Monday 1 November 2010

Once around the block

Round 29: October 2029 (Spring)
last update/next update

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.

17 comments:

  1. I'm glad these 2 got out of debt, now they can start doing the things they want to do. And saving of course.

    Ione really wanted another child?! I think Evan is right and that 4 really is a good number!

    I was never a huge fan of Halloween. I didn't grew up with it, since it only came to Belgium a few years ago, so I doubt I'll ever have it in SimsVille, but I really like yours. And the boy's costumes look great, especially with the fase make-up! I have to say you've put in very nice in those pictures. I could almost see the kids in Sullivan running around in costumes, running from door to door, with the parents (also on costum) following them :)

    ReplyDelete
  2. I love Evan and Ione. They're an adorable family! And as much as I'd love to see another Romily child, I'd have to agree with Evan in thinking that four children are definitely enough!

    And how cute was that trick-or-treating scene? I love how it came out on the night that it's actually Halloween still in the states too!

    ReplyDelete
  3. Another kid? I can see Ione and Evan's point...maybe there will be an oppsie later in thier life. I liked the costumes and still can't believe that they're so old now, time passes so fast.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Thanks for your comments, all. :)

    Tanja, oh, me too! I don't like them to struggle for too long. Eventually, I like to see their hard work pay off.

    Yeah, Ione really did want another child! She's not getting one, if I have anything to say about it. She's super-neat, so she's allowed to use BC, so we should theoretically be safe!

    It sounds like Halloween in Australia and Belgium are quite similar - people really only started celebrating it here in the last couple of years, which is strange. But it's fun to do in game and I'm glad you liked the pics. :)

    Tessa, I really love Evan and Ione too. And yes, they do make cute kids but four is definitely enough for them!

    LOL, I had to really push to get this update out in time because I didn't have a lot of time to write yesterday. It was nice to have Sullivan's first Halloween be seasonally appropriate!

    Apple Valley, LOL, yeah, another! I've been using your method to decide their ideal family number - Evan came out with 2 and Ione with 4. So because Ione's reached her "limit", so to speak, I'm taking her baby want as a passing fancy, rather than a serious yearning. I think she knows four is enough too.

    ReplyDelete
  5. It's always a good thing to be out of debt. And Evan and Ione worked really hard to get there, so congrats.
    I loved the Halloween part. The kids look so cute in their costumes. And using the flamenco dress for Ione is quite a nifty idea :)
    Btw, I don't know if you looked there, but Briher.dk has a few Halloween costumes for children, especially for the supernatural creatures.

    ReplyDelete
  6. I'm sorry, the link didn't work. I meant Briher.dk

    ReplyDelete
  7. The boys look so cute in their costumes! Really adorable. Halloween isn't a very big thing in Finland although I think it might become a hit in a few years. Instead kids usually dress up as witches a week before Easter and go around the neighborhood to get candy. It's a very old tradition here.

    I'm so glad Ione and Evan made it out of debt. It's always so fulfilling to make the last payment. I have many couples who have such huge mortgages that their kids will probably have to pay the rest after they die, lol!

    I kind of understand Ione's want for another baby but I agree with Evan that four is enough. I use AppleValley's method for ideal family size too and I have a couple of sims whose ideal family sizes are something like 11 kids! Yeah, like that's going to happen ;)

    ReplyDelete
  8. I don't know why but I thought Ione was pregnant. :?

    Halloween isn't a big thing in France either. Well I'm currently in French West Indies but I think it's the same.

    I like the costumes of boys and how you set up your pictures.

    I really like your family pictures. Would you mind me asking how you get the pose for the boys in your first picture ? Thanks in advance.

    ReplyDelete
  9. Karolin, they did work hard and they got out of debt pretty fast, compared to some of my other couples. The restorable cars really helps!

    Heh, I figured there are so many clothes for adults I'll never use but are quite suitable as Halloween costumes! For some reason, the AL witch dress doesn't show up in my game but the Cassandra Goth dress works well enough.

    Thanks for that link! I got a couple of costumes that I can use for next time. :)

    Sari, the skeleton costumes are really quite well done! A lot of the costumes around are of really poor quality but these were very cute!

    Oh, gosh, I'm still worried about Finn and Victoria's debt! It's something in the region of $40,000 and I don't know when they'll pay that off! Hopefully before they have to send Declan to college but I'm not sure.

