Dem Not-So-Dry Bones

Last time Molly popped out a kid, Liam FINALLY was able to get married and then they had a kid…and a bonus tag-along kid. Three infants in the house. Oof.

We’ll start off this chapter with Liam hitting max athletic.

And then.. a wild earthquake appears! Liam takes off to tend to the emergencies while thinking of his recent nuptials.

I thought I had a shot of him digging sims out from under the rubble. Alas I do not. Please accept this fire-in-the-pool-room shot instead.

I have decided earthquakes are where it’s at. I believe we’re at 9/30 after this…yep, 7 rubble-covered people got saved during just one earthquake. Here’s hoping we have more of those.

So…guess who’s still around after that bachelor party? Bonehilda is just stuck in a loop of make drinks, drink drink, create puddle, mop puddle.. stopping now and then to make beds or to stand in front of the cribs of babies with dirty diapers so that no adult can actually get to them. I tried resetting her in hopes that would send her home (remember, she’s not ours!) It did not. Didn’t even move her.

Molly finally popped a want to get married, so I sent her up to the upper floor balcony and called Sammy over to have a nice private ceremony right here. And so she ruins my shot with not just a ringing phone, but also a skill bar (I guess getting married builds charisma? Otherwise no idea what it was for.)

They quickly exchange rings while I try to ignore the pocket ringing (no, she would not like to go on a date with you, she’s busy FORSAKING ALL OTHERS)

I now pronounce you man and wife.

Aw, look at how adoringly he looks at her. I bet he’s thinking how beautiful she — oh. Why are his first married words about Melissa?

And then he is (mostly) forgiven because his first action as a member of the household is to autonomously walk downstairs, gaze at his baby girl, and do a fist pump. (Or maybe he was just happy she was asleep.)

Birthday time for Luna! Aunt Melissa (who had done pretty much all the taking care of burrito baby Luna) was deliriously excited for this milestone.

Sparkle sparkle.. age up.. oof. Baby girl, I will fix you up, gimme a sec.

Aw, that’s better! With clothes & hair, she’s actually kind of adorable! And a moon dress? How perfect! She has her mom’s hair color, but I have a feeling she’s going to look mostly like her daddy otherwise. We shall see.

Sammy set to skilling her right away.

Because mommy’s off on a case, digging in trash & dusting for prints.

Liam & Melissa set about filling up the bars of their spawn.
Liam: Mehhhhh…
Melissa: I get to feed him a bottle zomg SQUEEEE!!!!1!

After the babies bars were all full needs were all tended to, Liam tried to head to the garage to workout. Dude. You already maxed that. Upgrade your extinguisher.

Meanwhile Bonehilda wets herself. Again.

Melissa is upgrading the speakers of a stereo for an opportunity. She decided to work on her plies while doing so. (Seriously, what is up with that leg positioning?)

Liam: We were JUST up here like 90 minutes ago. How are they lonely again?
No idea, man. I’ve never seen sim babies whose social bar drops as quickly as these two, and neither one has a social  trait. (I randomized. Both ended up with Loves the Outdoors, Phoenix got Virtuoso and Ember got Artistic. Neither got Super Clingy Needy Attention Hog.)

Equally perplexing is why Liam rolled a want for another baby when he always pulls this face around the two he already has. No more for you, mister. No more for anyone right now.

Anyway, they got the twins happy again, and then it was off to City Hall because the mayor (who looks fresh out of Hogwarts) was holding a ceremony for Fire Chief Liam. There was much confetti, and balloons, and pro-firefighter signage, and cheering..

Then they got ready to fight.

Just kidding. Mayor Hogwarts slipped an invisible medal around his neck and gave him a present, but apparently had a moment where he thought about punching him.

Liam: OMFG a present?! I LOVE presents!! You must really like me!

Oh Liam, if only you knew what he had been thinking moments before.

Then it was time for everyone to cheer more while Liam stood amidst it all thinking about what a mother-flippin’ hero he was.

And then the ceremony was abruptly over, everyone started thinking of someone else, and I snapped the second shot because you can see all the little glitched “Basement Cat” sims because their thought bubbles are sprouting from the ground. HOW do I fix this? Drives me bonkers.

Learning to talk.

Bonehilda.

No.

Stop.

Bonehilda: “Someone was thoughtful enough to make these refreshing drinks.”

You. You made those drinks. Leave them be.

Seriously, put the glass down.

Bonehilda: Hmm, there seems to be a puddle here…

GAH. Bonehilda, you need a 12 step program. Seriously. *tries again to reset her with still no effect*

Off taking a random pretty shot of the lighthouse at sunset when the game lets me know…

The mystical full moon begins its ascent into the sky. Goodie. First Bonehilda who may as well be named Betsy Wetsy, then the weird full moon lighting…

…and zombies moaning and groaning about not being able to get in my locked gate to eat Liam’s brain and/or his garden. Supernatural is not my favorite EP at the moment.

Oh well, babies are growing up anyway, weird lighting be damned.

Oh, uh, but first Melissa. I totally didn’t forget you. Happy Adulting.

Basil! *squee* I missed you. You’re looking dapper in your old age. Glad you could come to watch the babies get big. (Kitty’s here too, but she stays on the porch an awkwardly long time.)

Now up is Phoenix. Liam suffocates the baby in his armpit before dropping him on the floor to spin & sparkle.

Boom. One birthday derp done. Next!

Ember is brought to the cake as gramma Kitty decides to join the rest of us inside.

And that seals it. All three toddlers are adorable little smushfaces and I love them. Any of them (or Molly’s final kid if she has one.. there’s one more house slot) will be potentially up for heirdom, since I never did pick a Molly or a Liam. Definitely no more dual heirs though. I want a nice, calm, teeny-tiny generation next go round. LOL

But I’m getting way ahead of myself. They’re all just tots. Which means, next time… toddler spam! And it’ll be awesome because the full moon sickly glow won’t be there all the time.

The marrying kind

Last time the twins aged into young adults & I put off the heir decision, playing both of them until I see whose first kid is cutest. Liam had a zillion interactions with his chosen mate but could never get to propose or try for baby. Molly pried herself away from work long enough for one date and jammed a try for baby in there too. She’s going for efficiency.

