Sarah Maxwell took a plane trip and Mary posts OCC

[Handmaiden of Dog]

Even if I wanted to deny it, I couldn't because my mom has home movies of me licking the beaters, age 2...in 1959.  I was raised on chocolate chip cookies and dough.

[PsyD2013]

Cross fit for Jesse? A dog for Sarah!  A trip for Sarah!  John MIA!  Steve is really loosing the reins!  Could this be a rebranding to present a less douchey Steve?  Or a revelation that the level of control he has over his family is damaging?  Or a ploy to get more readers for the Maxhell family blog.  I might have to check the blog a little more often ......

[CyborgKin]

No Sarah, my weather is neither unseasonal nor snowy, because places outside of the USA have their own unique weather!  There's a whole southern hemisphere!  But it's perfectly fine if you stay in the northern one.  Please.

[molecule]

13 minutes ago, PsyD2013 said:

Steve is really loosing the reins!  Could this be a rebranding to present a less douchey Steve?  Or a revelation that the level of control he has over his family is damaging?  Or a ploy to get more readers for the Maxhell family blog.  

That fast in November must've been a real doozy for him. That's when all these changes started.

[Coconut Flan]

Stevus was shown a great light....

[Gossamer1]

1 hour ago, PsyD2013 said:

Cross fit for Jesse? A dog for Sarah!  A trip for Sarah!  John MIA!  Steve is really loosing the reins!  Could this be a rebranding to present a less douchey Steve?  Or a revelation that the level of control he has over his family is damaging?  Or a ploy to get more readers for the Maxhell family blog.  I might have to check the blog a little more often ......

Maybe he was visited by the ghost of Christmas future?!

[VodouDoll]

Wow, does Jesse go to Crossfit? I've always kind of thought that the Maxwell siblings' daily basement workouts seemed Crossfit-esque, with the kettlebells and box jumps and mountain climbers and all. Maybe Jesse goes to a gym and brings the routines back for the rest to do.

[16strong]

The Maxwells are kind of creeping me out lately. I have no idea what sparked the changes, but, uh... did someone mess with their borg programming?

[anjulibai]

18 minutes ago, 16strong said:

The Maxwells are kind of creeping me out lately. I have no idea what sparked the changes, but, uh... did someone mess with their borg programming?

I think it's just an effort to make them appear more normal. I'm sure they're aware of the criticism that their children aren't really growing up and being independent. 

[Coconut Flan]

I wonder if they are realizing the criticism may have some merit plus the downfall of several leaders so maybe they are rethinking the more extreme viewpoints.  I'm surprised that they may be changing, but glad if it's a real change.

[usmcmom]

5 hours ago, SolomonFundy said:

A better question may be: what the hell is Steve looking at? 

Bonus snark for putting a "big sister" tee shirt on a kid during a scheduled Photo Shoot Day, but making sure to reassure everyone that Melanie's uterus is currently vacant.

Ya know. If Melanie could just store those "big sister" shirts away until they really are "an announcement," that'd be great. Seriously, those girls seem to have plenty of clothes that they could do without those shirts. 

[nastyhobbitses]

5 hours ago, anjulibai said:

I think it's just an effort to make them appear more normal. I'm sure they're aware of the criticism that their children aren't really growing up and being independent. 

How do we behave more like Hoo-Mans? We must observe their behavior closely and imitate it.

[blessalessi]

12 hours ago, clese said:

Next blog post.  Where is John?

In the van, eating dry crackers.  Punishment for going on too many solo "business" trips.

[WonderingInWA]

10 hours ago, PsyD2013 said:

Cross fit for Jesse? A dog for Sarah!  A trip for Sarah!  John MIA!  Steve is really loosing the reins!  Could this be a rebranding to present a less douchey Steve?  Or a revelation that the level of control he has over his family is damaging?  Or a ploy to get more readers for the Maxhell family blog.  I might have to check the blog a little more often ......

Next think you know, he'll be on You Tube and vlogging for cash!  Steve's becoming a hipster!  

