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Generation 2

Chapter 21: Gravitate towards the weird

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Miranda may be getting older, but her aging body isn’t an indicator of her waning strength, and she proves that by accepting her old friend and former co-worker Michael Su’s request to help him with his training.

Apparently, he wants to challenge Lukas, his son-in-law to his dear daughter Lacey, to a little race all over town.

Miranda decides she won’t stand in the way of whatever little feud that’s going on between her son and Michael. She secretly expects her son to win this thing though.

“You call that running?” Miranda scoffs at him. “There’s no way you can win with that awful footwork!”

Michael finds himself in a position where he can’t really complain, so he simply grits his teeth and lets himself be taunted by the older woman.

After training, Miranda goes home and switches to a more soothing and silly voice while reading to Rocco. He never really sits still whenever he gets very excited, and seems to have an endless amount of energy that can easily tire the adults out (even Ramona).

Curiously, Gaby discovers the one thing that can actually make her kid sit very still: cooking.

She’d love to see if this happens more than once, or if it happens whenever someone’s cooking, but work has taken the entirety of her day lately, as she gains more reputation and popularity among the townsfolk.

Work has also taken her to weird places as well.

She really, really hopes she hasn’t gotten herself pranked right now. The caller’s request was to hunt down this woman named Irma Vasquez. Apparently she made herself a lot of enemies, because she got a lot of calls requesting sing-o-grams specifically for her, as if out of spite.

She’s aware of Irma being the second of Brentley’s failed relationships, and though she’s sorry for the heartbreak her nephew had to deal with, she’s glad that he doesn’t have to deal with her anymore.

Unfortunately, she actually finds the woman here in the cemetery, harassing an older man who just wants to visit his dead wife’s grave in peace.

Gaby tries her best to get over the awkwardness of this situation and hopes that the old man is able to escape. She hopes that Irma doesn’t turn her aggression on her instead.

Irma knows she’s special, thank you very much, and receives the performance with indifference.

Oddly enough, having to perform a sing-o-gram at the cemetery in the night wasn’t the one thing that weirded her out the most.

At first, she doesn’t think about it when this guy named Jovan Maraqueza called her out for a sing-o-gram at 11pm in a secluded area where a lone streetlight stands, but when he starts to grin creepily at the box and mutter something incoherent, Gaby quickly takes her leave.

Another caller lives on the outskirts of the beach, and she has really considered calling this one off before this turns into the start of a horror movie.

But her brave trait kicks in today, and so she runs towards the sandy shores in highly inappropriate footwear.

Thankfully, all the aforementioned sing-o-grams didn’t end in a disaster, so Gaby gets home safely just in time to put all the toys back into the toy chest.

Everyone’s already asleep by the time she usually gets home, so she tries her best to move around as quietly as she could.

Not everyone in the household stays asleep for long.

Ramona gets restless sometimes, and has created a habit out of going out to the sea to greet out the moon long before the sun rises to take its place. Now she continues fishing just to do preoccupy herself.

She catches a minnow, and squirms at the sight of its struggle. She doesn’t really understand how she manages to convince herself to start fishing in the first place.

I probably don’t even miss our pet goldfish that much, she muses. I’m just trying to fill up space with something that might feel familiar. She throws the fish back into the water and watches it swim away.

It took a while before Ramona realizes that she isn’t alone this morning.

Levar Morris-Vasquez casually reels in a large salmon before dumping it on a large container beside him, which is already teeming with freshly-caught fish of various kinds. A dedicated chef at the local bistro, Levar takes his craft very seriously, and sees to it that he provides the high-quality ingredients himself.

He briefly glances at Ramona to see her reeling in another minnow and nods at her before reeling in another fish, this time bigger than the last one. She nods back.

Ramona knows she’ll never match up to that enthusiasm.

All that running and singing makes Gaby crave for an actual break — she keeps putting off about making one — so today she finally takes the day off and visit her favorite brother’s house for a change.

She’s surprised to find out that the lanky teen who invited her in was none other than Kenton, who was last seen in previous chapters playfully spitting saliva at her face as a toddler.

“You’ve grown a lot since then!” Gaby marvels at the family resemblance, ignoring the fact that it has been too long since their last visit. “Soon you’ll be taller than your father in no time.”

Kenton shrugs. “I think that’s a title my sister would want to own.”

Before Gaby could even gasp at the fact that Lukas has not just one, but two children, the door opens with a loud creak behind them, and a little girl strolls inside.

“That’s Araceli, who works out at the gym more than she works on her own homework,” Kenton introduces his sister to Gaby in mock disappointment before Araceli could glare in response.

“You must be very sporty! My older sister works out a lot as a kid too,” Gaby smiles at the girl, whose demeanor suddenly became a bit sheepish.

“I play for the soccer team,” Araceli admits sheepishly, recognizing the woman as her Aunt Gaby from the many photo albums their dad has. Then, rather abruptly, she faces her brother and points at the two people outside. “Your friend is waiting. Aren’t you going to let her in?”

Kenton stares at her as if she’s out of her mind. “Um, no? If Miralia thinks she can leech off my homework this time, then she’s being delusional.” The real reason behind not wanting to invite them in is due to the fact that he doesn’t want to acknowledge that the toddler Miralia is carrying is actually an aunt from their mother’s side, but he doesn’t want her to know that.

The discussion ends with Kenton’s decision being final, so Araceli marches upstairs sulkily to prove her point that this isn’t making everyone happy. Gaby awkwardly follows the kids upstairs to look for either of their parents. She wonders about the teen and the toddler outside the house, but decides not to ask.

“Look, I’m doing you a favor by not inviting drama into this house,” Kenton sighs. His mother’s side of the family is really messy at best, and he’d rather not deal with it right now. “Why not try talking to our actual aunt here?”

Araceli changes her mind about working on her homework while upset, so she tentatively approaches the local singer.

“Are you on TV a lot? Because I really wanna know.” Her older cousin Rissa has been boasting about the famous personalities in their family, but she wants real evidence to show to her friends before they’d believe her.

Gaby raises her eyebrows at the question. “I don’t have any TV coverage, but I’ve been doing live shows all over town, and tonight I’m doing another one at the coffee shop!”

That perks Araceli right up. Seeing it live is soundproof evidence. “Can I attend? Can I invite my friends? Can you tell Dad that I’m going with you?”

(Gaby says yes to all these questions)

Unfortunately, Araceli’s father doesn’t give her permission to go out late on a school night, even if her aunt is there, and so she continues to sulk at home.

Gaby hopes to make it up for it by being better at persuading Lukas next time.

Compared to her first live show, everything else that’s happening right now is a huge improvement: the weather, the audience, the equipment, even the songs that she chose for today. It feels like things are all in the right place.

Today’s audience consists of her whole family (Miranda and Rocco not included in this picture) who actually dressed up nicely for this occasion, this old guy with the radical pigtails…

….VJ Alvi who sports another cool hairstyle, and an ecstatic former high school classmate Sun Mi Yoo, who became Sun Mi Yoo-Street after marrying her girlfriend.

Gaby’s chipper personality quickly rubs off on everyone, and she ends the performance with an enthusiastic crowd.

