Picture of Duggar and Bontrager daughters at ATi conference

[lilith]

Bates family singing at an event at the Bontrager's home.

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A "freewill offering" was taken for the Bates Family.

[FloraDoraDolly]

God, I hate those obnoxious flowers. They're beautiful little girls. Let them look natural, for crissakes.

Those flowers are everywhere. My niece wears them. Her friends wear them. These are public school kids, BTW. I don't mind them myself. My pet peeve is when people don't take care of their daughter's hair and it hangs in her face. The Kurt Cobain hairdo does not look good on an 8-year-old.

[quinoa mama]

This is related to the first group of pics taken:

Along with the girls losing the Little House on the Prairie look, the boys have been wearing t-shirts without collars and now I see their collared shirts are untucked. I'm glad they are loosening up a bit.

Pic #1 OK, this is immature of me, but that piece of food item Joy is holding is shaped like the male anatomy. I would like to imagine she is showing it off and laughing about it, but I don't think that's really the case. Also, Jill is wearing a baseball cap sideways. How unfeminine of her. She should repent.

The pic on the bus: What are the boys doing in the background, and is one of their faces blurred out?

Last one: Riding the Maid of the Mist is really fun, so I'm glad they got to do that. The Duggar women look like young mothers holding their own children.

[Ms Lucy Fur]

Jana is beautiful. Can you imagine what she would look like with a real smile and a twinkle in her eyes? She would light up a room.

[Maude]

Pic #1 OK, this is immature of me, but that piece of food item Joy is holding is shaped like the male anatomy. I would like to imagine she is showing it off and laughing about it, but I don't think that's really the case.

I'm glad I'm not the only one who noticed that. :lol:

[JenniferJuniper]

Those flowers are everywhere. My niece wears them. Her friends wear them. These are public school kids, BTW. I don't mind them myself. My pet peeve is when people don't take care of their daughter's hair and it hangs in her face. The Kurt Cobain hairdo does not look good on an 8-year-old.

They appear to have not caught on yet in my neck of the woods.

Pigtails, ponytails, braids, barrettes, a good haircut, all these things can all help with the unruly hair of little girls. Planting massive, ugly plastic flowers on their little heads seems unnecessary and ridiculous to me.

But I guess every generation must have it's silly fads. Gives the kids something to shake their heads about and "say WTF were our parents thinking?" when they look at the pictures later on.

[Maul the Koala]

I follow a blogger and egads. She puts huge bows on her daughters every day. They look like Christmas presents. The blog is sweet but the mom sure lucked out with two girly-girls.

The flower trend does puzzle me.

[kunoichi66]

You know, this is the second thread I've seen lately where people start talking about the Duggars being an interesting case of genetics because they all look so different, etc. etc.

I have to say, I just don't see it. I know what Josh looks like, and I am starting to be able to tell the older girls apart from each other, but the younger kids from Joy on down, they all look the same to me.

I don't know how people tell them apart!

[snarkykitty]

You know, this is the second thread I've seen lately where people start talking about the Duggars being an interesting case of genetics because they all look so different, etc. etc.

I have to say, I just don't see it. I know what Josh looks like, and I am starting to be able to tell the older girls apart from each other, but the younger kids from Joy on down, they all look the same to me.

I don't know how people tell them apart!

When you have so many children of the same two parents, it gets interesting to see the variety of genetic features. Sometimes in a family, one parent or the other has really strong traits and all of the children resemble that parent. For example, in my family, none of the kids looks much like my mother or her side of the family. But in my sister's family, one child looks just like her and her other child favors the father. I think what makes the Duggars (or the Bates) so interesting from this perspective is because there are so many of them.

[JenniferJuniper]

When you have so many children of the same two parents, it gets interesting to see the variety of genetic features. Sometimes in a family, one parent or the other has really strong traits and all of the children resemble that parent. For example, in my family, none of the kids looks much like my mother or her side of the family. But in my sister's family, one child looks just like her and her other child favors the father. I think what makes the Duggars (or the Bates) so interesting from this perspective is because there are so many of them.