 

I sent Liam over to the Blackwell house first thing in the morning, as the map said Melisa was in there. Ralph answered the door instead, and stood on the front porch in front of the door, scowling at Liam without inviting him inside. I was not amused. So I let Liam fulfill his wish to beat up Ralph. After this, Melisa came out and left to go to work. ARGH. I sent Liam on to work too.

Found her at work, romanced our way up to irresistible, but still no propose option. What the heck, game? I had him “go here with” Melisa to a separate lot and same thing.

Meanwhile, Molly had hunted down Sammy because she had some news to tell him. Ignore the music notes. Her phone like to never stops ringing, mostly with date requests. If there’s an important life moment, chances are Molly’s pocket jingles will be there to ruin the shot. ANYWAY.. so it would appear that their little meeting in the shower at the local pool had officially gotten generation 5 underway. (The phone call was indeed a date request. From a middle-aged uncle-by-marriage. Um, no thanks Uncle Creeper, we’ll pass on that date offer.)

It was at this moment that I had a thought. The household is currently at 5 (Basil & Kitty, Liam, Molly, and Salvatore the SimBot). If the game had decided Molly needed triplets (please no), then it would be at 8 and thus full. Maybe THAT was why I couldn’t get the propose marriage option (or the friendly “ask to move in” option) for Liam’s girl. So, as all the houses in town were currently occupied, it was off to Edit Town to plop down a house that my awesome husband built.

And this concludes your house tour. Apparently this is all the pictures I took of the house after I moved just the twins in. I’m lame. I’ll get to an actual house tour at some point. Maybe. Anyway, downstairs has bedroom & bathroom on the left, study/library, dining room, laundry, kitchen/breakfast area, living room w/ bar. There’s a pool on the back deck. Upper floor has a small loft w/ foozball & reading nook, and three more bedrooms and bathrooms.

So I moved the twins in alone. Molly’s LTW count reset and I almost cried. She had done 11/35. Liam had yet to have anything beyond a bunch of small house fires so he was still sitting at 0/30. I won’t feel bad about cheating to add Molly’s cases back in…if I can figure out how. But, more importantly, it didn’t seem to help the Liam-can’t-propose issue. Thankfully, I had done one more thing in Edit Town…put a shower in the gender-neutral bathroom of the firehouse. 😛

Yes! The Try for Baby option was there! They took off running for the shower. Where’s the fire, you two? (HA! Man, I kill me.)

Another day, another small house fire. Seriously, where are the people to rescue? I had no idea this wish was going to be so impossible.

Molly hadn’t bothered to stop working. A little thing like pregnancy wasn’t going to slow her down. And so, at the peak of a full moon, we have Molly’s labor begin. I know all you can see is a glowing hat and some legs silhouetted against the walk, but just believe me when I say it’s Molly clutching her stomach and grumbling that she would have finished this case too, if it weren’t for this meddling kid.

Okay, Molly. Hospital. My real-life kids talked me into Supernatural, so there’s zombies wandering about now & I won’t have you be a sitting, laboring duck for their attack. Just go have the “meddling kid” at the hospital so you’re safe.

Awww, look who’s in maternity clothes! Woop woop!

And here we have Molly arriving at her new home with her new baby girl, Luna. Because what else are you gonna name a baby born under a full moon? 😉 Sammy’s hot on the heels of his two best girls…and ends up sprinting past them. We’ll say it’s so he can open the door for them. At any rate, I have her invite him to stay the night.

Awww.. Molly has one (and just one, not triplets like I was briefly terrified by), and Liam has one on the way after TONS of work. LOL I took a brief moment to swoon and then remembered what happened the last time this sort of situation came up.

(sorry for the photo-of-a-screen, my screenshot is not working)
Remember generation 2 (non-heir) when Felix was a fireman who knocked up his fiance before moving out? His baby girl was Rita, and she was nowhere to be found when they finally moved in together. The family tree had her at perma-toddler. I went and looked (finally figured out I could pull up details from their portrait) and found this. Game says she burned to death. A toddler, immune to fire, whose father lived at the fire station and so could say with 100% certainty that there hadn’t been a fire at that house….and even she wasn’t safe.

Nope.

Not gonna happen again, not on my watch. Liam, where are you?

Ah. Finish your cannonball, and then we’re off to hunt down your woman. Maybe now that she’s pregnant and the game won’t let her work she’ll stop running away on community lots. Call her to meet you at the beach so we don’t have to deal with Ralph.

While Liam does that, I get the bright idea to check and see if the proposing action is broken in general. Sammy was still over from when Molly had him stay the night. It showed up right away for them, so as Liam was still driving to meet Melisa, Molly gets proposing done like a boss. Then she leaves to finish up that case, sure that Luna’s in good hands with daddy there. (And calls a babysitter as extra insurance. LOL)

 

Step 1) Romance. Step 2) Pop the question. Step 3) Offer jewelry as bribe and hear the excited squeal of acceptance. (And the excited squeal of the sim player who FINALLY made it happen. LOL)

And then, I was terrified the luck would be fleeting, so the wedding happened immediately. (Shot composed because I realized you could see the groom’s childhood home up on the left there.)

 

So much spam of them exchanging rings (think I was a wee bit excited to have this a possibility? LOL)

Liam Jacobsen and his new bride, Melissa Jacobsen. (Yay, two s’s!)

 

Melissa: “I didn’t want to tell you before because I didn’t want you to feel like you HAD to marry me, but…we’re having a baby!”
Liam: “Good job, us!”

On that happy note, I sent Melissa back home and Liam off to work.

 

And not a moment too soon, as Liam finally got a call about a large house fire! Sims to save!! I put out all the blazes, busted into  the house to find the 4 sims it said were trapped…and found two. The other two were victims of the Basement Cat glitch, where they’re just.. in the ground? unclickable because you can’t see them. And therefore unsave-able. Poor Liam, nothing can come easy to him. I tried doing something I never do and switching to the affected household. I could fix one sim (by making him change clothes at the dresser), but the other trapped sim must have been someone not of that house (everyone else showed up) and so was anybody’s guess who. Turned out to be pointless as the emergency was gone when I reswitched back to the Jacobsens. Sad face. 2/30 saved in the past 10 sim days.

