Surprise!

Ella is the queen of making "surprises."  That usually means a giant mess of every little tiny thing you can think of (like the stew she made with every math manipulative we have), then ribbons tied everywhere.  She can sometimes spend hours working on her surprises.  Like this, on her vanity desk:

 Or this, which she spent all morning making for me:

That, if you can't tell, is Barney nesting blocks stacked and covered with sticks, dress-ups, cupcakes, and every hair bow from the bow bucket.  The food and animals around the base are part of the surprise. Isn't she creative?!  We have a surprise in the backyard too, from the weekend.  It involved lots of balls and sticks and dirt.
I took this picture back in January when I cleaned out the car before the cruise.  She spent about three weeks on this little "surprise..."

This pile of yummy was stuffed between her seat and the side of the car.  It's like a treasure hunt!  Can you find: 1/2 rotten banana, 1/2 rotten pear, melted/smeared Reese's peanut butter cup, 1/2 apple, and Fruit Loops among the trash?!  EW!  She said it was because she didn't have a trash can back there.  :)
While I took pictures of the newest surprise, the other kids wanted in on the action... here is Caleb demonstrating his basketball skills.  He loves basketball after his little camp last month, and can't wait until he is a little taller and can do lay-ups and dunks.

Rachel was happy to smile for the camera which was nice, since she's been pretty crabby lately.  Two year molars, or another cold, or both, who ever really knows?!  Nothing a little ibuprofen and snuggling can't fix.  

And now, I'd better go clean up something before we get buried in all the surprises. :)