floridamom

Evan and Travis did a cute video to Silent Night. I have to say, that I enjoyed it and I thought it was pretty good. Evan has a nice singing voice...a surprise to me; not a Ben Seewald at all.

I am half way through reading Jinger's newest book. I am sad to read just how fearful and scared to death she had become due to her parents' belief system. How could parents not know or not really care that Jinger was so frightened. She stated that she would end up sleeping in her parents' bedroom due to her examination of conscience at night and maybe she skipped a "sin" that she should atone for. How could parents not know the depth of her fear and do nothing, really, about it?

Let's face it....they brought Ellie and Addie to be the housemaids and babysitters. It's a shame how these younger girls are used.

The last thing Katie needs is a visit of multiple family members at this time. Her husband, since he, too, doesn't have a 9-5 job outside the home, should be help enough for her with the baby. Katie really needs quiet and order to recuperate well. Carlina and Evan are not these things.

How is it that Carlin can take off from work at that so very busy boutique? Aren't they swamped with Christmas orders? How this business operates, is beyond me.

Sadly, IMO, I don't think the daughters actually know how to be by themselves anywhere, even out in public. They seem to have always brought someone with them even when shopping or running errands. It is a sad consequence of how they were raised by their parents. I truly believe that Carlin just didn't want to be alone due to not "knowing how" to be by herself. Her parents really didn't do their daughters any favors with such an unrealistic upbringing.

Tim looks pretty good in that photo. I think he's letting his bleached blonde hair grow out too. This would be an improvement if true.

Wouldn't a congregation want and expect their pastor to be there for Christmas services? I don't understand these people.

To me, that looks nothing like a Christmas card. I would not want a picture of Amy's butt. Where is their son? Shouldn't he be in their Christmas card/ photo too?

Boy, Abbie sure has gotten prettier over these few years. She looks great in this photo.

I think these two, if they continue to spend as they seem to be, will have nothing for their retirement years. So foolish and wasteful.

Spurgie's birthday video is out...another bore-fest. Gifts in Amazon shipping boxes or pillow cases. How depressing; here you go, Spurgie, here's your "today" birthday gift...wait, we have to film you opening it. Those 4 kids are bored to tears if you ask me. Sad video IMO.

My opinion is that there was no way that Jinger didn't already know about this partnership and "surprise video". When Jer went out to the driveway to film Jinger getting out of the car, it looked to me like they set up that shot. I also noticed the minute amount of pasta Jinger put in her dish. I think silly Jeremy boiled the whole 1 pound box of pasta! Way too much...even if Jinger ate her share, which she didn't. He also would have never included (well, sort of) Felicity in this if Jinger didn't already agree to it. I think he should have left the girl out of it as it was quite annoying to me to not see her, yet phantom-like hear her. I'm tired of the back of her head. These two are a bit fakey to me. I take offense when Jeremy proclaims how "Italian" he is. His Italian roots belong to his great-grandparents who actually were Italian. His grandma Vuolo is not Italian. She stated this in a Duggar video. Her great recipes are her mother-in-law's, which she had to learn how to cook. He is, what, 3rd generation American. Get real, Jeremy....this from a 100% Italian woman who is a 1st generation American. We don't know what background Grandma Vuolo is and what background Jer's mother is as she is not Italian to my knowledge. Please feel free to correct me here if I am mistaken.

Another photo of the back of that kid's head. Why does she continue to do this? Just quit posting photos of them if you are "not going to post photos of them".

I think the "we allow our adult children"...statement is the response to seeing those engagement photos of Tim and Heide front-hugging one another. I'm sure Jill was shocked and enraged by these photos. She is just doing damage control here in my opinion. So far, I haven't seen any allowances made for any of her adult children still living at home. I agree that she and Davey boy, when dating, didn't have such strict rules as to never even touch each other. That restriction is sick and cruel IMO. How on earth would you know if you even "like their touch"? After marriage you are stuck with what and who you got. This works both ways for the prospective bride and groom. You absolutely don't have to have sex before marriage, I certainly respect that, but the two have to know each other and this means spending time alone together and being affectionate; being able to speak your own mind and opinions, etc.

