Good bye 2008 bring on 2009

2008 was a very blessed year for the Klein family. God blessed us in so many ways. We bought our first home, I started a J O B, Lance was truly blessed within his workplace and a miracle happened....we got 2 dogs! After all the struggle that Lance and I have been through it was like I had to keep pinching myself. God is so good and his love for us endures forever. I praise him for all that he has given to us in 2008. I pray that with our new adventures in 2009 that our Lord will be the center of it all and we will be able to bless people as we have been blessed abundantly. I pray that all of you have a very blessed New Year all year long and that we all continue to seek his face in the good and in the bad.

Rewind from now to November

I have been really terrible at blogging here lately but I am going to get back on track......here we go! Our lives have been busy and fun since you have heard from me last so here is a rewind. Zane kept asking for roller skates for Christmas, well see for yourself!!!! Lawton kept wanting a camo backpack for an Israel trip that he is saving for. He wants one a lot like Ben's so this is what we could do!

Christmas is also Zane's birthday so of course he had to have a cool birthday cake. He wanted us to sing to him twice and so we did!

Christmas at Bear Creek was nice. It was full of laughter and blood. Poor Aaron..that is what he gets for shooting a gun that is out of his league...just kidding B.I.L.

Zane got a tool set for his birthday morning! What fun to work on projects now with daddy!

Zane also got to celebrate his birthday at school before the Christmas break. Lance and I brought pizza and cupcakes to the children and he felt so special to have us both at his school at the same time. I can't believe he is 4!!!

He is counting 1,2,3 for them to start singing. His teacher is the best ever!! She really is a god sent to our family!!



It snowed here one morning. The day before it was 85 degrees and then it snowed that night...crazy Texas weather. Zane had been praying for snow and I was so excited that it snowed for him to see that God loves us so much he sent us snow!

Every other year we switch off Thanksgiving between my family and Lance's family. This year I got to see a lot of my family. We went to my sister's in Lindale. My grandparents got to see Zane and Zane just loves them. It make me so happy since they only get to see them about once a year! He he is with my nunu and Papaw!

In early November we went with Lance to a conference and then swung by College Station. We ate at the good places and then walked around campus. It was so much fun and people loved seeing Zane with all his Aggie gear! He is a true Aggie through and through and he already bleeds maroon!

Whoop it up!

I hope you enjoyed our whirlwind adventure for the past few months. January is a whole new beginning and I will try to keep up the blogging.

What do the Klein Saturdays look like?

As a child I remember our Saturdays of getting up early, watching cartoons and I would make coffee for my mom and dad. Saturdays were relaxing! My biggest thing was getting to go to Wal-Mart with my Dad to pick out new bushes to plant. We would go home and my sister Melanie, my mom and dad and myself worked in the yard. My other sister sat in her room and read. We would go to the park for pic-nics with neighbors or friends from church. Our Saturdays were ours. I did play sports growing up but our games were on week nights and so was practice. Of course this was back in the day when teaches and schools realized that kids played sports so not much homework was given. It was also during the time when no homework was given on Wednesdays because most families went to church on that night (that is a whole other blog). It was also a time when there was no select sport teams and playing sports did not run the family. The family ran the sport. I am not shy to say that I do NOT enjoy watching soccer. It is growing on me but it is still by far my least favorite. So years ago I was not happy to find out that Lawton was going to play select soccer for a team in Boerne. Our Saturdays revolve around where and when the game is. I'm not talking one hour but more like 2 not including the traveling time to get to these places. It makes me sad that every Saturday our life our family revolves around this and for Zane this is the only life he knows. Zane doesn't know Saturday pic-nics in the park or Saturday "fun" day. He knows at 3 it is Lawton soccer day. I feel that it takes away from us going as a family to the zoo or harvest fields in the fall, hunting weekends in Freer. Most of you are saying big deal we all have sports on Saturdays, but what you need to understand is that select soccer is year round. Yes, year round!!
As I sit and complain, I couldn't be happier for the soccer player that Lawton has become. I have watched him get more aggressive and fight for the ball for his team. I have seen him get excited for others when they score and I have watched him teach Zane everything that he knows. Zane gets so proud of Lawton out on the fields and yells "Good Job Lawton" at every game. Even though I get bummed with not allowing Zane to do kid things, I see him support and cheer on his Big Brother!

my birthday!

Well, on October 17th I turned the big 31! Last year Lance threw me a big surprise party, so this year we took it easy. My awesome hubby took the day off so he could treat me to my favorite breakfast place, Le Peep! Lance and Zane took me there for brunch and afterwards we headed to look around at Academy. After a fun morning we came home and I took a long nap. Lance watched Zane so I got about 2 hours of interrupted sleep. Lance and Zane went to Fair Oaks to pick up Lawton; when they returned we went to have dinner at our neighbors. They were so sweet to have steaks and some very tasty sides for a birthday dinner. Debbie was even so kind to have a cake made for me. So very sweet. We are so blessed to have wonderful neighbors.
Leaving there around 9:00, we fed the horses and then went to the San Antonio Airport to welcome home our "family" from Riverside. They had been in Israel/Turkey for 17 days. We were so happy to see them all return home safe and with so much knowledge to share. I loved seeing the children's faces as they saw their mom or dad step off of the plane. That was the perfect way to end my birthday!

Zane trying on silly hats at Academy!

Look at this wonderful sinful chocolate kiss! LOVE IT!!!! Zane drank half of it though!