Yes, for me it's the subtle variations and combinations that make them interesting.

My family only consists of 5 siblings but the variations in general looks and height ranges are wild. None of us truly resemble any of the others. Both of my parents are almost entirely of Irish/Anglo descent, of average height and with fairly non-descript facial features. I'm the oldest and as pale and blonde as they come, but as you go down the line everyone gets progressively darker, until you get to number 5, who appears to be a light/medium skinned African American with Caucasian features. (and yes, all have the same father, who is olive-skinned, but nowhere near as dark as his youngest child.) My very dark sister, on the other hand, has two girls as blonde and pale as I am, and one of them is the only of all of my mother's 12 direct descendants to have inherited her bright blue eyes, despite my brother-in-law being brown eyed. My mother commented the other day about how odd it was that her darkest child is the one who produced the only blue eyed grandchild. Until she came along, I came the closest with green eyes.

So I think this is why I find the Duggars interesting. 19 kids and no one is really off the reservation as far as general appearance goes, but the combinations are interesting, especially when you consider only a few strongly favor one parent, with Jeremiah, poor lad, being the only true clone of a parent.

[kunoichi66]

Yes, for me it's the subtle variations and combinations that make them interesting.

My family only consists of 5 siblings but the variations in general looks and height ranges are wild. None of us truly resemble any of the others. Both of my parents are almost entirely of Irish/Anglo descent, of average height and with fairly non-descript facial features. I'm the oldest and as pale and blonde as they come, but as you go down the line everyone gets progressively darker, until you get to number 5, who appears to be a light/medium skinned African American with Caucasian features. (and yes, all have the same father, who is olive-skinned, but nowhere near as dark as his youngest child.) My very dark sister, on the other hand, has two girls as blonde and pale as I am, and one of them is the only of all of my mother's 12 direct descendants to have inherited her bright blue eyes, despite my brother-in-law being brown eyed. My mother commented the other day about how odd it was that her darkest child is the one who produced the only blue eyed grandchild. Until she came along, I came the closest with green eyes.

So I think this is why I find the Duggars interesting. 19 kids and no one is really off the reservation as far as general appearance goes, but the combinations are interesting, especially when you consider only a few strongly favor one parent, with Jeremiah, poor lad, being the only true clone of a parent.

That makes sense. I'll have to rely on what you and others say on the genetics side of things, though.

[fluttershies]

They appear to have not caught on yet in my neck of the woods.

Pigtails, ponytails, braids, barrettes, a good haircut, all these things can all help with the unruly hair of little girls. Planting massive, ugly plastic flowers on their little heads seems unnecessary and ridiculous to me.

But I guess every generation must have it's silly fads. Gives the kids something to shake their heads about and "say WTF were our parents thinking?" when they look at the pictures later on.

[luckystone]

When you have so many children of the same two parents, it gets interesting to see the variety of genetic features. Sometimes in a family, one parent or the other has really strong traits and all of the children resemble that parent. For example, in my family, none of the kids looks much like my mother or her side of the family. But in my sister's family, one child looks just like her and her other child favors the father. I think what makes the Duggars (or the Bates) so interesting from this perspective is because there are so many of them.

I've always thought how interesting it is to see the variety as well! I can't tell the difference between the little boys.

[JenniferJuniper]

I'm honestly not judging in any way - just curious - but why do you want to wear a corsage in your hair most or all of the time?

[clover_leigh]

I have a crush on Jana <3

8-)

[fundies_like_zombies]

Jana is so pretty!

I wear hair flowers a lot - they pretty up a hair style.

[Handmaiden of Dog]

I'm not naming any names but I do not think all the children are beautiful, however, Jana is a stunner. Not only does she have a lovely, photogenic face, she has the best hair. There was a recent picture (I think the Pica gallery group picture of the oldest girls) where her hair looked so gorgeous I was green with envy. It looked soft, shiny and full with some curl at the bottom. How Jinger can continue to think her deep-fried greasy hair looks good when she has Jana to compare herself to every day is beyond me.

