Starring:
Caitlin Vinci, Adult Family Sim, LTW Graduate 3 Children From College
Paolo Vinci, Elder Family Sim, LTW Have 6 Grandchildren
Giovanni Vinci, Teen Fortune Sim, LTW Become Chief of Staff
Gina Vinci, Teen Knowledge Sim, LTW Become Space Pirate
Mario Vinci, Toddler Family Sim, LTW Grow Up Well
Luigi Vinci, Toddler Romance Sim, LTW Grow Up Well
NOT PICTURED:Doyle Vinci, Child Family Sim, LTW Grow Up Well
~*~*~*~*~
Last round, I was a spaz and completely didn't realize that Fraps wasn't running while I played this household, so there were no photographs. Brief summary of events: Birthdays! Doyle became a child, Gina and Gio became teens, and Paolo became an elder. Caitlin achieved her LTW, but her LTW didn't change; she did, however, become perma-plat. And finally, Caitlin gave birth to surprise twins Mario and Luigi, bringing their total number of children to 11. The twins aged well into toddlers. Let's see how this crazy house will do this round.
Caitlin started off the fall season full of delight. She'd achieved her lifetime goal. Not only had three of her children gone to college and graduated, more than that had and would. It was a happy season for her.
Paolo found that even though he got older, the rigor of child-rearing didn't ease up. It was a constant battle to make sure the toddler twins were eating healthily and learning all their skills.
He wasn't always successful, but the boys never did anything that was permanently damaging, which was a relief. After so many children, Paolo knew better than to worry about a little spoiled milk.
Doyle was a bit better off now that he was a child. Caitlin and Paolo were so proud of their "big boy," who could take care of most of his needs by himself...including baking himself head-sized muffins in his older sisters' left behind easy bake oven.
Caitlin and Paolo were
especially appreciative of their truly "big" boy and girl, Giovanni and Gina. As the parents got older, the help of the teenagers in the house with child care really became less of a pleasant surprise and more of an appreciated necessity.
Giovanni even managed to help after he took an after-school job, managing to keep up his grades, reach the top of his teen career, AND help look after the younger kids. He didn't mind. His life was busy, but his parents had been so wonderful that he looked forward to being able to help them.
Gina, too, helped where she could. Paolo was the undisputed chef of the house, but she'd learned a few things from them. The family could always count on hot meals as long as Gina was there in the evenings.
Giovanni and Gina shared a special bond in this way. For some reason, they felt like the last of the "older kids" in the family... Doyle, Mario, and Luigi were all so little, and they were the last children of the family, so Gio and Gina felt more connected to their older siblings. The two of them shared a love of their hard-working and aging parents and forged a strong bond in the process.
All that being said, everyone in the house was relieved when the twins were set to finally grow up into children. A dual birthday was celebrated, ensuring plenty of cake for everyone.
Luigi grew up into a child that was such a good mix of both his parents facial features that he was utterly unique amongst the Vinci children.
Mario, despite his pale skintone, turned into quite a handsome boy who didn't seem to favor either of his parents in any particular way, except for the prominent jaw of his father and his eye color.
Paolo and Caitlin decided that, in order to celebrate the last of their children, they would remodel the house a little bit, or at least get some new furniture. The twins got a new set of bunk beds in the green room, along with all their toys, while Gio and Doyle were slated to share the blue room, complete with a study desk for their homework. The former nursery was to be Gina's alone, as the sole girl, with the intention of turning it into an office once she left for college.
The birthdays weren't over in the Vinci house, yet, though; they never seemed to be. Caitlin was finally joining the world of retirees.
She lost much of her youthful looks as an elder and chose just about the worst outfit ever, but part of that could be remedied.
With some new clothes and a new makeover, she resembled the truly happy mother of 11 that she was.
Paolo appreciated his newly gray-haired wife as well. Now it was time for the two of them to finally have a rest from the struggles of having young children and to start appreciating their golden years together, surrounded by their beautiful family.
Their family was not only beautiful, it was also ever-changing, a fact that Paolo and Caitlin had come to accept as the natural progress of things. Their beautiful and helpful older children were finally of the age that they were ready to move on and begin their own lives.
It was summer, and both Gio and Gina were applying madly for scholarships in preparation for the beginning of fall semester at Sim State. Both racked up an impressive array of scholarships and grants, ensuring that they would be in no financial duress at school...nor would they lean to heavily upon their parents for financial support.
It was a bittersweet day when the two teenagers headed off to school in a taxi. Paolo and Caitlin would miss them, but they knew that they'd raised their children right, and that was a great ease to their minds.
Thus, the Vinci family became a comparatively small unit of 5. It was the first time in memory that every single member of the household could fit at the same dining room table for dinner. Though Caitlin was outnumbered by testosterone, she still loved her babies like there was no tomorrow.
The twins behaved, frankly, like twins. They were always together, and their mannerisms were so similar that sometimes it was creepy. Conor and Liam had always been close and were still close, but Mario and Luigi demonstrated a level of mimicry for one another that was almost startling.
Caitlin and Paolo still retained close communications with their older children. Paolo, in particular, kept in touch with Willow, the lone adopted child of the Vinci family. Ever since she was a child, she'd stuck close to her adoptive father, and now was no exception.