His next heroic action was to do the laundry at home without being asked.

Meanwhile, Carmen Sandiego Molly was, unsurprisingly, out on her case.

 

Sammy was still hanging around the house, but was not terribly excited to be awoken by Luna’s cries. Thankfully new auntie Melissa fed the baby (while daddy just grumbled about her, then went to drink coffee). When she still fussed after the bottle, Melissa had a moment where she reconsidered the whole having-one-of-her-own. (Too late! It’s coming for you. :P) A quick snuggle and Luna was fine though.

I was planning to have Molly & Sammy get married the following day, but Molly wished for a bachelorette party. I think it was  delaying tactic for the wedding, but I’ll humor her.

Preppin’ drinks for the party. Noon’s not too early to start boozin, right?

Pregnant Melissa whipped out her best Running Man moves. LOL In the second shot you can, I think, see everyone who was invited. And one who wasn’t. Liam’s in the background, trying to ignore the whole deal. Bonehilda – the twins’ parents had obtained Bonehilda shortly before they moved out. When she showed up in the list of possible invitees, I thought it would be amusing, so I added her. She arrived and started making our beds. Behind her in the green tunic is pregnant cousin Alice. She brought her brother Fergus with her (in the black tux) even though we had only invited females. In the very back in an elder though darned if I can remember who she is. She knows what’s up though.. these kids all went to dance, she beelined for the bar. In the green skirt is Darla, in the black dress is Tamsin – friends of the twins from school. The gal with shaved hair is Molly’s best friend, Karina. You can forget all of this. There will be no quiz.

“Did somebody say dancing?” The ahem entertainers showed up and boogied down in the dining room. I do not remember the second one’s name, but dude #1 is Jack Hammer, which made me chuckle. And then when he was done, he presented the bride-to-be with flowers. Molly, we’re not in Vegas.. this stuff won’t stay here. Move along.

Tamsin did a toast. “Molly & Sammy’s love story is one that really pulls at your heartstrings….like so. *punches hand through Molly’s chest to tug on strings of the heart*”

And then.. the nectar! Karina teased Molly for dodging it, and showed her how it’s done. Meanwhile Bonehilda tossed back a drink of her own and leaked all over my floor.

At this point it had been like 8 hours of party. I was wondering how long bachelorette parties last. Apparently forever?

And then cousin Alice went into labor and everyone lost their crap. After making a mental note to not invite that attention hog Alice to any future parties, Molly kicked everyone out thanked everyone for coming.

Not two hours later, Melissa goes into labor as well. At least she waited until after Molly’s party.

“I do not like this feeling in the stomach area. I’ve changed my mind.”

She and Liam head off to the hospital.

They’ll always remember the time they brought home twins to a household that already has an infant (and no parents that actually take care of that infant.) Ugh. These kids will be almost-triplets anyway. Yikes.

And to underscore my point about Luna’s folks not being around, when we got home there was a baby sitter putting her in bed. Sammy gets a pass as he doesn’t live in the house (yet), but dangit Molly you couldn’t watch her yourself for a couple hours while your brother & his wife brought home their first (and second.. grrr)? I don’t even remember seeing a “call the babysitter” popup. Anyway, moving on…

Twin #1 (in pink in the back) is baby girl Ember.

Twin #2 is baby boy Phoenix.

Fire names seemed only fitting for the children of two firefighters, who were conceived at the fire station itself.

We’ll call it there for now. Next time there will be birthdays (thank God), maybe a wedding (think Molly’s phone will ring?), hopefully more emergencies.

The one where I don’t decide anything

Last time the twins hit their teen years, went to Prom, and Basil finally managed to complete the SimBot opportunity that he’s been working on most of his life because I hate running around and collecting things because the final ingredient kept eluding him.

This time…

…this time apparently we find out that Firefighter is an excellent future career choice for Liam as he has taken to playing with the fireplace when I cancel out his workout interaction.

They all gathered out on the porch to birthday it up for the kids. They cheered on Liam (who wore an outfit I’d never seen before) first.

He wished to be allowed to workout again (gimme a tick to get you that job buddy and then your wish is granted), and got all ready to spin up into (young) adulthood.

Then it was Molly’s turn to be celebrated, blow out the candles, and sparklespin.

 

Neither one turned out funny-looking, and they both have traits that will lend themselves well to an Ambitions career (firefighter Liam, or Private Eye Molly). So I decided that we’d acquire mates and get the first kid out of each before deciding for sure. This way I get to play each a little longer. (Procrastination is something I’m good at, decisions are something I’m bad at. So putting off a decision is a finely honed skill by now.) And I told myself I had to go all in, so their LTW are the ones related to their career (rescue 30 sims, solve 35 cases.)

First things first, we get Liam that firefighter job. He heads into the station right away, and immediately goes for the workout stuff (as you can note by the fact that he has a sweatshirt on in the pic. LOL) He stopped after a bit so he could go see who his coworkers were. All the heart-eyes were had as soon as he spied this gal here – Melisa Blackwell. (An extra “s” will be added if she becomes part of the house one day.) So I left him chatting and joking and having a fine ole time with her.

Meanwhile, Molly’s first career wish was to conduct a stakeout. Looks like she’s getting an eyeful of something scandalous here. I’m also pretty sure that she needs a few more classes in obscuring yourself since her back is completely exposed to anyone behind her.

After getting that out of the way, she takes her first case. She snoops for clues along a sandy beach in heels like a total badass.

And then has to stakeout the beach to finish up the case. Looks like I could have killed to wishes with one stone. Ah well.. at least she’s wised up and has her back to a wall here.

Liam and Melisa were still chatting each other up when I headed back there. I made him remember there’s more to the firestation than just the hot coworker. We need our fire engine to move at more than a snail’s pace when we have to save those thirty sims after all. (And there was alarm maintenance and working out to do too, but all of these things make boring pics.)

