Thursday 14 August 2014

Everyday should be a holiday, 2041

Round 35: December 2041 (Summer)

Josie Clarke is 39, Troy is 38, Jude is 9 and Andrew is 5. 
(Zelda is 66, Patience is 39, Audrey, Jack and Charlie are 29, Camilla is 28, Grace and Everett are 11 and Gemma is 7 months)

Narrated by Josie Clarke

Gemma was a surprise for Patience and Rob and every time I see them, I’m just glad it was her and not me.


She’s actually a very sweet baby and hasn’t given her parents too much trouble. Seeing they’re older now and weren’t expecting Gemma, Patience is pretty glad about that. 

Still, I’m happy my kids can use the bathroom independently and talk to me when they want something. I don’t long for the baby days at all. 

Troy is on the same page with me, at least for now. He works from home about half the time and his days are a lot easier now that Andrew is at school. He gets so gaga over babies and toddlers though. I’m a little scared he’s going start asking for #3 again one day!

I’m hoping playing with Gemma and all the other little ones we know will satisfy him until I’m too old to have another. Other people’s babies are definitely enough for me these days.

I really love that Andrew is old enough to play together properly with Jude now. They’re very different kids but they somehow get along really well anyway. 

Andrew often wants to make trouble but Jude is too sensible to get caught up in it. So then Andrew ends up getting bored with the idea anyway.

It’s not quite the same story at school. Andrew is the kid who comes home from school almost every day with a note from the teacher, telling us about whatever incident we then need to talk to him about. 

He’s actually a pretty great kid when he wants to be but he has some major problems with impulse control!

It seems to be larger group that really set Andrew off, so we were a little worried about taking him to Charlie and Camilla’s for Christmas. 

They were, for some reason, really excited about hosting this year and we were glad that meant we wouldn’t have to do it but Andrew’s behaviour was a concern.

We had a talk with both kids before we left, so they knew they were both under warning. 

I didn’t think Jude would step out of line but I wanted Andrew to know we expect the same of both of them, so he couldn’t pull the “unfair” card.

He knows Christmas means presents and he didn’t want those to be possibly withheld, so he promised he’d be on his best behaviour.

We watched Andrew like hawks but he ended up being okay.He’s been really idolising Everett lately and Everett is quite fond of him too, so he mostly just followed his big cousin around all day.

Andrew’s developed an interest in insects and was keen to see the fireflies Everett had captured the previous night. 

Andrew likes to try to catch them when he sees them in our yard but he’s yet to succeed. This made Everett even cooler in Andrew’s eyes.

I hope he didn’t get any ideas watching Grace and Everett’s punching game. I can see Andrew having a little bit too much fun with a game like that!

I think everyone had a go at Don’t Wake The Llama on Christmas Day. The kids all really love Charlie and he hardly got to step away from the table all day.

I was talked into a game at one stage and regretted it. I usually love board games but I find that one such a bore.

I was looking for an excuse to abandon the game, so I was quite grateful to Audrey when she asked if I wanted to go get something to eat. Yes, I definitely did!

It ended up being a bit of a girl talk session (with nosy little Andrew joining us!), mostly focused on babies.

Audrey’s due in April, Camilla and Charlie are seriously considering a third and that’s all anyone can talk about.

I couldn’t resist giving a little bit of advice to them both. I should have become an obstetrician instead of a GP! I really like talking about pregnancy, as long as it’s from a medical perspective. 

I don’t know if they were interested or just too nice to blow me off. I just like having a captive audience, really.

This is the first child for Jack and Audrey and Jack’s a bit nervous about becoming a dad.

He’s done enough time on uncle duty for the past 10-plus years that I think he’ll be fine. 

Yeah, it’s different when it’s your own kids and there are bound to be some surprises. But between our parents, Audrey’s parents, her brother, Charlie and me, they’ve got plenty of experienced parents they can ask for advice.

Jack’s really excited at the same time though and can’t wait until the baby actually gets here.

Jude's only interest right now is going into Grade 5 next year. He was telling anyone who’d listen all about it. The school is going to start taking the Grade 5 and 6 kids away on camp and that’s the main drawcard of Grade 5 for Jude. 

Mum thought he’d be a little bit nervous about going away from home without family for the first time but I don’t make timid kids. Neither of my boys would be at all nervous about that!

Jude probably needs to cool his jets a little about camp. It’s not going to happen until October, so he’s got a long, long time to wait!