The boys, too, became close. Even though Doyle was older, he still enjoyed playing with his little brothers, taking part in their block building and teaching them new things.
In fact, all three boys grew quite close. Doyle had to admit that even though his twin brothers were younger than he was, they weren't so bad to hang out with. Especially now that he was the oldest child in the house. He liked being the one they looked up to!
Caitlin and Paolo found that they appreciated their time together more than ever. For the first time in their lives, there were no crying babies waking them up in the middle of the night or screaming toddlers fighting to be let out of their cribs. Not only that, the chance of more babies was nil, so their romantic activities harbored absolutely zero risk.
Mario!spam. [[ I love that skintone, but it really is too light for this family.]]
Paolo and Caitlin loved their new more-laid-back lifestyle, but they didn't sink into elderly retirement and laziness that easily. After all, there was still money to be made to put the three youngest boys through college.
And there was homework and study skills to be learned! The boys hated doing their homework, but even though their dad was a bit older now, he didn't slack on the sternness when it came to school work. All three boys were put through the same rigorous study time that their older siblings had endured.
And, in truth, they had to admit that the study time paid off. One of the proudest days of Mario's life was when he came home with an A+ to show Paolo, the result of all those hours diligently doing homework under his dad's watchful eye.
The final event of the season was a big one: Doyle was finally about to become a teenager.
Caitlin knew the moment she saw his goofy, sweet, adolescent face that he would be a magnet for the girls, even if they mostly wanted him for a best friend. Her third-youngest was a shaggy darling.
As for Doyle, he had been contemplating family a lot lately, and he thought he might like to be just like his parents: starting a family with charismatic whiz in the kitchen who cared more about the simple things in life (like love and family) than material things like fancy clothes.
He even decided that he wanted to have more than a few children...and that he wanted them to be successful in life. Little did the freshly-aged teenager know that his life goals were precisely in line with what his mother had wanted to do since SHE was a teenager. Apparently, good parenting and family desires could be inherited.
[[Author's Notes: Whew! So this family has finally shrunken once and for all to a manageable size. Caitlin is finally allowed the right NOT to be a baby machine, and she and Paolo will never have to change another dirty diaper in all their lives. Doyle strikes me as adorably scruffy and sweet....the kind of boy that will have a million friends who are girls but will struggle for true love. Mario's skintone, though lovely, seems way too pale to be a combo of Caitlin and Paolo, so he may eventually get a new one in the future. I'll see. Vinci babyhouse is winding down, and I know I'm definitely relieved. Now we just have to work on that six grandkids want for Paolo!
Bloopers:
Your daddy really does care, sweetheart, he's just very tired from being a studhorse his entire life. // The green team. Caitlin looks outnumbered by males, doesn't she? // Huh. Never seen a sim lay a book down like that before. // Doyle's faucet-fixin' face. // That's right, scream at it. I'm sure it will help. // The triumphant face of one who has successfully fixed the faucet? No. The delighted face of a nerdy sim with 10 clean points who thinks mopping up puddles is fun. ]]
Read More......
Meadow Beaumont, Elder Family Sim, LTW Raise 20 Puppies or Kittens
Alain Beaumont, Elder Family Sim, LTW Reach Golden Anniversary
Marc Beaumont, Teen Popularity Sim, LTW Become The Law
The first thing on the agenda that summer at the Beaumont farm was to get around to something Alain and Meadow hadn't had time to do last round: have an anniversary party! Like Arnaud and Steffi, their party was mostly a wrinkle convention, but it didn't stop them from having a rip roaring time.
And once the party guests cleared out, leaving Meadow with a healthy glow and Alain with a platinum aspiration, something exciting happened: Sara gave birth to the latest litter of Beaumont puppies.
It was a good thing Meadow had puppies to care for because her human "pup" was about to leave the nest. Like many Rosebud teens before him, Marc was preparing to start school in the fall at Sim State University. In typical fashion, he racked up loads of scholarships, then sent for a taxi.
Marc was so excited to become a young adult, and Meadow was so distraught at her only child leaving home, that neither of them noticed he hopped in the cab still wearing his pajamas. Oh well. See you at uni, Marc!
Alain came home one day from his job in the natural science career with a strange new plant for Meadow to cultivate. He said it was a carnivorous variety of plant, similar to the venus fly trap, only..."way more terrifying." Meadow immediately took to the plant, as she did to all plants, and they quickly established a healthy relationship. Meadow had to admit it was like no other plant she'd seen before, but it seemed happy enough as long as she kept it fed with an endless supply of roast dino legs.
Sadly, the elder dogs' water wiggler didn't get much use before Grim came to claim them. Cleo, the old reliable mother of so many pups, was the first to go. Meadow was inconsolable: it was the first pet she'd ever lost to old age.
Death, a cruel taskmaster, didn't even give Meadow a chance to recuperate from her hysterical bawling before he took Darcy as well, leaving Meadow with four dogs and two tiny urns.
She quickly placed them in a position of honor in the "Old Dogs' Home," vowing never to forget her first two doggies.
He did have a suggestion for her that lifted her spirits, though, and judging from the dust flying from Sara and Apollo's doghouse, she would soon have some little snuffling furry bundles to soothe her sadness.
And truth be told, though she wasn't sure she believed in ghosts, she felt certain that someday she would get to see her beloved pets again, even if it seemed like a dream.
