Alyssa and John 8: Four Daughters, a New House, and a Pool

[Jasmar]

I weep for this country.

[HereticHick]

What is with the flowers and candles in this photo? You'd think someone was engaged or going to prom.

 

https://www.instagram.com/p/CPWaQ4llpKy/

[llucie]

3 hours ago, HereticHick said:

What is with the flowers and candles in this photo? You'd think someone was engaged or going to prom.

 

https://www.instagram.com/p/CPWaQ4llpKy/

The last time she did this https://www.instagram.com/p/CDUijGSl51q/ it was to announce Maci pregnancy on the fourth day, but no way she is pregnant so soon.

[VBOY9977]

4 hours ago, llucie said:

The last time she did this https://www.instagram.com/p/CDUijGSl51q/ it was to announce Maci pregnancy on the fourth day, but no way she is pregnant so soon.

She also did it in June 2019 and March 2020 and didn’t announce anything. We did suspect she would at the time from what I remember. I think she just likes to post individual pictures of the girls sometimes. Especially since they had a professional photoshoot done this time. 
 

Spoiler

Spoiler

 

[AussieKrissy]

4 hours ago, VBOY9977 said:

She also did it in June 2019 and March 2020 and didn’t announce anything. We did suspect she would at the time from what I remember. I think she just likes to post individual pictures of the girls sometimes. Especially since they had a professional photoshoot done this time. 
 

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Yeah she did do that same thing for the last baby announcement. I actually think these photos may just be “left overs” from the engagement shoot for nester. I say she asked the photographer to take them. Looks like the nester set up. 

[freethemall]

Looking at those comparisons to 2019 and 2020 her life/feed is just on repeat isnt it (like most fundies) - selfies, photoshoots, babies, etc.

[Melissa1977]

1 hour ago, freethemall said:

Looking at those comparisons to 2019 and 2020 her life/feed is just on repeat isnt it (like most fundies) - selfies, photoshoots, babies, etc.

I think many of us would look repetitive to a stranger. Ordinary life is quite dull, and it's nor bad. What amazes me is that Alyssa and John don't take the kids to any special place. I'm not talking about amazing places or fancy trips, but maybe to a theater play for children, or to play sports (they, not daddy), to a zoo, etc. Even the dullest families I know do that kind of things from time to time.

[llucie]

Well this photos of the girls were from the 7 year wedding anniversary "party". Alyssa just uploaded a youtube video about it. Basically they decorated their patio, dressed up and hired a photographer to celebrate, very Alyssa. It worries me that the pool fence has completely dissapeared, hopefully just for the day. The patio does look a lot better and bigger without it, but they have 4 young kids.

[CanadianMamam]

She started with the 7th anniversary photo and then one photo a day of their kids, I think it is just a cutesy Instagram thing of showing the life they’ve made. 

[Jackie3]

1 hour ago, llucie said:

The patio does look a lot better and bigger without it, but they have 4 young kids.

This worries me. Alyssa is all about how things look. I hope she hasn't decided that the kids "have learned to swim" and that she can take the fence down.

Even if they were the strongest of swimmers, there's still Maci, who will be crawling soon.

 

[Phyllis_Stein]

She said they were having a party at home only with family instead of going away for the weekend because they just bought a house (meaning, they can't afford to spend the money right now). How much did she spend on clothing, professional photographer, and the obscene amount of items to stage the party that will go to the landfill? And the spread of food enough for 15 people? I don't think they can eat all of that fruit and other perishables before it spoils. 

[FrumpyAtheist]

I agree with @Melissa1977 : my biggest critique of all the fundie families is they do absolutely nothing to enrich their kids' lives. They crow about how great homeschooling is but they do NOTHING to take advantage of a flexible learning environment.

She never takes those girls anywhere. All they do is stay home in front of screens eating. Where are the park trips? Museums? Petting zoos? Local cultural events? Everglades trips? Hikes? Nature activities? Science and sensory activities? Team sports? Etc.  I'm most offended by fundies' total lack of intellectual curiosity. It's really sad for their kids.