All that jumping and dancing tires Ramona a bit, so she leaves her mother and sister to tend to their fans while she goes inside to hang out with Rocco, but not before bumping into another high school classmate, Karina Street.

“Gaby’s so cool, you know? I didn’t really think she’d become a singer after graduation,” Karina sighs dreamily before she launches into reminiscing their high school days.

It’s just a small high school crush, she tells herself first when she glances at the ring on Karina’s finger. There’s nothing she can do about it now. “Congrats on getting married,” she says sincerely. Karina beams at her before running off to the arms of Sun Mi, her wife.

When the crowd finally starts to dissipate and the spontaneous autograph session ends, Miranda takes her daughter aside to a secluded spot.

“I’m so proud of you,” she says softly. “Your father would have been proud too.”

Gaby takes her mother’s words to heart as she works the next day.

Another day, another sing-o-gram to deliver. Today’s customer is someone who works at the city hall, and has the audacity to want to receive it right in front of her boss’ office.

Before she goes inside the building, Gaby spots Chelsea and Lukas among the rallying crowd. Something about routing errors, but she decides not to get herself involved with it.

Ella Adams, leader of the protest, briefly lets go of her tough persona to express her utter surprise at receiving a gift from her brother, who has always supported her rallying efforts (even if most of them haven’t brought on any actual changes).

Karina is pleased to see her old classmate again, this time in the comfort of her new garden. The young couple has recently bought this lovely home from its moving owners.

“Oh, thank you Gaby,” she gazes lovingly at the flowers. “Sun Mi really knows my favorites.”

Sure, sing-o-grams are fun (most of the time), but today Gaby aims to take it slowly by recording most of her songs into a flimsy plastic album, and making sure that it sells.

She bumps into her older sister at one of the community pools, and prepares her best pitch.

Chelsea takes it anyway, even without the silly pitch Gaby has prepared.

(Author’s note: I’m trying to get the extended family slightly more involved in the story, since I know what I was getting into the moment I got 5 children as the roll requirement for the 1st generation. It’s fun keeping track of all these kids, but I wish that none of them would have to make more babies. Keeping track of 7 more sims’ descendants is too much for me!

Next chapter, it’ll probably feature Rocco’s birthday, which will be the first proper birthday that I’ve prepared for since….Chelsea and Vinca’s birthday? That long? Yes, it was that long. Honestly, the thought of having to invite all the relatives to the house is a bit daunting, but that would be more fun!)

Generation 2

Chapter 20: Impressionable

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Between a mother who just loves to give attention and a toddler that just loves to receive it, the time they spent together is definitely something that Gaby cherishes.

Miranda and Ramona absolutely do not mind sharing half of the childcare with her, but when Gaby insists, it is final. Or at least now it’s negotiable, seeing how badly her high chair placement has led to in the previous chapter.

Rocco doesn’t mind either way, since it means he gets to be showered with more attention from more people.

His grandmother once caught him sticking his hand inside one of the vases, and she’s trying to be stern with him how it’s not a good thing to do, but Rocco’s not taking her seriously.

Ramona, as the fun-loving aunt, never runs out of little tricks and games that constantly amuses the toddler.

He likes to explore the living room upstairs, but of all the things to explore, he is very fond of this pirate chest. Rocco wants to sleep here now, where he’ll be closer with all his toys (especially the purple dinosaur one), but of course his mother won’t allow that.

He is also fascinated with Ramona’s art studio and occasionally drops in to see what his aunt is preoccupied with for the day. She never seems to notice his presence whenever she’s at the easel.

She calls this “Ninja Disco Raid,” but it’s lacking something.

What if they are scientists who are disguised as ninjas to do a disco raid as a mission? That would be cooler. Ramona just thinks the world needs more scientists.

Thinking of silly backstories for a painting slowly led to more serious thoughts of what she could be doing right now if she pursued a less prioritized passion: the sciences.

She’s not regretting her decision to stay at home, tending to the garden, paint, and more recently, look after her nephew and practice the guitar. No one’s making her look or feel bad for not having a “real” job (then again, she hasn’t heard much approval from her other siblings), but the stories that Brentley tells her from his job at the science facility leaves her wondering for other possibilities.

Ramona idly wonders if her twin has those kinds of doubts, and she scoffs at herself. Gaby has always been sure of what she does.

Up until recently, Gaby has been faithfully handing out sing-o-grams to wherever they need her to be, but now she finally gets the chance to shine on stage and show everyone what’s she capable of!

Too bad the weather isn’t cooperating today, and “everyone” in the vicinity basically consists of Tamara Ursine-Su and Nicole Villalobos, the proprietor.

“Break a leg, dearie!” Nicole shouts over the rain. Whether it was out of pity, a genuine encouragement, or both, Gaby figures she’s gonna take it anyway.

This is normal, right? she wonders, trying to get to the root of her frustration before she sets up the stage with her props.

She’ll be performing out here in the heavy rain, with an audience — if she can call it one — being one measly sim and a disinterested proprietor, and an increased chance of having either of them getting hit by lightning. If she’s feeling extra down today, she might as well expect her future live shows to turn out like this.

She can almost hear Nicole grumbling at the fact that she forgot to bring an umbrella. It almost sounds like she was telling Gaby to hurry up with it.

This is not embarrassing at all. Gaby has never been so unsure of herself until now.

Anyways, the show must go on! Lightning and embarrassment be damned!

She pours her heart out into singing this song for the 2 people who bother to be here today.

Tamara may be soaked and freezing right now, but she thinks that Gaby has a great voice and an even greater performance, considering the circumstances!

After her performance, the weather has finally cleared up, and Gaby thanks her only audience with a cute stuffed toy when she asks for a sing-o-gram.

Tamara appreciates the pink bunny, which makes whole experience worth it.

The next morning greets Sunset Valley with a promise for a better weather, and a better day.

(Also, my first gnome! So this is where it usually hangs out :O)

In any case, today’s Love Day.

Vinca Ramos-Velasco is here to demonstrate how one properly appreciates their wife, not just on a special holiday, but everyday!

(Sadly, Tammi has run off to work before I get to take a picture of these two being lovey-dovey)

At the very far end of the park, her baby sister Ramona is out there catching one of the many butterflies that their father had caught during his lifetime.

Ramona can definitely see the appeal of attracting these beautiful creatures, but she releases it as soon as she is satisfied. They already have several terrariums at home, it’s unnecessary to add even more.

Ramona runs into her oldest sister first, who appears to be surprised to see her in the park. These two have never been close, even when Chelsea still lived at the house.

“I never thought I’d see you here in the park!” Chelsea exclaims. To her, Ramona will always be the weird sibling who tends to stay in the house to play on her computer all day.

Ramona stares at her for a moment, making Chelsea feel awkward for the statement. “Mom and I planned to go outside today, and so here I am.”

Looks like the extended family is here, with Brentley eyeing the lady at the kissing booth who may be not too subtle with her intentions.

The poor guy had just gone through his 2nd break-up since the last few weeks, and he really wants to get his mind off of it.

Oh well. She’s cute, and he’s here, so he might as well go for it.