 

Oh, yeah, people (and SimBots) still do things back at the house too. Honestly, these guys were mostly on free will at this point. I kept following the twins alternately. Only Kitty has a job, and it’s just 4 days a week, so she was good for right now.

 

Woot! First emergency! Uh.. I mean, oh no, an emergency, I hope everyone will be okay! Liam handles it like a boss, and I try not to pout that no sim lives were in danger and thus rescue-able.

After this, I had him try to hunt down the sim that the game randomly set as his girlfriend at prom so he could either keep on with her if she was pretty or break up with her for the gal at the firestation. However, I discovered that she had fallen victim to what I refer to as the Basement Cat glitch that seems to be nabbing people in my town left and right. Basically, the people appear to be IN the ground. Their thought bubbles float along at ground level, anything they’re carrying kind of skims along the ground all weird, and they’re not able to be interacted with unless it’s by free will because there’s nothing to click on. So. No breaking up yet.

Molly’s next case has her digging through the garbage, which is totally gross, but the girl’s determined to find a clue. And then I totally luck out because the next step means she needs to snoop inside. The house she’s at is the one where January (Liam’s-girlfriend-that-we’ve-never-actually-seen) lives. Apparently she shows up when she’s in her pajamas. She’s alright, but not as alright as Melisa.. hehe.. so as Molly’s finishing up, I send Liam over there. He breaks up with January, but it doesn’t seem to affect either of them too much. I imagine not as it’s been about 10 sim-days since the Prom that was the only time they were together. LOL

Liam heads back to the firestation even though it’s the middle of the night because it has TWO pieces of workout equipment because he’s just that dedicated. Also dedicated? Melisa Blackwell. He finds her right outside, avoiding going home, and they start chatting it up. She tosses in a flirt (which I miss) and they keep on chatting and joking.

“Say, did you know I was a firefighter?”

 

“Really??! *Squee* OMG! I think firemen are SO HOT.”
LOL This amuses me to no end. You work together. You should not be surprised he’s a fireman. You’re both in your gear. You’re both AT the stationhouse. *hehe*

At any rate, I happened to think to ask if she was single. No. No of course she wasn’t. She was MARRIED. Married to a dude named Ralph who was about to shrivel up into an elder in like three days. I did NOT want to let her go… but figured that I’d ultimately leave it up to her to decide. I did not do a save-just-in-case-I-don’t-get-the-result-I-want, then I had Liam “Ask her to leave Ralph”. Then I told myself that if she said no, I needed to move on. Seriously. Overly Attached Simgod. So I held my breath and crossed my fingers while the interaction played out and I waited for her answer.

Melisa: “You know, you’re right. I think I WILL leave him. You’ve listened, really listened, to me more in these past 3 days than he ever has in our whole relationship. He’s just an abusive, controlling, jerk and I’ve had it!”

(Well… so I embellished on her answer a little. LOL But Liam asked, she answered yes, and the second she did he rolled a wish to beat up Ralph. Who he had never met. ROFL So I can only imagine there must be a reason for some animosity.)

Okay, moving on from the bit of drama that Liam’s wading into with bagging his mate…I realized that Molly hadn’t even talked to hers yet since he aged up. So I left Liam spamming the romantic interactions to get the propose option to come up, and sent Molly off to visit Sammy.

Molly: “Uh, I’m in the middle of something here. This is case #8 and I’ll never make it to 35 if you interrupt me.”

Yes, well you’ll never make the cutest baby if I don’t interrupt you. So. To Sammy’s house we go.

He aged up well and certainly seemed happy to see her. She whispered something to him, and off they went on a trip to the pool.

I swung over to check on Liam & Melisa. The option to propose was STILL not there. I thought having them at the firehouse lot was maybe the trouble, so I tried having him “Go here with Melisa” to a spot at the park (where sims have proposed before). He was able to get a couple chats in before she ran back over to the firehouse. *sigh* He followed her back there. When he showed up, she left the lot to go home.

A quick scan back over and.. looks like Molly’s date is going alright. I missed whether the lullaby jingle played, so we’ll just be surprised.

I sent Liam to the Blackwell’s house after Melisa. She greeted him and invited him in. I set him to romancing while I peeked upstairs to see if there was twin beds or a double bed (NO REASON.. but it was a double. Sweet.) I panned back down to make him spam some more romance to get it to “extremely irresistible”,  and suddenly…

What the heck? RALPH?! Where even WERE you, dude? I looked in your bathroom (no shower), and in your bedroom and you were nowhere up there. HOW did you just come waltzing down the stairs? Still… *grabs popcorn*

Melisa then prepared to tear into Ralph. Having Liam by her side (OMG look at that smug smile! LOL) must have given her the strength to tell him she had had enough of his crap, and she wasn’t going to take it any more. They were THROUGH. And then Liam made sure he knew he best listen to the lady.

Then these two did a whole lot of this while Ralph – I kid you not – stood at the bottom of the stairs (blocking the only way to the bed, the jerk) and whipped out a guitar to play a sad song. Liam did  few more romancey moves before Melisa apparently decided she needed to be at work right now, zomg!!1! and left. It was like 3 a.m. Liam left Ralph playing his sad song and went home. Gotta be refreshed enough to chase Melisa fight fires again the next day.

That’s it for this time. Next time we find out if Molly’s knocked up, and if Liam ever manages to nail Melisa to one place long enough to propose.

Teen years, twin style

Last time, the twins  sailed through their carefree childhood days and, as you may have deduced by the random party twirler in the final pic, were gearing up to hit the teen years (days? Stage. The teen stage.)

 

Liam goes first, as always. A little sparkle, a jazzy little spin…

…an awkward growth spurt…

 

…and now he’s a teen ready to cheer on his twin as she has her own sparkly awkward phase.

 

Thankfully the awkward didn’t stick around too long. They both turn out to be decent-looking teens, making my eventual job of choosing between them about zero percent easier.

 

And why did they birthday alone? Well, Kitty was sleeping because skilling a whole town’s worth of toddlers takes a toll on a sim. And Basil finished an invention that he Could. Not. Wait. to try out. The time machine was finished, placed in an out-of-the-way corner of the third floor that no one ever visited and then he immediately rolled all sorts of wishes for it. I think this one must have been the past since when he visited the future he came out with new clothes.

