De la Motte family?

[NachosFlandersStyle]

I searched and didn't see mention of these folks but I wondered if anyone here knows more about them. The mom, Amber de la Motte, popped up on my Explore page with a video about how they fit 10 kids and 2 adults in a 2br 1ba San Francisco apartment. All the kids play string instruments and they moved to SF to enroll the older kids in the San Francisco Conservatory. They really are extremely talented; one of the sons was on America's Got Talent and I guess there have been some viral video of the family performing in public. But despite the SF address and the quality music education they seem pretty fundie. A lot of Amber's youtube videos seem to be angling for large-family homeschool influencer status. The girls are always in long skirts. They used to live in an RV and it sounds like they plan to go back to that at some point. Just an interesting combo all around. 

https://instagram.com/the.happy.caravan?utm_medium=copy_link

[JermajestyDuggar]

I’m no professional so my opinion means nothing. But they sound good to me. However what I like the most is their facial expressions when playing. They are all adorable. 

[usedbicycle]

I also found them recently and find them very creepy.

On one hand they are adorable and talented, on the other hand I think they will have a lot to unpack as adults. Lots of pressure to grow up with these musical expectations and it doesn't leave much space for individual interests (they seem to study music 90% of their waking time). The mother seems obsessed with their image as a group and funneling more babies into her grandiose project. 

Living in a 2-bed apartment just to turn her kids into musical geniuses seems like a bad idea. I also get bad vibes from families whose kids are always smiling.

[NachosFlandersStyle]

1 hour ago, usedbicycle said:

Lots of pressure to grow up with these musical expectations and it doesn't leave much space for individual interests

How many of those kids would give their right arm to never hear classical music again? I guarantee I would if I were in their shoes. What if one of them even just wants to play trombone instead?

[anjulibai]

They have a pretty nice apartment for San Francisco. Place like that cannot be cheap. I mean, it's not enough pace for a family of 12, but it's pretty nice considering. 

It looks like they didn't start fundy, from some pics she posted of when they married. Her wedding dress is spaghetti strap. 

Also, those transforming furniture can't be cheap, either. I wonder what they dad does or where they get their money. 

[NachosFlandersStyle]

35 minutes ago, anjulibai said:

They have a pretty nice apartment for San Francisco

Definitely larger than some 2br/1ba apartments I've lived in. Of course I'd still tear my hair out if I had to share it with 11 other people and sleep on a murphy bed in the dining room.

The dad's LinkedIn lists him as a graphic designer, which surely does not cover rent. They seem to make a little money from street performances too. Who knows!

[Black Aliss]

14 hours ago, NachosFlandersStyle said:

The mom, Amber de la Motte, popped up on my Explore page with a video about how they fit 10 kids and 2 adults in a 2br 1ba San Francisco apartment.

illegally, is how. Like 8 7 people more than the legal limit.

ETA to correct the number. It's 2/bedroom plus one

Edited February 9, 2022 by Black Aliss

[anjulibai]

She's says it's 2bd/1ba, but it seems like maybe there's more? She says in a video that one of the bedrooms is used as their living room, and that the boys room is also the dining room, but then she and her husband have a bedroom and the girls have a bedroom. That would seem to be 3bd/1ba. I'm confused. 

Also, they have a patio! Seriously, they must be paying a ton each month. 

She mentioned where they got the murphy beds - I looked it up, and they are on sale for $2300! Holy crap! Down from $2900. Yeah, they got an extra source of income, maybe rich parents? 

[NachosFlandersStyle]

1 hour ago, anjulibai said:

She's says it's 2bd/1ba, but it seems like maybe there's more? She says in a video that one of the bedrooms is used as their living room, and that the boys room is also the dining room, but then she and her husband have a bedroom and the girls have a bedroom. That would seem to be 3bd/1ba. I'm confused. 