He stops halfway and quickly excuses himself from the disappointed lady when he sees his relatives going over to the dance floor. Brentley’s feeling too guilty about the possibility bumping into Irma Vasquez here in the park to go through one kiss.

Ramona is oblivious to her nephew’s distress and recent heartbreak, and so she gladly obliges to his request to dance together.

Gaby and Rocco catch up to everyone at the park later in the day.

Before she strolls over to the booths, where they are hanging out at after all that dancing (Vinca was crowned the Spring Dance Queen for her mad dancing skills), Gaby lets Rocco try one of the cute spring riders first.

Gaby definitely thinks that her son is the cutest in the whole world when he shows her this goofy smile. She wants to capture it in her memory and never let it go.

“I should have brought my camera today,” she laments to no one in particular. Her mother and sister would have loved to see this scene themselves.

(Author’s note: I’m really pleased with how well my spares’ love lives have been going on so far! No one’s cheating on anyone or getting into fights with each other, and that really makes me happy. Unlike the tangled mess from the townies that I’ve been keeping track of…oh well.

I’ve been playing more to get more screenshots, which will make me focus more on writing the chapters. I don’t want to worry about not having enough screenshots since I won’t have the time to play much for these first few months due to schoolwork. I’m kinda far off into the game now? I really do hope I get to reach Gen 4 this time around! I’m getting attached to these characters and I want to give them a proper ending for once)

Generation 2

Chapter 19: This is fine

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Tonight, Jayson stays over at the Ramos household to catch up with his reading. He plans to remain vigilant for any incoming babies.

Unfortunately for him, he jinxed himself into actually dealing with an incoming baby right this very moment, and he hasn’t even gotten past the introduction.

While the panicking couple fumbles for the car keys to drive to the hospital at midnight, Ramona goes out of bed to have a midnight snack.

She can’t really go back to sleep after witnessing all that ruckus from the next room. In fact, she would have love to join them to look after Gaby, but their mother called a cab for them and they already left without her.

This is fine, she reassures herself with her sandwich.

(Can you spot a baby with all this blue?!?!)

Several hours later, Gaby and Jayson return home with a healthy baby boy named Rocco. (Jayson had skimmed through a baby name book he bought at the last minute)

She’s tired, and she really wants to sleep right now, but as Gaby gazes at the squirming infant, she is overwhelmed by a wave of affection and an urge to protect this child, and instinctively snuggles him closer before placing him on his crib.

Miranda also renews her motherly affection for her 7th grandchild, Neal Keaton-Ramos, who was born a few months after Rocco.

Gaby and Jayson have more time to go on dates outside again, but the heavy rain forces them to stay inside today instead. Not that they mind, as long as they still get to flirt around each other.

Gaby sighs fondly at this man. Sure, she has been getting subtle hints from her mother to set a future wedding date, but she just doesn’t find it necessary. Neither makes an attempt to push their relationship beyond what it already has.

With no qualms about raising their kid without marrying the father, and with the way that their easygoing relationship has been simply resumed after her pregnancy, she feels content with this overall set-up. Gaby just hopes that things don’t have to change from what they have right now.

With Gaby back on the job, the calls from rich teens asking for sing-o-grams have returned. Today’s rich teen is her very own niece, Rissa, who has aged up into a perpetually bored teenager.

While she may not look like it, she is actually fascinated with her musically-inclined relatives and listens attentively to her aunt’s excited chatter.

She has her own artistic capabilities as well, but leans more towards the visual arts. Gaby thinks that she might get along well with her Aunt Vinca more in that regard.

Though the presence of an actual rock star and a hit composer in the family might get the teen a bit more excited and give her something cooler to brag to her friends about.

Despite being retired for a long time now, Eva Ramos will NEVER not grab the opportunity to play for her unsuspecting fans, and they LOVE it.

On the other hand, the retired hit-movie composer spends most of her time at home shaking her head at the official soundtrack of a recent movie. She wonders if the local cinema is starting to get lenient with quality.

Rocco is still too young to understand his grandmother’s disapproval, and so he simply babbles in response to the TV.

(I was bored at one point so I left the household on their own for several sim hours, and would you look at that! A broken sink, a stressed Ramona, a lonely Miranda, and a starving Gaby, all in mere minutes.)

Having pancakes for dinner, Ramona thought she’d seen the last of her sister’s weird cravings.

After Gaby shrugs her off, she goes on to ask her real question. “What’s a good guitar for a beginner?” She has considered borrowing either her mother’s or sister’s guitars to continue practicing, but she thinks it’s too much of a hassle, especially since both women are particularly fond of their instrument.

Gaby nearly chokes on her pancakes, and slowly recovers, trying not to sound too excited at the prospect of working together with her twin. “A-are you planning to take a job at the cinema?!”

“Nope. That will definitely not happen.” After seeing Gaby explicitly express her disappointment, she rolls her eyes and makes up for it. “Fine, I might jam with you if I get better enough.”

Ramona bought this simple black and white guitar despite Gaby’s insistence for the cooler electric guitar. She just wants to practice, that’s all.

She wakes up one morning to see her mother using her guitar, which completely defeats the purpose of buying her own to stop borrowing other people’s guitars.

And on top of that, Miranda looks cooler with it too.

It’s a bit petty to get back at her elderly mother, who also tends to use her computer even with the family computer sitting upstairs, but she makes sure that this will be the last time.

Miranda gets the message quickly enough, but wishes her youngest could have just talked to her instead.

Speaking of talking, Miranda is determined to get to the bottom of it when she spots her other daughter being uncharacteristically gloomy today.

Her date with Jayson was going well, and it would have ended well too, if only he didn’t decide to indulge one of his fans with his latest trick in fire juggling.

One moment he was still there, laughing and showing off, the next he was consumed by the fire that had suddenly spread from his batons. He had died on the way to the hospital to have his injuries treated, and Gaby has not been the same since then.

It pains her to see her own child, someone who was always with a bright smile and an infectious laugh, deal with such a heavy loss herself.

Gently grabbing her limp arms, Miranda says, “He was a wonderful man, and I’m sorry that he has to go like this. We’re all here for you, Gaby.”

To get her mind off of it, she redecorates the nursery and makes it considerably less blindingly blue with Ramona’s help (though with her own room being blindingly yellow, it’s probably not too good of an idea).

Gaby cries to herself upon acknowledging that Jayson will never get to comment how weirdly out-of-place the throne chair looks.

Nor will he ever get to marvel at how cute their child has aged up into.

Rocco never likes it whenever he gets placed back in the crib; it means play time’s over, and he tries to show his mother that he isn’t as sleepy as she thinks. But she just smiles and kisses him on the forehead instead.

He looks so much like his father, and it still hurts to see that.

Rocco is a joy around the house, and takes simple pleasure in surprising his aunt and grandmother with his little antics.

Aunt Ramona finds him hiding behind the karaoke machine, and is starting to wonder if he takes after his mother’s interest in singing.

Nah, he just wants a hug.

When she’s not singing out her sorrows on the karaoke or singing outside to an unwitting passerby, Gaby does her best to spend time and play with her son, never keeping him out of her sight.

