Herbal tea is like invisible clothes

Do you ever feel like you're in the story The Emperor's New Clothes and everyone is raving about something that you just don't really appreciate, and you're tempted to go along and agree that it's wonderful? Do we all do that a little bit? For example, grown-ups are supposed to have grown-up palettes, right? I thought I'd try some herbal tea again, years after my first less-than-enjoyable taste of it. In the company of a group of successful and wonderful ladies, while trying to appear sophisticated, I choked down an entire steaming glass of something that tasted like boiled bark. I can't decide yet if I'm proud of myself for trying something new or if I was pretending to be something I'm not. Maybe it's as simple as trying many variations of tea before I find one that I enjoy, but it was an interesting thought about how we want others to perceive us.

Ryan's been busy with school, preparing to have a student teacher in his classroom, dealing with technology issues and marking. We had Jason here for a few days so they could attend Teacher's Conference together and it was fun to have a visit with him.

We were lucky to have a baby shower here for Noah - on a super cold and icy night.

Greg & Steph, the proud parents (with a PhotoBomb from Madeline)

It was fun to hold him - what a cutie!

Claire's been under the weather lately. Here is a tribute to her medication regime today: purple Children's Advil, red Phenobarbitol, PEG 3350 and Vitamin D dissolved in water, orange Tegretol and pink antibiotics for her ear infections. We have so many syringes and medicine cups in our house, it's crazy. All I can say is, thank goodness for her g-tube. She doesn't have to swallow or taste any of this...

Due to the lovely problems associated with double ear infections, Claire has been having a lot of baths lately. On one occasion Madeline decided to join her, clothes and all.

Our little yoga princess. She loves to contort herself like this.

And our dancing princess. She can dance better in those heels than I can.

One thing that makes my heart happy is when the girls laugh and play together.

We spied a little bunny in our front yard on a stormy day. It had hollowed out a little hole in the snow and bunkered down. It was fun to sit there and watch it and we were genuinely sorry when it hopped away.

Hugs on the couch are always fun. It's nice to cuddle with Claire when she's sleepy because she's often very still and happy. Madeline is always asking for "snuggles on the couch." We just have to remember that she won't be asking for that for much longer and we should enjoy it while we can.

That has been our life lately. Here's to an upcoming week of lovely weather!