The MacAvoy ISBI - Generation 4.2!
Last time we saw the Macs, they were in the process of moving out of their dark, dreary overgrown founder-shack, and Lora had taken over the Torch from Jennifer. Before that, Curtis died in a surprising Platinum. Jen almost accidentally fell in love with her best friend Jerome, and they got engaged. She was also promoted to Captain Hero and got Perma-Plat. They adopted a cat named Lonnie. Donna grew up surprisingly well, and got a job as a dancer. Jonathan died from old age. Lora grew up and started looking for a husband. She met Fred, and it was an (almost) instant success. The update ended with her giving birth to her first baby, Wesley.
So here they all are, in front of their new home.
First point on the business order: Rehire the butler.
They actually got Quinten again.
Lina: I like that the counter is L-shaped. We can look at each other while we talk.
Lonnie: Mmmm-hmm.
But where will Quinten prepare the 12 daily meals now? (I've downloaded a mod that should hopefully stop him from cooking all day long.)
The Welcome Waggon appeared. It concisted of alittlestrange's Belinda Duckling, her husband Alan, and someone else. I think it was Beau, their son.
Lina soaks up the adoration.
First dinner in the new house was junk food. I had Lora make a fruit dessert, but I forgot that I needed to set the number of servings back to 10.
Auntie Nikkie looked after Wesley. If I remember correctly, her Aspiration is Family.
Careful, Alan. She's got super-speed and strenght.
Yeah, this new life is definitely going to be hard to get used to.
Oh, this one again. Lobby FOR. That means the same as "in support of" right? At least to people who speak non-politician English?
Okay, that chance card is borked.
Winstoooooon! D:
Okay, we have a green light for baby-transformation!
First attempt at growing Wesley up.
Yeah, that was successful. And I bet flagstones are even less comfy than hardwood.
Lets try again, eh?
Lora: Mommy is going to put you carefully down on the stone tiles now.
*sigh!*
Finally! He exploded on his own the next day.
Donna took him to get a bath. She's such a good spare! :D
He's cute as a button, but he's almost identical to his dad. I think the only difference is the nose, and that may just be the details on the skin.
Jen started walk-traning with him. I didn't have much hope that he'd learn anything much, but he got half-way there before he got tired. Without Smart Milk, that's pretty darn good!
Grim came for Lina. :( It wasn't even long since she got old!
I discovered a trick to teaching toddlers, and that is to basically snap them up before anyone else can, and just interact with them like crazy. First make sure they're fed, then play with them until their icon becomes green.
Yes, bun in the oven!
Oookay, let's try the radioactive stuff!
No? Okay, then.
Fred, no! Lora just put him on the rocker, and he was having fun. He doesn't need a bath!
*sigh!*
That's actually just the first pop.
Okay, baby is clean, fed and played with. Let's try another bottle.
It worked! :D
I'm not worried about Wesley.
But Nikkie's back to the crying stage of red. :(
When toddlers skill on their own, it means they're happy, in my experience. :)
This kid is talented.
This is Nikkie drinking a can of juice. I have no idea either. And as you can see, I thought the kitchen was too bland, so it got flowered up a little. :)
Profit! Now he can spend the rest of his toddlerhood playing with his blocks!
Pajama-twins!
That's an uncomfortable-looking pop if I ever saw any. Note that the wallpaper changed. I'm known to change my mind a bit. I'm not, however, known to have any taste.
I take this to mean that Wesley's hungry.
Anyway, time for another kitten!
His name is Kendrick, the generator has decreed!
He's no bigger than a ball of yarn.
This boy loves his blocks. I feel like bending the rules and getting him a job in architecture when he grows up. This is already an unofficial legacy, so... rules be screwed?
I hope all the pinkness he's surrounded by doesn't make him feel that his Mom actually wanted only girls. x) Pink is for boys too, remember!
And Donna's good Aspiration didn't last. :(
Lora tried cheering her up, by reminding her that at least three people like her.
