Paul Arndt had an awesome 34th birthday!

[longtimelurker6]

rootsweb.ancestry.com/~mostfran/unique_characters/janisbrothers_bachelors.html

An eventual possible ending for the boys.....

IT all sounds so familiar

"A good woman is the next thing to God" :D

Boy, that wouldn't go over too well with the more fundy sort of fundy. :lol:

[longtimelurker6]

...

It is so natural to seek to reproduce...

Perhaps for some people. I've never had the slightest desire to have children myself, and to me, that feels natural.

This is something different. The image of a 34-year-old jumping up and down excitedly in his parents' bedroom because it's his birthday is disturbing because it's an image of someone who never achieved adulthood, and probably never will.

[Talitha Cumi]

I've also wondered how the Arndt parents keep 'em down on the farm and honestly, the only thing I can think of is drugs. When you think of it, it would be pretty easy. Not very Jesus-y of me, but really, nothing else makes sense, especially since they all seem to have a case of arrested development. Part of me is kidding but then part of me goes "hmmm…"

They're just. so. weird.

I'm wondering the same thing. Some sort of libido-killing drug sprinkled on the morning cereal?

[JesusPony]

Can we send in a team of anthropologists to study the Arndts? I'm serious. What is going on there? They are so boring but, at the same time, so weirdly fascinating.

[silverspoons]

I had only seen the original TLC special until today. I decided to pick a random youtube episode Destin-ation wedding. I guess I picked a good one, plenty of penguins. I really didn't know the penguins are such a part of the family! The penguins get diapers changes? and who keeps shower curtains in the car?

I will say the bald son(sorry don't know there names) does take some good pictures, Much better then some of the other fundie photographers. I guess I'll have an Ardnt marathon next time I'm stuck in the house.

[Feberin]

I honestly think the least weird part about the Ardnts is the fact that they live at home. When you compare living at home these days in your thirties and twenties to having stuffed toys that you play with and make videos about and singing and dancing in your parents room. I don't understand them either but I do think they must do something to crush the manboys libidos.

[Sundaymorning]

Are really all the boys still unmarried and living at home?

And well, seriously, they should hide their blog cause no girl would ever want to get married to a guy who behaves like this at 34 years old.

Although, maybe Sarah Maxwell would be available? :think:

[Hisey]

I told my husband about the Arndt family, about the sons in their 30's celebrating birthdays with the parents, about the penguins, about how they all live at home.

He refused to believe they were real. He thought it was a scam of some kind. He said, "You've been duped."

[Sparkle]

Reading all of this, the only thing I can think of is "why the penguins?! Save the penguins!"

I know several men in their 30's and 40's who are ok with living at home and not marrying because they have mama. I feel bad for their sisters (if they have any) who will probably have to step in when mama dies...

[16strong]

I just realized these guys have, like 50 episodes of a TV show. I can't believe I didn't know that before.

Stand aside, Parks and Rec... I'm gonna have to watch stuff about the Arndt family for the next few weeks!

Don't bother. I literally fell asleep watching one episode of FamTeam, then watched part of a second to see if they do anything more interesting (or, well...anything at all). Nope. These guys make the Duggars look like guests on Maury Povich. Also, as far as I can tell, the Safe At Home show is nothing more than 20 mins of proselytizing.

fyi, the central plot on the episode I watched was taking the family Christmas photo. The big deal was Photoshopping one of the sons in and changing the color of two boys' shirts. And that was the episode. Really. :roll:

[Firiel]

Don't bother. I literally fell asleep watching one episode of FamTeam, then watched part of a second to see if they do anything more interesting (or, well...anything at all). Nope. These guys make the Duggars look like guests on Maury Povich. Also, as far as I can tell, the Safe At Home show is nothing more than 20 mins of proselytizing.

fyi, the central plot on the episode I watched was taking the family Christmas photo. The big deal was Photoshopping one of the sons in and changing the color of two boys' shirts. And that was the episode. Really. :roll:

Maybe I've foundy new falling-asleep show. :)

[themothership]

I just watched a few minutes of two videos. Do they always talk so weird? Like they have a mouthful of marbles?

Just weird.

[keen23]

I just watched a few minutes of two videos. Do they always talk so weird? Like they have a mouthful of marbles?

Just weird.

Yes. They have almost a shared speech impediment.

[Odd1Out]

I've watched some of their videos. While the things they do during the videos are odd, I think they actually do a good job of producing the videos. Not like a family member just following along with a wobbly video camera. And the way they talk to the brother behind the camera is as if they are actually being interviewed by an outsider. I guess they just come across more real, not awkwardly staged like the Duggars.

[nausicaa]

Yes. They have almost a shared speech impediment.

And it gets more severe as you move down through the sons, like some fundie Hapsburg jaw. But I don't hear it at all from Mary-Elizabeth. So weird.

