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!!!!

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!!

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 has been a little while since I have updated the blog and I apologize for that.  Believe me, I have my excuses.  The rhythm of life has picked up the pace in the last few weeks and I am lagging behind a bit still.  Things haven’t just changed for me individually, they have changed for the entire family.  Filming for the new episodes is in full swing and is demanding much more time than production on the pilot required.  We film 3-4 days a week now which is crazy, but is also crazy fun!  Graduation day was a few weeks ago at Baylor and was quite an event – the full Jones and Krueger contingents were present, all 14 of us, converging on little Waco from three different locales.  And then we all met up again a couple of weeks later at the Krueger home in Shady Shores for the Memorial Day Fish Fry, a 30+ year annual summer kickoff party hosted by Casey’s parents.  And of course I am still working the day job while Casey lays around all day, eating bon-bons and having her feet massaged…….you know that’s not right!

So we have been busy, as I am guessing many of you have been as well.  But the good news for us is that all of the busyness is of the good, fun variety and we probably wouldn’t have it any other way if we could!

The Memorial Day party was really awesome!  It was our second road trip with the crew and I think we are learning some tricks to traveling more efficiently with our little circus – there was no huge trailer this time around!  We only made one stop on the way up and that was for a stretch break for someone who will remain nameless until now:  it was Casey.  We got there on Saturday afternoon and went straight to the pool – I think Eliot set a land speed record for quickest time from car to swimsuit to pool!  The big party was on Sunday and the day was filled with lots more swimming for the whole family, tons of fun for the babies as they were passed from person to person and pool to pool (there were a few baby pools set up for the day), and the biggest pile of catfish and potluck dishes you have ever seen!  Aside from a few minor meltdowns from some very tired babies, the day was a huge success for all involved!  The ride home was not quite as smooth as the ride up, but we still managed to make it with only one stop (Casey behaved herself this time around).  The trip was brought to a perfect close by two of our superstar helpers, Megan and Jennifer, who were at the house waiting for us when we arrived with bags of Rudy’s Barbecue in hand!  The ladies took the babies off our hands so we could unpack, unwind, and fill our bellies…SU-PER-STARS!!!!

Sidebar for the funniest dynamic of the weekend:  Lila would not let Grandpa Bill (Casey’s dad) out of her sight all weekend long – it was adorable and also hilarious!  Every time he would set her down or try to leave the room, Lila made it clear that she did not approve!  So of course, being the good grandfather he is and also being a little proud that she was making such a fuss over him, Grandpa Bill would do whatever it was he needed to do with Little Lila in tow…not an easy task considering all of the work he was doing to get ready for the party!

Each of the members of our little Six Pack have been doing very well these days.  Eliot just graduated kindergarten and has an awesome summer of fun lined up, complete with camps, her sixth birthday, vacation Bible school, and at least a week in Denton with the grandparents.  Meanwhile, the babies are not really babies anymore…as their daily toddling and babbling clearly indicates.  We have been trying to venture out of the house with them more and they are really taking all of the adventures in stride.  The only thing growing faster than their little bodies is their personalities!  Here is a little breakdown of how things are developing in the personality department:

- Brooklyn Faith:  she is still our little sweetheart, the only one who sucks her thumb, and the best cuddler of the bunch.  But these days she has added a little quirkiness to her disposition – she is a total goof ball!  She makes all kinds of funny sounds and faces and is often by herself, dancing to her own little tune.  What a doll!

- Britton Grace:  still a fireball from her tiny head to her tiny toes, but she has evened out a bit.  She has some really good days where she barely fusses at all…and then she has her more normal days.  She has become daddy’s little girl, insisting on being in my lap whenever I am around.  Oh, and she is also quite particular about just about everything – sippy cup color and type, the exact type of snack she would like to eat, and pretty much anything else…the girl knows what she wants!  Her newest nicknames are Little Mighty and Itty-Bitty…. :)

- Jack William:  Happy Jack is still Laid Back Jack and continues to live in his own little world, perfectly content with life.  He has become more adventurous lately and is the only one who will bait you into chasing him around.  Since he can now run pretty well, instead of crawling over the girls to get to a toy (or milk, or daddy, or whatever), he now pushes them down and out of his way in his haste to get to the object of his desire.  Can you spell B-O-Y without J-A-C-K?  I don’t think it is possible!

- Lila Addison:  Lila is pretty happy also, more or less all of the time – except when Grandpa Bill leaves the room!  She is also our little adventurer.  Lila is constantly exploring a.k.a. wandering off from us!  She is the first to look over the rails to see who is coming up the stairs, first to walk off in pursuit of excitement, and she does it all with a shiny sparkle in her deep blue eyes (the only one with this color eye – all of the rest are hazel like Casey and Eliot).