Losing Jayson gave her a new fear: losing Rocco. She can’t bear the thought of that ever happening, and tries hard to make sure that nothing goes wrong again.

As the months pass by, she hopes that she’ll be in a better place when it’s time to explain his father’s death to her son. Rocco’s excited squeals remind her that that time isn’t now, and forces her out of her thoughts.

This new wound, though starting to heal, had reopened an old one. When this loss reminds her of the time they have lost her father not too long ago, Gaby seeks comfort among the garden that he used to tend for.

Today, Ramona finds company among the plants, but doesn’t question it, and lets a comfortable silence hang instead.

With Gaby’s insistence that the high chair stays beside the stove, so that she could look after Rocco properly while she cooks, Ramona takes it upon herself to upgrade the appliance to ensure her nephew’s safety.

Several seconds later, everyone finds out that the fire alarm works just fine!

Ramona REALLY hopes that this incident is enough to convince her sister to revoke her faulty decision to have her child near dangerous kitchen appliances.

Letitia Rains arrives just in time to see that these people aren’t incompetent enough to just panic and let the fire spread this time.

She didn’t know that this is Miranda Ramos’ house though, and is OVER THE MOON when she does find out. This is the best work day ever!

Though she would have preferred to take a selfie with the aging composer instead, she politely listens to the older woman boast about her only grandchild who has inherited her blond hair genetics.

Before Ramona could check on her sister and niece, heck, before she could even say anything, Gaby rushes towards her with the tightest hug she could possibly give. She is half-crying, half-laughing, and half-mumbling apologies and thanks into her twin’s shoulder.

“Thank you,” she says once more after lifting her head off her shoulder. “I would never forgive myself if I lost him too.”

Ramona gives her a reassuring squeeze. “No way in hell you’re gonna lose someone else again.”

Author’s note: 3rd gen is finally born! Rocco has easily impressed and heavy sleeper. I’m really surprised about his brown hair??? Is this one of those mutant hair color incidents???

The fire incident shocked me, but in a good way. I was having second thoughts about the high chair staying next to the oven, but thankfully Ramona somehow triggers a fire AFTER making it fireproof to prove my worst fear? It was really funny. I didn’t give them any time to panic at all, because I don’t want anything to burn after I spent all that time renovating the place.

Generation 2

Chapter 18: Same priorities

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Miranda has been itching to go on a trip with the family lately, oblivious to the fact that Lukas has been planning to set one up himself ever since his father died.

But she knows they’re all busy, and it’ll be difficult to set a date where everyone is free at the same time, so she settles with visiting them for now.

Between the time she spent in hanging out with her family and for herself, Ramona spends most of her alone time either gardening or painting.

Neither produce nor painting is sold off at all, and she prefers giving them away as gifts instead of making money out of it. That gained her quite a notoriety in town, but it’s also giving her unwanted attention in the form of admirers. Ramona would prefer to live her life quietly.

Tonight is movie night at the Ramos-Velasco household.

Miranda has always thought that their house is so lovely, and her daughter-in-law is touched to hear that compliment. Tammi spends a lot of time sprucing the house whenever she knows that her in-laws are visiting.

(Her mother-in-law has also noticed the abrupt career change of both women; Vinca has always been dedicated to her craft in the arts, but has apparently switched to the scientific pursuit at some point, and Tammi looks decidedly less stressed working as a stagehand than as a policewoman.)

Brentley has followed his ma’s choice in the scientific field (he calls Vinca “Ma” and Tammi “Mom”, to keep it distinct), and is really dedicated in making the most out of his gardening skills. He tries to invite his aunt to their facility, but she shrugs it off and changes the subject.

“Wow, did you mess with the facility’s growth experiments, or did you just naturally grow taller than me?” Ramona is not pleased to see that her “young” nephew has outgrown her, even though they are technically the same age.

Brentley huffs proudly. “You’re just naturally shorter, Auntie. Not even an artificial growth spurt can enhance it.”

While aunt and nephew bicker in the background, the adults’ movie night stops when the TV unceremoniously breaks on them.

Vinca shoots a knowing look at her wife, as if the latter had something to do with it (which she may have, with all her attempts to tinker every appliance in the house). Miranda is just disappointed she won’t get to see the movie’s ending.

Ramona is arguably more competent in handling this compared to her sister-in-law despite her skill level, so Tammi and Brentley goes to sleep early while Miranda badgers her second eldest with her growing collection of toddler pictures.

Vinca just smiles as the elderly woman continues to talk about their family; it’s a relief to see her mother doing well these days.

One night, Gaby visits her twin in the studio, which already strikes Ramona as odd, since she only does that when something’s wrong. But she waits for her to speak up first and pretends to continue painting.

“I think I’m pregnant,” Gaby tells her after a pause.

Ramona pauses as well, unsure how to take this information. She’s aware of her sister’s lover, whose existence is someone she simply acknowledges. Looking at her twin, she decides that Gaby is better equipped to judge the father of her child, whoever he may be.

She also decides that kids are cool, and won’t mind having a nephew or niece close by. Ramona breaks the tension by gently placing a hand over Gaby’s stomach, even though there’s barely any bump to feel yet.

“What are you gonna name them?” She gives her stomach a long hard stare. It’s bit surreal to imagine Gaby as a mother already.

Gaby finds herself smiling in spite of the heavy feeling she’s carrying, but she starts to relax as soon as she sees her twin making silly faces at her stomach. “I haven’t really thought about it yet.”

Now that she broke the news to her sister, Gaby wonders if the outcome will be as accepting as with her mother, who cheerfully greets her good morning.

Luckily for her, Miranda is just excited at the prospect of having more grandchildren.

Later that day, they go out to attend the Spring Festival together.

Gaby had already called Jayson to meet her here, but she isn’t too worried compared to when she was trying to break the news to her mother and sister. That was different, she reasons to herself. She couldn’t bear the thought of being seen or treated differently by her own family.

Jayson arrives almost immediately, and surprises his lover with a kiss and a hug. Gaby has to fight through a smile to try and tell him the news as seriously as she can, but fails.

“What should we name them?” Jayson looks expectantly from her belly to her face then back to her belly again. She thinks it’s adorable that both her lover and sister have the same priority in mind.

To say that Jayson is nervous to meet Gaby’s mother is understatement, because he can definitely feel his hands sweating more than usual. The poor guy is almost always nervous; it’s a wonder he stayed working as an acrobat.

He gets invited into the house to have pizza for dinner. Pizza is definitely something he is less nervous about.

Gaby insists on cooking her own meal though, and won’t be convinced to stop.

Ramona raises an eyebrow at her sister, and at the huge serving that she’s preparing. “You know you don’t have to cook tonight,” she reminds her.

Gaby shushes her. “I want autumn salad right now.”

“Okie-dokie.” She reaches over to grab a slice of pizza and joins in her mother as she talks with Jayson. Looks like the cravings start early.

Ever since that night, Jayson has been visiting the house more frequently. He’s starting to become fond of his lover’s family, who are patiently waiting for the couple to officially tie the knot.

Ramona still gets calls from insistent admirers who keep asking her out for dates, and is really starting to consider changing her phone number.

