It was a simple plan, really it was.  No preparation necessary, no cameras, no fuss, and really no bother.  It was going to be fun, festive, and full of family cheer…even for a family unaccustomed to the uneventful.  But before it really even got started, it all fell apart.  And so it was – the night of the epic fail…

So this was the plan:  it was Friday afternoon, deep in the heart of the Texas Christmas Season and the Jones family was ready for some Christmas cheer…well, the Jones parents were in the mood at least.  My first priority was to shut down my work day in time to scoop up the family and head out for the night.  Some clients of mine who live in the neighborhood (less than five minutes from our home) are Steiner Ranch’s version of the Griswold’s…and I’m not exaggerating when I say that.  Their light display boasts over 90,000 lights with light effects and displays that synchronize to holiday music…it is completely out of control!!  Every year when the light display is ready, “The Griswold’s” have a holiday party to show off their work.  So the plan was simple:  head over to see the light display, have some holiday treats, say hello to a few friends, then shuffle back to the car, drive around the neighborhood to look at the other light displays, and head back home to put the kids down and ease into a quiet evening with my lady.  Simple, right?  Out of the house for maybe two hours, not traveling more than about 2 miles, see lots of Christmas lights (always a kid favorite, right?!), load the kids up on some Christmas candy, keep them out just a bit past their bedtime so they would fall asleep easy…PIECE OF CAKE!!!  Did I mention that it all fell apart?

So we’re at the Holiday party checking out the lights and not ten minutes have passed when the trouble began.  Eliot came to me complaining of an upset stomach…a really bad upset stomach that needed pretty immediate attention, if you know what I mean.  Let’s mark that as Problem Event #1 in our Evolution of an Epic Fail timeline.  Ok, no problem…we’ve dealt with 5 stomach bugs at a time we can handle this and probably salvage the night.  So we gather up the gang, barely waving goodbye as we race to the car, and I start piling everyone in.  At this point we’re in a rush so I grab any kid and pop them in any seat available.  And here we mark Problem Event #2.  Britton gets car sick so she always sits in the middle row middle seat right next to Eliot to help prevent any tummy trouble.  So when I grabbed Lila and put her in Britton’s seat I made a mistake that would prove to be fatal.  Britton immediately noticed that she was not going to get her usual spot and as you all know Britton’s flare for the dramatic, she blew her top brighter than any Christmas display we saw that night!  Well, sorry Britton, but we’ve got to go and we can’t take the time to switch kids to different seats.  And you guessed it:  mark that as Problem Event #3!

In spite of the trouble, we manage to get the kids in their seats, buckled up tight and ready for the mad dash home so we can take care of Eliot.  Britton is exorcising a few demons from deep within her soul, but that’s nothing new so the only real trouble at the time was the urgent need to get Eliot back to the house.  We’re less than five minutes away so we’ve got this, no worries, and believe it or not we made it home without any new trouble events!    Our hope was that Eliot would make a quick recovery and our night could be salvaged so the plan was to keep the kids in the car with me while Casey ran in with Eliot to tend to her stomach trouble.  Mark the optimistic parental hope down as Problem Event #4.  Casey runs in with Eliot, I’m in the car with the 5, Britton’s  hair must be on fire the way she is carrying on, but that’s nothing new so things appear to be somewhat stable for the moment.  Not so fast, my friends…

Problem Event #5 happens unexpectedly when I turn on some music in the car – nothing crazy, just some acoustic guitars…pretty light stuff.  But Ryan comments immediately that she doesn’t like it.  What?  That’s strange…there is really nothing not to like about the music and the kids have never had any issue with the music I play in the car so what gives?  I more or less ignore Ryan about the music, but she decides that she really does not like the music and wants me to turn it off.  I tell her that it’s not going to happen  at which point some of the flames from Britton’s burning hair apparently jumped onto Ryan’s head and set her ears on fire because she starts screaming her head off and again insisting that I turn the music off.  AND THEN, Jack starts throwing a fit because he DOES NOT want the music turned off!!  We’ll go ahead and mark that as Problem Event #6.  Up next:  Problem Event #7…not to be outdone by her brother and sisters, Lila decides to get in on the action by kicking off one of her boots then immediately decrying the injustice of not having a boot on both feet by stretching the outer limits of the human vocal chord.

So just to recap:  Eliot is inside with Casey having God knows what kind of issues, Britton’s skin has apparently turned itself inside out, exposing every pain nerve in her body to the elements, Ryan’s ear drums are about to explode because of the acoustic classical guitar music I’m playing softly in the car, Jack is boldly sticking up for his daddy’s musical affinity but doing so quite vocally and with a great deal of anguish, and Lila’s screams of bootless terror are haunting the damned residing beyond the seventh gate of Hades…and we haven’t been out of the house 30 minutes.

