nj1015.com.