Once around the block

Round 29: October 2029 (Spring)

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Evan Moretti is 40, Ione is 33, Justin and Xavier are both 8 and Aurora and Bianca are both 3.

Narrated by Evan Moretti

We're finally out of debt! We can't quite believe it, because it really feels like we've been struggling forever.

All that work fixing up cars really paid off! We would still have a huge mortgage to pay off if we hadn't come up with that idea.

The actual working on the cars part was fun but I'm really glad we won't have to deal with the hassle of selling them any more.

Some people would come by to look at it and I'd spend forever answering their questions. Then they'd walk away and I'd never see them again. It was frustrating. Sales is definitely not the career for me.

It's so nice not to have it hanging over our heads any more. I feel so much more relaxed already.

We're saving most of our money but we've splashed out on a few little luxuries as well. Ione bought a telescope, seeing Declan is always talking about how much he loves his.

The boys will be too old for the activity table soon but the girls will get some good use out of it. And in the meantime, it's something all four of them can do together.

Xavier's been working really hard with his teacher at school and his grades have gone up. He was so excited when he brought home his first A that I could hardly understand what he was saying.

He couldn't wait to tell his grandma and grandpa all about it over dinner that night.

Xavier's grades are on par with Justin's now, which is great.

He still finds school more challenging than Justin does, so I'm not expecting him to get straight As consistently. If he can get through without too much trouble though, Ione and I would be so happy.

When we found out we were going to have another set of twins, Ione and I agreed that four kids would be it. Lately, she's been asking if I think a fifth is a good idea.

No, I really don't. I love the kids but four is about twice as many as I ever saw myself having. Five would definitely be too much.

She's been conspiring with her dad, for sure. Henry would love another grandchild.

Four is enough though. We're just starting to get time to ourselves again, now that Justin and Xavier are at school and Aurora and Bianca can entertain themselves for longer.

Now that we've got a little more money, we can even afford the occasional babysitter so we can actually leave the house without the children!

We haven't been able to do that since before we had Aurora and Bianca. It's not going to be any easier to get away if we have another.

I'm probably thinking way too far ahead but there's also university to consider. I'm guessing at least one of the kids will want to go, possibly all of them. Paying tuition for four kids will be hard enough, without adding a fifth.

I'm looking forward to the girls growing up, personally. I have so much more fun with the boys now that they're older.

Aurora and Bianca are growing up so fast and Ione really loves the toddler stage.

They're our last babies and she's a little bit sad about that.

The girls will start pre-school in February, which I still can't believe. They'll be in a class with Rose and Joanna's daughter Sylvia, so we've arranged a few play dates.

We're good friends with Rose and Joanna anyway, so it's an opportunity for us to catch up while the kids play.

Bianca wasn't too thrilled with this strange girl coming along and using "her" crayons.

But with three siblings, she's used to sharing by now so the girls ended up getting along pretty well.

We've never done the Halloween thing before but this year, the boys started pestering us about it early.

Halloween costumes have never been something we could afford before, so we were glad the kids never showed any interest. Now that we have a bit of cash to spare and the boys want to go though, why not?

So come Halloween, we spent a good portion of the afternoon getting Justin and Xavier's skeleton face paint just right.

I stayed home with Aurora and Bianca and Ione took the boys out with her best friend Lia.

Lia's little girls Georgina and Annabel were up for some trick-or-treating as well, so they made it a team effort. The kids were several paces in front of Lia and Ione all evening.

Back at home, Aurora and Bianca got some more use out of their activity table with Gabriel.

I haven't got to talk to Gordon much lately, seeing he's working pretty hard to save for law school, but we caught up a little until he took Gabriel home to to bed.

Ione brought the boys home a little while later. She was looking pretty exhausted and the boys looked like they'd already been digging into some of their treats.

But Ione was too smart than to let them have too much sugar so close to bed time. It turns out they were just really eager to tell me all about trick-or-treating.

Thankfully, Justin and Xavier were also very tired, so we didn't have too much trouble getting them off to sleep.

I don't know if either of them have ever slept more soundly!

Extras:

Evan really loved Ione's costume. Their attraction dropped for a while, because Evan likes redheads, but he still swooned over her when she walked by!

The extended Romilly clan, in Evan and Ione's backyard. They were all very co-operative. It's funny how I find Sims endlessly more co-operative the fewer of them I'm trying to pose! ;)

Notes:

• Title is from Once Around the Block by Badly Drawn Boy. I doubt that the song in any way refers to trick-or-treating but the title seemed appropriate!
• I was so happy to get Evan and Ione out of debt! They've got a nice $9,000 cushion now, which they can hopefully build on. They won't need to move house again, at least, which is the major thing my Sims put themselves into debt over.
• So there's Sullivan's first Halloween! I'll probably do it again, although how big a deal I make of it will depend on the family and what I feel like doing at the time. It was a lot of fun, but there's a severe lack of well-made Halloween costumes for kids out there! I didn't find many at all.