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!

Wow, has it really been two years since The Quint Invasion began its all out assault on our once quiet little family??  YES, it most definitely has!  And while some of the times seem like they just happened for us yesterday, most of it seems like it was ages ago.  We’ve packed more activity and change and joy and struggle into these last two years than anyone would ever guess possible, but somehow we’ve found ourselves happier, healthier, and hopefully a wee bit wiser at the end of this 24 month journey than when we began…

So happy birthday to The Fab Five!!  Happy 2nd anniversary of quint sisterhood to Eliot McKenna and happy 2 years of survival and memory making to Casey Ann and me!!  It has been surreal almost all of the time, stressful much of the time, joyful and memorable every last second of the time……………..and here’s to many more years ahead filled with much more of the same!!!!  We love you Brooklyn, Britton, Jack, Lila, Ryan, and of course Eliot!!

Happy Birthday, Brooklyn Faith!!  First born of The Fab Five, the sweetest of the bunch (not an easy title to hold with this crew!!), and a much needed dose of calm amidst the storms that roll through our home on a regular basis!

Happy Birthday, Britton Grace!!  Call her Baby B, Itty-Bitty, Little B, Little Mighty, or Britt-Britt, but don’t call her a wallflower!  Second born, first to let you know it doesn’t matter!!

Happy Birthday, Jack William!!  In the middle while in utero, born in the middle, and likely consigned to a life of being in the middle of all of these crazy girls, but still keeping his cool!  Yep, he’s still “Laid Back Jack”…most of the time….!! :)

Happy Birthday, Lila Addison!!  Our Eliot clone in appearance and in deed, mischievous and adventurous, the fourth born is usually the first in line for any new adventure, though Lila is often the one to form her own line leading to the adventure she prefers to embark upon!!

Happy Birthday, Ryan Elizabeth!!  Ryan the Lion is now simply “Ry-Ry”…last born, but star of the show; quick to smile and quick to cry…always a joy!!

Happy 2 Years of Quint Sisterhood, Eliot McKenna!!  A little unsure of things at first, now she’s a pro!!  Her star continues to shine just as bright even with five little understudies vying for the spotlight!!

Thank you to Ella Bella Photography for continuing to provide our family with incredible pictures to help us tell the story of life as a Jones!!

**Due to our filming commitments with TLC, we unfortunately cannot share pictures or other details of the holiday season, the Quints’ birthday party, or any other events that have happened along with filming new episodes of “Quints By Surprise”.  It is sooooo hard for us not to be able to share more, but once the new episodes hit the air, we will definitely post pictures of all of the activities involved!!**

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!

Wow, it seems like the moment our family has been waiting for has taken FOREVER to get here!!  TLC has just announced the series premiere date, the new official name of the show, and we are thrilled, thrilled, and more thrilled with the way everything is developing!  First – the title:  “Quints by Surprise”…yay!!  Second – the date:  August 30th at 9:00pm Central…double yay!!!  Finally – yes, this is a series, not just a one time deal which makes the show on the 30th the series premiere…you know what’s next:  triple yay!!!!!   I don’t know if I can say how many episodes are planned at the moment or how many have been filmed so I won’t say, but I will tell you that they don’t call it a series for nothing!!

Wow, it has been a wild, crazy, fun, super-sized kind of summer for our family with cameras in tow most every step of the way!  Honestly, it has been a little frustrating to not be able to tweet or blog about all of our adventures which makes the airing of the new shows all the more exciting for us!  So set your dvr’s and mark your calendars for the premiere of “Quints by Surprise” on TLC!!!

God bless,

Ethan