Edited May 29, 2021 by FrumpyAtheist

[SorenaJ]

Alyssa's entire life is photoshoots. That is a bit repetitive. 

No days out with the kids is so sad and so uncultured. 

[Melissa1977]

5 hours ago, Phyllis_Stein said:

How much did she spend on clothing, professional photographer, and the obscene amount of items to stage the party that will go to the landfill? And the spread of food enough for 15 people? I don't think they can eat all of that fruit and other perishables before it spoils. 

Probably more than the cost of one hotel night with a diner for two. Hiring a professional photographer for a 7th wedding anniversary looks excessive for me. 

Birthday weeks, fancy diners for eleventy people with photographers, new clothes every week... It's not Alyssa, it is the full IG world that makes me feel so poor. I have a good job, my husband has a good job, but we cannot afford all those luxuries constantly and most important: we have not the time! Go shopping every week, organising events, OMG I have no time. I work, my kids have homework, extracurricular activities, there are home chores, cooking.... Even organising an ordinary birthday party with a few decoration and a cake looks.like hard work in the middle of my busy life. It looks like the Alyssas don't have jobs or kids and have 24 hours a day to put together and decorate.

[nelliebelle1197]

On 5/17/2021 at 11:04 PM, Baxter said:

I've never worn a matching outfit to my daughter. But she's just turning 2 and with covid we really haven't been out very much. My sister has an almost 3 year old girl and we like to get then matching dresses for Christmas and sometimes other occasions. I imagine at some point they might not like that and we will sadly have to stop. 

I have in the past occasionally dressed my son similarly to my husband. Although honestly I don't think my husband would have noticed if u hadn't pointed it out to him. 

My mom is a twin. Her twin has twins my age. They kept up the matching stuff until we were in our 20s. Don’t be my mom and her sister.

[JermajestyDuggar]

My kids go to public school and I take them tons of places. They love the zoo, children’s science center, conservatory, creeks, nature walks, library, and lots of other places. That was a really horrible part of the pandemic. My kids are used to going lots of places and we had nowhere to go. They had to stay home and they were bored out of their minds. Even if alyssa is strapped for cash, they can still go for walks and and enjoy some of the nature preserves around Florida. 

[browngrl]

I think the endless photo shoots are just to keep her brand moving along - rather like the Kardashians and their endless photo ops. She has a pretty big following and I suspect she's managed to play that into a nice chunk of change. 

I'm not sure how much she cares about the actual work of mothering but I do note that she seems happiest when she is off alone with her husband. 

[SassyPants]

8 hours ago, FrumpyAtheist said:

I agree with @Melissa1977 : my biggest critique of all the fundie families is they do absolutely nothing to enrich their kids' lives. They crow about how great homeschooling is but they do NOTHING to take advantage of a flexible learning environment.

She never takes those girls anywhere. All they do is stay home in front of screens eating. Where are the park trips? Museums? Petting zoos? Local cultural events? Everglades trips? Hikes? Nature activities? Science and sensory activities? Team sports? Etc.  I'm most offended by fundies' total lack of intellectual curiosity. It's really sad for their kids.

The parents purposely train IC out. You can’t have them questioning anything you tell them. The goal of these cults is to make people dull, unquestioning and unthinking- IMO, it is abuse.

[nelliebelle1197]

1 hour ago, JermajestyDuggar said:

My kids go to public school and I take them tons of places. They love the zoo, children’s science center, conservatory, creeks, nature walks, library, and lots of other places. That was a really horrible part of the pandemic. My kids are used to going lots of places and we had nowhere to go. They had to stay home and they were bored out of their minds. Even if alyssa is strapped for cash, they can still go for walks and and enjoy some of the nature preserves around Florida. 

Alright so here I go: I work full time at a director level. I was able to structure my job so that I worked school hours most days. We had an afternoon nanny (who also happened to be my gay male BFF) for 10 years 2 days a week. My kids at that age never were at daycare more than six hours a day or in aftercare at school. They also never went home straight after school. We had memberships at the zoo, science museums, children’s museums and other places along with pool memberships. Either Manny or I would DO something with the kids after school and the weekend involved going to all sorts of places with my husband. Alyssa certainly can do something with these girls other than dress them up and take pictures if I can!