Liam & Molly wait through this mob to enter the school (slowly.. one by one, through a single door…ARGH!) every morning.

 

After school, they make sure that their homework is done so they have time for more fun pursuits.

 

Molly, for whatever reason, still enjoys the sandbox. However, she also often opts to work on the computer, so I love her a little.

Liam still often wants to work out, which is what he’s gearing up to do now. Let’s go peek.

Oh dear. There’s Kitty tearing into Molly for… something? Maybe a couple minutes late from curfew, maybe something only simslogic understands. I didn’t know, and I don’t think Molly did either.

Liam: “You know, I, uh, don’t think I really need to work out right at this minute…”

Good, because I’ve decided your brave & athletic self will be a fireman, and you can just workout at the station when you’re a young adult —

Liam: “Wait, no more working out? This is meaner than Mom screaming at Molly for nothing.”

Well, it’s not no working out EVER. Just not until you can get promoted for it. It’s like I’m giving you a treat, really, see?

Liam: “You’re dead to me.”

Geez. Dramatic is NOT one of your traits, boy.

Liam: “Swoll 4 lyfe”

Meanwhile, Basil has been off on several random missions to find very exact items to build a mystery invention. We actually have a pink diamond now, but no heart-cut option yet, so the search for gems continues. I sent him out to shop on the off-chance we’d find what he’s looking for.

His expression tells me that we did not.

Back home to finish up, I believe, a miner (we had sold ours and I was going to have him use that to gem hunt rather than running all over town.)

Molly had been off on a hunt of her own. The kids got the prom pop-up and so I had to rush around trying to find them dates. Molly found this fellow – Sammy Worth – and while I was watching them be cute, Liam was off on his own. I remembered to check on him, only to find him flirting with Pia.

NO. No, Liam. She’s your cousin…type person. (Their folks are cousins, whatever that makes them. TOO CLOSE TO KISS at any rate.) I put the kibosh on that real quick (there are moments that I feel cheating is warranted LOL) and sent him home instead. To garden and NOT work out. So there.

While the kids were hunting, Basil was mining. He found a couple gems, but they didn’t appear to count towards my total for getting the heart cut (why, game, why must you hate me?) However, he did find an intriguing tunnel.

Basil: “Shining shaft in the ground? Seems legit.”

“I may have been a bit hasty choosing to jump down here…”

Meanwhile Molly got to stay out. She and Sammy went to the park, she asked him to the prom & he accepted, and she snuck in a first kiss. See, when you go for a sim who’s not related, look what nice things get to happen.

Basil finally emerged from the hole, singed and sans clothes, but with several interesting things in his inventory (of which I can recall not a one. Pretend they were interesting anyway.) He filled in the hole and headed off to other pursuits.

Kitty was busy tending the garden that they have planted off the kitchen entrance to the house.

Molly had gotten home from her date and went to work on fulfilling the wish to raise her charisma. Liam…what are you doing?

Liam: “Trying to wash dishes of course.”

But.. that spot’s taken. There are at least four other sinks in the house.

Liam: “I know. One is in the kitchen. Imma use this one though.”

I think you’re doing this on purpose.

Liam: “Yep. You know, I could always just go work out instead. I’m still dressed for it.”

UGH. No. Wash dishes in the kitchen, then go learn how to cook until you have to pass out.

Soon it was time for Prom. Molly was actually at work when it started, but managed to get there in time. As usual, the attire of the other students varied widely. Despite her not showing up with Sammy, they were there “together” and were going steady by the end of the dance. Liam ended up with a romantic interest of his own – January Brown – who then aged up before I could invite her over and see what she looked like. The twins won king & queen.

But the most exciting thing that happened during Prom actually happened at home. Basil had found all the items, received the life core, and been hard at work on the mystery invention. After hours of work, Eureka!

Basil: “Yes! *fist pump* Can’t wait to show the kids their new brother, Salvatore!”

Salvatore does a victory lap around the house, steals his sister’s bed, and heads off to dreamland with visions of delicious rocket fuel dancing in his head.

Good to see the “I’m a new parent” face hasn’t changed, Basil.

I think we’ll leave it there. Next time.. birthdays! Liam gets to workout again! Maybe there’s an heir decision! Woo!

 

Happy childhood? Nailed it.

Last time Basil & Kitty had twins and I exploded cute widdle baby & toddler spam all over the update. Not this time, I promise. This time they’re kids.

These are the only pictures I took during the twins’ toddler-to-child birthday apparently. One shot of Molly blowing out her candles and one shot of older-by-5-minutes-and-therefore-aged Liam cheering her on.

Here’s a closer look at them as big kids.

Playing tag in the backyard..

…swinging at the park…

…building sandcastles…

…digging in the costume chest.. Having a built-in playmate is awesome! (And having the perfect photo to bring out for their senior yearbook is also awesome.)

They do sometimes do separate activities. Liam is most often found working out if he gets a moment to himself.

Molly, meanwhile, lets her entrepreneurial side shine through and heads to the park with some baked goods. She was extra happy to see the pregnant lady.. eating for two means twice as many muffins, right?

Kitty was becoming one of the most loved caregivers in town – trusted by the adults for her reliability and beloved by the children because she would teach them things but also have fun. Story-telling was a favorite time.. Kitty did the voices and everything.

Basil, bless him, tried to do the story thing too. Somehow, his “story” about chess strategies was just not as spell-binding. Great at putting them to sleep though.

Mostly, their childhood was pretty happy. And swings.. swings are flipping AMAZING. Look at those faces.

“Hey Liam, why are we out here with you twirling that party twirler?”

Tots & Spam

Last time we left poor Kitty in labor. This time we’ll let her give birth and show like a million baby/toddler pics.

(Seriously, if you don’t care about the tiny Simmies, you can skip this chapter.)

Now where were we?

Ah yes. Watching Kitty labor.

“Yeah sure, leave me to lamaze-pant by the kitchen for the past two days while you write an update. I don’t mind.”

