Erin and Chad: Fifty Shades of Pink

[cereality]

Seeing Erin packing for the trip to Bill/Jane's versus seeing Carlin pack (and Josie - not that she goes to her grandparents except the big July 4 and Thanksgiving) showed how much of a useless child Carlin is. You know Carlin's idea of - OMG I baked for Jane - would've been a dozen slice and bake cookies with Layla sitting on the counter with her feet up and Zade sitting on the counter in his diaper.

Meanwhile Erin talked about how Jane was the grandma who brought them all the baked treats growing up and now she can't cook as much. And then girlfriend proceeded to show - 2 tupperwares full of chocolate chip cookies; multiple pumpkin breads; 2 chocolate cakes; and sour cream pound cakes bc that's Jane's favorite. With everything individually packaged and put into storage bags/boxes so Bill/Jane can just pull out 1-2 cookies or slices of cake when they want them without having the hassle of defrosting an entire cake. And packaged in such a way that once they got to the farm, all they had to do was unload the cooler contents right into Bill/Jane's freezer. Not be all like OMG Jane don't you have saran wrap - WHERE IS IT!?

I assume she also cooked them some extra meals while on the farm and froze them. And Chad likely took care of any repair work etc. that they may need.

Last time they were there - just 1-2 months ago - Trace was doing yard work and this time he also seemed very sweet - helping Bill exercise. He was patiently waiting multiple times as Bill got up from the table, handing him his cane or holding his cane when Bill needed someplace to put it, at times encouraging him to take big steps or 2 more steps or whatever, on the floor getting Bill's sneakers on etc.

Cue Carlin, Evan, and Law - OMG WE have to make breakfast bc the grandparents don't get up at 7 am to make it anymore?? OMG where is the toaster? How does it work? And then tasking Tiffany with making eggs and cinnamon roles while they take credit. Seems like Tiff cooked all the meals while they were there bc at one point she said Jane had said she was craving cranberry sauce so Tiff made some along with whatever chicken and vegetable she cooked for dinner that night. Let's be real Carlin, Evan, and Law were there for content as Law needed to film some music thing on the farm + Carlin needed to cry every 2 seconds about how her kids are re-living her childhood.

Meanwhile Erin, Michael, Trace, Alyssa seem to go to help how they can whether helping Bill/Jane directly or cleaning, repair/yard work, or cooking, grocery shopping etc.

I'm actually surprised we haven't seen much of Zach while it seems like Erin, Trace, and Michael have gone multiple times in recent months. Seems like Zach skips July 4 with the whole family there and sometimes even skips Thanksgiving, but goes for a trip with just his 5 kids when they are going on their annual beach vacation. He is supposed to be the closest to Bill so I'm surprised he isn't there helping out some. Though I do wonder if he finds it really hard for Bill to not remember him and is avoiding it a bit more than Erin, Trace, Michael etc. Evan mentioned that Bill asked who Carlin was every single time he walked into the room the entire time they visited, and we saw multiple clips of Carlin reintroducing herself and her kids, even Law introducing Carlin's kids to Bill etc.

Edited April 27 by cereality

[GeeGolly]

I think Josie usually skips the July 4th visit because its Kelton's birthday, although they went last year. For some reason I thought the Balkas only saw Janie and Papa Bill on ILY day.

Not too surprising the older sisters are the helpers. Its what they always done.

[cereality]

5 minutes ago, GeeGolly said:

I think Josie usually skips the July 4th visit because its Kelton's birthday, although they went last year. For some reason I thought the Balkas only saw Janie and Papa Bill on ILY day.

Not too surprising the older sisters are the helpers. Its what they always done.

Yeah Kelton obviously spends his birthday with his family. I think they usually skip Thanksgiving too - as they tend to want to be with the Balkas more. So it may really just be ILY where they see Bill/Jane usually.

Though last year J&K did go to South Carolina for Thanksgiving and Kelton brought his grill and was responsible for the turkeys. I wonder if they were specifically asked to come. As Jane gets older and can't put together Thanksgiving for 50+ people - I wouldn't have been surprised if it came down to - we aren't doing Thanksgiving at the farm anymore unless there are people who will reliably cook and clean it ALL up - we all know Kelly ain't that person. I'm pretty sure Erin, Alyssa, and Michael didn't attend as they all went to their inlaws/stayed home and all 3 have recently been visiting Bill/Jane when they can have one on one time, not with the herd. So I wouldn't have been surprised if G&K specifically asked Josie/Kelton to attend and for Kelton to cook and he agreed for the sake of her ailing grandparents.

True the older sisters are the helpers. But I stand with my theory that the oldest kids have a different bond with Bill/Jane; not that Trace is one of the oldest - but he's in the middle and likely sought out that bond more than Carlin, Josie etc. I really think Bill/Jane were the safe space for the oldest kids + Trace as they were ignored as G&K popped out another kid yearly. Jane was clearly the grandma who doted on them, brought them their favorite treats when she visited - whereas Gil was like you can get 1 large soda for 8 kids and each have 1-2 sips as a treat on an outing (per Zach). And Erin and Alyssa have shown pics before of Bill teaching them to ride tractors and do other farm things and just sitting and talking to them - which Gil clearly did not have time to do, nor did he care to make time.