Notes:
  • Andrew didn't cause much trouble this round! He really loves his big brother and he and Everett started rolling wants for each other as soon as I got the Clarkes over at Camilla and Charlie's place, so he didn't have much of a cause for aggression this time around. Times like this I really miss my schools - I'd love to be watching Andrew develop his personality at school.
  • Andrew had his hobby reassigned, as did Jude. Jude is now Sports and Andrew is Nature. I wasn't sure it fit him at first but I can picture him taking great pleasure in collecting insects, so I kind of love it for him now!
  • The camp is something I've been thinking about doing with my big kids for a while. I have 10 kids who'll be in Grade 5 and 6 next year, so it seems like a nice manageable group to work with on something like that. I probably won't do a whole update about it but I'll do some photo spam on Tumblr (linked here, of course) and if anything exciting happens, I may work it into an update or two. It might be a nice compromise, seeing I can't do actual school updates at the moment. 

19 comments:

  1. The camping in place of school is a great idea, I mean camping is fun at any rate, but without the school it makes it extra special. It was nice to see Andrew behaving himself; I really adore the pictures of him with his cousins in the kitchen checking out the fireflies. Do you have fireflies in Australia? Ours out here in the mountains do not light up, basically from our state to the west coast, we totally miss evenings of chasing them.

    Josie as an OB, I could see it, she's kind of a tough girl though, but it works well for her in that career field I think. Gives her an edge. It was nice seeing everyone gathered together for the holidays. Only surprised to see no grandparents. I gotta say we are getting closer for Audrey, eeek! Super excited, Jack is too adorable in the kitchen, can't wait to see him hold his baby. And I really hope that Camilla has another baby too, they really ought to now that they are settled, I think they could enjoy the baby stage aspect much better where they are at now in life.

    When you mentioned Andrew out picking bugs, it made me sort of think of that neighbor boy on Toy Story that burns holes in Woody's head with the magnifying glass... I like that Josie doesn't have timid boys, too true! I really like her two sons. Totally makes sense to me that she wouldn't want another baby ether, they have a good dynamic going on right now.

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    1. Glad you like the idea. I thought of it way back with Sullivan 1.0 and then forgot about it until this session! I'm looking forward to it though. We do actually have fireflies in Australia but I don't think I've ever seen them. They're definitely not super-common, at least not here in Sydney.

      Josie's done some OB stuff in the past, before I decided to nail down what kind of doctor each of my medical sims were, so she could definitely do it! I think she's suited to a GP role though. The grandparents were there, by the way. Zelda appears right at the end, talking to Jude. Tate was there too and he was going to have a little scene but when I went to write it up, I realised I'd apparently framed the shot and then not actually taken it. D'oh! So he got cut out, lol!

      Ha, it's funny you should say that, because when I switched Andrew to Nature, one of the things I thought was "this kid would totally be out in the yard burning ants with a magnifying glass and pulling wings off butterflies!" I was a bit unsure about giving him that hobby but once I had that thought, it was settled! Yeah, I don't want these two to have any more either, so I'm hoping Josie doesn't ever have an oopsie! She and Troy are both allowed BC and they're getting older, so it's possible but unlikely.

      Thanks for reading and commenting!

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  2. I'd love reading about school camp, as it is something I won't ever be able to play without hacks, I guess.
    What is the climate in Sullivan like? Seeing the kids wearing shorts and sleeveless tops at Christmas reminded me of the photos our Australian friends send me from their Christmas parties :-)

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    1. There probably won't be too much to read but hopefully some cute pics. :D I think you could actually do it without hacks, if you were okay with only having 7 kids there (I'll have 10, I believe, when I do this). Set up a group via the phone, take them down to a community lot camping ground? Could work!

      I run Sullivan on a Southern Hemisphere calendar, seeing I'm in Australia. :) So yeah, my sims have Christmas in summer, so it's warm enough for shorts on Christmas Day.

      Thanks for reading and commenting!

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  3. I always wondered if they wound have another child after the twins. I love the camp idea, that would be a nice update, even without words, since you're not doing school updates

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    1. Yeah, I always wanted them to but Camilla never rolled the want. Charlie's been so persistent with it though that I'm just going to let them go ahead and try anyway. I feel bad he didn't really get much time with the twins as infants. Glad everyone likes the camp idea!

      Thanks for reading and commenting!

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    2. I'm with Charlie. MOAR BABIES FOR EVERYONE!

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    3. LOL, I don't know about everyone but for Charlie and Camilla, yes!