But what about Brooklyn, you say?  Ah yes, Brooklyn…sweet, sweet Brooklyn.  God love that little girl!  Brooklyn is my own personal eye of the storm in this less-than-festive moment of cacophony.  Sweet Baby B is just sitting there, calmly surveying the scene, and casually ignoring the chaos.  When I manage to make eye contact with her (speaking to each other is clearly not an option with the amount of noise emanating from the mouths of the babes in our car), she just smiles at me sweetly as if the world has never been a happier place.  GOD. LOVE. THAT. GIRL!!

In the 2 years, 11 months, and 2 days that these five beautiful babies have bettered our lives, it can rarely be said that Casey or I had absolutely no control over any situation with the kids.  That can’t be said for the event being experienced at that very moment.  I was utterly helpless to calm the situation so I just sat there smiling at Brooklyn and pretending that I was in her world of butterflies and blue skies, far, far, far away from the mayhem that had taken possession of our family…

This goes on for a good four hours (or maybe 20 minutes, but who can keep count when the gates of Hell have obviously opened up a portal to our world right there in your vehicle??).  However long it was, Casey and Eliot finally emerge from the house, apparently with Eliot feeling much better and ready to resume our evening of festive cheer.  And as the optimistically obtuse parents that we are, Casey and I decide to try and salvage the night by driving around the ‘hood for awhile to look at Christmas lights.  At least three of the five are still apparently being ripped apart by rabid ants judging by their screams of anguish and the Quints’ bedtime has just passed, but we’ve only been out of the house an hour by this point and we are going to experience some Christmas cheer if it kills every last one of us!!!  Mark that as Problem Event #8 – we lasted less than ten minutes………..We bailed and it didn’t take too much convincing.  We were forced to admit that the night was officially a bust.  We rushed back home, hustled the kids upstairs, put them in their jammies, and put them down to bed as quickly as possible, Eliot included.

We have had our kids on planes and trains, in Oprah’s studio chairs, and at photo shoots galore.  We have experienced their lowest lows – stomach bugs, ear infections, nasty colds, and more.  We have had them over-sugared, over-stimulated, and over-tired.  But none of these moments in time can compare as memorably nor as challengingly to the night we simply tried to experience a little Christmas cheer.  It was a simple plan, really it was…too simple perhaps.  Clearly we were not prepared for what it was apparently destined to be:  a quintuplet-sized, complete, and total epic fail!!

God bless and Merry Christmas!!

Ethan

I hope you haven’t blinked yet…if you did, you may have already missed 2/3 of season 3 of ‘Quints By Surprise’ on TLC.  And if you blink again you may miss the final two episodes which air this Tuesday night, the 22nd.  So whatever you do, don’t blink!! :)

I know, I know…our “seasons” go by so quickly they are gone before you have a chance to settle in and enjoy the experience!  As far as we can tell, our ratings have simply not been good enough to warrant a more significant commitment.  So while we would definitely love to do more shows and more seasons, we are extremely grateful for the opportunity we have been given so far and have loved being able to share our family with you all!!

So I’ll say it again – don’t blink!!  The final two episodes of season 3 of ‘Quints By Surprise’ air Tuesday night on TLC!!!  Here is the link to this week’s TV schedule:  Quints By Surprise on TLC.

And in other news, our favorite photog, Elle Mendenhall of Ella Bella Photography, spent some time with us at the park recently and you are seeing the fruits of her labor on this very page!  We can’t say enough how much we love working with Elle and how much we especially love the photographs she manages to capture of our wild bunch!!

And finally, we want to wish you all a very happy Thanksgiving!!  This is without a doubt my favorite of all holidays though I know there is no one in this family who will agree with me on that.  It’s the perfect holiday – no songs to get stuck in your head, no gifts to give or to get, not a whole lot of decorating…just food, football, and family – LOVE IT!!!!  So from our family to yours, HAPPY THANKSGIVING!!

God bless,

Ethan

If you follow this blog, you know that ‘Quints By Surprise’ was nearly canceled after season 2 aired back in May…or actually I think it really was canceled…either way, the show’s future was not looking so bright.  But then someone somewhere threw a Hail Mary and somehow connected with the powers that be who decided to give us another run (read more about that here:  The Snake in the Barn).  However it went down, the Jones Family thinks it was a great idea to bring the show back and we hope you will agree!!