MOPS CONVENTION

Mothers of Preschoolers is the Best thing that happened to me when I started staying home with Zane. It gave me sanity because I was so used to working. This is my 3rd year in MOPS and I love it so much I wanted to bless the women that come in just as my dear friend Jen Taylor and Angela Gilbert blessed me. Last year my role was not one I should have taken, but I did learn life lessons from it. I can teach my leadership that it is okay not to get along with people and still make a function happen. I can teach them that we can forgive and learn from that. This year my role is much different and so much less stressful. I am co coordinating with Ruth McClain, an amazing woman, mom and wife! I do not see how this position can be done any other way than working as a team! One of my BIGGEST hang ups about what my position did last year was to raise money for Convention. I refused to go and spend money on a "good time" when we could use that money in so many different ways. After much prayer, others inputs and pushing from others, I decided to register for the Mothers of Preschoolers International Convention held this year in Dallas. Our Bulverde group took 8 women. It was amazing. I don't think any of us knew what to expect or how the Lord would transform us during this time. I just saw out of our group so many things. I got to know people that I saw a whole new light on. I fell in love with these women (not meaning to sound gross). I saw that our group and my life is so very blessed. I learned that we are all MOMMIES and we are here for each other. I learned that I needed to have more grace for people because we have no idea what is going on in their life or in their home. I cried like a baby a lot! The teaching was awesome and the praise and worship was touching. I hope that we can go again next year as a group.

Of course I learned things about the people that I went with...well, I'll tell you about those with the pictures!

OUR HOTEL! IT WAS BEAUTIFUL!!!!

THIS GUITAR WAS A TRAIN TRACK. VERY COOL
ONE OF THE PLACES TO EAT. EXPENSIVE JUST LIKE THE COFFEE AND BREAKFAST THERE
IT IS SUPPOSED TO BE THE GRAND CANYON
OIL DERRICKS!!!!!! I WOULD LIKE TO SEE THE RAIDERETTES JUMP OFF OF THIS ONE
RELAXING AFTER ONE OF THE SESSIONS
OH, WAIT, IS THAT ONE OF OUR MOPS MOMS, OH, YEAH, SHE MOVED TO CBC! WE STILL LOVE YOU KATIE!
MORE MOMMIES COMING IN FOR THE SESSION
G O FISH! MOM SONG....YOU ARE A DOCTOR, A COOKER, YOU'RE MAN THINKS YOU'RE A LOOKER
YES, PLEASE DON'T BE JEALOUS BUT THAT IS JACKIE VELASQUEZ AND HER HUBBY FROM SALVADOR

(LEFT) LAURA..HAS A GREAT MINISTRY IN THE FUTURE..THAT IS WHAT SHE LEARNED! (RIGHT) DENISE IS FUNNY WHICH I NEVER KNEW AND SHE KNOWS EVERYTHING ABOUT HOLLYWOOD GOSSIP

TRACEY..WELL THAT IS STILL TO COME AND JESSICA, MY BMT GIRL, WE WERE TOO MUCH A LIKE IN HIGH SCHOOL
TRACEY....GETTING DOWN TO THE GO FISH GUYS. I HAD TO MOVE SO SHE WOULDN'T KNOCK ME DOWN
LORI KNEW ALL THE WORDS TOO. SHE ALSO HAS SOME MOVES
RUTH LIKES FRUIT BY THE FOOT!!!


WE ALSO CAME BACK WITH LOTS OF ITEMS FROM THE MOP SHOP AND LOTS OF T'S. WE ALL FOUND OUT THAT OUR HUSBANDS ROCK AND THEY LIKE IT WHEN WE SHOW THAT T-SHIRT OFF!! MAYBE THERE WILL BE MORE BABIES IN THE NEAR FUTURE FROM THEM!

Indiana Jones

Zane went to the Best decked out party EVER!! Of course when I walked in and saw all the decorations and activities, I thought, well, scratch them off our list for Zane's party because it won't be near this good. Just kidding, Melanie, Blake is always welcomed at our house.
Blake is a huge fan of Indiana Jones and he was so cute all dressed up as him. Zane had the best time swinging into the "snake pit", finding minerals and digging for treasure.

This is Case and he is in Zane's class!

Friday Night Fun with the Klein Fam!!

A few weeks ago Lance's family came into town for a wedding that we all had to attend. I always love when his brother comes in and stays at our house. Lance really enjoys getting to spend that time with him. We all met for dinner in San Antonio Friday night at a good little Mexican restaurant in Stone Oak. As they ordered their beer as they always do, Germans, I got me a margarita. It came out all fancy!! It was by far one of the BEST Margaritas that I have ever had besides Margarita Sunday's last summer at Karl's.

Lance and his Dad being silly!
Zane loved this place and said,"das ees goot!"

meaning "this is good" but he says it in German every time!
The Klein girls having fun
Gail and her BABY! It is something about the youngest kids. We are way more spoiled!!

Joe McDermott

Zane loves Joe McDermott. He has the best kid songs and adults love them too. Lance and I both took Zane to see Joe in San Antonio. He was excited to see "the funny guy" but he didn't get down and dance like he usually does. We realized that he was just really tired. He did get excited when he sand his favorite song "Air Guitar"
Zane did get a spider man on his leg though and he didn't want to mess it up the whole time we were there is was so careful with it. When we got home he wanted it off fast because it was burning him. WHATEVER!!!

Lance, Zane and Bradley