Sorry.. won’t happen again. I promise.

“Fine, just let’s head to the hospital and get this over with, mmmkay?”

Mmkay.

So they piled in a car, headed to the hospital, and after a couple hours along came little Liam!

Oh, and also Molly!

They loaded up in a taxi and headed off to home. Basil looks a little dazed. Kitty looks a bit unsure that driving the kids home with no car seats is really the safest idea.

They get home and…Basil. The birth of your children is NOT the appropriate time to make the unimpressed face. Get over there with your wife & son. Your kids are adorable. Make your adorable face.

Better.

Beh-bees! Squeee!

“So, these things are cute…but we probably need a bigger house huh?”

And so they packed up and moved to a house with bedrooms for all, a big second floor balcony for Basil to work on his inventing, and a large space on the main floor for Kitty to open a day care as she’s wanted to.

The twins got an under-the-sea themed nursery to share for the time being. It wasn’t long before they grew up.

Here they are. Stinking adorable Molly & Liam. The pics with their imaginary friends are mainly just to prove that they have real outfits too. They pretty much spend their whole toddlerhood in pajamas though. It’s also (fingers crossed) the last you’ll see of their IF dolls.

So…I wonder where these kids get their looks? 😉

Mommy had the weekend off, so the parents set in to skilling their toddler in a big way over the weekend. Basil just can’t let go of that incident where he caught fire apparently.

Kitty, meanwhile, is discussing the decor of the nursery with Liam.

And then everyone decided to talk about movies. Or raffles. I don’t know.

Walking quickly followed (and pottying was learned but no poopy pics. 😉 ) Molly was a little wobblier, but Liam showed that whole walking thing who was boss.

The two of them playing together. *wub*

I tried to get a family picture. *snort* Basil was not really into it, and then they both decided they’d rather do other stuff. Ah well, we tried.

Who freakin’ loves the block table? They do! LOL

Getting put to bed in their cribs one last time… they’ve got some growing up to do tomorrow!

And so, after all the youngling spam, we leave you with these pics of Grandpa Calvin, spending his retirement doing what he spent his whole non-retirement doing. LOL (And showing that clearly Basil gets his unimpressed face from his dad. 😉 )

Basil finds love

Last time, Poppy grew up, got engaged to her no-longer-imaginary friend, and moved out to start a family because I knew she wasn’t the one I wanted for heir. Rosemary aged up to teen and was promptly sent off as well because, well, if she had gone 13 years without me paying her any attention I wasn’t likely to start now.

“There’s someone out there just staring at me, I just know it.”

That’s right, just you & me now, dollface. (Well, and the two cousins I had moved in, just because.)

One morning heading into school, Basil saw a student he hadn’t ever seen before.. but he already knew he hoped he’d see again.

(translation: the game gave me the pop-up about Prom being in a few days. I realized that Basil had only ever made friends with one girl from school – his cousin Mandy. There honestly weren’t a lot of unattached and appealing options in town at this point, so I made sure that there just happened to be a new family moving to town.)

“Hey, I don’t think I’ve seen you around here before. My name’s Basil.”

“Yeah, we just moved to town. I’m Kitty.”

“Say, could you point me in the direction of the theater? I have Drama first hour.”

“Really? That’s my first hour too. I’ll walk you there. Oh, and the chemistry teacher likes to give pop quizzes on Monday, so here’s the notes from last week if you want to look over them.”

“Oh my goodness, thanks!”

Yeah, the gift wrap might have been a little overkill, but at least it made an impression. And besides, he needed all the help he could get to distract from that cardigan that he dug out of who knows where to put on to wear to school today. (Seriously, that wasn’t in any of his outfits that I set for him. No idea where he got it.) And with that, Basil was able to get a leg up on any other guys that might have wanted to ask Kitty to the prom.

He asked her to go, she said yes, and they had a grand ole time. By the end of things, they were an item, and our kooky guy brought home this fantastic picture and displayed it…on the kitchen counter, for all to see. *shrug*

They hung out together every day after school after that (since there was only like 3 more days of high school anyway.) They did their homework together, matched wits on chess, and spent time learning about one another. Soon, Basil’s high school days were over. (And my days of wondering what outfit he’d decide to put on for school that day.)

Basil hit his young adulthood with all the quirky glory I’ve been used to. I decided I wanted He knew what he would do for a job – he was going to be an inventor! He almost never caught fire anymore, so what could be better than making money for all those gizmos he was creating? He’d head over to the consignment store to load them up with his stock, and the rest would be easy.

Just a few days later, Kitty aged up to a lovely young woman. Basil called her up and invited her over. When she got there, he met her outside the door.

“Hold up a second Kitty. I have to remember which pocket I have the surprise ring in..”

Oh Basil.

Kitty was a good sport though. She had clearly paid attention in Drama class, because her “surprise” at what he pulled out of his pocket looked genuine. Her happiness didn’t have to be faked though and she quickly said yes and he slid the ring on her finger.

Hm, yep, flying hug is still weird. Uh.. I mean.. awwwww.

They had a quiet wedding at a private beach at sunset the next day. (And I was thrilled to not have to deal with throwing a wedding party where the guests would likely either ignore the ceremony or photobomb the pictures with their thoughts of food and/or toilets.)

You may now kiss the bride. (Since I queued it up for you again so I could get a better photo.)

Back at home, Kitty would periodically pause to gaze at her newly married hand.

Soon though, her thoughts weren’t just on the bling on her finger. “Aw, he’s so dreamy. I wonder what he’ll say when he notices I’m in maternity clothes now?”

Oh, Kitty. He’s not going to just notice. Why, the first time he lit himself on fire it took him longer to notice than it did me. And it took me a bit. “Observant” is not one of his traits shall we say. (Apparently not one of mine either. I went to look to see what his traits ARE, and adult Basil has only 4 traits. How did that happen.. and how did it escape my notice ALL the times I looked at the “simology” tab?)

She gave him a day to catch on, then figured she’d better just tell him that they were expecting a teddy bear. Er, a baby.

