3 is enough

Poor Jennifer. Dressed like a rag doll, and bringing up the rear, saddled with what looks like someone's diaper bag. I think she will be 13 in August. She never looks happy. Where was Johannah? I don't see her anywhere.

Brown is "out" at the moment. I would not be surprised if all the materials for the bathroom were found in the clearance section of Lowe's. The walls appear to be fake tile panelling. I can't fault them for being thrifty, even if the bathroom is not my style. Way too much dust catching "decor" and doilies, but that appears to be Jill's thing. My main concern is that the plumbing and electric work are most probably not up to code, and likely not permitted.

Jackson is 18, so I guess he could possibly be done with school. But Warden and Isaiah are far too young to be finished. It seems to be a pattern- the older kids get at least an attempt at a GED level education, but the younger ones are pretty much left to their own devices because Mom is fed up and the older siblings have left the nest.

Thanks, @ Temperance. I am not as familiar with the younger Bates offspring as I am with the Duggars. It does show the homeschooling must be pretty lax these days since all of the teachers got married and had babies and Kelly surely can’t be bothered any more.

There is a bit of an interesting exchange on Alyssa Bates-Webster’s Instagram page today. She posted her usual Sunday best photo with the girls and someone asked how she was able to put them in something new every week. Another commenter replied that Alyssa has a fan who sends her clothing, and then the woman who does send the clothes (Tikky?) responded: “I am a friend!!” No input from Alyssa. Also, 3 of the Bates bros are visiting. Not sure which ones. They definitely don’t dress up for church. I guess Chad doesn’t have any jobs for them right now so they are free to drive to Florida and mooch off their sister. Seriously, young guys in their late teens or early 20’s , not in school ( if they are at Crown feel free to correct me) and not working full time? Must be nice. 🙄

One last comment about "Lolli": Mackenzyie (or however they spell it) is 10. Pretty sure she had another name for Michelle when she was younger. How odd that suddenly she has to call her grandmother by another name.

I just don’t understand how she came up with “Lolli”. It’s odd. I call myself Grandma. My little granddaughter is only 18 months old and despite my best efforts she doesn’t say “Grandma” yet. Maybe she will end up calling me something else. I guarantee it won’t be “Lolli”, though. 😂

Israel is almost 5 and he still has a nap? I realize that all kids are different, but mine were done napping by 2. However, they did go to bed at 7:30-8:00. Maybe if Jill cut out Israel's nap he would be ready for bed at a decent hour. She should start trying to get him on some sort of schedule before school starts. I know that kids don't need to have their own rooms, but at the very least they could put them in the bigger room. A seldom used guest room doesn't have to be huge.

People have been saying her kids look positively skeletal for years and she has only just found out?

Well, yes, but it appears they may be capable of not being "All Jesus, all the time" like their parents and some of her siblings. Honestly, I don't expect any of them to leave all of their beliefs behind, but toning it down a bit is a good thing.

It actually says "wedding and event". I assume they will also do proms and other functions too. That is a well designed website. And Josie's "about me" page does not mention Jesus at all. Also, she posted an Instagram story of Kelton dancing with Willow and singing along to Ed Sheeran a few weeks ago. And when Lawson came home it looked like Kelton was not there- he was probably WORKING. I continue to be pleasantly surprised by this couple.

Tonight at 8 (7 Central) they are rerunning the episode with the couple from Quebec with added pop-ups and footage. Then at 9 it will be the "Favorite Porches" compilation. Both episodes are described as "new" in TV Guide. I am really curious to see if these count as part of the 16 episode season or if they are bonus episodes. Next Monday it looks like there is another rerun with added commentary at 8, and then a "new" episode at 9. No description available for the 9 pm episode though.

Holy crap! I was away for a little while and I come back to see this? I was finding everything Duggar very boring and did not even look in while I was away. This is wonderful. I am so happy for Israel, and what a huge step for Jill.

@LynneH: You make a good point about Lawson being in no position to support a family, and no doubt marrying off the girls certainly has eased the financial stress on Kelly and Gil. However, as a mother of sons, I have to say I absolutely love my daughter-in-law and never had the attitude that no one was good enough for my boy. He's a grown man capable of making his own decisions, and I trusted him to find the right partner. I never meddled, which cannot be said for Kelly. Based on her past actions she gives off a mother-in-law from hell vibe. I would not be surprised if a lot of potential girlfriends/wives in their social circle whisper about staying away from the Bates boys.

Kelly’s comment: “Lawson, there’s just no one good enough in Mom’s opinion !!!!” 🤢 Interesting that Kelly marries off her daughters ASAP, but no one is good enough for her sons.

I was out of town and finally caught up with the episodes I missed. I did not like the art with rope and canvas Erin made for the scuba diving lady, but the house was nice. Erin sure does love rustic looking tile with imperfect edges, doesn't she? I think I prefer my tile to be level. The Belize guy was very entertaining. I liked what they did with his house. Having no budget must have seemed very odd for Erin and Ben. The Craftsman was also lovely. I liked the hutch and the chair Ben made. The season finale is May 11. This week appears to be a filler episode where they talk about their favourite porches. Since there are 9 episodes left and 12 weeks till the finale, I wonder if this counts as one of the new episodes, or if we will see 9 more houses.

Mama is proud that he "put his music career on hold" to help this girl. Yeah... he was really going places with that, wasn't he? 🙄

My granddaughter is 18 months old. As much as I would love to share her photos with my Facebook friends I don’t. To date, I think I have posted 5 photos of her. All cleared with my son and daughter-in-law, and all have her fully dressed. Jinger and Jeremy do overshare, IMO. I guess my opinion would elicit an “ok Boomer”, but when Felicity is older she may not appreciate having had her image posted all over the internet.

I think that Mediccorps better tread lightly if they are trying to bring their scam organization to the Philippines. Their quasi-dictator President Duterte is not happy with the US these days, and like all tyrants he has eyes and ears everywhere. He wouldn't hesitate to make an example of these grifters posing as do-gooders who are taking advantage of his countrymen. I sincerely doubt whoever Mediccorps has over there is smart enough to talk their way out of a sticky situation.

That was one of my favourite renovations.

I highly doubt Derick has ever heard of Kate Bush. For one, he's too young. Also, she never really achieved as much success in the US as she did in the UK and Canada. When I hear her name I always think of Wuthering Heights. That was all over the radio in Montreal when I was 16-17.

I hope the child gets her surgery and makes a full recovery. But this is so random. How did they even hear about this child? And, The Philippines? One of the most uber-Catholic countries in the world? This fixation with sending "missionaries" to predominantly Catholic countries continues to simultaneously baffle and enrage me. What a waste of time and money.

Maybe Sam was being extra clingy and only wanted Mom. My granddaughter is 18 months old and my son and daughter-in-law still put her in a sling when she is cranky and clingy and they need to get stuff done. There are plenty of photos of Sam playing happily with Israel so I give her a pass and assume this is a fairly rare occurance.

Josie Bates wears hats like that. I bet that's where Lauren got the idea.

Looks like there is a tag attached to the jacket. I think he should try on the next size up. He just looks so pretentious all the time. Always with the suit jacket- is he trying to bring back the 50's where everyone dressed up to go shopping? I'm not a fan of shopping in your pajama bottoms either but there is a happy medium. And I really do not understand the athletic shoes worn worn with a suit trend. My nephew had an engagement party last summer and there were so many of his friends dressed like that- with the pants rolled up and no socks. They looked silly. Cranky old lady rant over now. 😉