katie, ben and lucy

So “HI.”  Welcome back.  Sorry we’ve been gone for so long.  An absolute huge amount has happened since our last post.  In March, the California crew, along with Amanda’s parents, came for a visit.  The goal…a new deck at the lakehouse.  The boys worked hard while the girls and kids played harder.  Next, we celebrated my birthday and Easter in April by visiting my brother and his family in Washington DC.  When we returned to Houston after the trip, we enjoyed the opening game of the Astros’ Baseball Season. About a week after Easter, Lucy learned to walk.  After her first day of the big accomplishment, her distance seemed to double every 24 hours. In no time, she was quickly waddling from person to person. In May we moved from our cute little first home in Houston, after 3 weeks of renovations, to our new more permanent home in Katy.  I’ll spare you the details. But as usual, it was a long and difficult process that Ben and I are glad to be done with. To make matters more interesting, Ben was working on one of the biggest projects of his career at the same time.  He dealt with all of the home renovations; I dealt with all of the house hunting, packing, and moving processes.  The workload between us evened out in the end.  And as usual, we couldn’t have done it without our wonderful realtor Patti. Then we celebrated Lucy’s 1st birthday with two little shin-digs with the family.  (You’ll notice two separate “Smash Cakes” in the photos.  The pink flower cake was on her real birthday – a Tuesday.  The cupcakes were for her birthday party which occurred on a Saturday).  For the past two months, we have been renovating the new house.  OK, actually, the new house is in wonderful shape..structurally.  But cosmetically, we had very differing opinions from the previous owners concerning paint colors, flooring choices, hardware, light fixtures….just about everything imaginable.  So, slowly but surely, we have been making it our own.  We still have lots to do – but in time.  We need more money for that!  So if you’re wondering why there are not any pics of the new house yet, it’s because I’ve been wanting to add our touch to everything before the big reveal.  Soon enough my friends, soon enough. For July 4th, the entire family hung out at the lakehouse to celebrate with food and fireworks…except for me. I had to work the holiday. But no biggie…I spent my spare time, baby-free, to paint the nursery. It has now transformed from olive green to “dried toothpaste”…but pretty dried toothpaste – aka a light mint green. I was informed that Ben and Lucy should take more trips with the family and without me. Since I was not there for Lucy to cling to for dear life, she was much more social with everyone else – giving hugs and sharing kisses with everyone. (I must admit, it is nice to have her lean over to give you a kiss on the cheek with a loud smack of her lips. Very cute!).  Last, but certainly not least, my cousin James and his sweetheart Kelly just married this past weekend.  It was quite a fun party – with lots of family to celebrate with.  So…all in all….A LOT has happened. I tried to pick the best photos for all the occasions. But of course, i still managed to pick about 70 or so “Perfect Pictures.” So have fun flipping through the gallery that covers the last three months of Coate Family Happenings. As usual, click on the photos for an enlarged view; you can move from picture to picture by using your arrow keys.  They’re shrunk to fit on the website page.  For a short little caption on each photo, just hover your mouse over the small version.  It’s amazing to see just how much Lucy changes in the photos during this time. She’s growing so fast; it just amazes me.

March – A Family Affair…Building a New Deck at the Lakehouse

Still March - Renovations to Our Old House

             …great memories.

April – Our Trip to D.C.

Still April – Opening Day with the Astros!!!  Shortly thereafter, Lucy learns to walk on her own!!!

May – Lucy Celebrates 1 Year…Twice 

July -An Explosion of Fun!!

Still July – James and Kelly’s Wedding

And just because…