To say that our lives while filming this season’s shows have been a bit hectic would be an understatement.  To say those same hectic days have been overflowing with  fun, excitement, and cuteness that is almost too much to bear would be a huge understatement!!  In fact, if I had to describe the experience this time around in just a few words, they would be:  exciting, fun, and over-the-top cute…and once again I hope you agree!!!

Click here for the schedule:  TLC TV Schedule – Quints By Surprise!!

I would also use the word “natural” to describe the shows this time around as well.  The kids turn three in January and so they are old enough now to know what it means when we describe what we are going to be doing for the day…and then get really, really excited about it!  For some of the past episodes, like taking them camping or to the water park, they had little concept of what that meant and so the fun didn’t really begin until we got to what we were doing.  But this time around, when we told them they were going to get “big kid beds” they had an idea what that meant and they were giddy with excitement from the word go!  And when we said we were going to go to the fire station to meet the firefighters who helped save our neighborhood during the recent Texas wildfires, they knew what a firefighter was, no explanations necessary, and they were ready to go…immediately!

And that is how it is with most everything these days, whether it’s going to a Baylor football game, taking a ballet lesson with Eliot, dressing up for Halloween, or getting them training bikes.  These kids, Eliot included, get so into whatever it is they are doing we just have to get them started and then sit back and enjoy the show…it is so fun to be a part of!

For those of you who have watched the show from the beginning, I think you will be shocked to see how much the kids (yes, they are kids now, not babies anymore!) have grown and hear how much they are talking, interacting, and running wild with their imaginations!  Like I said, over-the-top cute is definitely a theme of the season!!

As always, we cannot forget to mention how thankful we are for everything that is happening in our little world!  The love and support we continue to receive is nothing short of amazing and we thank you all for inspiring us to be better and do better with our lives!  The Lord has blessed us beyond belief with our six little miracles and life is oh so good!!!

So tune in this Tuesday, the 8th, at 10/9c on TLC to see how the kids have grown and hopefully how the parents have as well…

God bless,

Ethan

If you are wondering why it has been nearly six weeks since I last updated the blog, wonder no more. Our lives have changed dramatically…again…and we have been trying to keep our heads above water ever since!! This change was not unexpected, but it isn’t necessarily a welcome one, either – the Fab Five has collectively hit the terrible 2’s and we are entrenched in daily battles for dominance of the Jones domicile!! And so far, the kids are winning the war…

There is the usual whining, fighting, and fussing that comes along around this time in any two-year-old’s world and of course there is defiance, stubbornness, petulance, pouting, hitting, biting, and kicking as well…it’s a lovely, peaceful existence…

The attitude swings, defiance, and constant need for attention, the need for the EXACT right thing at the EXACT right moment from the EXACT right person is difficult enough, but what has taken its toll on the time we have in the day (and therefore my ability to update the blog) is the kids’ ability to outwit, outsmart, and outlast every attempt we make at getting them a nap and a good night’s sleep on a regular basis. Gone are the days of putting them in their cribs, zipping up the tent, and walking away knowing that they’ll fall asleep soon, safe and sound in their beds; hello to the new normal of putting them in their beds, leaving the room, then returning to their room to put them back in their beds (the crib tents proved to be no match for the 5) and leaving the room, then returning to their room to put them back in bed and repair whatever damage they have caused in the two minutes you were out of the room, leaving the room, then returning…you get the point. Multiply that routine 40 or 50 times and you really get the idea! Oh my Lord, have mercy on us as we attempt to confront this new challenge with love, patience, and understanding!!!

The good news in all of this is that it is happening just in time for the cameras to catch the action – cameras will be rolling once again in the Jones house and Quints By Surprise is returning soon to TLC for season 3!!! We are really excited to start filming and share with you all what we have been up to lately! Can you believe is has been almost 9 months since we last filmed??

Fortunately between the fighting, the time outs, the fussing, and the fury there are a lot of really fun moments with the whole Six Pack as the kids are really settling into their personalities and preferences. As you’ll soon see when the first new episodes of Quints By Surprise hit the small screen, we have six very distinct, very independent, and very engaging little personalities running the house these days. Here is a funny story that perfectly illustrates the kind of daily fun and frustration we are encountering with these guys…

While I was getting ready to take Eliot to soccer practice one evening, the 5 were having dinner – chicken tenders and sweet potato fries – something they have had many, many times. Britton in her “I’m Little Mighty and I’ll do what I want” sort of way pushed her chicken tenders away and said, “I don’t want chicken!” My response was the same as it usually is – “ok, but you’re not getting anything else” – and we took the chicken off her plate. Eliot and I leave and not two minutes later Casey sends me a text to say that not only had Britton asked to have her chicken back and ate it immediately, but she also asked for more. Gotta love it, but it gets better…

When we got back from soccer, I asked, “Hey Britton, what did you have for dinner?”
“I don’t know” was the immediate response.
“Did you have chicken?”
“No.”
“Really? What did you have?”
“I didn’t have chicken.”
“Oh, ok. But what did you have?”
“Not chicken.”
“Are you sure you didn’t have chicken because mommy said you did?”
“No, I did not have chicken. I had sweet potato fries.”
“Hmm, no chicken, huh?”
“Nope, no chicken.”