“Whoa, really? Thumbs up for us!” (Seriously, the thumbs up in response to the “you’re going to be a daddy” is almost as awkward as the post-engagement hug.)

Woot, and it’s baby time!

Will Basil notice and take her to the hospital? Will it be a boy or girl? Pretend this is some huge, suspenseful cliffhanger and find out next time!

Save

Put it out!

Last time, Poppy turned her friend real, went to prom, and I think managed a smile somewhere. Basil was an imaginative little kid, grew up into cornrows (but came to his senses). Rosemary was born and pretty much forgotten.

To kick off this update, here we have Basil concentrating hard on building that Inventing skill. (His Lifetime Wish is to master 3 different skills. He’s a good bit of the way there on logic anyway and I figured that he’d focus on handiness since our original fixer – Ashley – is long gone, and toss inventing in there too since I hadn’t done that yet.)

Meanwhile, here’s Poppy’s look of concentration. I think. It’s strikingly similar to her expression of amusement, or anger, or surprise…

 

 

Look, more pictures I took because Poppy was making an expression! Apparently she really gets into the music when someone’s playing guitar in the park.

 

 

One afternoon, I had my simmies set up to do some skilling, so that I could zoom in and take pictures. Here’s Basil all focused on his inventing..

 

 

…and Poppy intent on her Chemistry table, because she’s still super interested in that.

With the weird yellow haze covering this picture, I knew something happened. At first I figured Poppy’s potion attempt exploded (or would shortly), but after a moment or two went by with her going about business as usual, I started looking elsewhere.

I didn’t have to look far.

 

 

Oh no! Basil! Your butt’s on fire! Don’t panic, I’ll save you! Well.. no, clicking on you gives me no helpful options at all. (Seriously, do sims not learn “stop, drop, and roll” in school like we did?) Hmm, still.. Poppy’s in the room with you. I’m sure she’ll jump in and put you out.

Nope. Wouldn’t leave that damn potion table no matter how hard I tried. Not to extinguish, not to call fire department, nothing. Her brothers barbecued buncheeks were not concerning her in the least.

 

 

I finally drug pregnant cousin Matisse in from the other room to put out Basil’s backside before the unthinkable could happen. (She was staying in this house briefly because I found out she aged up evil and I had never played an evil sim before and wanted to try. Maybe I’ll put up a “spare parts” spin-off post of her short little story sometime.) Poppy finally stopped her potioning, but just to change clothes and then stand around and passively stare as flames engulfed her brother. Matisse, after waddling in there pronto, SCOWLED at Poppy the whole time that she extinguished the crispy keister. (The toasty tushy? The burnt buns? *hehe*)

Poppy’s response to it all? “I need to check my Twitter.”

Basil was unimpressed with the whole ordeal. Matisse either got some sort of evil satisfaction from his suffering, or was plotting up what she was going to do to Poppy for making her get up and waddle in here.

(Worry not, I figured out later that he could just hop in the shower and save himself. That’s not exactly intuitive when your glutes are a-glow. Okay, I’m done with the alliteration of his flaming fanny. LOL For real now.)

 

 

One evening, my attention was pulled out to the garden, where Pascale was celebrating. Oh. Birthday time. Slipped my mind. Though it doesn’t much matter, I hate throwing parties. Anyway, one sparkly-spin later and..

(Young) adult Pascale, posing like a boss…if your boss is the sort of person that poses in a garden all alone in the middle of the night.

 

 

This of course meant it was Poppy’s birthday too, so I headed over to check on her where I had left her (by that potions set, as usual.)

Oh.. Oh goodness.

I spent all that time wishing for a smile and now that I see what her smile face looks like… *shudder*

Moving on, sparkle sparkle..

And she grew up into a young adult as well. Just as lovely as always, now that the scary smile’s gone.

Pascale, who had headed inside to help her celebrate, took one look at his girl all grown up and burst into applause.

He also decided he wasn’t going to let a minute go to waste. So he followed her upstairs and got down on one knee..

…and asked her to marry him. Poppy was shocked (again with the all-or-nothing theory of facial expressions), but pleased.

She gleefully accepted, and then they celebrated with a chest bump.

Just kidding, they hugged, but the weird posture before the post-engagement hug always baffles me. Looks way more like the beginnings of a bro ritual than any sort of romantic embrace.

 

 

Maisie came up the stairs just afterwards and Poppy shared the news with her (mainly because it gave me an excuse to take more Maisie pictures.) She thought it sounded terribly romantic and was excited for her girl. (Well, one of her girls. I just usually kinda forgot about Rosemary.)

They paused to take one more mother-daughter picture in this house (because I love how both of them look *hehe*.. Poppy may have bored me personality-wise, but I do love her looks, and we’re all well-aware of my unhealthy attachment to Maisie), and then Maisie started making inquiries for another home for she & Calvin to move into with Poppy & Pascale. Perfect timing too because in no time, the new couple was expecting. (read: I don’t trust story progression, so Poppy was pg before I’d let them move out. Also, don’t worry about this meaning there were no adults in the house.. remember, I got a weird wild hair and had moved in two cousins – one that you saw earlier – who were young adult at this point. They stayed until Basil aged.)

A couple days later, baby Diego was born and brought home to his new house. Daddy was overjoyed. Poppy.. was Poppy.

Rosemary meanwhile, aged up to teen. Here she is. She got sent away. LOL I can’t remember.. boarding school? Or maybe a spare aunt/uncle’s house? She’s in no other pictures.

So that means my cutie Basil here will be the heir for Generation 3. Look at him doing air calculations. He’s so smart. Wonder what deep thoughts he must be thinking?

Oh.

Next time…MOAR BASIL! 😀

 

 

A potion, a prom, and.. cornrows?

Poppy worked hard in school, and at home she split her time between the potions station and her “imaginary” pal, Pascale. (Mainly because that sucker wouldn’t leave her alone two seconds. It got to where I was having her skip the bus home and do her homework while still on school grounds so that he wasn’t queuing up to pester her.) Soon she aged up into a teenager, and folks were sure she’d leave “all that nonsense” behind her.