I think they have:

-A living room (where some sleep on pull-out furniture)

-A dining room (which doubles as boys' room with Murphy beds)

-Bedroom 1 (parents)

-Bedroom 2 (girls' room)

- A (pretty large!) kitchen

Legally only two of those rooms are bedrooms but they're sleeping in 4 of them. Better than most of the 2brs I see listed lately, where the "dining room" is just a counter in the kitchen and you're lucky if you don't have to put the couch right in front of it. But that's a whole other soapbox for me.

[fundiefollower]

I think in a comment she said they pay $4500 a month for rent.  I could be wrong.

They also have a video showing them taking laundry to the laundromat in a wagon and having to stay there while it washes because people will steal it out of the dryers. She said they do it once a week but multiple trips of the wagon.  Sounds miserable.   I'd rather cram washer somewhere in that apartment or on the porch out back.

One bathroom for all of them sounds awful.

[imokit]

The first time I lived (as an adult) in a flat with its own washing machine I decided that I wasn't going back.  I as a single person wouldn't cope without my washing machine, I can't imagine doing the laundromat thing with kids.  The washing machine is very high on the list of things I wouldn't cope without and will replace/fix asap if breaks.

[VVV]

Those kids are genuinely good but I can’t imagine how it is possible for each child to do the hours of daily practice necessary to play like that at a young age. Either their apartment is total cacophony 12 hours a day, or those kids are practicing in the Conservatory practice rooms, in which case it would be very difficult to keep them sheltered.

[NachosFlandersStyle]

48 minutes ago, VVV said:

or those kids are practicing in the Conservatory practice rooms, in which case it would be very difficult to keep them sheltered.

I think you get to be a different kind of sheltered in those situations. I have a cousin who was a legit violin prodigy -- like playing with a major city's orchestra at ten years old kind of thing. He was almost never doing anything except playing violin, and while he traveled a lot he spent all his time surrounded by adults who had strict expectations for him. At family holidays he was usually off by himself in another room practicing while the rest of the cousins played. 

[Black Aliss]

4 hours ago, fundiefollower said:

They also have a video showing them taking laundry to the laundromat in a wagon and having to stay there while it washes because people will steal it out of the dryers. She said they do it once a week but multiple trips of the wagon.  Sounds miserable.  

Have lived in San Francisco, relied on laundromats. Can confirm. Will never forget the man who followed me inside the laundromat and wanted to buy my dirty underpants.

[NachosFlandersStyle]

Just now, Black Aliss said:

Have lived in San Francisco, relied on laundromats. Can confirm. Will never forget the man who followed me inside the laundromat and wanted to buy my dirty underpants.

Do people anywhere leave the laundromat while their clothes are drying? I've relied on them in a number of places, including small towns in the midwest, and you always hang out and keep an eye out until your clothes are done.

[Black Aliss]

5 minutes ago, NachosFlandersStyle said:

Do people anywhere leave the laundromat while their clothes are drying? I've relied on them in a number of places, including small towns in the midwest, and you always hang out and keep an eye out until your clothes are done.

Well, this was in the 70's, which was a kinder, gentler time. (I kid, I kid, but we were more trusting then)

[anachronistic]

In suburban Massachusetts yes, people leave stuff at a laundromat. I don’t but my parents do when they need to wash really big things like comforters, couch covers, etc. I have a shared laundry room in my building - 17 units - and I leave it while it’s being washed and dried but that’s different. This reminds me of how grateful I am for washers and dryers. Imagine laundry for 12 before they were invented? (I know people owned many fewer clothes then but still.)

They are adorable and happy and all that but then again so are numerous other families we follow. There’s definitely something off about them that they’re hiding. 
 

Also it’s weird to me that the kids are all 2 years apart, you’d think there would be a few who were closer or more spread apart in age even with NFT.

[JMO]

I have a laundry room in my building and will leave stuff in the washer/dryer while it runs to go upstairs to my apt.  I always try to be back when it's done b/c I don't want someone deciding to toss my laundry out so that they can use the machine.  I used to have to cart my laundry several blocks to a laundromat but that was when I was younger.  I never left it alone there and would sit and read.  

