Round 25: Summer 2022
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Araminta Romilly is 59, Henry is 57 and Elspeth is 8.
(Matilda Jacobson is 16, Finn Romilly and Victoria Kirby are both 21, Declan is 1)
(Matilda Jacobson is 16, Finn Romilly and Victoria Kirby are both 21, Declan is 1)
Narrated by Henry Romilly
Things are once again quiet in the Romilly household. Ione and Finn both have families of their own (though I'm still not quite used to the idea of Finn being a father!) and now Araminta and I just have Elspeth here with us.
Although, she can be a bit trying at times! Elspeth threw a whole handful of spaghetti at her mother during dinner the other night.
I think we've both become a bit more patient and tolerant in our old age. There's no way Finn or Ione would have tried starting a food fight during dinner when they were Elspeth's age. We definitely wouldn't have allowed it then but I guess we've relaxed a little.
I guess her behaviour could end up causing problems but she's keeping up at school and we haven't had any complaints, so she seems to be doing okay.
Elspeth was initially unimpressed when we hired Matilda to watch her after school. She insisted that 8 years old was plenty old enough to take care of herself for a couple of hours. Now though, Elspeth adores her.
Araminta and I didn't agree and so in came Matilda. I didn't know her all that well, but working for the police force, you get to know which kids are trouble and which ones keep their noses clean and Matilda is a good kid. We can't really ask Ione any more - she's busy enough with her own children now.
Matilda has been very good for Elspeth. She won't stand for any of Elspeth's nonsense and Elspeth knows it. She's probably even a little tougher on her than we are!
It's really great to have someone around to help Elspeth with her homework. She gets distracted easily at home.
The incentive of playing video games once they're done seems to work. Matilda likes video games about as much as Elspeth does, so it's fun for her too.
We even managed to talk Matilda into coming over one Saturday so we could go and see Finn.
And Victoria and Declan too, of course. Even pre-Declan, Victoria felt like a part of the family and Declan has just made that feeling stronger.
Finn and Victoria haven't got any concrete plans to get married yet but I think it's just a matter of time. By this time next year, they'll be back in Sullivan and I hope they won't wait too long after that!
Araminta and I are both really proud of how Finn and Victoria have handled parenthood at such a young age. They're doing a wonderful job with Declan.
Watching them together, you can just see how much they love Declan.
I'm a little biased, seeing he's my first grandchild, but he's pretty lovable. It was a little overwhelming to become a grandparent 3 times over in just six months but I do really love it. I'd love to have another grandchild, actually! I'm not going to put the pressure on though - Finn and Victoria have enough on their plate with Declan, finishing college and then finding a place to live. And Ione and Evan will probably wait a little while longer too.
We saw Finn and Victoria again the next week, along with just about every other member of our extended family. We decided to have a little impromptu family reunion.
Travelling with a one-year-old is tough but the reunion was a break for Finn and Victoria anyway.
We were all more than happy to watch Declan while they relaxed.
Ione came with Evan but without Justin and Xavier. Filippo offered to watch the boys during our party.
Araminta's best friend Magdalena came too. She's almost like family. She's been regretting not having a fourth child lately. Araminta keeps telling her to wait until her daughters start having children. Once Araminta and I became grandparents, that cured of us of any lingering pining we had for more children. We're very content now.
Elspeth had a great time with her cousins Charlie and Jack. They're getting to that age where they don't want to hang out with kids younger than them, but both boys are still close to Elspeth.
Declan really enjoyed himself too. He's not quite as outgoing as Finn is (and always has been) but he did like meeting all the family. He didn't even get tired or cranky like you'd expect either.
Elspeth was another story. Everyone left at about 6 or so, at which point Elspeth just collapsed on the couch. We had to wake her up to take her to bed. Too tired to even eat dinner!Notes:
- Title is from Feeling Called Love by Pulp.
- I really wanted to write much more about the reunion but my brain is not working at full capacity right now, so I took it easy on myself. It just took me four attempts to type "myself" just then and earlier today, I couldn't read a bus timetable. That should give you a clue on what my brain is like right now.
- When I entered this house, Elspeth had the want to talk to Matilda. I didn't even remember them meeting and the relationship was only 10 daily but I thought I'd do something with it anyway. Matilda is fun, so I didn't mind giving her something else to do.