Gaby becomes considerably moodier during her pregnancy. She pouts as she tries to wait for her mother to finish her call so that they can have breakfast together.

Jayson is attentive to her needs, and listens to her patiently as she voices out her concerns about her job after she gives birth.

“I haven’t even landed a steady gig yet,” Gaby frets. “And it’s been so long…”

“It’ll be okay Gab, you can take the time to settle back into it again once your body recovers,” he reassures her.

Her room has considerably changed a lot since the last time Jayson was here.

For starters, it’s smaller now, and there’s a ridiculously blue nursery. Her bed has replaced the spot where her DJ booth used to sit (which she has placed in storage somewhere).

Gaby is extremely grateful for the massages; pregnancy has given her more back pains in addition to the ones she already have from running around for work.

The family goes out to have barbecue on the beach, which is a decision made partially on Gaby’s behalf, since she’s craving for hot dogs this time. (Jayson isn’t here because he’s been asked to perform in front of the kids at school)

In the end, Gaby decides to grill tofu hot dogs on Ramona’s behalf. Her twin has adopted vegetarianism ever since graduation, and she wholeheartedly supports her twin’s new lifestyle.

Behind them, their mother bumps into Rissa’s grandmother, Justine Keaton, and they launch into small talk.

Justine has lost Marty just this morning, and is greatly devastated, having made plans to go to the beach together.

Listening to her experience the same pain that she has suffered from after losing Stanley, Miranda tries her best to offer reassurance.

The twins overheard their conversation, and both become silent as they eat their tofu hot dogs.

Gaby is determined to not finish eating these dogs on a sour note, and starts to talk excitedly about being able to hold her kid’s hand in the future.

Ramona stares at her as she continues to chew. “That’s oddly specific.”

“But it’s a cute idea,” Gaby protests, then continues to gush about her plans concerning her and Jayson’s future.

Gaby had too much tofu hot dogs and she wants to sleep it off in one of these lounging chairs. She hopes Ramona won’t prank her and pretend to leave her behind if she does end up asleep.

Meanwhile, Miranda and Justine have an intense battle of chess as the sun sets behind them.

Ramona wants to learn how to fish to gain more resources for fertilizer, despite her aversion to consuming animals.

A nearby rental shop in the beach allows her to borrow one of their fishing poles for free, seeing that she is one of Miranda Ramos’ kids, and by extension, one of Eva Ramos’ nieces.

She was deep in thought before she realizes that someone is calling out her name.

Ramona squints at the approaching figure and doesn’t attempt to wave back. However, now that she can see their face more clearly, she is embarrassed to see that the pretty girl was Karina Street, one of her old classmates whom she had a huge crush on.

Maybe she still does? She’s not too sure, as she quickly places her clothes and fishing pole aside when Karina asks her to swim with her.

(From a distance, Gaby sees all of this happening, and can’t wait to tease her about it later)

Author’s note: Here’s a chapter that I’ve written mainly so that I can proceed to the next one! Hopefully by the next time I update the 3rd gen heir will be born. (Gaby only needs to have 1 kid, which is a bit of a change from the 1st gen’s rolls)

And since the roll is single parent with help, I don’t think Jayson will stay with the family for too long. I’m still not sure how his exit will make sense in the story, but we’ll see.

Generation 2

Chapter 17: She got those skills

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Miranda tries watching her daughter’s favorite cartoon for a change, and this makes Gaby so excited that she doesn’t stop narrating the story to help her mom catch up with the series.

Just a cute picture.

(A happy Miranda makes the author very happy)

Ramona is recently struck with the realization that she doesn’t want to forget anyone significant in her life, and converts that irrational fear into the urge to paint portraits of her family members.

She pauses and frowns at her latest work in progress, her mother’s portrait. There’s a reason she doesn’t draw people at all, and that’s because it’s hard.

The twins will never outgrow pillow fights.

Both women have formed easy, carefree lives; not bounded to traditional careers — though Ramona isn’t even employed in the first place — they set their schedules with less restrictions as they please.

Ramona likes to make fun of her twin by singing the wrong words on purpose, or in this case, singing off-key.

She is only half-successful; Gaby may be frowning at the screen, but she refuses to let this faze her.

Chelsea and Jebidiah’s kid has aged up to a child just recently, but Miranda is here to attend Rissa’s baby brother’s birthday.

Lisa Bunch couldn’t believe that she’s seeing the well-known composer right in front of her very eyes. The woman doesn’t go out too often since her retirement, unlike her older sister who still goes out for concerts.

Rissa Ramos resembles her father mostly, but she appears to have inherited her mother’s cheekiness.

Her grandmother graces the party with her rad guitar skills.

Jebidiah spares a worried glance towards his daughter and sister-in-law, who wants to chat with her. He worries that Rissa’s aloofness towards her relatives may leave a bad impression on them, and hopes that she attempts to socialize at least.

To his genuine surprise, she responds more positively to her aunt’s attempts to talk.

“Grandma is so cool, do you think she can teach me how to play the guitar?” She’s already thinking of ways to persuade her parents to buy her one.

Ramona smirks. “I don’t think mom will mind, but I can teach you myself.”

Rissa gasps; she didn’t expect this cool mysterious lady with the oddly-colorful hair to be one of her aunts, and spends the entire party talking with her asking about her hair, her guitar-playing skills, and if she has other cool aunts (not necessarily in that order).

Here’s the birthday boy with grandma.

Miranda discovers that Brooks is really fond of tickles, and gladly indulges in giving more.

Meanwhile, Gaby has been out and about, handing out sing-o-grams all over town until she decides she can’t do more for today. Today, she goes to the park for the Spring Festival.

One of the people on the dance floor keeps glancing at her, and before Gaby could decide, he bravely walks over to where she’s dancing.

“Hey, I know you,” Gaby stares hard at the cute guy. Then it hits her, and it makes her laugh. “You’re that guy from the SimFest!”

Jayson grins back at her, almost sheepishly. “It’s the haircut isn’t it? I think the barber took off more than I told him to.”

“No, it looks great!” Gaby clears her throat, and tries to sound not too excited. “I think it suits you.”

Jayson has already planned it out in his head to let Gaby know that he couldn’t leave a cute gal like her dancing alone, but instead he stutters, and she laughs before grabbing his hands gently.

“Is this a date?” Gaby wonders as the other dancers slowly leave the floor to visit other festivities in the lot.

“It could be? If you want it to be?”

Gaby giggles. She laughs more when she’s nervous. “Maybe you could ask me out on a real date for next time.”

And so he did, and he waits for her to get into a cab, and he makes sure that she gets home safely, before he literally skips in joy on the way back to his own house.

Jayson and Gaby become a regular thing, and this time he’s sure that she gets home safely because he’s with her this time. They meet at the park after Gaby finishes with her sing-o-grams, or when Jayson finishes his gig early.

As they sit out on the balcony and pretend to look at the stars, Gaby thinks about her older siblings who got married to their lovers as soon as they graduate. It’s a weird comparison, because she finds she’s not in a rush to settle at all.

