A quiet night in

Round 34: November 2039 (Spring)

last update/next update

Trent Kirby is 69, Megan is 67, Claudia and Jacob are 38, Daphne is 8 and Iris is 5. 

(Patience and Josie are 37, Jude is 7, Felicity is 6 and Andrew and Patrick are 3)

Narrated by Claudia Kirby

With Christmas approaching, Daphne and Iris are both winding down at school and getting ready for holidays.

I think Daphne will miss school and look forward to going back. She’ll definitely enjoy the time off but she really loves school as well.

Iris is not so keen. She’s told me many times that she wishes she could be on holidays more often than she’s at school.

As long as she keeps trying her best, Jacob and I are okay with that. Although I don’t know what she’s going to think when she gets to high school if she finds Grade 1 so taxing.

She’s made a lot of friends at school though, including Felicity, so I know Iris doesn't completely dread going.

I would have thought being so far away from pretty much everyone and everything would keep the number of play dates to a minimum. During the week, that’s definitely true but both our girls usually have at least one friend each over on the weekends.

Josie and Patience both drive their kids out here quite a lot, which gives us a chance to catch up while the kids play.

 

The kids all get along well. Probably because we’ve been fostering their friendships since they were babies, but I like seeing them hanging out together anyway. 

Our kids were always going to end up spending a lot of time together, so it was in everyone’s best interest that they all learned to play nice together.

It doesn’t feel like 20 years since Josie, Patience and I were in college together but it really has been that long!

Josie is really looking forward to sending Andrew off to pre-school in February. Josie thinks it will be good for him to expend some of his energy with other kids for several hours a day.

Right now, he’s with Troy three days a week and either set of grandparents will take him the other two days, so he’s not getting a whole lot of time with other kids during the week.

Patience is sending Patrick off to pre-school next year as well, so he’ll be in the same class as Andrew.

Patrick is a lot like Patience and Andrew is a lot like Josie. I wonder if they’ll stay friendly like they are now, or if they’ll end up clashing.

It's worked out okay for Patience and Josie all these years, though they definitely had their moments when they were kids. Josie was such a bully!

It all brings back memories of when Iris started pre-school a couple of years ago. I suddenly found myself with all this extra spare time during the day. I think I probably noticed it even more, because I don’t work outside the home. I was at a loose end with Iris off at school all day.

Since then, I’ve been thinking about going back to work again. Josie and Patience have never really understood why I wanted to stay home in the first place, so they were very supportive.

They thought I was talking about getting back into local politics, like what I did before I had Daphne, but I definitely don’t want that again. I’ll be happier taking over the market.

I'm sure it sounds extremely boring to them but I think it's something I'll really love.

We have a manager to help run the store, so I can set my own hours, be home with the girls when I want and still be doing something productive outside my own home.

Dad is finally ready to hand the reins over to me and it’s the perfect time. I didn’t want to be running the market with little ones still at home and now I won’t have to.

Dad has been “briefing” me on everything I’ll need to know lately, because the plan is for me to take over in February, once Daphne and Iris head back to school.

I don’t know how much of a briefing I’ll need, because I’ve helped out on and off since I was a teenager. On top of that, the manager always knows what’s what.

But Dad says you never know when something unexpected might crop up, so it’s better to be prepared.

It does actually sound like there’ll be a lot to take care of but I’m sure I can handle it.

I’m glad Mum and Dad will both be home for Daphne and Iris when they get home from school, if Jacob or I can’t be.

Mum is a bit of a nag sometimes but she’s a wonderful grandmother.
 

She’s mellowed out a little since my sisters and I were younger too, which is nice.

Dad is such a natural grandpa too. He was made for that role. The girls totally adore him.

Even with all the help Jacob and I get with the kids, it’s hard for me to believe I was still wanting another one just a couple of years ago.

We have it so good with Daphne and Iris right now. They’re old enough to be a little bit independent but still little enough that hanging out with Mum and Dad is a good thing.

In a few years’ time, they probably won’t want to tell us every single detail of their days like they do now.

We’re trying to enjoy it now, even when it can get a bit much!

Jacob’s work hours are a lot more reasonable these days too, so we actually get to spend time together as a couple.

When Jacob first joined the fire department, I could never have imagined we’d have a normal schedule again. He still starts very early but he’s home pretty much every night.

Life is pretty amazing for us at the moment, so we’re going to stick with what’s working for us. We’re very happy with our family the way it is. 

Notes:

• Title is from A Quiet Night In by Tim Rogers.
• Second play session of the new Sullivan, still with very little CC. I miss it more and more as I go along, let me tell you! Patience needs her hair back and I have no idea where I could find a Pookleted version! I'd have it my old folders but I don't know what anything is in there. :\ Plus, I'm really trying to redownload stuff where I can, just in case something corrupted in my old folders. Can't find Felicity's either. But Patrick will have the right hair next time you see him and I found Rob's too, so yay for that. 
• It's actually almost 20 years since the girls were in college, since Patience and Josie are a year younger and started a year later. But it's November, so they're coming up on 20 years too. Can you believe that? That's so insane. 
• I am very thankful that I have a clean (or clean-ish?) copy of the market, so I can just reinstall it and have Claudia buy it. It's an older version, so it doesn't look all awesome like it did when I made it over but I guess I can fix that up easily enough. :)
• The gap between this update and the next one probably won't be as long as the gap between this update and the last one, assuming my game behaves. I've already made almost all the families I'll need for it (I just need to make Chris Draper!) and I downloaded a fully furnished house for Kendal and Lake to live in. I will want to move some stuff around but it's pretty much ready to go. I'm keen to get to the end of the year, because BIRTHDAYS! I've missed doing birthdays!