Mother's Day and other ramblings...

Today I had my parents over for lunch to celebrate Mother's Day. Here is a picture of my Mom, Leah and I. On the menu was Flank Steak which was marinated in lime juice, soy sauce, ginger, scallions and red pepper flakes, then grilled by Joe to perfection.

We also enjoyed this yummy salad!
Made with strawberries, mushrooms, sliced red onion, spinach, poppyseed dressing and home-made candied pecans, this is a huge hit whenever I make it (just ask Nicole or Tracy - one of our playgroup Moms, who has since moved to Ohio, shared this recipe with us).

On another note, Joe and I have been busy with lots of "around the house" work. We have taken down some of the wallpaper in the upstairs hallway, cleaned out our entire office, installed a new slide and swings on Leah's swingset, painted, and THIS:


We had this patio installed last fall and so now is the time to try to grow some grass around it. After almost a full day of loosening the soil, carrying 16 bags of topsoil, planting grass seed, putting down fertilizer and starter mulch, we were exhausted (and Joe's allergies were out of control). Wish us grass growing luck!

Normally, I am far from the productive. It must be the fact that we are going away on vacation in the next few weeks. There will be plenty of time for relaxing on the beach! Anyone want to take a guess at where we are flying off to?