Parsnips and Parsimony

[DoodleBop2]

Janelle can spend hours peacefully gardening because Art and Charity have all the other kids with them in the house not bothering mom.

I dread to think they might have a few more kids. She's only what 34.

[dahell]

Janelle can spend hours peacefully gardening because Art and Charity have all the other kids with them in the house not bothering mom.

I dread to think they might have a few more kids. She's only what 34.

Oh for sure. I’d guess she’ll be announcing another pregnancy in 6-9 months. There will be signs that she’s pregnant again. Last time she was DESPERATE for the “beast bus” (hate that name) purchase. I knew it when I saw her desperation for that van that she was pregnant.

[DoodleBop2]

Then she'll expect to be treated like she's up for sainthood because she's having a homebirth; although I suspect the biggest motivator for it is cost and they couldn't afford to keep having kids if they had hospital births. She'll also complain the entire time and complain about the kids and I seriously doubt Art is insisting she gets pregnant again. I bet if she's like yeah I'm done having babies he'd be like okay.

[weed]

I'll never forget when she was about to give birth (I think it was with Grace) some time back and was craving chocolate in the days leading up to the birth. Someone from their church delivered a huge chocolate cake because she kept going about how she needed chocolate and she devoured the entire thing during those several days ... stating over and over again that it was for HER and no one else. Poor kids!

I find it hard to remember that she is only 34. She seems so much older than that. Heavens .... even Charity seems so much more than that!

[weed]

John, the oldest boy, is he on the spectrum or does he act young for his age because of his limited his experiences are?

I think it is both.

[dahell]

I'll never forget when she was about to give birth (I think it was with Grace) some time back and was craving chocolate in the days leading up to the birth. Someone from their church delivered a huge chocolate cake because she kept going about how she needed chocolate and she devoured the entire thing during those several days ... stating over and over again that it was for HER and no one else. Poor kids!

I find it hard to remember that she is only 34. She seems so much older than that. Heavens .... even Charity seems so much more than that!

She definitely doesn’t seem 34.

[OldHag]

She looks older than her age, but acts a lot younger.

I feel bad for Art, I think he's a very nice guy but maybe because of his slightly odd manner he didn't have a lot of choices. They met very young and maybe she was the first girl who showed an interest, because she could see Art could take care of her as her parents did, though not as luxuriously. I wonder if he wanted to have more kids than they can handle, if he's really okay with her feeding the children so little and being a spoiled piggie about her OWN chocolates... I wonder if he's really okay with this kind of stuff, or he's just very committed. Is his sister Aunt Laura married w/ kids?

[dahell]

She looks older than her age, but acts a lot younger.

I feel bad for Art, I think he's a very nice guy but maybe because of his slightly odd manner he didn't have a lot of choices. They met very young and maybe she was the first girl who showed an interest, because she could see Art could take care of her as her parents did, though not as luxuriously. I wonder if he wanted to have more kids than they can handle, if he's really okay with her feeding the children so little and being a spoiled piggie about her OWN chocolates... I wonder if he's really okay with this kind of stuff, or he's just very committed. Is his sister Aunt Laura married w/ kids?

Laura is married and has one son (that I’m aware of). He’s a little older and has special needs. I don’t watch all the videos anymore but I don’t ever remember actually seeing her husband now that I think of it.

[gibberish]

She looks older than her age, but acts a lot younger.

I feel bad for Art, I think he's a very nice guy but maybe because of his slightly odd manner he didn't have a lot of choices. They met very young and maybe she was the first girl who showed an interest, because she could see Art could take care of her as her parents did, though not as luxuriously. I wonder if he wanted to have more kids than they can handle, if he's really okay with her feeding the children so little and being a spoiled piggie about her OWN chocolates... I wonder if he's really okay with this kind of stuff, or he's just very committed. Is his sister Aunt Laura married w/ kids?

Laura is married and has one son (that I’m aware of). He’s a little older and has special needs. I don’t watch all the videos anymore but I don’t ever remember actually seeing her husband now that I think of it.

Laura's husband, Calin is in the video, "3-23-18 Sprung a Leak". He's the one in the boat with Charity and Peter.

[gibberish]

She looks older than her age, but acts a lot younger.

I feel bad for Art, I think he's a very nice guy but maybe because of his slightly odd manner he didn't have a lot of choices. They met very young and maybe she was the first girl who showed an interest, because she could see Art could take care of her as her parents did, though not as luxuriously. I wonder if he wanted to have more kids than they can handle, if he's really okay with her feeding the children so little and being a spoiled piggie about her OWN chocolates... I wonder if he's really okay with this kind of stuff, or he's just very committed. Is his sister Aunt Laura married w/ kids?

Janelle was 18 and Art was 29 when they met. He's 11 years older than her.

[OldHag]

She looks older than her age, but acts a lot younger.