I tried every different possible way of asking her if she had chicken and what did she have for dinner to try to get her to admit what she had eaten and that stubborn little thing never wavered…not.one.time.  Can you believe the little cutie in the picture above could pull a stunt like that??  Stubborn, stubborn, stubborn, but fun-loving as well – she had a twinkle in her eye and a little smile on her face the whole time I was interrogating her about her meal! :)

So there is fun mixed with frustration, laughter mixed with something very far from laughter, and scowls mixed with smiles in the Jones house these days. The kids are growing like crazy, exploring and challenging the world around them, and keeping us guessing, running, laughing, and fretting all the while. Look for the new episodes of Quints By Surprise to show you all of this and then some, coming soon to TLC!!!!

Casey and I spent last week in an intense, 24-hours-a-day, life changing marriage counseling session last week and it was tough!! We struggled, we fought, we laughed, we learned new things about each other, and we firmly positioned our marriage on solid ground for the foreseeable future. Thanks to a few (or five) little changes in our lives, it has been nearly 5 years since we had submitted ourselves to such a grueling effort and it was long overdue. We needed a refresher, a kick in the seat, a jump start, and a reminder of just how important our relationship is to our lives and to our family’s health and if you haven’t done the same for your own marriage and family in awhile, I highly recommend that you do.

Alright so maybe I’m not being entirely forthcoming here. What we actually did was go on vacation…just the two of us…NO KIDS ALLOWED!! Taking nothing away from marriage counselors and those who have sat in their chairs hoping to repair, revive, and restore their relationships, I must say that a couples-only trip to somewhere, anywhere actually, can go a long way to achieving the same goals…….

Our chosen destination was Cabo San Lucas on the southern tip of Mexico’s Baja Peninsula, the last strip of land that separates the Pacific Ocean and the Sea of Cortes. We’ve been to Mexico a few times and absolutely loved it – the culture, the beaches, the diving, the people – everything about a Mexican beach vacation is incredible! But we have never been to Cabo, the most Americanized Mexican resort town, so we were a little wary of what we might find when we arrived. And I am happy to say that other than some overzealous timeshare/transportation providers at the airport who wanted us to defy the laws of economics, physics, and humanity in order to get to our resort, Cabo did not disappoint in any way!

We spent a day on an excursion to the famous arch and another day 60 feet underwater doing an open-water dive; we spent another day doing a whole lot of nothing and another on a fishing boat in the Pacific surrounded by porpoises as far as the eye could see. We went to the market, we went to the beach, and we went to the pool. We dined at the resort and we made our way to a few cantinas for some local flavor. I got pummeled by the massive waves, filling my shorts and my lungs with sand and saltwater, and I got stung by a jellyfish I never saw (on the face!), but neither fazed me a bit because the beaches were too grand, the sky was too clear, and the lady by my side was far too amazing!!!

All-in-all we just took the time to focus on each other without all of the distractions and responsibilities that all of you parents out there know all too well. It was fun, it was relaxing, it was refreshing and revitalizing, but most of all it was vitally necessary! All kidding about marriage counseling aside, I have to say that if you haven’t done something like this lately with your mate, you need to stop reading these words right now and start planning your getaway immediately!!

We have heard from so many people (most with far fewer children I might add) who say that they have never taken a parents-only vacation since their kids were born or that they can’t even find time for a date night or some other sort of thing like that. WHAT?!! Are you kidding me?? Sorry to be so blunt, but if you care about your marriage and you care about your kids then YOU MUST DO THIS!! Casey and I firmly believe that our marriage is the foundation on which this family survives and just as the foundation of any structure needs maintenance and occasional repair so does your marriage. And if you do not take the time to maintain your marriage then what are you teaching your kids about its importance? And what will be left of it when the kids are grown and gone??

Alright, I’ll get off of my soapbox now. And please don’t get me wrong – if you are one of those who hasn’t taken the time for a parents getaway, I’m not coming down on you. I know, it’s hard…it’s hard to plan, it’s hard to find the time and the money, it’s hard to be gone from the kids, and it’s hard to get things back in order when you get back. And it’s an easy thing to put aside when the daily demands of life deny you the right to relax…especially when your life is like ours – driven in the fast lane, your hands on the wheel of a car packed full of kids!! We just believe strongly that the marriage relationship has to be the first priority if any family is going to survive and thrive in this dastardly, devious, world of ours which is too often anti-marriage and anti-family. So in the words of Nike, the goddess of tennis shoes and other athletic apparel, “Just do it!”

