Getting into the Groove

So, we have gotten into the swing of things. With the third baby on the way, Buck spends most of his time down by City Hall doing this:

It actually works quite well. In the morning, he’ll get up and care for the kiddies until Zoe gets up and then go down to the City Hall and play until he goes to work. When he comes back, he goes to bed early so he can get up and do it again. Zoe spends her days taking care of the kiddies, and puts the kids to bed before she goes to bed herself. It has worked well, but they are barely making ends meet.

It managed to get us enough money to buy the third crib for the baby, and buy Arianna and Alexa the blocks and the xylophone. It’s not a real TSAL (Toddler Skilling Assembly Line, TM Catherine) but it’s about what we can afford at this point. Maybe Catherine had a point making her founder a Kleptomaniac? Also, marrying Buck Broke certainly did not bring in a lot of money!! Oh well – it’s definitely been a challenge. Luckily, with our routine, we are slowly making money. First, I was able to enclose the main bedroom, and then:

The girls got their own room, with the skilling stations inside, which was a great improvement. The kitchen and bathroom stayed outside for quite a while afterwards, but it was totally important to get everyone inside.

However, it was soon time for someone to grow up, so: meet Aurora. She was born with the Virtuoso and Friendly traits locked in, since Zoe had a hard time keeping her bar up with the twins needing so much attention and Buck out earning money most of the time. Anyway:

So far, I think she might be the prettiest of the girls, and she skills well. Although I’m sure that had to do with the whole there’s only one of her, rather than twins. You may have noticed that I don’t take pictures of the girls before they became toddlers. All babies in the Sims look the same, and so I just take them when they hit toddler. No guessing about hair and eye color then!

Right before her birthday, we were able to add a kitchen onto the house, and you can see our first easel! I am hoping to get a painting of the whole generation soon – and with Alexa’s artistic trait, it might happen sooner or later. Speaking of the girls:

Alexa. She has established herself as my favorite. She rolled Perfectionist and after her makeover, she immediately started washing dishes. Her dad is a SLOB so it’s been a constant struggle to keep the place clean, but there is hardly that trouble with Alexa around.  Even if she’s not heir, I will keep her around for that trait, if nothing else. She also chose her LTW, Master of the Arts, which is mastering the guitar skill and the painting skill. She’s already about halfway rough the painting skill, which did not take very long. I’m hoping she’ll be able to complete the painting skill challenges as well, while she’s maxing the painting skill. I’m using the trick of painting small paintings to get there (thanks Catherine!).

Arianna has definitely been cursed with the droopy eyes and thin lips of her dad, even if she has her mom’s coloring. She also had a mishap with traits. I gave her the genius trait, as both parents had a want for her to get it, and then it didn’t stick! Anyone have any suggestions for adding it back? I don’t consider it cheating to give her the trait that she should have gotten anyway! In any case, I think because of the lack of third trait she started life as exceedingly boring, until I was able to buy a computer when both Zoe & Buck got promoted. Now she’s writing up a storm, which is a great money maker. I’m considering making her a journalist.

And this is where we are. I’m hoping to be able to add another wall between the girls room and the living room, maybe add a little furniture. I also worked out the design of their more permanent home in another version of Riverview, but that’s about $38,000 or so before we get there. I am waiting until they have some financial wiggle room before we begin work on that. So, they’ll probably be staying in some version of this house for a while. Although, I realized while I was playing that if the girls are staying for a while, then I might need another bedroom for them. Hmmmm.

Anyway, stay tuned.  I most likely will be updating every few days, except I am hoping for another one tomorrow!