LEARNING....

"Mom won't let me have POPCORN!
It is a choking hazard...."

"Mom has Hannah guard the POPCORN...

there HAS to be a way to get it."

"How do I get the Popcorn...How do I get the Popcorn.....

How do I....."

"Ahhhhh...Mary dropped a piece!"

"DRAT! Hannah catches me , AGAIN!

She has OBVIOUSLY done this before!"

"Well HECK! I guess I will have to get with the program and let Hannah

break me off a piece of HER POPCORN!"

"OK FINE...Gimme some..."

"Man that's good!"

The Thaggard Take on Jon & Kate plus 8

So last night
My family & I, along with about 10 million other people, tuned into to
see what I refer to as the "Train Wreck Episode" of Jon & Kate plus 8.

To say that we were appalled would be an understatement.

A family falling apart has officially been dubbed by TLC as"entertainment".

For some reason I was convinced that all of the tabloids and hoop-la were just a ploy.
I really felt that the announcement would be "that they were going to stay together and seek counseling as a family"....makes perfect sense and in my opinion would have kept the show going indefinitely....but NO! We get ...."we have decided to separate".

During the episode my children(of all people) made these comments:

"they look different than when the show started"

"they do not look happy anymore"

"She likes being famous and he does not like being famous"

"She likes the Paparazzi"

"Why can't they just stop being famous and be a family"

"She wears fancy clothes now"

"He has 2 earrings now AND a MOTORCYCLE"

"I like the Mommy and Daddy better before they were rich with the big house. They are not nice anymore."

My husband and I also noticed that during Kate's rantings..she never ONCE owned up to any responsibility in the decay of her marriage or that the show had ANYTHING to do with it..if anything she defended the show and "doing it all for the kids".
"The show MUST go on", she said.

If you noticed the clips from the first episodes Kate could be found in the normal
Stay at Home Mommy attire--
The same thing we ALL wear during the day--
T-shirts , yoga pants, sweat, tennis shoes.
Did you see the platforms the chick was sportin' and the designer duds she was wearing in this seasons episodes?

I do not know about you..but i only have 6 kids and I could not dress like that if I wanted to.

The Learning Channel allowed Kate to talk about "Doing it alone" & how "Hard it will be".
They never once mentioned her nannies, personal trainer, organic chef, or her assistant.
Folks, that ain't doin' it alone.

The whole thing was to make everyone feel sorry for poor Kate so that the show "COULD " go on.
They may as well be The LYING Channel as far as I am concerned.

I am floored that these two individuals would think that doing an interview telling the world that they were getting a divorce was in the best interest of their 8 children.
"We just need some PEACE".

Here is a heads up,Jon & Kate.

Peace would have started when you told the camera crews that they were no longer welcome in your home.
Peace would have started when you stopped taking $75K an episode so that your 5 and 7 year olds temper tantrums could be viewed by the public.
Peace would have started when you realized that your marriage was important to your children..not your tummy tucks, breast implants, choppers, and hair transplants.

Jon made the statement(last night) that he is "only 32 years old and is ready to make some changes".

He was decked out like a typical college student with his long sideburns, earrings, and skull t-shirt.
A far cry from the Jon that TLC veiwers fell in love with and actually felt a little sorry for(thanks to Kate's constant bashing).

It was hard to look at him and feel bad for him.
He was acting like a spoiled brat who was tired of playing the game.

Changes..Hmmm....

Know what Jon..let me help you out with those changes.

Go back to church,
Sell the 2.5 million dollar estate,
Get those cameras out of your home,
Go to counseling,
Fight for wife & your family,
Run from anyone who even mentions "reality show"
and live happily ever after.

Heart-breaking that they and TLC let it get to this point before they pulled the plug.
The whole thing is just heartbreaking.

You know if TLC really had REALLY wanted to boost ratings...
They could have had Jon & Kate spend a month learning about being a FAMILY from
THE DUGGARS....that I would have PAID to see.

This Week Adam.................

Still cries for 15/20 minutes when I have the nerve to put him down.

Not quite as long as last week...he is getting better.


Lets Daddy hold him and take him outside.


He has figured out that Mama will not let him get on the swing
...but Daddy will....
"Mama Only" problem solved.


Loves to show off what he learned in his Love Without Boundaries
Toddler Classes!


This kid has some MAJOR fine motor skills.

Now if I could just get Amy to create a Love Without Boundaries
"Sleep in Your Own Bed" Class.....Hmmmmmm.....

TF SHODEO

The last day of riding camp we had a rodeo.
Everyone was there to see the kids ride.
Daddy and Aunt Mali caught Mama up in the Announcer's booth
and guess who got a lollipop???

He LOVED it, BTW! LOVED IT!


Caleb and the rest of the big kids worked their tails off to
make this rodeo ran smoothly.

Just a great bunch of kids.
I love my boy.



Rachel was in her element- Horses, Loud Music, and People with
cameras-
Does a girl really need anything else?


Ben told me that his favorite part was the "RODEO HOTDOGS & COKE"!
What is it about stadium hotdogs??
I like them,too.


Mary was mad because everyone else was riding horses..but her.
She did manage to laugh and smile most of the night-
we just don't have the pictures to prove it...but I promise... she did.


This was Layton's first Rodeo.
She won the Cowgirl Award.
Her Aunt Andrea was very proud.


This was Hannah's first Rodeo.
She won the Best Attitude Award.
She DOES smile ALL THE TIME!
Her Mama was very proud.


This was also Riley's first Rodeo .
She won the Goat Tying Trophy for the fastest tie.
Her Aunt Andrea was very very proud.


Did I mention that Adam liked the rodeo AND the lollipops??
OK..just checking.


So now we only have one more camp to go and
we are done for the summer.

I am looking forward to the break.

So I woke up today.............

and had 30 WHOLE seconds to post!

Let's see....

Oh Yeah-

So I get on the plane is Guangzhou, fly to Narita-Japan(LOVE, BTW)

then to LAX!

LAX computers CLEARED OUR FLIGHT INFO and I , along with 150 others had to sit on the plane on the runway for 1 hour while our info was put back into the computer before we could leave the ground!

Get to Dallas/Fort Worth--Plane to Mississippi has left--No more flights--the baby and I spend the night in TX. No biggy..go there ALL THE TIME! We love Texas!

6 am Thursday morning we get on a plane for Jackson and touch down 1 hour later.

Adam was a champ.

Let everyone love and smooch on him and recognized his Daddy and clapped when he saw him.

That made Stacy feel GOOOOOOD!

Breakfast the next morning was Chicken Congee and butterbeans.

As you can see....he liked it....actually EVERYONE liked it.

It is a new staple around here.

The girls rolled in a few days later and we all started getting ready for our week long Riding camp!

Riley Cat had a birthday and of course..we had a party!

Guess who loves some birthday cake????

We had our Rodeo for the camp students on Saturday night.

This week we are resting...I am going to recover from my China trip..since I did not get to do it last week.

I am also going to take this week to grieve the loss of my Grandmother.

3 weeks before we left for China, I went into the recoding studio and cut some of my Memaw's favorite songs and a message to her.

I knew that I could not call her( like I did last time) and wanted her to hear my voice(which I inherited from her) while she was gone.

I had a feeling that she would not be there when I got home.

She passed while we were flying from LAX to China,and I have been in denial for the last 3 weeks..

I have to deal with it but I have the feeling that it ain't gonna be pretty.

Thank you all for your prayers and the cool comments while we were gone.

It meant the world to us.

I will post more pics soon.

I have to get the rodeo pics together.

They are cool!

Love ya'll

A