We are very excited to announce that “Quints by Surprise” is finally making its return to TLC and you do not have to wait any longer!!  This Monday, April 18th, a one hour special called “Quints by Surprise:  Turning 2″ about the Fab Five’s second birthday will air at 9/8c, right after “Cake Boss”!  Follow this link to read the exclusive announcement from sheknows.com:  Quints by Surprise:  Turning 2!

Here is how TLC’s website describes the show:  “The Jones Quintuplets are turning two! Ethan and Casey decide to go all out for the special day and scramble to make an outdoor winter wonderland in Texas. With rain in forecast, will they keep their snow day from becoming a slushy disaster?”

We had Jones Family Sneak Peek night earlier this week and can confirm that if you enjoyed the first season of the show, you are going to LOVE this special!!  For your own sneak peek of what is to come this Monday night, check out the new webisodes just loaded to TLC’s site:  Quints by Surprise Webisodes!

And in other fantastic “Quints by Surprise” news – the official start of season 2 has been announced and May 9th is the big day!

We are really excited for the new episodes to be hitting the air and hope you are as well!  Tune in Monday night and let us know what you think!!

God bless,

Ethan

P.S.  You have no doubt noticed that we have spent some time with our favorite photog, Ella Bella Photography.  Elle once again dazzled us with her photographic brilliance and willingness to combine five two-year-olds, one energetic six-year-old, four baby ducks, and one slightly manic mama for the incredible pictures you see on this page!  See below for more pictures from the shoot!

If you have been following along with our Facebook/Twitter updates the last few months, you’ve likely picked up on a theme – this family has been sick, sick, and more sick! It has been a long, tough winter for the Jones clan complete with too many colds to count, a stomach bug or eight, the flu, Bronchialitis, RSV, and many other little ailments along the way. It has been a vicious cycle which really took its toll on our spirits and had us wondering if we were ever going to be “us” again. Well the family has been completely healthy for about two weeks now so we decided it was time to venture out on another memory-making journey…destination: Paris……………………Texas.

That’s right, there is a town in Texas named Paris and it sits in the northeast, piny woods of our state, about a six hour drive from Austin. Once you reach Paris and discover that there really isn’t much there worth hanging around for you can head a little further east to find a cabin in the woods owned by my parents, otherwise known as Nana and Bapa. To get there, you’ll drive through Blossom, Reno, and then Detroit (population: 786), hang two more lefts the last of which puts you on a dirt- and gravel-covered county road, then take one more left through the gate and onto the property which holds the aforementioned cabin.

The cabin isn’t anything fancy – one room and no TV or indoor plumbing, but there is running water and electricity (which is required if you have any hope of convincing Miss Casey Ann to make the trip). And of course, there is a hammock out back that seems to be almost always occupied. My dad, my brother, and I built the cabin, most of it anyway about 10 years ago over one really hot and humid week in late July. Since that time, a small kitchen, a fireplace, a covered porch and a few other “luxuries” have been added on with quite a few helpers along the way and plenty of elbow grease from my mom at each and every step.

It didn’t take long after we got there to get into some serious fun – four wheeling*, fishing** (there is a two-acre lake near the front of the property), shooting guns***, more fishing**, flying kites****, making s’mores*****, canoeing******, and then more fishing** and four wheeling* to make sure everyone was good and wiped out. The kids, as you might imagine, had a blast! And in spite of the challenge of organizing and managing a trip of this magnitude for our family, the adults had a blast as well!

Legal fine print and disclaimers:
*No kids were hurt while four wheeling and all safety precautions were observed.
**No kids were hurt while fishing and all hooks were dulled down so that no eyes could be poked out.
***No kids were allowed to even think about shooting guns, they wore Kevlar suits the entire weekend whether we were shooting or not, and were put in timeout if they said a word that even resembled the word “gun”.

****No kids suffered any rope burns or were hit by out-of-control kites.  All kids wore protective gloves and stood behind a blast shield while flying kites to ensure their safety.
*****No kids were allowed near the fire and were drenched with fire-retardant chemicals to ensure they would not spontaneously combust from the fun of making s’mores.
******No kids were drowned while canoeing. Actually, I think no kids even got to go on a canoe ride because they were all in timeout for saying they were having fun (see note above, re: guns).

In other news, we are getting close to “Quints by Surprise” making its return to TLC!! We still have no exact date from the network, but we promise the show will return soon! Believe us, we are very, very anxious for season two to begin – we filmed some great stuff and can’t wait to see it all come back to life! We will make an announcement as soon as TLC makes something official!

First and foremost, Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays from the Jones family!!  We are all really looking forward to our Christmas break, but as you could guess, the kids are most excited of all.  Check that, Eliot is most excited of all…the Fab Five don’t really get it, but they do get a huge smile on their faces every time they see Santa…or his reindeer…or elves…or Christmas lights…or presents….or, or, or…let’s just say they are pretty big fans of anything Christmas!!  Unfortunately, I cannot say much more than that because “officially” I can’t say much about anything we’re doing these days…hint, hint…    :)

This holiday season we have something to look forward to that is almost exciting as the Christmas celebration – we taped a segment of The Oprah Show!!!!!  Our segment airs on December 28th so set your DVR’s if you are headed out of town for the holidays and when you watch be careful not to blink or you might miss us!  We were onstage for eight minutes, but we’ll see how long the segment actually ends up making the cut.  We actually taped the show in early November, but couldn’t say anything about it until now.  It was a quick trip and incredibly surreal (it still doesn’t feel like we really met Oprah!!).  They flew us up to Chicago on a Wednesday, we taped the show on Thursday morning, and left the studio to head straight back to the airport to come home…talk about a whirlwind!!  And you won’t see any pictures of the show on this site because they just about strip search you as soon as you walk in the studio door and take all phones, cameras, , writing utensils, paper, and etch-a-sketches and then they use that memory eraser thing from Men In Black when you leave…and you thought airport security was bad!!  The topic of the show is reality TV stars or something like that so we were there along with the people from “Dirty Jobs,” “Deadliest Catch,” “DC Cupcake,” and “Cash Cab.”  And no, we didn’t get to meet any of them – we were sequestered to our own little green room both before and after the taping.  Come to think of it, we have no evidence that we were actually there so the airing on the 28th will be as big a surprise to us as it is to everyone else out there!!