But to her delight, her pal grew right along with her. (I think I took this picture because she had an expression. Seriously about 99% of the time, she was just so flat & poker-faced and then there was this face. All or nothin’ I guess.)

One day she stumbled upon a promising potion mix. She offered it to Pascale, who accepted. He felt a bit tingly and then……Poppy could hardly believe her luck! Pascale was suddenly a real, reach-out-and-touch-him BOY. Sure he might have a bit of an unconventional style, but people couldn’t deny his existence anymore.

And a decent-looking existence it was, too. (I bent my own “no moving sliders” rule here since he actually showed up with ALL the sliders set to dead middle. No pudding face, tyvm. LOL I didn’t tweak a ton, just enough to give him some distinction. I figure it doesn’t count since he wasn’t born to the family.)

Basil, meanwhile, had been busying himself with all manner of important things – potty training, walking, chewing on toys, etc. Soon though, he aged up into a cute, if quirky, little boy.

And Maisie and Calvin had a surprise for Poppy & Basil – they were going to get a new baby sibling! (They both rolled a wish for a baby. I couldn’t ignore it when they were both begging me.) Along came Rosemary. Final baby for this generation. She got her hair color from grandpa Marc and her eye color from grandma Ashley, which I thought was sweet since she was the first grandchild to come along after the  original founders passed. (And the last grandchild in general now that I think of it.)

Time for Prom came around and the high school was abuzz with excitement. Poppy even spared an expression of mild happiness. She could not WAIT to show up Pascale as her date. That would show those kids who had made cuckoo motions at her over the years!

Heading into the school for the dance. Cousins Zara (left) and Matisse (right) were apparently seeing just how lax the “semi-formal attire” label really was.

Basil, meanwhile, has cousin Mandy for a sleepover. He decides to entertain her by telling a ghost story. Shy little Mandy is pretty sure she’ll never get to sleep after this.

The prom was a raging success for Poppy, especially considering she wore clogs. She and Pascale returned and were going steady, and their picture earned a place of honor on her desk.

More Basil spam because this kid seriously was so fun to watch. I left him on free will almost all the time. He was a blasty blast. Plus, he reminded me of Max from Where the Wild Things Are, and I love that book. So many wild rumpuses were had.

And in contrast, poor Rosemary. These are the only two pictures I have of her as a kid, and I’m pretty sure that the second one is actually of Calvin and she just happened to be there. LOL His pouty-but-sassy pose cracks me up.

Alas, Basil’s wild rumpus days must come to an end. Shimmer-sparkle, little man.

And he aged up into.. cornrows? He is unimpressed with this development. As am I, Basil, as am I.

Ah, much better. And still a cutie!

And I think that’ll do for this time. Next time we’ll see if Poppy has any more smiles, if Basil loses any of his charm, and if I ever remember that Rosemary exists.

That toy did what now?

Last time there was baby-daddy drama for Penelope but she finally found happiness with someone else, Calvin & Maisie got hitched, and future generation 3 was begun.

Maisie dedicated a lot of her time at home to working on architectural design research. She always applied herself, even when it was clear that someone must have moved her chair. (LOL I have no idea why the chair was so far from the desk…it’s the only time this had happened. I looked in on her and she’s stretching as far as her little sim limbs let her so she can still reach that drafting table. LOL)

She and Calvin stay connected, watching the stars together…

….and getting excited about the coming new addition to their little family. Calvin secretly hopes for a girl since he knows how awesome they can be, and Maisie wishes for a little boy to experience too…but they’re both eager for whatever baby comes their way.

Soon it’s time for Poppy’s birthday. Uncle Sebastian showed up to play some tunes. Uncle Felix came as well as Aunt Penelope (both had aged to adult in very unlike-them hairdo’s, but it’s them) and cousin Maxwell who’s now a teen.

Maisie brought her big girl to the cake to help her blow out the candles while dad looked on. (I… never noticed that portrait in the window in the background until now. It will haunt my dreams. *shudder*)

A quick sparkle-and-spin later and Poppy is now an equally adorable child. (Generally speaking, I think the child stage is the most awkward-looking in TS3. I thought she was cute though.)

And right along with her, her “My Pal Pascale” toy grows up too! Poppy shows blatant disregard for the fourth wall when she proceeds to look up at me smugly as if to say, “How ’bout that? You thought that was just some lame toy that I pulled out every second you weren’t skilling me. Not so lame NOW.” (Little did I know.. imaginary friends in their quasi-real state are the MOST lame.)

Later that night, as Calvin was out on one of his fishing trips, Maisie feels the impending pangs of babydom. She can’t leave Poppy home alone to go to the hospital, so she sends her off to play with her new potion set in her room so that she won’t worry about mommy.

Soon it’s all over, and Maisie welcomes their sweet baby boy, Basil.

Basil’s babyhood flew quickly, and he grew up into a toddler…with a bit of a surprise. Sure he’s got momma’s eyes, but that dark hair! Must be from Aunt Clara. 🙂

Calvin quickly learned little boys are just as fun as little girls. He loved to attack Basil with “the Claw”. Little Basil tried to throw off the game with his best “not impressed” face…

..but he could never resist giggling once the Claw made contact.

Daddy and his boy (and his girl in the background still loving that potions set, visible because I’m pretty crap at remembering to switch to walls-up for screenshots.)

And thus ends the toddler-spam. Not to fret though. Seeing a few of the family at Poppy’s party made me wonder about them, and so I present you with a bit I’d like to call “Spare Parts” (get it? Cuz it’s about the spares? Oh I kill me.)

Felix and Amy appear to be as sweet on each other as always. I found them in the park, autonomously being all gushy. And while Rita will forever live on in the family tree their hearts, they now also have a precious little boy, Anton.

Also at the park was Penelope’s husband, Sam Sekemoto, and their daughter together, Mandy. Her boys had both grown as well – Maxwell was a teen and Martin was a child.

I didn’t see any of Sebastian or Clara’s family out and about, so for completeness sake, I went and visited. Sebastian and Khalilah had two adorable red-haired daughters – Zara and Winter. Clara & Gareth’s Matisse had grown into a child, and they had added young Raphael to the mix too.