That's NOT a good idea for a pregnant Sim!
Grim was happy to only take Rodney, though. :-/
And as one memeber of the household left this plane of existance, another one made their entrance. You know what song comes now, right?
Click to view
I wonder if the way Sims hold up their newborns is a tribute to that film? At least Lora's not giving birth on an African savannah, surrounded by hyenas.
It's a girl, and... WHERE IS HER TAN? She's just as pale as Donna. I'm starting to suspect that Sims can suffer from albinism.
Her name is Annabelle. Originally the generator suggested Ivy, and I went along with it. But after realising that there are at least three Maxis Ivys in every hood, I changed it for something I thought suited her better
Wesley's birthday rolled around again. Let's see if this one goes smoother.
Well, there was no way he was going to grow up badly.
If he wasn't such a copy of Fred, he'd be a vert good candidate for heir. I think it's time to have a boy be the Torch Holder again, because I want some of my female custom townies in the family.
Ghost Rodney will watch you sleep.
Burton: Step-sister Jen, I don't think the mailbox cares.
The Magpies need more cats. Jen will probably adopt a few when she moves in. ;)
NOOOOOOH! NOT NIKKIE!!! She's just a baby! D: D: D:
Yes, you can have more babies, Fred!
Hey, look. It's Aniya. :) I should probably play the Asylum again, so she can get a bit closer to getting that LTW.
And then I remembered that I had forgotten to replace the bed one of the cats demolished. This was how Wesley spent the night before his first day of school.
Vandals or not, it wouldn't be the MacAvoys without a bunch of badly behaved cats. This is the one orginally named Bonkers. He was the only non-agressive kitten in the pound.
His new name is Gordon.
That was not a servant, Quinten. It was the repair-woman who came to fix the dish-washer that you never get around to!
I should probably get the mod that stops the butler from serving sodas all the time, too. (Got it.)
Three bathrooms, Fred uses the kitchen sink. xC
It's rare that I get two kittens in the same picture! It's Kendrick in the back, with longer fur, and Gordon in front. If you look closely, you'll see that Gordon, who was already in the pound when I put in default pet eyes, has the shiny adult version. Kendrick, who was recently generated, has the Maxis default that all other kittens seem to have.
After Lora called Arcadia back, to fix the still broken dishwasher and trash compactor, Quinten got competetive.
Arcadia Bradshaw, you're a lying liar! There are still sparks and puffs of smoke coming from the trash compactor!
That's mean! Gossipping about some poor old dude who's been dead since you were a little kid.
Let's hope having a happy upbringing is going to make him happier later in life, too!
Oh, and by the way... Force Twins is a great cheat! :D
Annabelle's birthday! Please be cute!
Looks like the baby-velcro is back.
Um, is anything happening?
Jennifer: Can I adopt her if she's not going to be Heir?
I doubt the Magpies would be too happy if you brought a kid along, to be honest.
At this pace, Generation 6 will be old before Lora.
Oh noez, the Husband Killer! We need Fred to help with the babies!
Yes, that you are. Twice.
And as predicted, Fred was the first (human) to pee on the dining-room floor.
Lora: This is a game I always hoped my Mom would have time to play with me when I was younger.
Wesley: Mom, I'm not so sure about thiiiiiiiiiiiiiiis!
Adult Kendrick is a really nice-looking cat!
Yes, Donna. The birthday cake looks cheap, dry and smeared with globs of stale frosting. I should get a default, or something. But no one's forcing you to eat it.
Maybe it will work this time.
She looks suspiciously similar to Fred, right? I think she's got Lora's eyes, though.
Maybe Lora can have success twice in a row?
With that combo of hair, dress, really pale skin and an unearthly glow, she looks more like a ghost than her grandmother ever did!
Then of course Lora had to pop, and the lesson got interrupted.
And Annabelle got snapped up.
Jen doesn't need her power-suit to fly!
So many D: that I can't even!
Fred's other annoying habit is to "appreciate" every single piece of furniture in the house. However, it's not nearly as annoying as the constant crying and starving and peeing of the ones who came before him.