To make up for the fact that we have no pictures from the Oprah experience, I went ahead and posted pics from another quick, little, super-double-top-secret trip we took this fall – New York City!!!  That’s right, don’t adjust your monitors – the entire Jones family, Six Pack and all, took a weekend trip to NYC for a TLC photo shoot!!  We had a blast taking the kids to Times Square, Central Park, F.A.O. Schwartz, and soaking up as much of the city as we could in a three day weekend!  Again, we have no evidence that we were actually there for anything other than a weekend trip, but I promise you’ll be seeing some really cute and fun promotional pictures on TLC and their websites before too long…I hope you will, anyway!!  By the way, if you ever want to get TONS of attention just take five babies to Times Square…wow!!

So that is all I have for now except to say that we all wish you a very merry Christmas!!  And we hope that you take some time away from the craziness and busy-ness of the holiday season to remember the reason for the season…

“Suddenly, an angel of the Lord appeared among them, and the radiance of the Lord’s glory surrounded them.  They were terrified, but the angel reassured them.  ‘Don’t be afraid!’ he said.  ‘I bring you good news that will bring great joy to all people.  The Savior – yes, the Messiah, the Lord – has been born today in Bethlehem, the city of David!  And you will recognize him by this sign:  You will find a baby wrapped snugly in strips of cloth, lying in a manger.’”  Luke 2:9-12

God Bless, y’all!!

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

Halloween was a busy, fun, awesome time in the Jones house this year…surprise, surprise, right?!  We started the day with pumpkin carving and cupcake baking and ended it with costumes for The Six Pack, a costume change for Eliot McKenna, trick-or-treating for the whole gang, and eight worn out Joneses (and two worn out volunteers – thanks, Jen and Megan)!!  Eliot’s official costume was Jessie from Toy Story though we convinced her to dress up like a Japanese Geisha with her sisters…they were ADORABLE!!  My main man Jack was the child sensei, keeping tabs on all of the crazy ladies in his life…yeah, right!  I bought the outfits on my trip to China and Japan last May and we had planned on using them for Halloween for quite awhile, though we were holding out in case we thought of something better before the holiday rolled around.  I’m glad we stuck with it because the costumes turned out great and it was an awesome time putting it all together!!  The gang did awesome, even through the face powdering and hair painting, and we all survived one big, happy, messy, fun Halloween!!

In other news, we have not yet heard from TLC about a possible season 2…bummer, for sure!  But we are enjoying the break and living as normal a life as possible.  I was told today that the network has received a lot of positive feedback about the show so thank you to everyone for sending in your good vibes for us!!  We are hoping for more episodes and feel like things are heading in that direction…we’ll make an announcement as soon as we know!  Here is the link to TLC’s website if you would like to give them your opinion of the show:  TLC Viewer Relations.

Baking Cupcakes 101

Powder up, Ryan!

Lila, Ryan, and Brooklyn are ready for their turn with the spray paint!

Britton, blue dog, and black hair – what a combo!

Jack and black hair – not such a good combo!

The Asian Six Pack

Eliot was channeling her inner Mulan…

Not the most civilized of family pics, but a good one nonetheless!

The official costume for Eliot McKenna – Jessie from Toy Story

We are bummed that the 1st season of “Quints by Surprise” has come to an end!  Everyone has been so incredible and supportive of us since the show started airing so it is sad to see it go.  BUT, we are keeping our fingers crossed for many more to come and hopefully soon!  TLC has not made a decision yet as to whether they will bring us back so we will let you all know as soon as we know!!  There is a silver lining to the show ending, however…hopefully now I’ll have more time to focus on the blog……   :)

By the way, if you would like to message TLC and let them know your opinion of the show, go here:  TLC Viewer Relations.

Before we get to the pics, I wanted to share a few videos that a couple of JonesLife friends put together for our Gang of Six.  We love these videos…thank you, girls!!

Here we go for round two of the film day pics.  Princess Party Palace and Snake Farm here we come for a day of Jones Family fun!  As the pictures below attest, the princesses had a blast dressing up and being girlie-girls!  And Jack, well, I took the boy to see a bunch of crazy animals and eat barbecue…you don’t need pictures to know he had a great time!!

Pre-Party Palace Pic – Eliot is enthused, as always…

Brooklyn’s princess diva sixth sense had kicked in and she wanted to get inside!

Britton is born to be a DIVA!!

Lady Lila

Ryan put her inner lion to rest for the day…

Brooklyn loved it!

The Four Princesses

Princess Party Time!!

Can you say “Ring Leader”??

My beautiful Casey Ann…always a princess, never a queen! :)

And we can’t leave Jack out.  Here we are on our trip to the Snake Farm…sorry, the photographer had the day off…haha!