[GeeGolly]

So it seems the visit to see the grandparents included Tori and her family, G&L and their 3 youngest, in addition to Trace, Lydia and baby and they Paine clan. At least there was a large RV parked in the driveway.

A total of 8 adults and 14(?) kids. That is a whole lot of people.

[Meow Mix]

I was just about to mention that while the kids seem to be rotating in and out to help Bill and Jane, that Gil and Kelly are nowhere to be found.  So they finally showed up.  I wonder if they did anything.  I give Erin a lot of credit.  She went from being unable to cook when she was first married to preparing individually packaged items for Bill and Jane to have in their freezer.  Such a contrast from Carlin and Lawson who just went to get content for their sad influencer existence. 

[cereality]

FWIW it did seem like Gil was helping. In Trace's YT it looked like Gil had gone grocery shopping and was bringing bags in to stock Bill/Jane's kitchen. Kelly - lol - helping ain't her thing. Only videos I saw of her involved her holding some child squealing.

And it does seem like the kids are sticking to a rotation rather than let's all come at once and party party. Trace mentioned that they wouldn't get to see Bobby/Tori and their crew as Trace/Lydia were leaving before Bobby/Tori were arriving. And it seems like he only overlapped with Erin/Chad for 1-2 days and that was because Erin had asked if he'd stay 1-2 extra days so they could meet up. Trace said that he and Lydia had arrived a few days earlier, stayed with Bill/Jane and then stayed an extra 1-2 days to see Erin/Chad (and G&K though they live locally so whatever) and were leaving, hoping to return again in June.

Interesting that Zach is the only one who has been TOTALLY quiet about this - as in not posting when he's visiting, not posting videos of Bill demonstrating his dementia asking Zach who he is (I assume so - we've seen him be reintroduced to Carlin, Trace, Erin).

Whit posted a few still pics yesterday saying they just visited the farm this week. But no pics of Bill/Jane - just a few pics of the farm itself. And interestingly they stayed in a hotel - so she posted a few hotel pics with her kids. She did say it's heartbreaking to see Bill's decline with dementia; and that Zach took measurements at the house and is figuring out how to build a ramp - I guess where the front steps are - and hopes to do that next time.

Zach has always been really close to Bill and said he looks up to him, so I wonder if it's all a bit too much for him. Like he wants to visit but it's upsetting enough that he needs nightly break at a hotel. And for once it's too heartbreaking to having Bill ask who he is - to want to show that to everyone on social media. 

[AstridM]

2 hours ago, cereality said:

FWIW it did seem like Gil was helping. In Trace's YT it looked like Gil had gone grocery shopping and was bringing bags in to stock Bill/Jane's kitchen. Kelly - lol - helping ain't her thing. Only videos I saw of her involved her holding some child squealing.

And it does seem like the kids are sticking to a rotation rather than let's all come at once and party party. Trace mentioned that they wouldn't get to see Bobby/Tori and their crew as Trace/Lydia were leaving before Bobby/Tori were arriving. And it seems like he only overlapped with Erin/Chad for 1-2 days and that was because Erin had asked if he'd stay 1-2 extra days so they could meet up. Trace said that he and Lydia had arrived a few days earlier, stayed with Bill/Jane and then stayed an extra 1-2 days to see Erin/Chad (and G&K though they live locally so whatever) and were leaving, hoping to return again in June.

Interesting that Zach is the only one who has been TOTALLY quiet about this - as in not posting when he's visiting, not posting videos of Bill demonstrating his dementia asking Zach who he is (I assume so - we've seen him be reintroduced to Carlin, Trace, Erin).

Whit posted a few still pics yesterday saying they just visited the farm this week. But no pics of Bill/Jane - just a few pics of the farm itself. And interestingly they stayed in a hotel - so she posted a few hotel pics with her kids. She did say it's heartbreaking to see Bill's decline with dementia; and that Zach took measurements at the house and is figuring out how to build a ramp - I guess where the front steps are - and hopes to do that next time.

Zach has always been really close to Bill and said he looks up to him, so I wonder if it's all a bit too much for him. Like he wants to visit but it's upsetting enough that he needs nightly break at a hotel. And for once it's too heartbreaking to having Bill ask who he is - to want to show that to everyone on social media. 

Good for Zach for choosing NOT to exploit his grandparents on SM.

[3 is enough]

Whitney posted some church photos in her stories today. She linked her dress which is from  the boutique. It is just awful. Looks like something a 6 year old would wear. Two tiered puffy miniskirt  and big puffed sleeves and ties up with a bow in the back. Does absolutely nothing for her. 

[BitterApple]

4 minutes ago, 3 is enough said:

Whitney posted some church photos in her stories today. She linked her dress which is from  the boutique. It is just awful. Looks like something a 6 year old would wear. Two tiered puffy miniskirt  and big puffed sleeves and ties up with a bow in the back. Does absolutely nothing for her. 

I saw that. She looked ridiculous.