I think it would be a nice thing if the "Florida Bates" kids, Alyssa, Jackson and Erin, had Thanksgiving together in Florida. Trace mentioned something about going to the grandparents' farm in his video. I didn't catch if this included the Florida-Bates group or not.

She did name who blessed her and gifted her with the new "travel package"...she said that God provided it for her family.

So much for "leave and cleave, baby"...(Michelle Duggar quote.)

I was surprised to hear him say that the Christmas tree that he was putting up was the 2nd one he had ever done in his life. So sad, really, that the Bates parents, like the Duggars, did not allow a Christmas tree in the house and said that it was not Godly and a pagan thing to have. What a poor/negative view to have IMO.

I understand that Layla is still young to understand shopping for someone else but my point was that they should not have put her on the spot like they did in a video. Some things need to be private and that shopping with Layla in my opinion should not have been filmed.

Joy's video is out. She is not well if you ask me. She said that she was deficient in some nutrients and is lacking energy. She looked quite tired and worn out. Her house is still a mess. She woke Gideon up from bed 2 minutes before he had an online tutoring session ( not sure for what). Who does this? The kid was still groggy from a night's sleep. She also said that she doesn't get up before her children. What? I understand she is tired but Mom's should be up before children of such a young age wake up. No telling what they could get in to on their own. I don't know why she had to go to Austin's parents' farm yet again and stand around. Why not send him with the kids and Gunner's bottle for his mother to look after for a few hours, clean up your house and maybe take a short nap. She, like Alyssa Webster is burned out. Joy doesn't look happy either; she's overwhelmed. The sad part is no one will care.

Jessa's video was out there last night. It was a commercial for that floor cleaning robot appliance. That must cost quite a sum of money as a trailer said you could save $700.00 etc...on it. I am sorry for Henry, who obviously is not receiving the therapy he still needs as Jessa added a subtitle when he spoke. I could not understand a word he said. She knows very well that her son is not understandable and still does not help this poor boy with proper speech therapy? With a 5th child on the way, they have already outgrown this house, IMO. They "live" in one room and then will be stuffed in those bedrooms. She still has not addressed the fact that they are completely renovating a house they do not own.

These two also dropped a video of them decorating their house for Christmas. It was a sweet little one. Something I have noticed is: What is their obsession with the color white? Everything in that house is white even their Christmas tree decorations, tree skirt, wreath on the door and even their stockings hung were white! You need sunglasses when you walk in there. If I were Trace, I would not have advertised that they would not be home over Thanksgiving. Just not a smart thing to do.

New video out last night....Oh My God..how annoying Carlin was screeching to Layla and Zade about their charity shopping trip inspired by their church. Why would they have put Layla on the spot there in shopping for "some little girl in Mexico" who won't have a Christmas? Clearly Carlin has so far raised a consumer oriented little girl. She wanted everything she saw for herself and was not to thrilled to be shopping for someone else. They only have themselves to blame here. These two really need to dial it down, quit screeching and jumping around..they need to grow up. Let's see now, how modest was it to bring Layla to WalMart in her ballet leotard? Katie was visiting in this video also. She modeled for the boutique along with Whit and Carlin. You then see Kelly Jo sitting herself in a chair watching...this is why she doesn't have time to sweep her own floors. What purpose was she serving there? None that I saw at all. Kelly, go home and stay there and clean your own house.

Has anyone seen the new Alyssa's Birthday video? I watched it last night and no one can tell me that Alyssa did not know about the "surprise" birthday party. The girls, I'm sure, didn't know and were genuinely happy to prepare a little party for their mother. I think the girls were so sweet and happy for their mother. On the other hand, Alyssa appeared to not be very excited about it. She couldn't even fake-act it. Such a dull reaction for her girls, sadly. Rhett, of course, received a lot of attention from both parents in this. I would think the girls deserved very big, genuine hugs and kisses from their mother and she should have made them feel special. No doubt little Rhett will be spoiled rotten. Alyssa IMO just isn't a happy person at this time.