She hopes that Jayson feels the same way, but with the way that things were happening very slowly, Gaby can safely assume that he does.

He does feel lucky to have met her, and Jayson hopes that that feeling shows through this kiss.

Gaby has other ways to show that she appreciates his company.

The whole family visits Lukas’ new house, which is this impressive condo unit downtown, to meet his kid who recently had his birthday as well.

Kenton is an abnormally fussy toddler, which bothers his aunts with the concern if they’re doing something wrong.

Gaby asks his brother if she can use their bathroom. She’s not feeling too good since this morning after experimenting with today’s breakfast.

Aunt Gaby makes sure to wash her hands before she snuggles close to her nephew. Behind her, Miranda has taken over the role to entertain her grandchild with her guitar skills.

“You’re like a mini-Lukas, but cuter,” Gaby coos as she studies the toddler’s face.

Kenton starts to make blow raspberries, as if agreeing with his aunt. She doesn’t mind having bits of saliva stuck on her face, and she laughs it off. Maybe having her own kid would be nice too.

Author’s note: I originally had different plans on who would be Gaby’s baby daddy, but oh well! Jayson cleans up nicely after changing his hair from that hideous one, and I hope that their kid will turn out cute too.

I think Kenton has a glitch or something? In the actual gameplay, he aged up to a child a day after he became a toddler. I hope this doesn’t mean he turns older after every single day, or I may be forced to do some drastic measures.

Generation 2

Chapter 16: Spring changes

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The twins age up, and now hold control over the house that their older sisters and brother have left behind.

They waste no time in renovating the house’s interior, replacing some of the older furniture while repairing some of their old stuff, like the TV and the stupid karaoke machine that Gaby is so fond of.

Ramona dug up some of Vinca’s old paintings and proudly displays most of it in the living room.

Here’s a pic of the newly-renovated kitchen with Ramona, who still scrutinizes the room in its entirety.

There’s no scrutinizing for this room though.

Ramona takes over their old bedroom that she shared with Gaby and Lukas and gives it a big splash of yellow all over the place. The room was too big for her, so she had one side of the room walled up.

Her old desk and computer is still intact, and she has taken one of her father’s firefly collection to spruce up the place. Buster the goldfish’s old bowl is here too, just for the sake of having something there.

Gaby’s room is significantly redder in comparison.

She also bought this secondhand DJ booth on a whim.

Gaby starts her day with music, and goes out early to grace the world with music as well.

Even as a child, Gaby already knows that she wants to take the path of the singing industry, a decision that is partially inspired by her mother and aunt’s successful careers in music.

For now, she starts with performing sing-o-grams for rich teens. Lana Hart-Alvi pretends to be surprised, but she knows there’s the new video game system she begged her parents to buy for her.

Gaby’s excitement for her job is contagious, and Sommer Helton can’t help but grin at her.

As soon as the rest of the snow thawed off, Ramona sets off to work on the garden. The little seating area in the backyard got renovated as well.

In a few days, Stanley’s garden has doubled in its size compared to when he first grew it. He would have been proud.

Gossiping with mom after all that hard work.

She looks so much like her father, Miranda looks on fondly.

She used to question how on earth that silly hair dye that Stanley used got passed on to their daughter, but now any explanation doesn’t matter, for it simply serves as a reminder of her late husband.

Lukas visits the family again, but this time as a newlywed and a father. Kenton Su-Ramos was born just yesterday, and they are excited to let everyone know.

Gaby gets to know her older brother’s wife, Lacey.

She knows the woman as his high school sweetheart, having seen some of the love letters that Lukas was trying to hide, but is still surprised to know that they got married and had a kid almost immediately. It feels weird seeing her dorky brother start his own family.

She leans in to whisper something to her sister-in-law, who giggles in response as they glance at her husband.

Lukas has a dreaded feeling that his wife has found something new to tease him with.

Ramona sneaks out of her studio to snuggle her nephew.

Then she goes back inside to continue painting. Lukas follows her to hang out, but is momentarily surprised to see that the room has gone through significant changes as well.

Ramona made sure that Stanley’s rare insect collection gets prominence, and has removed some of the walls to breathe in more space.

At the back of the room, Gaby’s old chemistry set is still there, along with Vinca’s art club trophy, Lukas’ debate club trophy, Gaby’s drama club trophy, and this random molecular model that Ramona got from the field trip to the science center as a souvenir.

Chelsea’s prom queen crown sits between the older twins’ prom pictures.

One of Sunset Valley’s many parks holds a highly-anticipated SimFest, something that Gaby has been excited to attend for a while now.

Arriving at the actual venue and seeing this pathetic smattering of an audience deflates her enthusiasm for a bit, but she decides to stay.

One of the performers is an acrobat named Jayson Hooks, who really hopes that he can pull off this trick this time. But he did, and there are no accidents (unlike last time).

Just as soon as he gets down from the stage, Gaby rushes to him to congratulate his performance. “That was really amazing,” she gushes. “I didn’t think that there’d be acrobats in town.”

Jayson blushes. He never really expected that the cute woman among two elderly ladies would notice him. “Thank you! Judging by your outfit, I thought you were going to be competition at first.”

“Oh, no,” she laughs. “I don’t have enough experience to audition yet. And besides, I’m having fun with sing-o-grams.” Almost right on cue, her phone rings to let her know that a customer wants those sing-o-grams.

“Duty calls,” Gaby smiles apologetically at her new acquaintance, who’s a bit disappointed to see her leave. They wave each other goodbye, and Gaby runs off to work.

All that running from house to house since yesterday leaves Gaby a panting mess, so she starts to jog out early in the morning to prepare herself for future sing-o-grams.

She passed by these adorable beach cottages on their street, and remembers that one of these is where her Aunt Eva lives in with her husband Stiles.

Eva is pleased to know that at least one of her sister’s kids is making music.

Author’s note: Gen 2 is finally starting! I am so excited for this.

Generation 1

Chapter 10: An unstoppable force

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A couple of days have passed, and as the last of the beautifully-colored leaves finally fell to ground, Sunset Valley wakes up to a fresh blanket of snow.

The onset of winter doesn’t discourage Ramona from painting in her swimwear though.

In fact, something about the cold helps her paint better. Or at least that’s what she tells her concerned family.

At this point, Stanley is arguably more worried for his insect collection than for his youngest daughter’s unorthodox way of adapting to the new weather.

The studio seems to be warm enough, even for a sim who goes around without enough clothing, so he hopes that it’ll be alright for his insects too.

Unfortunately, the sudden drop in temperature leads to Buster the goldfish’s untimely death.

Lukas and Gaby decide that winter sucks. Their teachers have given them more homework to “warm up their minds” during this time of the year.

Behind them, their father waves at Ramona to get her attention. They’re still trying to convince her to put on more clothes.

After a few more days of getting used to the new weather, the family decides to go out and have a little outing together.

Sadly, Miranda have to leave for work across the park after a few minutes of struggling to put on her skates.

For someone who isn’t graced with athletic prowess and lacks the motivation to develop it at all, Stanley gets the hang of skating quite nicely.

Ramona, on the other hand…not so much. But she’s getting there. She also refuses to get any help from dad.

