The Beaumonts - Round 1

Starring:

Armand Beaumont, Adult Family Sim, LTW Become Education Minister

Adelaide Beaumont, Adult Knowledge Sim, LTW Become Chief of Staff

Arnaud Beaumont, Teen Romance Sim, LTW Become Celebrity Chef

Alain Beaumont, Toddler Family Sim, LTW Grow Up Well

~*~*~*~*~

Moving to Rosebud was a difficult decision for Armand and Adelaide Beaumont to make, not only because it meant their children would be uprooted from their home in the city, but because both Adelaide and Armand had to take a major paycut to move out to the country. Fortunately, it allowed them to choose careers that suited them better, that would make them happy while supporting their growing family.

Adelaide held Alain and sighed as they stood on the lawn of their new home. "You're going to grow so big and strong here, mon chérie," Adelaide whispered into his tiny ear as he cooed at her.

Also enjoying the wide expanse of green lawn and blue skies were Arnaud and his dad, Armand. They couldn't stop discussing the possibilities for their home and for Rosebud. Arnaud took the move surprisingly well, and Armand couldn't have been prouder of his son for taking such a potentially scary thing in stride. "Maybe your papa can teach you to properly toss a ball now that we've got the space," Armand half-teased, giving Arnaud a playful smile. "Really, Dad?" Arnaud asked, eyebrows raising. "That...well, that would actually be great!"

Adelaide didn't waste any time in paying attention to tiny Alain, encouraging him to take some of his first tottering steps over the threshhold of their new home.

He wasn't quite steady enough yet, but Armand decided making it to the grass was good enough, and he sat down to begin teaching Alain some words. For Armand especially, this move meant a lot. He had always been heartbroken at not being able to spend enough time with his children, and he was determined he would be more present for Alain's childhood than he was for Arnaud's.


Soon, some of the neighbors from Rosebud showed up to greet the new family. A few members from the Cleary house down the lane popped in to say hello. Roisin and Adelaide hit it off right away, and the Beaumonts discovered that the Clearys were new in the neighborhood as well. It was comforting to know they weren't the only newcomers to the town.



After they said goodbye to their welcome party, the Beaumonts sat down to their first family dinner, prepared by Arnaud. It was simple, but they were all grateful for their time together. Armand and Adelaide both thought the country air agreed with one another. Armand swooned over Adelaide...

And she returned the appreciation mere moments later.



Adelaide was lucky enough to have secured a job in the medical field as an EMT before she arrived in Rosebud, but Armand wasn't able to do the same. He managed to immediately snag a job in the Education field, the same night they moved in, though. With that, both husband and wife were taking their first steps toward achieving their lifetime wants.
That night, Adelaide took some time to help potty train Alain. It was slow going, but both Adelaide and Armand had a lot of patience.


Armand played a bit of Sims 3 before heading to bed, as he wanted to make sure he was as cheerful as he possibly could for his first day of work the next morning.

Armand and Adelaide were a bit conflicted about hiring a nanny to take care of Alain while they were away at work, but it was only for about five hours a day, and they reasoned that they would need all the income they could get with one teenager nearly ready for college and another toddler who would would only eat more, grow more, and become more expensive as he got older. So, their decision made, the Beaumont parents headed off to their first days of work, and Arnaud headed off to his first day in a new school.



That evening, Adelaide brought a friend home from work, John Mazza, but she was so excited to get home to Alain that she didn't get much time to spend with John.

Arnaud, a very social boy, also brought home a new friend: Juan Harris.


Arnaud made some spaghetti for dinner, and he, Juan, and John hung out in the kitchen eating while Armand collapsed, exhausted, into bed and Adelaide spent some more quality time trying to teach Alain how to use the potty.




Since Armand went to bed early, he was up at the crack of dawn to get Alain up and work with his son on learning to talk. Spending time teaching Alain and seeing him make progress touched Armand more than he could say. It was heart-wrenching to try to drag himself away for that day's work, but Armand knew it was necessary, and he left his son in the capable hands of the nanny after giving him a good snuggling.

That afternoon, Arnaud brought home another friend from school. Changing schools didn't seem like a big deal to Arnaud; he had always made friends quickly, and he did so in Rosebud without exception. He and his new friend Stephen Benson sat down to watch some shows on The Yummy Channel. Arnaud told Stephen how he hoped to go to culinary school someday. "All right, then, make me something!" Stephen said with a laugh, and so Arnaud whipped up some grilled cheese.


Armand was rewarded for struggling to go to work, as he came home with his very first promotion that day. The money was a necessary addition to their family funds, and he immediately upgraded Arnaud's bed. The boy wasn't sleeping well, and he'd come home after the first day of school with a C average. Never one for book studies, Arnaud had nevertheless always been at least a B student. Armand hoped that with a bit more rest, Arnaud could realize his full potential.

That night, Daddy Armand spent some more time with his son Alain, trying to potty train him before his next birthday.

Alain loved spending time with his daddy as much as Armand loved spending time with his son. They became best friends that night as Armand worked for a long time teaching Alain.

That night, Alain learned to talk...


...and to walk with Armand's patient help!


After tucking in Alain and kissing him goodnight, Armand noticed Arnaud struggling with his homework, erasing and rewriting, then erasing again. "How are you doing, son?" Armand asked, ruffling his hair affectionately. Arnaud looked up guiltily. "Not so well, sir. I'm having a hard time jumping in to this coursework. Could you help me?" Armand was more than happy to help his son, and in a snap, Arnaud's work was done. "Thanks, papa, I love you," Arnaud said, hugging his dad and going to bed for his first peaceful and restful night's sleep since he arrived.