    I think the Sim who wants the most kids in Sullivan is Patience, who wants 9! I average the results I get from their primary and secondary aspiration, and that would be Patience's Family secondary coming into play! It won't happen, as Rob wants a much more sensible 2. ;)

    miss-essa, oh, weird! Nope, Ione hasn't been pregnant since Aurora and Bianca.

    Thank you, I'm glad you liked the Halloween pics.

    Hmmm, I can't remember the exact pose boxes I got Justin and Xavier's poses from but they both are definitely from MayPink boxes. If you go to my Resources post and then the link to the Pose Boxes post at GOS, they have a list with links to all of her pose boxes there.

    ReplyDelete
  10. Yay for debt free! Now for them to keep it that way! I'm sure they will, no daunting medical bills..well for usa folk. ;p I'm glad they came up with that car idea.

    The costumes and halloween was great, looks like my night a few days ago. hair spray, make up, costumes, and running around the 'hood, but it was freezing. Lucky sims getting halloween in the spring.

    THe kids looked great in their costumes, adn how sweet that the guys got a little bro time. ;)

    ReplyDelete
  11. Maisie, ha, medical bills are something I definitely will not be including in Sullivan! I figure that's part of what their taxes are paying for!

    The costumes were fun. I imagine you and so many other parents across the country were super busy doing the same thing as Ione a few nights ago!

    Evan and Gordon's relationship dropped to below friends, so I had to let them catch up a bit. I neglect some of my poor parents' friendships sometimes!

    ReplyDelete
  12. So happy this family is finally out of debt. Too bad Evan doesn't want anymore kids. They make beautiful children. But 2 sets of twins is definitely plenty. They have a pair of each, what more can you ask for? LOL I can't wait to see the girls as children. I read at N99 that you aged them up today/yesterday/whatever day it is lol. And wow, Patience wants 9 kids?! I bet they'll be cute though lol.

    Glad Xavier is doing much better in school now. And as I said on the forum, I love the Halloween pics.

    At least your sim parents HAVE friends. My current sim parents barely have any LOL. I was so bad at that before. But that'll change with the next generation. They all more or less know each other but the youngest batch of kids are the luckiest. They're not best friends but they all at least know each other.

    ReplyDelete
  13. Dani, the poor things will probably put themselves into debt again trying to put four children through university! If Evan ever rolls the want for another kid though, I'll let them try. But in my game at least, it seems to be only Sims with Family as a primary or secondary aspiration who ever roll baby wants. It's lame.

    LOL, yeah, Patience wants NINE kids. That's nuts and there's no way it's happening but I like that she surprised me with that! She's very outgoing and nice, which are the two traits the AV system takes into account. I also take their secondary into account (Patience's is Family) by doing the formula again for that and then averaging the two results.

    LOL, in my first generation, my parents didn't really have friends either! I only really started paying attention to that around the time Ione and her friends started having kids. It's easier once you've sent them to school together - fresh out of CAS, I could never really sustain friendships for long. I don't really know why.

    ReplyDelete
  14. The Halloween pics are so cute... so are some of the kids' facial expressions in the other pictures!

    Yay that they're debt-free! I think I have about every possible hack to make things financially difficult for my sims (except, I've too lazy/numerically challenged to manually do taxes for my sims... but I figure all this other stuff balances it out :) ), so it really is a big deal when they reach that point.

    ReplyDelete
  15. Blackcat, and I can't even take credit for those! They were just being cute on their own.

    I was using Cyjon's Bigger Bills for a while, instead of doing taxes but my Sims were getting way too poor! I'm terrible with maths but I had to force myself to start doing it. I still do the calculations like 10 times over to make sure I have it right!

    ReplyDelete
  16. Aww, your Halloween was so cute! Funny that now it's coming to Australia, meanwhile here the old tradition of going door to door is drying up! Kids don't come out for candy like they used to, so people like my dad who remembers lots of kids coming to the door and running out of candy always has TONS of candy left over.

    How nice they have no debt!

    ReplyDelete
  17. Lunar, oh, really? I didn't know that. I'd be happy to send you ALL of our trick-or-treaters. There's no cultural basis for Halloween here, so I'm actually a bit of a curmudgeon about it. People are really only doing it because they see it on TV. But Sullivan is no place in particular, so I can do what I like in game!

    I'm hoping they can stay out of debt until the kids start going off to college. That will probably be their only big cost from now on.

    ReplyDelete