And hey, at least she’s wearing the right clothes! That counts for something.

This snowman looks a bit lamer than he had expected.

He comes from a family of artists, how come he’s not manifesting those artistic genes?

Lukas finishes his snowman and leaves it to look for his other sister. And when he finally finds her lying on the ground, he shakes his head at her.

“Are you really making a new snow angel on a bridge? Where people could probably walk on you?”

Gaby continues to make the snow angel bigger. “I don’t see any people crossing the bridge right now.”

When Lukas makes a show of trying to step on her, she immediately rolls out of the way.

Only Gaby herself can step on her own snow angel.

Lukas left her to her own devices to make another snowman.

After reluctantly giving in to being helped, Ramona managed to catch up to her dad without falling anymore. She noticed that he’s catching his breath.

“We better go home Dad, it’s starting to get dark.” Stanley nods, slightly embarrassed.

He looks older now since the last time she saw him. Her father and her twin are the only indicators that time has passed here, at least for her. She worries about her father, but she figures she should worry more about slipping on the ice again.

From across the street, Lukas can make out a familiar figure kneeling outside the bookstore.

“Isn’t that Chelsea?” Lukas whispers. Gaby would have almost squealed loudly if Ramona hadn’t covered her mouth quickly. The kids decided to keep this sighting their secret until their big sister tells the family the news herself.

Miranda finally discovers her true heritage as a snow elemental.

Miranda decides that it’s worth all the snow and cold getting inside the house if she gets to pose dramatically like this.

“Hey! I can sing quite as good as you!”

Gaby gives her a look. “Well duh, that’s why I asked you to form a duet with me, remember?”

Still, Ramona declines the offer.

The twins hum together as they wait for this part to finish so they can sing the chorus again. They’ve been at it for almost two hours now.

No one is stopping them of course.

(Author’s note: The heir — or should I say, the heirs for the next generation are Gaby and Ramona! I’ll reveal the rolls on their next birthday. For now, please excuse my excitement over the new season, I was really looking forward to playing this expansion pack. And now I can play it to the fullest!)

Generation 1

Chapter 9: Channel your creative energy

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Miranda kinda felt guilty when she didn’t get Chelsea and Vinca their own computer for their birthday, so she hopes to make it up for it by installing one for the younger twins.

Again, her logic doesn’t really make any sense, but Ramona finds it really thoughtful, so it turns out alright.

One morning, Tammi drops by at the house after bumping into Miranda during her jogging, and has brought some pumpkins for the family to have fun with for lunch. She’s staying for lunch of course.

Meanwhile, she grabs one and decides to get experimental with it using a carving tool.

The final result is so ugly that she knows she has already let her artist girlfriend down with this monstrosity.

Thankfully no one has seen it yet. She’s got to punch the hell out of this thing and get rid of it immediately.

After disposing the remains of the pumpkin, she joins Gaby for breakfast, who still hasn’t finished eating even after Stanley left to start planting the seeds.

Her random epiphany led her to announce her plans of becoming a world-renowned singer to anyone in the vicinity. Tammi nods enthusiastically; this family is teeming with creative energy.

Even Stanley is inspired by this creative energy. With no one in the room, Stanley decides to carve out his own design on a pumpkin that he hid somewhere before cooking for lunch.

A few days later, the front balcony is almost filled with these … rather unique designs. (Only Lukas didn’t try to carve his own, he’d rather eat it)

As he talks about the latest stupid things that the customers get themselves into at the spa, Lukas decides to be unfazed at Ramona’s chosen outfit.

Sure it’s 6 degrees outside, and Ramona has expressed weirder choices in the past than this, but he’s starting to wonder if he should worry. Maybe her stay at boarding school didn’t do her any good at all.

Aside from her questionable clothing choices for the appropriate circumstances, Ramona also expresses a great artistic potential, though in a drastically different manner from her older sister’s methods.

She calls this one “The Embrace.”

Gaby suddenly goes into these trance-like states where she stops whatever she’s doing to sing wonderfully, but everyone knows that she’s just showing off.

In any case, Ramona just seems … a bit off. The twins are both weird in general.

Gaby tries to push her twin into joining the music scene with her, but Ramona just wants to eat her cereal in peace. She grunts in response.

Her sister pouts. “Aren’t you worried that I’m gonna be alone on stage?”

Ramona rolls her eyes. “We both know that you sing better when solo.”

(She does sing better when solo)

Her parents are both proud of her progress.

Miranda is just ecstatic to see one of her kids following her footsteps to the stage. Stanley smiles and thinks that Eva and his kid will be a terrifying pair to watch on stage.

(Some screenshots clearly show that it’s winter but shhhh I’m using different pictures from different times)

Tammy and Vinca visit the family with good news: they recently got married, and have recently adopted an adorably shy boy named Brentley. He’s overwhelmed at the warm welcome that he’s receiving, but he manages to crack a small smile at his new relatives and hopes that he can eat his pancakes in peace.

After breakfast, Vinca leaves the table and goes to the backyard. Tammy explains that her wife’s artistic pursuits are starting to go beyond the traditional canvas.

Her mission is to collect the the falling leaves from the tree in their backyard. She’s been into making collages lately.

Gaby accompanies her older sister by ruining the pile that Vinca spent the whole afternoon to build up.

She can’t see how this is supposed to be “art,” but Vinca shrugs off her sister’s doubt of her progress.

The young couple are very much in love.

(Brentley is currently in the guest bedroom sleeping; he was really tired from all the travelling)

Stanley surprises his wife with the flowers that he collected on the way home from buying groceries.

Ramona isn’t sure if she’s more annoyed at the fact that her parents are doing this in front of the TV during an important scene, or the fact that they’re unashamedly flirting in front of everyone.

(Is everything okay there Tammi? Are you gonna watch TV from there? Okay then)

(Author’s note: I already have an heir in mind. I hope it’s starting to get clear on who it may be, but it might be a surprise with the next generation’s rolls hehe.)

Generation 1

Chapter 8: She’s her father’s daughter alright

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On one particular chilly night, Lukas gets home from his nightly bike rides to see not one, but TWO police cars parked outside. He swallows nervously as he checks both cars; fortunately, neither car contains a policeman.

Feeling relief, Lukas makes a run for the back door with his bike in tow.

Unfortunately, it turns out that the policeman has been outside all this time, waiting.

Inside, Gaby angrily cleans up one of Lukas’ pranks on the toilet.

Luckily for him, their parents were suddenly grabbed by Aunt Eva for a spontaneous trip abroad for two days, automatically leaving him in charge, and getting him out of trouble. But Gaby won’t have that.

She hears the door to the kids’ bedroom opens, and before he could ask anything, Gaby shouts, “Aunt Eva says I’m in charge!”

A quick call to Aunt Eva only confirms her mischievous nature and says that the only way to settle this was through a serious chess match. The two kids oblige.

Gaby wins.

Gaby immediately puts her powers to the test by giving her brother the cooking duty. Her brother figures he’ll be the one who has to cook anyway, so he expects as much.

Lukas pouts at his sister to show her the tiny cut that he got from slicing up the cheese. He expects mercy.