- Araminta had the want for a Family Reunion but she actually doesn't have many invite-able relatives. A lot of her relatives are either dead, too little to be invited or they're not strictly relatives. Tatiana and Owen are her biological cousins but because she's related to them through Galen, they really don't know each other. I had to invite every possible relative to get the 10 you need for it to qualify as a reunion! But this is why I didn't get a lot of great photos of the reunion, even though there were a decent amount of people in attendance.
- I don't know what was up with Elspeth. Do they lose energy faster by tossing a football or playing catch? She was doing that with Charlie or Jack for most of the time.
I hope you feel better, I hate it when I get brain fog as well. Matilda and Elspeth are good together-thanks for including another look at Matilda. I never did understand that "throw food" option. Who throws food at each other for fun? Needless to say, my sims rarely get that chance. I can hear their parents "Do you know how much food costs!"
ReplyDeleteApple Valley, thanks, I'm feeling a lot better!
ReplyDeleteThe only people I know who would throw food are aged 10 and under, so I usually only use the option for kids. It's kind of silly that the option is available for adults but who knows, I might need that animation for something else one day and then I'll be glad it's there!
I think Elspeth will probably be a little spoiled when she grows up. ;)
Awww, it seems to happen like that even in real life sometimes, with siblings having babies at the same time. It's neat that the cousins will be close in age as they grow up together.
ReplyDeleteElspeth is just adorable! Of course she'll be spoiled, being the baby of the family and just so cute! :)
The "throw food" action has always seemed strange to me. I guess it's not in the Finnish people's genes LOL
ReplyDeleteMatilda is so cute, I'm glad to see more of her. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that she'll end up together with one of your playables.
I do think that sims lose energy faster when they do hobby related stuff including playing catch and tossing football. It's quite stupid IMO.
Laura, yeah, that's happened a couple of times in my family, actually! Declan will end up in the same class as Justin and Xavier at school, which is nice.
ReplyDeleteElspeth has her parents wrapped around her little finger. ;) She's a bit crafty!
Sari, well, I'd personally rather eat the food than throw it but EA have always had some odd ideas, haven't they?
I'm hoping to marry Matilda in too. She's so cute that I don't even know if I could resist making her a real playable after college anyway, but we'll see what happens!
Meh, that is stupid! As if tossing a football is that tiring.
Awww :) Elspeth is so cute! It looked like the reunion was a hit, and I think that playing catch does take down energy.
ReplyDeleteI love the throw food, it's really funny when the people don't like each other :)
Tessa, thanks! Hmmm, I've never done the throw food thing when the Sims don't like each other! That's something to try next time. :)
ReplyDeleteAwww.. it's kinda sad and sweet to see the sims we knew as kids growing up and starting to have kids of their own.
ReplyDeleteBut Declan is so looking cute.
And Elspeth certainly is getting spoiled. Love the shots of her at the beginning tossing food at her mother. Yeah, her parents are tired and beat down from the other kids, lol.
Lunar, I know! I think Finn was born in around June last year, so it's kind of crazy that he's a dad now! Declan totally has a case of the adorables though. ;)
ReplyDeleteHa, I was going to say Ione and Finn never gave their parents so much trouble and they didn't...while they were living at home! But one kid knocking up his girlfriend while away at college and then the other having twins months later would probably be enough to totally wear you out and give you a few grey hairs!
Lol at Matilda giving Elspeth the foot-tapping, arms-crossed glare!
ReplyDeleteIt is so nice that Henry and Araminta have welcomed Victoria into the family. It is annoying to me that college-age Sims don't seem to ever roll the want to get married, even when living together and having a child.
Declan is ADORABLE, I don't think his grandma's biased at all.
It is great that the whole family got to meet Declan.
Francesca, LOL, Matilda did that on her own! It's an idle action I don't see often but I was really happy with it in this case.
ReplyDeleteVictoria and Finn have been together for about 8 years (really!), so it makes sense that Henry and Araminta have come to see Victoria as part of the family. It only makes Megan all the more maddening though. ;)
The wants thing bothers me too but I guess it's the same thing with the teens. Without hacks, they can't woohoo, so they won't roll up the want to do so (without a hack, anyway). I've had college Sims roll up the want to get engaged but even that seems quite rare.