[Gil]

How Jinger can continue to think her deep-fried greasy hair looks good when she has Jana to compare herself to every day is beyond me.

Jinger is a teenage girl in a misogynistic cult focused on shaming women for their bodies. Yes -- God forbid she feels good about some aspect of her body! :roll:

[Eponine]

I'm honestly not judging in any way - just curious - but why do you want to wear a corsage in your hair most or all of the time?

:lol: I'm glad someone else wears them as I do too and I was beginning to get a bit paranoid!

The biggest one I wear is dusky pink and maybe a little over an inch in diameter, so it's not terribly ostentatious or anything. I have long hair and will pin it up into a bun or something, often like the one shown here. I'll sometimes put a little flower clip tucked next to the side of the bun, just to help secure it and make it a bit prettier (not with those little round pins shown there). It also has a safety pin type thing on the back so you can pin it to your clothes (or a floppy hat like I sometimes wear in the summer). I also sometimes use decorative pins or clips if I want to put only some of it back. I didn't realize people had such aversions to flower clips!

I do agree, though, that the huge ones half the size of little girls' heads are obnoxious on them, especially when they're just resting on the side of their head, close to their face. It detracts from their cuteness.

Anyway! The girls have actually been looking better recently than I always expect them to. I guess I still think of them in the matchy frumpers from the first "specials" when I actually watched. They're all quite pretty I think, although I just want to scrub Jinger's hair and steal their tanner.

[Handmaiden of Dog]

Jinger is a teenage girl in a misogynistic cult focused on shaming women for their bodies. Yes -- God forbid she feels good about some aspect of her body! :roll:

You can roll your eyes all you want but that isn't going to stop me from thinking (and commenting) that Jinger puts a lot of time and money into making herself look worse than her sisters. Which leads me to wonder how supportive the sisters are with each other. Does "keeping sweet" preclude noticing and commenting on each others' appearance?

I understand how you get used to looking in the mirror and thinking that you look great when other people think you look like an Oompa Loompa, but that's what sisters and mothers are for.

[thoughtful]

Hair ornaments can be lovely, on all ages.

What bothers me about the hair flowers on infants is the possibility that they are uncomfortable, the silliness of parents feeling the need to stamp the baby as A Girl, and the disproportion of huge flowers on tiny heads. I want to tell some of these folks:

[Jessica]

Jana is so pretty!

I wear hair flowers a lot - they pretty up a hair style.

Me too. Ponytail? Boring. Move it to one side and add a little flower? It looks like I care enough to spend time on my hair.

[Minerva]

Hair ornaments can be lovely, on all ages.

What bothers me about the hair flowers on infants is the possibility that they are uncomfortable, the silliness of parents feeling the need to stamp the baby as A Girl, and the disproportion of huge flowers on tiny heads. I want to tell some of these folks:

Yes! When Josie was just born and in critical condition, before her parents could even hold her, they were sticking stupid bows to her head. These people are terrified of gender ambiguity.

[green]

I'm not naming any names but I do not think all the children are beautiful, however, Jana is a stunner. Not only does she have a lovely, photogenic face, she has the best hair. There was a recent picture (I think the Pica gallery group picture of the oldest girls) where her hair looked so gorgeous I was green with envy. It looked soft, shiny and full with some curl at the bottom. How Jinger can continue to think her deep-fried greasy hair looks good when she has Jana to compare herself to every day is beyond me.

Have you seen the new "June 2012" album in their Picasa?

There are some pictures of Jana in (what I think) is the Journey of the Heart camp. I agree that she looks lovely.

In the same album, there are some pictures of Jinger and Jessa sitting on the middle of the road.. :roll:

And whoever takes this pictures loves to use artsy effects just as much as Smuggar.

picasaweb.google.com/101532170424444521371/June2012#

[JenniferJuniper]

Yes! When Josie was just born and in critical condition, before her parents could even hold her, they were sticking stupid bows to her head. These people are terrified of gender ambiguity.

Wonder what they would have done if one of the kids had been born intersexed? Left it in a basket in the woods?