Gaby shakes her head at him, grabs some cheese, and then continues walking to the door with the trash bag.

When the school bus arrived, Lukas places the remaining sandwiches at the top shelf of the cabinet. That’ll teach her to be more merciful to him from now on.

(Author’s note: While Gaby is working on her grocery research project and Lukas is at his part-time job at the spa, I took some time to explore the town and see THIS.)

Is Vinca…getting a high from inhaling all those nasty fumes?

Vinca Ramos is truly Stanley’s daughter, reenacting the exact same scene that her father has used to introduce himself in Chapter 1.

The kids finally got the the chance to go home and have dinner together while Lukas crams on his essay at the same time.

At the sight of Lukas stressing out, Gaby offers to wash the dishes instead. She makes a mental note to nag him later for leaving the crusts uneaten.

Guess who woke up to prepare a surprise birthday party for his sister at exactly 12 midnight?

Gaby blinks sleepily at her brother. She kinda wishes that he waited for morning to make this surprise.

It’s hard not to get excited with him though. She really appreciates this right now, especially since most of her family isn’t here in the house to celebrate it with her.

Gaby reaches out to the candles for a dramatic effect, and suddenly has an epiphany. “I’m gonna be a singer.”

She also wishes that Ramona’s having a fun birthday over at boarding school as well. She misses her twin.

Stanley and Miranda arrive at the house an hour after the quick birthday celebration, and the parents make an attempt to give Gaby surprise in the kids’ bedroom.

“Mom, I really really appreciate this, but please let me go back to sleep.”

Ramona returns to the house as a teen, and breaks the sink just as soon as she uses it.

She curses under her breath. “Shit, mom’s gonna kill me for this.”

Lukas stifles a laugh as he eats his grilled sandwich. Their mother is more likely to flip at her early use of indecent language. “Don’t worry sis, I’ll fix that before they wake up.”

Feeling surprisingly generous today, the older brother actually kept his word.

(Author’s note: And that’s the last of the kids to age up to teens. Yay! I hope I can go beyond the second generation.)

Generation 1

Chapter 7: Let’s change like the leaves during autumn

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(Author’s note: I know I forget my sims’ birthdays, but I assure you, this chapter will feature the last of that forgetfulness)

Camouflaged in purple, the recently aged-up Gaby and Ramona hang out together at the nursery one last time before the whole house gets renovated to suit the current household set-up.

The five kids are starting to leave an impact on a previously-spacious house, and there are changes that need to be made.

The first drops of rain start to fall on Sunset Valley, and those two should really reconsider painting outside at this time of the year.

(The one on the left is Gaby, while the one on the right is Vinca)

Inside the house, Ramona tells her mother about her plan to stay outside to watch the clouds. Miranda wonders if her daughter’s being obnoxious on purpose before refusing.

Chelsea seems to develop the tendency to sneak around? The family just ignores it though.

Featuring one of the new additions to the house: a cozy little painting studio for Vinca to paint within the safety of a dry shelter.

And beside the little studio, is a small area just enough for this chemical table set-up to be squeezed in, with Buster the goldfish’s bowl and Stanley’s butterfly collection on the opposite wall.

Gaby specifically requested this as a birthday gift.

Look at how Gaby stares at that glowing liquid while unsupervised. She knows what she’s doing. She’s been reading the tutorials off the internet.

(Also featured in the back is a painting that Vinca won as a prize from an art competition.)

Today is a big day, since it appears that Stanley has dug up his old suit from his wedding!

And he’s ordering pizza, which makes the day even more special.

The younger twins are also in formal wear, and they probably don’t need to use their twin telepathic abilities to tell each other how much it stinks to wear it.

It’s Graduation day for Chelsea and Vinca!

Miranda starts to panic at the fact that Vinca still hasn’t changed into her ceremonial robes, but she seems to be too preoccupied with something that smells bad in the room.

(Maybe someone forgot to put the leftovers in the fridge again)

Getting impatient from waiting for the others, Lukas went downstairs to get in the car first.

Just as he did, several droplets from the sky threatened to ruin his freshly-pressed suit, and he’s not having any of that. He yells for everyone to get to the car already, to which they eventually leave for the ceremony.

The ceremony was boring and stuffy, and it was a relief for everyone when they got their ribbons and diplomas. And then it was time to leave. Aunt Eva was able to catch up when the twins’ names were called, but had to leave first for another concert.

While everyone else was distracted, Lukas pulls Chelsea aside and waves a box of present in front of her. She grins widely as she takes it from his hands, before taking a quick peek by forcibly trying to open one loose corner. Chelsea smiles.

“Aawwww, thanks bro, this is really sweet,” she tucks it inside her robe and pats it affectionately.

Chelsea suddenly finds herself in the arms of her mother, who hugs her as if she wouldn’t let go.

“I can’t believe I’m seeing the first of my kids to leave the house,” Miranda sniffles. She really doesn’t want to cry right now.

“Mom, the military facility is just an hour away,” Chelsea laughs, before hugging back more tightly. “I’ll miss you too. I’ll miss everyone here.”

With her bags already packed, Chelsea Ramos left for the military just as soon as everyone could change out of their formal clothes.

Vinca left the house a few days after Chelsea did, to set out towards the most obvious career choice for her: a professional artist. Weeks later, she drops by to visit with someone she had been seeing for a while now.

Today she formally introduces her girlfriend to the family. They currently live together in one of the beach houses along the neighborhood.

Tammi Velasco is so well-received by the Ramos family that the couple gets frequently invited for dinners.

(Stanley finally replaces his usual brightly orange dyed hair with the gray color of age)

Autumn finally arrives, but Gaby still hasn’t arrived at school.

She’s almost always late because she eats her breakfast so slowly, but she manages.

Meanwhile, Ramona enters a different car, and is off to continue her schooling at Smuggsworth Prep School, to the bewilderment of her family.

Being a computer whiz, all the time she spent on going through several web pages landed her on the Smuggsworth Prep School website, and through a moment of impulse, she sent her application. Her essay ends up being chosen as one of the best essays that could receive a scholarship.

Everyone just kinda shrugged and accepted it, but Gaby was more adamant. She is upset that she didn’t get to school in a limo too.

Stanley has considerably mellowed with age. No more running around in town carrying those heavy containers everywhere, he decided to use his energy for taking care the garden while he still can.

Miranda doesn’t have the same fears of age as she did when Eva aged up. Perhaps seeing Stanley get old beside her made her realize that it isn’t as scary as she thought.

With her work, it’s been progressing steadily, and her occasional change of uniform proves this. Miranda Ramos has always wanted to build up her own reputation separate from her sister’s. She wants to be recognized for her own talents.

Lukas’ rebellious impulse is starting to show.

Currently, his goal is go out of the house with his curfew on the line, in the pretense of testing out his new bike. He hasn’t run into any of the patrolling officers yet, not even his sister’s girlfriend Tammi, and that boosts his confidence.

(Author’s note: Okay, that was a cop-out on Ramona’s part, and it was also an impulse decision that I kinda forgot until the limo arrived. So…yeah, there you go. I’m currently down to handling four sims for now)