[VodouDoll]

17 hours ago, SolomonFundy said:

A better question may be: what the hell is Steve looking at? 

Bonus snark for putting a "big sister" tee shirt on a kid during a scheduled Photo Shoot Day, but making sure to reassure everyone that Melanie's uterus is currently vacant.

Right? To caption a photo in a blog post of a family cookout: "Just a hand-me-down shirt, unfortunately. Man, I wish my sister in law was pregnant." Why is Sarah even thinking about this? What's it to her? She's so weird!

[Eternalbluepearl]

I thought the "it's not an announcement, but wish it was!" comment to be odd too. Melanie has 4 kids plus Susannah in heaven, maybe she's okay with not having an announcement. 

[nastyhobbitses]

12 hours ago, VodouDoll said:

Wow, does Jesse go to Crossfit? I've always kind of thought that the Maxwell siblings' daily basement workouts seemed Crossfit-esque, with the kettlebells and box jumps and mountain climbers and all. Maybe Jesse goes to a gym and brings the routines back for the rest to do.

It has "cross" in it, so it's probably Steve-approved. #reps4jesus

[Jana814]

6 minutes ago, Eternalbluepearl said:

I thought the "it's not an announcement, but wish it was!" comment to be odd too. Melanie has 4 kids plus Susannah in heaven, maybe she's okay with not having an announcement. 

I also hope Melanie is OK with not having an announcement. She has 4 healthy children. 

[Black Aliss]

13 hours ago, VodouDoll said:

Wow, does Jesse go to Crossfit? I've always kind of thought that the Maxwell siblings' daily basement workouts seemed Crossfit-esque, with the kettlebells and box jumps and mountain climbers and all. Maybe Jesse goes to a gym and brings the routines back for the rest to do.

All this time I thought it was Nathan who was researching exercise routines and Crossfit and teaching them to the others.

Maybe Stevius misunderstood what the "Cross" part of Crossfit meant and thinks it has something to do with being as fit as Jesus?

[nausicaa]

13 hours ago, VodouDoll said:

Wow, does Jesse go to Crossfit? I've always kind of thought that the Maxwell siblings' daily basement workouts seemed Crossfit-esque, with the kettlebells and box jumps and mountain climbers and all. Maybe Jesse goes to a gym and brings the routines back for the rest to do.

I've always thought the Maxwell routine was old-fashioned and a bit lacking. I was surprised when I saw pictures of the Maxwell women doing push ups from their knees considering how often they supposedly work out. I think much like everything else Steve does, their workouts were stuck in 1995 and just mindlessly followed some rules he'd once heard somewhere. It'll be good to have Jesse bring in some new knowledge. 

[Crocoduck]

Crossfit has some very vocal Christians involved in the community. Rich Froening, who won the Crossfit games something like 5 times in a row is a conservative Christian. He's posted some amusing social media about not believing in evolution and he thinks the Paleo diet is un-Christian. http://games.crossfit.com/article/crossfit-faith-spiritual-side

Anyway, there are some (scantily clad) fundie types who into Crossfit.

[ncb]

In the Maxwell's newest post they are reveling in the climate change they likely deny and having a backyard bbq in February. I noticed that Tina is wearing the infamous "I'm going to be a big sister" t-shirt and I'm really hoping that isn't their "fun" way to tell us that poor Melanie is preggers again. I asked in the comments but, no response yet. That woman has been through so many losses and cheated death in her effort to fill Nathan's quiver, I'm really hoping Tina was just randomly wearing the shirt.

[justmy2cents]

@ncb This is being discussed in the Sarah took a plane by herself thread.  Melanie is not pregnant, Sarah just wishes she were.

[JemimaPuddle-Duck]

Anyway, Drew would need a big brother shirt for it to be an announcement; Tina is already a big sister. 

[kpmom]

It's funny, we've been discussing how things might be lightening up just a little bit in Maxwell world.  Now Steve posts a Seriously Dad that talks about how the worst thing to be is "Worldly minded".

He goes on to quote a scripture that calls people adulterers and adulteresses who are friends of the world.

So, I'm guessing no lightening up for Steve.