I feel bad for Art, I think he's a very nice guy but maybe because of his slightly odd manner he didn't have a lot of choices. They met very young and maybe she was the first girl who showed an interest, because she could see Art could take care of her as her parents did, though not as luxuriously. I wonder if he wanted to have more kids than they can handle, if he's really okay with her feeding the children so little and being a spoiled piggie about her OWN chocolates... I wonder if he's really okay with this kind of stuff, or he's just very committed. Is his sister Aunt Laura married w/ kids?

Janelle was 18 and Art was 29 when they met. He's 11 years older than her.

I wonder if he had any relationships before her. He must've spent those years being extremely frugal and maybe investing so they could buy that house and apparently have it almost paid off already.

[weed]

I think they said at one stage that Art had bought the house before they were married and I think they have it paid off already due to his frugal pre-marriage ways. I think Janelle is very lucky to have married a man like that. they certainly couldn't live as they do (with Art doing so little work) if they had a mortgage.

I had no idea that Art is so much older than her, but it totally makes sense. She transitioned from a home where her parents took care of her into marriage with an older man who also takes care of her. Janelle has never had a paid job either. She really has no idea what it is like to live in the real world.

[gibberish]

She looks older than her age, but acts a lot younger.

I feel bad for Art, I think he's a very nice guy but maybe because of his slightly odd manner he didn't have a lot of choices. They met very young and maybe she was the first girl who showed an interest, because she could see Art could take care of her as her parents did, though not as luxuriously. I wonder if he wanted to have more kids than they can handle, if he's really okay with her feeding the children so little and being a spoiled piggie about her OWN chocolates... I wonder if he's really okay with this kind of stuff, or he's just very committed. Is his sister Aunt Laura married w/ kids?

Janelle was 18 and Art was 29 when they met. He's 11 years older than her.

I wonder if he had any relationships before her. He must've spent those years being extremely frugal and maybe investing so they could buy that house and apparently have it almost paid off already.

Art's mother was a real estate agent when he was a kid. Her buyers for the most part were families either hoping to get into their first home or were looking to move to a larger place. She sold a lot of fixer-uppers. She'd put Art and his sisters (as kids) in the back seat while she walked through houses...many times they went inside and heard her views on what the house needed. She and her husband bought some houses themselves, lived in them, fixed them up and sold...bought another and repeated. Art was very young, I think just out of high school, when she found his first house for him to buy for resale. He learned to do the fixing himself. He made money, bought another and repeated again and again. He and Janelle paid cash for their first house. When they moved to their current house they had almost enough to buy it outright. They've since paid it off.

[DoodleBop2]

If John is any indication Art probably needed the extra time to mature. Not that Janelle is very mature now.

[dahell]

“Wow, this is a neat plant. Mom, what is this plant?” Peter

“I don’t know.”
Janelle

Well.....Janelle, if Peter isn’t able to read the plant label, maybe you could for him? Not interesting to you so you don’t care? You’ll drone on and on and on and on about things that interest you though.

I get you can’t answer kids every single questions and sometimes you’re in a hurry but why couldn’t she tell him the plant name? I don’t enjoy kid-filming but he sure seems like a great kid. Super nice brother.

[notyomama]

I found them through this forum. They are strange. I say this as a homeschooling weirdo myself.

The older kids calling her mommy and their sticky sweet voices like hers, cringe. If my 12 or 15yr old talked like that I'd tell them to cut it the eff out. Yuck.

And the way they were so excited about those damn pretzels made me sad.

[DoodleBop2]

She's supposed to be homeschooling them. Isn't that what homeschool is supposed to be learning from living but she wouldn't or couldn't be bothered to tell her kid the name of a plant.

[dahell]

I found them through this forum. They are strange. I say this as a homeschooling weirdo myself.

The older kids calling her mommy and their sticky sweet voices like hers, cringe. If my 12 or 15yr old talked like that I'd tell them to cut it the eff out. Yuck.

And the way they were so excited about those damn pretzels made me sad.

Lol....same here. Home school weirdo. But, I definitely let my kids get out and experience more as they age and mature. My oldest will be 15 in a few months and I’m really excited to see him gaining some more freedom and independence. My kids have always had a decent amount of friends though too....home schooled, neighborhood, sports team friends, church friends. And yes, my kids like freaking pretzels but those kids were OVER THE TOP excited. About a $1.49 bag of pretzels. Geesh.

[dahell]

She's supposed to be homeschooling them. Isn't that what homeschool is supposed to be learning from living but she wouldn't or couldn't be bothered to tell her kid the name of a plant.

Yes, that’s what is always talked about as a “pro” to home schooling. Again, I get it at times. I certainly couldn’t “teach” my kids all throughout Aldi every week. But, it seemed like a peaceful enough shopping trip that she could have taken 15 seconds out of her desperate attempt to shop for her own priorities and just tell him. Who else thinks that Art told him when he was well enough to watch that footage? I’m seeing more and more what you all see. He’s MUCH better with them than her.

[DoodleBop2]

They're one of the homeschool families the other homeschool families think of when they get asked where they get their socialization from if they don't go to school. Most normal homeschoolers their teenagers have friends, activities outside of their siblings, part-time jobs, outside interests. These kids seem to hang out a lot and go shopping.