Okay Connecticut, yes you’ve gotten slammed with snow. We haven’t here in Portugal, that’s true, but what we also don’t have that you do, is warm houses. In Colorado, the heat was up so high that our clothes would dry overnight. Here, it takes 3 days and they’re still damp. Our houses are cold.

It’s a combination of construction that makes houses cool escapes in the summer and expensive heating bills that keep the indoors cool. So this Valentine’s Day I gave both my kids water bottles.

They love them.

On Saturday morning after having hosted Lana’s birthday slumber party and all the girls had left, I asked the question of what the kids had for homework. I assumed, incorrectly, that Nuno would have a weekend off since his class had just presented their class presentation on Chinese New Year at the Primary School’s Assembly. No such luck. The assignment was to write a three stanza poem in Portuguese on what they learned about Chinese New Year. Arghhhhhh!!!

After a deep breathe I decided we should brainstorm 20 key words and look for rhyming words.

It surprisingly was easier than I thought.

Enjoy…