Owen couldn't wait for March 4 to get his braces off. He was a little disappointed since he got a permanant retrainer in and was still on a restricted diet (he has to wait a while before hitting those gummy bears.) But he was still all smiles for the Before... and After picture.

When you leave a four year old alone to play for awhile, there's no telling what they'll come up with. First Jonathan built the train track, had a train crash, had the fire trucks and ambulance arrive and all the cars wait in a traffic jam. Take a look. He was so proud of this, he wanted to take a picture of it, too.

Uncle Stephen and Aunt Tracy were so helpful to work with Owen on his school project. Based on the story, Flat Stanley (by Jeff Brown), Flat Owen flew to San Mateo for a fun filled week. It was nice to see Flat Owen practicing safe car habits. Flat Owen kept busy, going to karate, playing the violin, and he even helped with some laundry. I was most impressed to see Flat Owen's yoga moves. I never knew he was that limber! Here's his downward facing dog... and the wheel. Flat Owen had great behavior when they met up with Aunt Sully and Uncle Glenn for dinner.

On yet another weekend when I was sick this month, Michael took the boys to Boston for the day. Jon was happy he still fit into this part of the train platform. Now, can you spot what's different in this picture? Pizza always tastes better when Cousin Adrienne comes along. At a statue in Cambridge, Jon does his best fish face. Then Owen gets his turn.

We consider ourselves to be extremely fortunate to have escaped the floods that hit Rhode Island so hard this week. We didn't get any water in our basement even though the neighbors on both sides had several inches in their basements. So many friends and neighbors had anywhere from an inch or two to some who had 3-4 feet in their house. What a mess. The streets are still flooded and many are closed. Here are a few shots from around town.

This house now has a duck pond in their front yard.

Water on the street and yard, another house with a pond.

This is my friends' Mary's side yard. She said the backyard is worse and she has 18 inches in the basement.

And here's a friend's basement with about 1 foot of water in it. And the other hallway. What a mess.

To end on a happier note:

And hot off the press, well, camera, our neighborhood had their Easter Egg hunt. Jon goes off to find some treasures. Owen searched high and low to fill up two bags. After a little sugar in the system, eating pizza becomes that much more fun. Here's Owen, Dominic and Trevor. Colby kept calm watching Pheobe, Eva and Anna be so silly.