Tag Archives: winter

Chapter 12: Up in smoke

Miranda visits her second daughter at their new house. It looks like she has interrupted an epic snowball fight between the couple, and Vinca resorts to using the unused pile for a snowman instead.

Tammi finds it amusing to see that both mother and daughter are wearing similar coats, but doesn’t point it out for her wife’s sake.

Vinca’s nonplussed expression proved that Tammi’s decision was for the best.

Anyways, she made the coolest snowman anyone has ever seen.

As Tammi redirects her attention to marvel at the awesomeness of her wife’s creation, she didn’t realize that her mother-in-law is about to attack her with a snowball.

Vinca watches the chaos unfold in front of her, but she still finds it hard to believe to see her mother starting it. She wasn’t this playful before, but it looks like the weather was enough to let her own childishness out.

Ever since her engagement, Chelsea has been occasionally dropping by the house for breakfast. She misses her dad’s cooking, though it’s mostly because neither she nor Jebidiah ever bother to learn more recipes.

Lukas almost forgot how much of a quick eater his sister is. He figures that it could be a useful skill at the military facility, with the rigid schedule and all. (But he still think it’s disgusting though)

Gaby doesn’t want to be reminded of how much of a slow eater she is in contrast to her older sister. Hence, the threatening smile at Lukas, who is teasing her off-screen.

Behind them, Jebidiah bakes a new batch of pancakes for his fiancee. Not only a quick eater, Chelsea eats a lot.

Ramona’s influence on inappropriate clothing may have placed quite an impact on her other family members.

She stares at her elderly father, who always checks on his garden’s conditions every morning. The grayness of his hair is already starting to blend in with snow, and Ramona fears for the inevitability of it.

Stanley also checks on his garden at night. The colder days makes him wish for spring to come back sooner. He really, really wants to work on his garden again.

Today, he goes out and sees the twins’ snowman. Just as he finishes decorating it, he turns around and is pleased to see his youngest behind him. When Ramona notices that she has been discovered, she lets go of the huge snowball that she was about to hurl at her father, shrugging.

Stanley has a special fondness for his quiet kids, particularly with Vinca, and to an extent, Ramona. Her usual, weird, cryptic, and oftentimes inappropriate nature doesn’t bother her father, and he finds it endearing sometimes.

Featuring two of Stanley’s loud kids, as they enthusiastically sing a cover of Of Monster and Men’s Crystal.

They’re still at it at 9pm. (Gaby is probably planning to sing the whole album)

Sadly, all things come to an end, even the good ones.

So when the Gaby and Lukas turn around to find smoke rising up from the karaoke machine, they are reasonably in great distress.

“Okay bro, let’s not panic, yet,” Gaby raises her hands to calm herself down, clearly in panic. She did not anticipate this to happen at all.

Lukas doesn’t seem to hear her; he’s too busy focusing on the rising smoke. This is something too obvious to simply blame on an electrical malfunction. “Gaby, we are officially screwed,” he announces.

Gaby is panicking too much to even think of a new dramatic pose to go along with the situation.

The footsteps coming behind them confirm that these two are, indeed, officially screwed.

It wasn’t as bad as they thought; washing the dishes after every dinner was a doable task. Miranda knows that the real challenge was for Gaby, who pretty much spends most of her time using that thing.

She manages though. Gaby decides that it’s time to use the chemical set that she specifically asked for as a kid. Today, she accompanies her twin in the studio.

She’s not as fond for this thing as she is with the karaoke machine, but this better not go up in smoke too.

(Author’s note: I’m really starting to like Gaby. I guess she’s fun to write! This makes me look forward to the twins’ birthday soon!)

Chapter 11: The prettiest snowman

Stanley and Miranda share a tender moment while being locked out of their own house. He lost the damn keys to the house this time.

No one’s inside to let them in, so they wait for either of their kids to get home with one of the spare keys.

Miranda examines her new uniform in awe.

She thinks of how proud her older sister will be, to finally bear the title of a conductor. If she keeps up with this pace, she’ll probably be a hit composer in no time.

Upstairs, the house receives a rare visitor.

Chelsea, the eldest of the kids, finally drops in to announce her engagement with a fellow soldier, Jebidiah Keaton, much to the excitement of her younger siblings.

In the background, her fiance introduces himself to his future mother-in-law while Gaby drops a sick cover of Nobody. Chelsea is too busy admiring her muscles to realize that her mother is interrogating poor Jebidiah.

Chelsea takes her time to explore the house and stumbles upon the guest room, where she finds Vinca’s framed prom picture proudly displayed on the desk. She snickers while taking a picture of it and sends it to her sister’s wife.

She then turns her attention to the unused high bar.

The lack of a progress bar above Chelsea shows that she has mastered the skill of being physically active!

After a few more rounds, Chelsea goes back upstairs.

The couple decides to play one of Chelsea’s old save files before leaving for work. Jebidiah makes a comment about the island in the game, trying to subtly pass it as a hint for their possible honeymoon destination.

She challenges him to win this round so that she could consider it, and then promptly wins.

The remaining twins in the house decide to bond over making a snowman together. They always take turns to suggest an activity that they could do as a pair, and this time Ramona’s request is fulfilled.

Though she ruins the mood by casually mentioning how this pile of snow may have some frozen trash inside.

Gaby pauses and slowly removes her hands from the surface of the snow ball. “Ewww. Ramona, no.”

Though she gets over it and is determined to make this the prettiest snowman, whether it may or may not have any trash inside, so she shushes her twin to concentrate.

Ramona is about to say something again, but continues to work in silence anyway.

Ramona looks up to see her sister still doing that silly pose. “Are you going to help me or not?”

“Shhhh! Don’t break my concentration.”

In the end, they decide to leave it halfway done and go back inside the house to get warm again. And also to work on their homework, which they were definitely not procrastinating on.

Gaby watches her favorite series next to big brother who’s been into reading a lot of skill books these days.

Despite his attempts to rebel against his parents as an act of teenage freedom, Lukas is pretty much mild. He is even the class genius. His sisters know that his rebel phase is just a ruse to attract some girls.

He actually did end up attracting someone, a fellow genius named Lacey Su. She’s crushing on him so bad that she doesn’t try to mind watching the stars with him while almost buried in the snow. (Both kinda want to go back inside the house and finish their homework now.)

Lukas is too flustered to admit that it was a joke anyway, so they continue to sit in the snow, braving the cold like idiots.

(Inside the house, Jebidiah can be seen hanging out downstairs)

Eventually, both admit that it was too cold for the interaction to be romantic, so they stand up. That’s when Lukas realize that this girl should really consider wearing a thicker jacket at this time of the year.

And also, that she’s really cute.

It’s still cold outside of course, but they both agree to pretend that this little kiss warmed them up on the inside.

Like a true gentleman, Lukas offers to continue working on their homework inside the house, to which Lacey gladly accepts.

Could it be really that cold that it forces Ramona to actually wear something sensible inside the studio?

(Yes, yes it is.)

(Author’s note: I’m making sure that Lukas will have a romantic spouse by the time he leaves the house. As for the twins, I don’t have any one in mind for them yet, so we’ll just see what I can work with in the future).

Chapter 10: An unstoppable force

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!)