Wait, one more thing…I can’t get out of here without a HUGE, GINORMOUS thank you to Nana, Summer, and Angel, Grandma, Grandpa, and all of the volunteers who chipped in to take care of the Six Pack while we were away!! We cannot thank you all enough for your love and support of our family!!

God bless,

Ethan

Remember those pictures from a year ago??  It’s amazing how things change in 12 short months!  Here is the Six Pack in a more recent picture from earlier this summer…

Wow, where is the summer going and why is it in such a hurry to get here??  I can’t believe it is already July 4th Weekend…and I can’t believe that due to the Texas droughts I am actually wondering if we’ll get to see any fireworks at all on America’s birthday!!  Even though we skipped spring and flew right into the dog days of summer – we have already hit triple digits more than 20 times – it still feels like summer just arrived and it’s almost over.  That’s right, it has been hot, hot, hot in Austin, Texas this year and the heat will not be letting up anytime soon.  All of the big area fireworks shows have been canceled, the fireworks have been pulled from the shelves at the local stores and stands, and there is a major media push to keep people from lighting up this holiday weekend.  It’s kind of a bummer, but we’ll figure out a way to make some memories in spite of the less than festive spirit!

As usual we have kept really, really busy this summer and it’s been a great one so far!  It all started with a family trip up to Denton for Casey’s parents’ annual Memorial Day Party and it hasn’t slowed down yet.  The kids did GREAT on the trip up to Denton…it was our most enjoyable, relaxing trip yet since the quints burst onto the scene and we are really excited that we seem to have turned a corner with the difficulty of family road trips.  They did not fuss much while on the road, they took good naps and slept well overnight, and they were much easier to handle at our parents’ non-baby-proofed homes.  What a welcome change from the last few trips up north!!

In the last few weeks, Casey has started taking the quints out with her individually to run errands, grocery shop, and other things like that…oh my gosh, the LOVE it!!!  It’s pretty hilarious to see how excited they get when it is their turn to go with mama to the grocery store!  As for me, I was able to sneak Britton out for a little outing to catch some indoor soccer action and we also took Jack with us one night to check out one of my remodel projects followed by a short dinner out. It’s a lot of fun to take the gang out individually and we’ve also been venturing out more as a family – to church (yes, finally!), to run quick errands, and we just got home today from our first family trip to Rudy’s Barbecue in a long, long time…it was awesome!!  The kids are so well-behaved when we go out which is great, of course, but we honestly think it is because they do not get the chance to be out as often as other kids.  Every little outing for them is a grand adventure!!! :)

Eliot has been bouncing from day camp to day camp and has more on the way.  She’s been to Vacation Bible School, gymnastics camp, and Mobile Loaves and Fishes camp…the girl is definitely spoiled!  And when she hasn’t been day-camping, she has been a little social butterfly, fluttering from play date to play date in an endless cycle of friends, fun, and summer sun.  And the fun isn’t going to stop anytime soon – she turns seven in just a couple of weeks and you know we’ve got a big day planned for our little girl!

And in between all of these activities we’ve found time to celebrate our anniversary, enjoy a fabulous father’s day, and squeeze in a whirlwind, less-than-24-hour visit from one of my Iowa cousins and her four kids…whew!!  Casey and I celebrated 12 years of marriage with a day-date thanks to a little help from our volunteer family and it was awesome!  We took the day to enjoy some of the little things that we do not get to do since the kids came along – like running errands, shopping for shoes and swimsuits together, and having lunch where we could just sit there, order food for only ourselves, not feed anyone or yell at anyone or clean anyone up or stop to change a diaper or…maybe I’ll stop now…yes, it’s the little things from our former lives that we miss the most!  The family of course made me feel extra special on Father’s Day with hand-made cards and lots of pampering, gotta love it as always!  And the visit from Deandra and her kids was short but super-sweet…thanks for making the effort, Deandra!!

Well it has been a fab summer so far for the Fab Five and the supporting cast here in the Jones house and we’re looking forward to much more summer fun over the next couple of months.  We hope that all of you are enjoying yourselves as much as we are!  Happy Fourth of July, everybody!!!

P.S.  Sadly, we still have no word from TLC on the future of “Quints By Surprise,” but we’re told that things are looking more positive than they were a few weeks ago.  We hope to send more episodes your way soon!!

God bless,

Ethan