Nikkie's old. :(
Kendrick and Winston didn't get along. I thought it was best that Kendrick stayed away, and Winston got to live out his days in peace.
Yay!
And she learned to walk, too! Now she's guaranteed to grow up well!
Lora's pretty good at this whole "raising children" thing!
I don't know who she's talking to, but she's probably telling them how much she looks forward to traning TWINS! Muahaha!
Cute baby-picture of Annabelle, blah blah...
She's not in any danger, either. As you can see, she was still named Ivy at this point.
A little scientist in the making?
That's what a twin-pop looks like!
So how about you do something?
Wesley: I don't want that dinner, I made my own!
Poor old Winston. :( I'm more upset every time the Macs lose a cat then I am when the spouses, and most of the spares, go. So Lora gave him some love to take along.
Not long after, he rejoined his buddies at wherever cats go.
Lonnie's the only one left of the original pack, that came with them from the old house.
Kendrick can come home now.
The pool is actually very popular. It was autumn in the game during most of this update, since the seasons reset when you move your families into new houses. The Macs got cheated out of their spring and summer. They had just lived through another long autumn and winter, and moved out on the first or second day of spring. Now they seem to make the most of every sunny day.
Cool! I've never seen that before. It really does take 10 years to discover all the secrets of TS2!
DONNNNNNAAAAAAAA!!! D: She only became an adult in the last update! That must have been the shortest adulthood any of my Sims has had!
Lora: HALP! My water broke!
(That's not her pee, she just chose to stand in it.)
Lora: TWIN BIRTH IS NOT MY FAVOURITE!
Okay, so I admit it. I cheated. This time I re-played the birth until both babies were tan girls! This was one of those times when I'm glad Sims have no real pain receptors. (That we know of... :S)
Their names are Alice and Sadie, names I just chose because I liked them.
This is Sadie. She's the lighter of the two.
And this is Alice. I think both of them have got skintones from the "Soltider" set, which is my definite favourite.
I haven't forgotten that Annabelle exists!
Jennifer: Those poor children! How will they all cope?
I wouldn't really worry. So far, Lora's been a LOT more capable as a mother than Jen was. That's really not saying much, because Jen was incompetent bordering on dysfunctional, but Lora really has been pretty great.
Still, this IS an ISBI house. x) Something was blocking the way to one of the cribs. It's not always easy to tell where a Sim can pass through and where they can't. If, for exemple, two tiles that are diagonally opposite from each other are both occupied, it may look like there's plenty of space between them, but the Sims can't go through.
The dishwasher broke again. I was sort of hoping Quinten would be toast. That was very mean.
How long has Gordon been a kitten for? He's usually been seen tagging along with either of the adult cats. Lonnie's the only one left of them now.
So it's kitten time!
Don't let the name fool you, it's a boy.
Indiana: Imma get ya nose! Imma gettit!
Annabelle: You can haz the kittie-howze noaw, kitty!
And this is what he looks like all grown up! He's a lot like old Rodney, actually.
Okay, this animation is wrong. Cats place their paws closely together when they get ready to pounce.
He has no fear of Mrs. Swiller.
Yes, please and thank you!
And Kendrick's home!
He was taken good care of!
Quinten: No, Miss Lora. The kids who are eligible for Heirship gets food before the blatant spares do.
Lora: Quinten, that's NOT how we do it in our family!
Quinten: It is how prominent dynasties secure the survival of their best offspring! I will stand here and refuse to let you break such an integral rule!
Wesley: Yeah, I've totally seen a ghost. She lives in here, and comes out at night. I think she starved to death because Quinten chained himself to the fridge.
Donna: What have we been saying about not making up stuff?
I took a terrible lot of pictures of Annabelle, didn't I? Oh well, look at Lora being a good mom, etc.
Something about her reminds me of Donna when she was little.
Speaking of...