[catlady]

16 hours ago, NachosFlandersStyle said:

Do people anywhere leave the laundromat while their clothes are drying? I've relied on them in a number of places, including small towns in the midwest, and you always hang out and keep an eye out until your clothes are done.

i think it depends where and when you go.  though realistically, stealing other people's items can happen anywhere.

i live in a suburb outside a small city.  the year before the pandemic, my washer needed a part and it took a few weeks to coordinate with the repair company.  in the interim, i did wash at the local laundromat (took it home to dry).  but i went as soon as it opened on Saturday mornings at 6am.  no one else was there so i could have left while the machines were running, but i stayed for the quiet time.  however, the same place was really busy by mid-morning and through most of the day.  i can imagine people getting impatient if someone left and didn't clear out the machine as soon as it stopped.  everyone just wants to get done and leave, so waiting on someone who lacks courtesy just makes an unpleasant task worse.  before i got my current house, i had to use community laundry for about 15 years, and theft was far less common than dumping someone's unattended stuff into a bin.

so it's my opinion that in a large city like San Francisco where the laundromat would be busy pretty much all the time, yes, it's good form to stick around and monitor your machines, both to keep your own items from being pilfered *and* to refrain from tying up machines for too long.

maybe i'm being a little harsh, but i don't have much sympathy for these parents not liking their laundry trips.  they made choices, and not having their own w/d is a consequence of the string of choices they have made.  i feel bad for the kids stuck with the labor, but mom and dad can stop complaining.

Edited February 10, 2022 by catlady
clarity

[smittykins]

On 2/9/2022 at 9:17 PM, NachosFlandersStyle said:

Do people anywhere leave the laundromat while their clothes are drying? I've relied on them in a number of places, including small towns in the midwest, and you always hang out and keep an eye out until your clothes are done.

The previous laundromat I used is in a plaza with a Dollar Tree and Tractor Supply, so sometimes, if I needed some small items or cat food/litter, I would walk down to get them, but I was always back before my clothes finished drying.

[justmy2cents]

On 2/9/2022 at 9:17 PM, NachosFlandersStyle said:

Do people anywhere leave the laundromat while their clothes are drying?

I lived in NYC for 14 years. I almost always left my clothes while in the dryer and never had anything stolen. Guess I was lucky.

[llucie]

In a comment when asked if they wear skirts for religious reasons she said they used to attend a church that encouraged it, but that now they just wear them because they find them cute/comfortable. So they were definetely fundies for a while but probably not anymore. 

[nelliebelle1197]

On 2/9/2022 at 12:35 PM, anjulibai said:

They have a pretty nice apartment for San Francisco. Place like that cannot be cheap. I mean, it's not enough pace for a family of 12, but it's pretty nice considering. 

It looks like they didn't start fundy, from some pics she posted of when they married. Her wedding dress is spaghetti strap. 

Also, those transforming furniture can't be cheap, either. I wonder what they dad does or where they get their money. 

They may have a rent-controlled apartment where the rent has not changed much in 20 years. My cousin had one of those in SF he kept from the 80s and didn't let go of it until the early 2000s even though he was by then in Pasadena!

On 2/13/2022 at 6:24 PM, llucie said:

In a comment when asked if they wear skirts for religious reasons she said they used to attend a church that encouraged it, but that now they just wear them because they find them cute/comfortable. So they were definetely fundies for a while but probably not anymore. 

This does not mean they are any less fundie. Skirts only are going out of fashion for even some hard core and tbh, was never the marker people think it is. There have always been plenty of repulsive fundie women in pants.

[Cupcake79]

I decided to follow this family on instagram a while back. No doubt the kids are talented. What I don’t understand is what they do for a living? Has she ever stated their sources of income? And do the parents also play string instruments? 
 

It seems they will be relocating to New York since some of the kids have been accepted to some music college/pre-college.

[NachosFlandersStyle]

Lol, they got a write-up in Gawker. I guess Amber has recently made some videos about leaving the IFB, they're en route to NYC, and the reporter dug up some records indicating that they might have sold a pricey CA home tofinance all this? https://www.gawker.com/celebrity/who-are-the-de-la-mottes-the-tiktok-happy-caravan-family