- And then there is Ryan, still “The Lion” Elizabeth:  still quite vocal, still quick to anger, but just as quick to smile and laugh and put on a show!  She is the star of the crew, at least she thinks she is anyway.  She is the most developed in her speech and coordination as well.  Ryan loves to play and loves to laugh and she will do just about anything to have fun!  Ryan is usually the first one to greet me at the gate when I come upstairs, arms up with a pleading look in her eyes…that girl is fast!  I think she is going to challenge Eliot for best athlete in the family and she will definitely put up a fight for the biggest personality!

The next six weeks are going to be busy, busy, busy with the production schedule so I’ll post as often as I can!  We are really excited about all of the new episodes that are coming out late this summer!  Until then, keep up with us on Facebook, Twitter, and right here for more pics and posts on our adventures with The Six Pack!

One more note:  I get to be onstage at Riverbend Church tomorrow with my main man, Jack William, talking about life as a father of one lonely boy and five crazy girls!!

God bless,

Ethan

Whew! What a week it has been!!! There is the obvious: keeping up with the demands of this not-so-normal family and our show airing on TLC Tuesday night (that part tends to fill your email inbox pretty quickly). Then there is the not-so-obvious: being stuck in rotation on the mindless carousel that is the City of Austin’s construction permitting process, trying to put the wraps on a major project for my MBA program, and pursuing new project leads that have come in recently.  All of this adds up to ONE…CRAZY…WEEK!!  Aside from the permitting thing, it’s been a whole heckuva lotta crazy fun though, so we’re all smiles over here!!

I’ll start this little recap with the obvious.  The show airing and the response to it has been phenomenal (if not in TV world, certainly in Jones world)!  First, just to see your family on such a big network and to see all of the things they did to promote the show was so awesome!  Really, they surprised us with the big push to the point that the attention was a little discomforting, in a good sort of way…it’s kind of strange to hear a voice-over say, “fall in love with the Joneses” and know that they are referring to your family.  It’s also kind of strange to have your name thrown around with the Gosselin’s and the Duggar’s…scary…very, very scary, my friends!!

And the other obvious?  You know, that family of ours.  Well, it’s been quite a week for them as well.  While Eliot ran off to play with the grandparents this week for Spring Break, Casey Ann and I held it down with the Fab Five.  And they decided that this was their week to show off some new-found skills!  As of this week, we now have five walkers (Jack and Lila decided it was finally time to join the others in the toddler class), five kinda talkers (Britton especially is all about the b’s – baby, bottle, bye-bye, and bubbles!), two future WWE wrestlers (Britton and Jack have perfected the log roll!), one yoga master (Brooklyn does a mean downward facing dog!), and one circus performer (or performer of some kind as Ryan demands your attention…all of the time…with all of her new tricks!).  Oh, and we also have five growlers as they have all decided to be angry, little baby bears with a mean and menacing growl…Brooklyn has the scariest growl of all!  Just wait until Eliot gets back into this crrrraaaaazzzyy mix!

As for the not-so-obvious, life outside of baby world is crazy busy as well, but part of the craziness is quickly coming to a close, thank God!  My MBA program will be complete in a little over a month which will of course free up lots and lots of time.  And, thankfully as well, 2010 looks to be much better on the business front as leads have been picking up since mid-January…being crazy busy on that front is a problem I am very much looking forward to having!

We would like to thank everyone for their support, words of advice, words of admonishment (ok, hard to be thankful for those, but we’ll take the bad with the good), inspiring stories, and words of encouragement!  We have heard from so many wonderful people who have their own story to tell or have found inspiration in hearing our story…the words “overwhelmed,” “gratified,” “humbled,” and “vindicated” immediately come to mind.  At this point, we do not know if our show will be picked up as a series or not, but we are hopeful that it will.  Let me repeat:  we are hopeful that our show will become a series!  Yes, despite the threat of impending doom to our marriage, our morals, and our maternity ward, we believe that people’s lives (ours included) have been, can be, and will continue to be positively impacted through a TV show and hopefully through our TV show (there, I said it, I meant it, and I’m not ashamed of it!).  To those who do not believe that this is possible and to the cynics who have found comfort in their too-bitter worldview, I say this:  read the comments posted to the entries on this blog and read them with an open heart and tell me how it could be otherwise.  Better yet, forget about  how you think God would and would not work in the lives of others and forget about trying to predict how the future of our family will take shape and simply accept events as they unfold, one day at a time…live and let live, for your sake and mine.

All kidding aside, we are very grateful for this opportunity, very mindful of the pitfalls that are sure to challenge us, and very accepting of your prayers for us in that regard.  We entered into this adventure with caution and it is with this same level of prayerful consideration that we will take each new step.  And make no mistake, we need your prayers just as we did when Casey was pregnant and your conversations with Christ carried us through to the day of the babies’ birth and beyond!  I’m not just giving lip service to this, I really mean it.  We believe in the power of prayer and we believe in the power of community (even an on-line community at that!).  And when you combine these two powers, amazing things can happen in your life and in mine!  We have witnessed it, we have experienced it, and we continue to thirst for it.  So join us in this pursuit:  harnessing the power of prayer and the power of this community and allowing God to work in your life and mine to the betterment of all!!