Our Own Little Oasis!

In case anyone had ANY doubts, I would just like to remind you all that my husband is a genius! ;)  Certifiable genius.  I have always known it, I mean he married me right?!  When he was away in Iraq Amanda (who was 2 at the time) would say "Daddy is a Super Genius", yeah, how cute...well, it was cute until she said I was JUST a genius...
Aww, gee thanks...wretched offspring.

We have been VERY lucky here in our desert home, we have really been blessed with some WONDERFUL neighbors.  Unfortunately one of our FAVES just moved away!  So sad... 
*sniffle*
They only moved a couple miles away, but away nonetheless.  We are all pretty bummed not to have Kathie, Gregg and thier son Brian just next door!  At least one good thing has come from thier decision to move, you see at thier new place there was an old mostly broken fountain in the backyard.  Yep, old and broken!
Megan, (I hear you all asking...)WHY oh Why is that a good thing? 

Well, because my Husband is a GENIUS! 
Since they didn't want it and Josh has ALWAYS wanted a water feature of some sort in our backyard they asked if he wanted it...and after pondering over it for awhile he decided that he could use his mad building skills to rehabilitate said broken fountain.  :D

Of course as Josh was working

Izzy decided to 'help' again! 

She was really working hard with that shovel! 

You can see part of the bottom 'pond' part 

of the fountain and one of the big chunks that was broken off.

Luckily Josh can fix juuuuust about anything...

Isn't it so cool?  All we had to do was get a new pump

to recirculate the water, and then

Josh used some cement adhesive to fix the bottom part. 

(Pay no attention to the man behind the curtain

...er, um...I mean the handle of the lawn mower

sticking out into this otherwise perfectly framed photo! ;)

The little statue at the top couldn't be more fitting for our family

 A big sister reading to her little sibling? 

It happens just about everyday at our house! :D 

Gotta love that! 

 

After it was finally fixed Josh pulled a

chair up to it and started reading

(see, I said that the statue was appropriate)

so Sam got out his favorite Thomas the Tank Engine books

and went out to read by Daddy...so cute!

Not to be outdone Izzy did the same thing...

Sam was LESS than happy to share his Thomas books!! LOL

We even found these little solar powered lights

to put around the yard...

with all the sunshine we get here all day

they are brighter than I thought they would be. 

Makes our little backyard a bit like a fairyworld at night!

I know it is hard to see in this pic,

I don't have the skills for taking good pics at night

but here are a couple of the lights around the fountain! ;)

Of course what was supposed to be a nice relaxing, calming, addition to our backyard has kinda turned out to be a wading pool,

rock holder,

splash pool,

junk catcher,

mud pond,

and it must have magnetic attraction for Izzy! 

She just CAN'T leave the thing alone! 

Just this morning all the kids were all decked out

for church and looking so cute

(all the girls decided to wear denim dresses)

I told them to go in the backyard

and I would try to get a few good pics

of my four darling twerps...I came out to find

Sam crawling on his hands and knees in the mud and

Izzy STANDING in the fountain

with her NEW Sandales on...

*sigh*

Ah, Well- she would get into trouble regardless,

we might as well enjoy this lovely fountain

as much as she seems to! LOL

This is SUCH a cute one of my three oldest...

Izzy would NOT sit down,

she was on a mission looking for bugs

and could not be bothered by

Mom's desire to get a pic of my kids

when they DON'T look like street urchins! ;)

Emily and Sam REALLY wanted a pic together,

I love these two wretches!

Izz would only stand by the other kids

if they were examining a bug! ha!

The only one I got of all four of them...

with their faces semi-towards me! HA!!

Anyway, we are throughly enjoying

our little oasis in the backyard...

it is amazing how much cooler it feels

out there with all the plants and the fountain going. 

Gotta stay cool here SOMEHOW!