[JenniferJuniper]

I've watched some of their videos. While the things they do during the videos are odd, I think they actually do a good job of producing the videos. Not like a family member just following along with a wobbly video camera. And the way they talk to the brother behind the camera is as if they are actually being interviewed by an outsider. I guess they just come across more real, not awkwardly staged like the Duggars.

They've been filming Daddy's never ending Vine Valley vanity project for so long that some of them have become very adept at filming, sound recording and editing.

The manboys all seem very real and sincere, which just raises more questions. Rick is creepy and Cathy is a total stepford wife, but they seem to have raised nice kids. Nice "kids" who question absolutley nothing about their lifestyle.

[Coco]

And it gets more severe as you move down through the sons, like some fundie Hapsburg jaw. But I don't hear it at all from Mary-Elizabeth. So weird.

*googling sedation drugs that cause speech impediments*

[uber frau]

In think the speech issues are a part of them being fairly isolated as children. I've noticed that my own three (very not sedated) children have shared fairly distinctive speech patterns. The two oldest ones both lost them quite quickly when they started attending preschool (around 5.) The youngest isn't at that age yet but I think the same thing will happen with him.

I'm not any kind of expert but I think it's fairly common that children normalise their speech when they start spending a lot of time in a different social environment. I wonder if the patterns are more likely to become set in kids who spend most of their time in a family group. I also wonder if the patterns become more reinforced the more ppl are using them.

As for the saltpetre theory, I've long believed the parents have been mixing up 'special' powdered milk (a la Hephzibah House). Or something. I would be totally unsurprised at any rate.

[Coco]

In think the speech issues are a part of them being fairly isolated as children. I've noticed that my own three (very not sedated) children have shared fairly distinctive speech patterns. The two oldest ones both lost them quite quickly when they started attending preschool (around 5.) The youngest isn't at that age yet but I think the same thing will happen with him.

I'm not any kind of expert but I think it's fairly common that children normalise their speech when they start spending a lot of time in a different social environment. I wonder if the patterns are more likely to become set in kids who spend most of their time in a family group. I also wonder if the patterns become more reinforced the more ppl are using them.

As for the saltpetre theory, I've long believed the parents have been mixing up 'special' powdered milk (a la Hephzibah House). Or something. I would be totally unsurprised at any rate.

Have they lived in the same area for a long time? Some places have water with high lithium content.

[Miggy]

I told my husband about the Arndt family, about the sons in their 30's celebrating birthdays with the parents, about the penguins, about how they all live at home.

He refused to believe they were real. He thought it was a scam of some kind. He said, "You've been duped."

My first reaction when discovering the Arndts was to think it was an internet set up. However, these guys are out in their community with work and softball which is pretty hard to fake. If we want to go for conspiracy theories, I have a theory that a few of the boys are secretly married but the wives have moved into the family home - it's like one giant commune - but those wives are kept off camera. (Who cares that there's no evidence for this - it's funny to imagine!)

As for their speech, the manboys speak exactly like Rick. As they spent more time with Rick growing up than with anyone else so it's not surprising they have his exact speech patterns. Wizzy spent more time doing female stuff with Cathy so didn't pick up Rick's speech.

[skankbiscuit]

I really think that they have been told all of their lives that most girls aren't good enough for them, and they are brainwashed enough religiously to believe that God will just plop the right girl down when He's good and ready. I think they are waiting to find a girl like mama.

[lilah]

He wouldn't know what to do with a woman. Unless she was a penguin.

Plus papa maxwell would be freaked out by the dancing, softball games, penguin worship and short shorts.

[nokidsmom]

I really think that they have been told all of their lives that most girls aren't good enough for them, and they are brainwashed enough religiously to believe that God will just plop the right girl down when He's good and ready. I think they are waiting to find a girl like mama.

In addition to being brainwashed about "keeping the family together" I agree this might also be at play. That most girls out there aren't good enough and if the Lord wills it, the right one will just appear, no effort is needed on their part. It's probably been drummed into them from early on. IIRC, there was a blog post from one of them that indicated they were waiting for the right girl to show up. That none of them appear to be questioning this whole "waiting for Princess Charming" is pretty jaw dropping.

[nokidsmom]

Plus papa maxwell would be freaked out by the dancing, softball games, penguin worship and short shorts.

Sarah Maxwell has been subjected to enough crazy. She needs to marry someone more normal even if he's fundie lite.

[Coco]

In addition to being brainwashed about "keeping the family together" I agree this might also be at play. That most girls out there aren't good enough and if the Lord wills it, the right one will just appear, no effort is needed on their part. It's probably been drummed into them from early on. IIRC, there was a blog post from one of them that indicated they were waiting for the right girl to show up. That none of them appear to be questioning this whole "waiting for Princess Charming" is pretty jaw dropping.

i wonder if they've ever had fan families show up at the Softball Classic with eligible daughters. The way some families advertise their girls on blogs it wouldn't shock me if some had tried it.