Oops, she grew up. She actually looks like she's ALL Fred, so she's obviously not heir. My rule is that the Heir needs to inherit at least one of the Torch Holder's main features.
For comparison, here's Wesley. They could be twins. I'm pretty sure it's only the skinset that makes them look different.
Whatever, I love my spares... for the most part. Okay, there have been some I haven't been too sad to see go. *cough*Reuben&Laurence*cough*
It looks like Annabelle will be the artistic child in the family.
That's Sadie, I think. I've got high hopes for the twins. One of them WILL be heir. I re-rolled enough times that they shouldn't be clones.
Fred, your family washes their dishes in that sink!
Right, she tried solid foods for the first time, and was very exited about it. Maybe a future chef?
The family is finally getting bigger again. :)
Donna: I think you should start taking violin lessons, Wesley. Then you and Annabelle could perform together.
Wesley: Dressed in rags like Grandma and Aunt Heather?
Oh look! The kids found the model train!
It kept them busy enough to ignore their parents shameless PDAing right behind their backs.
He didn't learn last time, did he? Go for the giant robot again!
Ha ha ha! The Generation 5 Heir isn't going to have to work at all, unless she needs it for her LTW!
Awww, Lonnie!
Let someone else do it, I think. Donna's about to retire anyway. It doesn't matter.
Doesn't matter.
Okay!
Baby birthday time again! I figured I'd grow one of the twins up as soon as possible, to have a chance at training her while she was in a good mood. Then repeat the process with the other one the next day.
Yeah, no. That's not the baby growing up badly - it's Donna. :(
Yeah, I know! Her whole life has sucked, even worse than Nikkie's. She didn't even have a good childhood, and still she's never complained much.
This is Sadie, BTW. It's a bit early to tell, but I think she's mostly - but not all - Lora. Her eyes could be Freds. But as I said, it's hard to tell. Both Lora and Fred have slanted, largish eyes.
Smart-milking achieved.
Lora: Come to Mommy! You're not falling.
One down, one to go!
It does indeed suck to be Nikkie. She got Elenora's vest, because she's that poor girl all over again. Heather at least was in fairly neutral moods most of the time, from what I remember.
Time to repeat the process with Alice.
We have another little genius here!
Okay, they definitely are twins! I think they're even more identical than Liranda and Zarinda, who at least have the nose separating them. (And their wastly different make-up styles.)
Alice's funky hair had to go, because this is not the Starblooms. Lora was getting tired, but I pressured her into trying to get Alice trained before she headed to bed.
The training got interrupted in the stupidest manner possible, when someone left for work while making breakfast. Then I shamelessly cheated Lora clean again, so she could resume!
And in the middle of all the chaos, Kendrick ran off again!
Sorry about the walls down, but Alice's walk-training was finished in the relatively narrow foyer. The chairs you see the backs of are in the study, opposite the TV den.
YAY!
It's better for her to just hang out at home.
And Wesley grew up. He rolled Pleasure, which isn't too great since they always want to go bowling ans stuff. Then again, they can afford to build a private bowling alley.
He likes athletic girls who refuse to wear contacts, and thus get fired a lot because they lose their glasses at critical moments.
I don't have an "after picture" of his new outfit, but he will show up in the next Starbloom update as a supporting character.
Alice: NOOOO! I want my Mommy to do it!
Careful there, Lora. I know it's called I'm Surrounded by Idiots, but lets try to let the Heir material keep their braincells.
And let's finish with Lora playing peek-a-boo with her youngest daughter.
You know what? This far, Lora has been made of pure win! She couldn't have been a better Torch Holder if she tried. Well, okay... She could have taught the oldest two how to do homework, but whatever. That will probably happen next time. I said in the comments somewhere that she's everything Jen isn't, and that's exactly what she is. Some of it is probably me getting better at handling the child-raising thing, but I can't reach into the game and do it myself. I need Lora to do it for me, and she does it.
I hope all this sudden competency wasn't too boring. If it was, then I can comfort you with the knowledge that we're about to visit Berta Hortence again.