The next day was Alain's birthday, and even though she knew she shouldn't, Adelaide faked a cough and called in to work, taking a sick day so she would have time to plan.

She invited their new neighbors, The Clearys.

Just before his birthday party that night, Alain learned his final skill thanks to his big brother Arnaud. Now, potty trained, able to walk, able to talk, and very happy at all his new accomplishments, Alain was ready to grow up!


The Beaumonts couldn't afford anything fancy, but they did get a pizza for their guests and a cake for Alain. Big brother Arnaud held him as he blew out the candles.




Adelaide handed her son his present: a new toy chest filled with big boy toys instead of his old play table. Alain and his mom hugged, and they all went to bed that night very tired but very happy.

The flames from the candles kept vigil that night.


The next morning, they had a nice family breakfast before Armand and Adelaide headed off to work and Arnaud and Alain headed off to school. Dad took a little bit of time to read to his newly grown-up son before they ate.


That day at work, Adelaide got a chance card. She figured that it would be safer for her to clean up the exam room herself, not wanting to leave any potentially hazardous human waste in the room.

Unfortunately, her efforts to be consciencious didn't pay, and she was docked her pay for that day of work.


Alain came home from school very happy! He had a great first day.

Arnaud was pretty happy too! Thanks to his dad's help, Arnaud was up to a B+.

That night, Adelaide brought home a new friend from work, Carmen Sartor.


Unfortunately, karma caught up with her for playing hooky the day before, and Adelaide actually got sick! She apologised to Carmen and said goodnight to her, immediately heading to bed to try and recuperate.


While Adelaide slept, away from the family so she couldn't infect them, Armand helped Alain learn good study skills early.


Later that night, Adelaide was feeling better, and she ran into Arnaud in the kitchen. "Hey, Mama?" he asked sweetly. "I got better grades today," he said, shyly handing over the report card. "Trés bien, Arnaud!" Adelaide praised, proud of her son. "I think I could do even better if you helped me, though," he said, a question in his eyes. Immediately, she began to help him with his homework, improving his study skills.

When his homework was done, he hugged his mama thankfully and went to bed excited to see how his grades would improve the next day. Things were really starting to work well around the house as the whole family settled into their new rhythms.

The next day was Saturday, and everyone in the household was off! They started the morning off with another breakfast made by Arnaud, who was eager to practice his new skill points.

Armand steadied his mechanical a bit before trying to fix the family computer. He hoped he could do it because they couldn't afford to hire a repairman. He was surprised and pleased when he pushed the button, and the computer whirred to life. He had done it!

To celebrate, he and Arnaud went outside to fulfill that thought from a week prior: they tossed a football during the beautiful, warm fall day. While the boys were outside playing, Adelaide was inside thinking. Now that Arnaud's grades were up, and now that she was in the education field, she couldn't help but think about what a good opportunity private school would be for both of her boys. If Arnaud got in, she reasoned, it would only make sense that Alain would be grandfathered in. Mind made up, she cleaned the house from top to bottom and asked Arnaud to come in and make the nicest meal he knew how.



The headmaster greeted Alain enthusiastically on the front lawn and didn't seem phased by the fact that the young boy was still in his pajamas. Instead, Adelaide whisked him away to give him a tour. He wasn't terribly impressed with the house, but he didn't hate it.
He sat down to eat some of the hamburgers and crepes suzette that Arnaud made, and he seemed impressed by the fact that a man stopped by from Sue's Kitchen to offer Arnaud an invitation. The headmaster wasn't terribly interested in being schmoozed by Adelaide, but he was very impressed with Arnaud and his enthusiasm for cuisine. Unfortunately, there simply wasn't enough time to convince the headmaster. Adelaide was crushed, but she wasn't about to give up. That headmaster would have her boys in his swanky private school yet.

Arnaud wasn't too concerned about going to private school. In all honesty, his mom was more disappointed than he was, and his slight disappointment was nothing that a few hours in front of The Yummy Channel couldn't fix. Adelaide needed a bit more comfort, though.




She fell asleep consoled after a little woohoo, a smile on her lips as she sleepily plotted how she would impress the headmaster next time he came. Next to her, Armand snored away, and the boys were upstairs, happily dreaming.


Stay tuned for next round! Will Adelaide fulfill her want to get the boys into private school? Will Alain grow up into as handsome a teen as his big brother? Will Armand shoot to the top of his career?

~*~*~*~

Scoring

Four new sims: 4 points

~*~

Net household worth to add to neighborhood total: $22,302

[[Author Notes: Wow, it occurred to me while playing the Beaumonts I have NEVER played a whole family in the sims before. I know that sounds crazy, but I always have one or two people in a household, never four at a time, and let alone six! This will be a MAJOR learning experience for me, as it took me forever this round to get used to queueing up tasks so that I didn't have to click back and forth between characters the whole time.

Other notes: Does anyone else think Armand looks eerily like Justin Timberlake? (Esp. in the promotion pic.) Totally unplanned - he is not a CC sim.

Also, I have two apparent "bugs" in this family. Number one, both Adelaide and Alain have different hairstyles while in their pajamas than they do when in regular clothes. (Adelaide goes from blonde hair with a headband to brunette cornrows pulled into a bun, and Alain goes from short blonde hair to long blonde hair.) If I download the lot debugger, will it take care of this? Has anyone else ever had this problem?

"Bug" number two is the never disappearing birthday candle flames. I can't select them with move objects on, so I guess I've got to look for a solution to that too, though it doesn't bother me as much as the aforementioned hair change-up issue.

Anyway, any input is welcome as I haven't the faintest clue what the bloody hell I'm doing. :D I'm having a heck of a lot of fun already though!]]

Read More......