[Mama Mia]

11 hours ago, FrumpyAtheist said:

I agree with @Melissa1977 : my biggest critique of all the fundie families is they do absolutely nothing to enrich their kids' lives. They crow about how great homeschooling is but they do NOTHING to take advantage of a flexible learning environment.

She never takes those girls anywhere. All they do is stay home in front of screens eating. Where are the park trips? Museums? Petting zoos? Local cultural events? Everglades trips? Hikes? Nature activities? Science and sensory activities? Team sports? Etc.  I'm most offended by fundies' total lack of intellectual curiosity. It's really sad for their kids.

I mean, I don’t know about before , and they are way too little for many of things, —— but pretty much all the museums and sports and cultural events and fairs have been closed for a year.......

[JermajestyDuggar]

16 minutes ago, Mama Mia said:

I mean, I don’t know about before , and they are way too little for many of things, —— but pretty much all the museums and sports and cultural events and fairs have been closed for a year.......

Florida is is pretty darn open and has been open for awhile. Lots of fundies have gone to Disney World through this pandemic. And we know the Bates family doesn’t give a shit about catching or spreading covid. 

[Mama Mia]

26 minutes ago, JermajestyDuggar said:

Florida is is pretty darn open and has been open for awhile. Lots of fundies have gone to Disney World through this pandemic. And we know the Bates family doesn’t give a shit about catching or spreading covid. 

It’s always interesting to see how different it is different places! I’m in California, outer Bay Area, and we’ve JUST started opening stuff up. Even the beaches and playgrounds were closed initially.

Walking down to our local burger place and waiting in line, outside, 6 feet apart, to get food and go  was our usual big outing for a year.  Things are getting/feeling a lot more normal now - but still, you need masks inside, capacity limits on a lot of things....

 my county had the lowest infection rate nationally last week.  I forget that not everywhere was like this.
 

Edited May 29, 2021 by Mama Mia

[MomJeans]

23 minutes ago, JermajestyDuggar said:

Florida is is pretty darn open and has been open for awhile. Lots of fundies have gone to Disney World through this pandemic. And we know the Bates family doesn’t give a shit about catching or spreading covid. 

Yes, Florida is 100% open.  The governor even banned city mask mandates, and is trying to ban cruise ships from requiring proof of vaccination.  Even before the mandate ban, everything was wide-open, just some cities had in-door mask rules.  And Alyssa's instagram has never implied a fear of Covid either.  The only time I recall seeing her in a mask was in the hospital after the baby's birth, and I assume that was the hospital's rule, not Alyssa's fear of Covid.  

What are the odds she and John got the vaccine?  They've been eligible since April 5. I have the same heart condition Alyssa was treated for, and my cardiologist told me to get vaccinated. 

[fluffernutter]

When our youngest was a toddler, we were leaning towards homeschooling. We joined a homeschool co-op of sorts with three other families. They called it play-school and met 2-3 times a week. We rotated who hosted, and when it was your week you came up with a theme. We made sure there was one "field trip," a lesson of sorts, snack time, play time, and music time. We decided against homeschooling once she hit kindergarten for a variety of reasons. But that little play school was so sweet and we all have so many good memories from that time. If I would've homeschooled, it would've been like that until they outgrew my skills, especially in math (around 2nd grade ?). 

[Jackie3]

I sometimes wonder if there is tension between the two of them about money. John, after all, works outdoors in the horrible Florida heat and humidity. How does he feel about all the money Alyssa squanders on the constant photoshoots and all the clothes? She showed her closet once, and she had 30 pairs of stilettos! That's a lot.

I'm not saying it's John's money, because it isn't, they are a couple. Plus, Alyssa has said she "earns her own money," so I'm assuming she makes good money off instagram and youtube.

I just wonder if he'd rather put that photoshoot money in his retirement account, so he isn't 67 and repairing ACs in the heat. He seems like a pretty down to earth simple guy and I doubt he'd have professional photographers on speed dial on his own.