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  4. Oh, I have known some little boys like Andrew, and have a soft spot for them. Especially when you talked about having a hard time with punch you-punch me.

    Poor Josie, I guess she's entitled to giving a little advice since she's surrounded by baby fever and she's moved on to another phase.

    As everyone has said, the camp idea is great! I can't wait to see your pic spam, I hope you post a lot of it! I was wondering if you plan to take the lot on vacation or make a camp on a local community lot (because I immediately started thinking, I want to do that, how would I do it?)

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    1. Ha, I know a few boys like Andrew too! I have really enjoyed talking to some of them one-on-one. The behaviour is often an issue but they can also be really funny kids and quite sweet when they want to be too.

      Josie's a bit of a know-it-all. ;) She does happen to be fairly knowledgeable in this area but it wouldn't matter much to her if she wasn't, I don't think! She just likes to have her say!

      You know, I was going to do the camp on a vacation lot but I think it'd be easier to do it on a community lot. You can teleport people to a vacation lot but if I remember correctly, there are sometimes interactions that they can't do, one of them being sleeping in a tent. So a community lot might work better - thanks for the idea! I'll just teleport in a couple of the teachers, plus the kids, take control of everyone and then just do whatever for however long I feel like it. I don't want to get too structured with it, seeing it's supposed to be just a fun pic spam sort of thing. :)

      Thanks for reading and commenting!

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  5. Camping sounds like an awesome idea! I can't wait to see how you manage it. It will be fun to see the kids outdoors... all the mischief they can get into. ;)

    It's the Christmas of babies! Josie definitely isn't catching 'baby fever'... they definitely say pregnancy travels like it's communicable and I never believed it until it happened to my cousin, me, and my other cousin's girlfriend all within a month! Pretty nuts. Isn't there some kind of superstition with things coming in threes?

    So glad Andrew's temperament seems to be evening out. At least, we can hope so, right? Ha. With little boys, you can never be too sure... Christmas is always a good motivator.

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    1. I'm more excited about the camping now that I've had the suggestion of doing it on a community lot. It's going to be so much easier than doing it on vacation!

      Yeah, they do say things happen in threes! Although I don't imagine Josie is especially convinced by superstition - she's not really the type. So she'll just take all the precautions she needs to make sure she doesn't end up with another baby on the way. She doesn't want one and as of now, neither does Troy. :)

      Not sure Andrew's temperament is evening out, though he was surprisingly well-behaved this session! I don't think he really had the opportunity to act up. Jude's too good to join in and Everett and Grace would be a bit past causing trouble with a 5-year-old. I'd really like to get a school going before Andrew gets too old, so I can see him in his havoc-wrecking glory, lol!

      Thanks for reading and commenting!

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  6. So I take it Josie definitely doesn't want a baby during this time in her life. ;) I'm siding with her actually, I'd love to have kids but agh the baby stage throws me! lol Guess it's different when you have our own though. Anyways, they have two lovely boys to coo over. :)

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  7. Oh, and nice new banner too! :)

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    1. Thanks, I've had that banner ready to go for ages!

      And yeah, as far as she's concerned, Josie is absolutely done with babies! She actually quite like babies but it's nice to be able to give them back. ;) I think she likes the stage her boys are at now much better.

      Thanks for reading and commenting!

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  8. I really do miss your schoolupdates, and I would have loved to see Andrew getting in a lot of misschief there! But you'll get there, I'm sure of that. Just see from where you've come!
    I'm very much looking forward to seeing the kids at camp.

    I can see these 2 being done with children. Maybe if Andrew would have been more like Jude they would have been thinking about another one, but I can definatly see their family done with their 2 boys.

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    1. Yeah, I miss doing them too. I plan to get a school started once I finish my hospital but that's a way away yet. :) One day!

      Heh, I can see Andrew being enough incentive to stop their family at 2 kids! I think they likely would have been done at two anyway but who knows?

      Thanks for reading and commenting!

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  9. Giving out advice is so Josie, whether or not it's asked for. LOL If I had an Andrew, he would be an only child. I miss your school updates too, but I'll wait and try to be patient. :) And imho, Charlie and Camilla don't need any more! But that's just me.

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    1. In Josie's eyes, her advice is necessary, if not desired and she's going to blast it whether you want to hear it or not.

      Well, no one needs any more kids! Especially not in my hood. ;) But Charlie and Camila do very much want another kid, so I'm letting them have one anyway. :)

      Thanks for reading and commenting!

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