Hmm, what to say, what to say…?  It’s been a wild month, but we are unfortunately unable to speak publicly about most of it………….hint, hint?? :0

No, that doesn’t mean we have been filming, though we wish the cameras had been along with us on our many adventures this month!  (We STILL have not heard whether we will be picked up for a second season or not!) But it does mean that the good vibes have been flowing from those who hold the fate of “Quints by Surprise” in their hands and they have given us plenty to be excited about in spite of the absence of the news about the show we are anxiously awaiting!

So as I sit here, staring at my computer screen, contemplating the content of the rest of this post, the whole Six Pack is quietly playing with Whitney, one of our steady hands who has been with us since the beginning, and Casey is cooking up the season’s first pot of chili…hmm, hmm good stuff coming my way soon!!  We are coming off of a pretty busy weekend – Casey and I snuck out for a date night on Friday and on Saturday we celebrated Summer’s and Angel’s birthdays here at the house.  Because the girls (Summer and Angel) joined our family in the early stages of the quint invasion we have unfortunately not been able to devote as much time to them as we would have liked and as we originally had planned when the adoption papers were being approved by the necessary authorities.  Their birthdays are only a couple of weeks apart so we invited them down for an extended celebration.  It was so good to have them here and to have the opportunity to focus on having fun and loving on them finally!

Read here for the story of how Summer and Angel joined the family:  Summer and Angel and It’s Official.

It is amazing to think back on the last two years of our lives and consider that what I would imagine is one of the most life-altering events that can occur in the life of most any other family has had to take a back seat (for lack of a better term) to the other events that have commanded the attention of this family.  I consider this to be one of the less-than-ideal side effects of a life lived with the quintuplets, though maybe that is the way that it was intended all along…for Summer’s, Angel’s, and my parents’ benefit as well as for our own.  It is pretty amazing to think back to the day we met Summer and Angel for the first time.  They have come so far from the rough and tumble little girls, two loaded weapons that packed a serious punch to your gut with the story of their lives up to that point.  It is such a blessing to witness the impact that heavy daily doses of love, care, and respect from parents who adore them is having on these two little spirits…what a joy!!

In other news, we just completed another epic Jones family picture day and the sneak-peek results are displayed on this page.  Picture day was our typical, crazy-stressful-jump-up-and-down-sing-a-lot-of-songs-gripe-at-Eliot-for-goofing-off-when-the-rest-of-us-are-trying-to-smile-and-keep-the-babies-engaged-with-the-photographer kind of day, but we are thrilled with the pictures and can’t wait to see the final version!  Thank you once again, Ella Bella Photography, for your smiles, patience, creativity, and talent!!  And also thank you to Little Miss Princess Tutu for providing the tutus and to Birdie and Peanut Snap-Cessories for providing the headbands and flowers! :)

The Fab Five have been busy exploring new and creative ways of giving me and Casey a few good laughs and a whole lot more gray hairs…just imagine the trouble five, 21 month old, inquisitive minds can get themselves into!!  Lila has been giving us all kinds of fits with keeping her diaper on and the contents contained…the girl is very creative when it comes to removing clothing and emptying a diaper!!  Her new night-night outfit is (in order of layers from skin out) diaper, duct tape, jammy pants, onesie over top of the jammy pants…she is a fashion diva!!  Mind you, I say this all with love of course, but Lila has proven to be a devious little devil over the last few months!  Her exploits have included the aforementioned poop throwing, as well as blankie stealing, hitting, cracker stealing, and other quite hilarious yet totally worrisome acts of rebellion.  Just the other day I watched her steal a snack from Britton when Britton wasn’t looking.  When Little B discovered the missing treat and voiced her protest, I told Lila to give it back (she had not eaten it yet).  She immediately shoved the whole thing in her mouth and looked at me with puffed out cheeks and her bright, blue, innocent eyes which were clearly saying to me, “too late, sucker!!”  And that’s where she was wrong…the treat was recovered before she could chew, Britton was happy as could be upon its return, and Lila spent a few minutes in timeout to consider her crime (or more likely to consider how not to get caught next time!).

Though they are not without their moments, the rest of the gang seems to be a good bit less troublesome than Miss Lila-Bear.  We have five little parrots who are eager to identify everything in the room and all of your little body parts whenever you have a conversation with them…eeeeeyyyyyeeess, nnnoooooooosssssee, eeeeeeeeeeeaaarrrrssss, ppppphhhhhoooooonnnneee, bbbbaaaabbbyyyyy…so cute!!  They are doing very well with learning how to eat with a fork and spoon, how to dance to Eliot’s favorite music (Beyonce’s “Single Ladies” is a hit in this house!), and how to pray before meals.  Oh, and how can I forget??  They are also learning, well Brooklyn is at least, how to turn a light switch on…and off…and on again…then off once more and on again real quick………….you get the idea.  We discovered this after we listened to them playing in their beds for an unusually long time one night, followed by Lila throwing a fit before the noise and the chatter all finally went away.  When it had been quiet about 15 minutes, I went upstairs to check in and try to determine what it was that had them so riled up.  It did not take long to discover the source of their enthusiasm…their room was lit up like it was the middle of the day as Brooklyn had apparently figured out that she could reach the light switch from her crib!!  Can you imagine how many times that light went on and off before they all had had enough fun??  And poor Lila apparently did not like falling asleep in the bright light, but Brooklyn was either asleep already or did not want to turn the light out for her sister…hilarious!!  The next morning when Casey went in the room to get everyone up, the first thing Ryan said to her was, “Brooklyn light!!”  Looks like Ryan can be counted on for some inside information whenever mom and dad need intel in the future!!

So life has been interesting around here…who would have guessed?  We hope to have more for you soon…believe me, we’re dying to know if there will be a second season or not!!  Either way, keep checking in with us because if there is one thing we know for certain it’s that things will always be happening in the JonesLife!! :)

God bless,

Ethan