Wednesday 17 December 2014

Sheets

Round 35: April 2042 (Autumn)

Charlie Benton is 30, Camilla is 29 and Everett and Grace are 12.
(Jack and Audrey are 30, Eddie is 22, Jacinta is 12 and Zoe is 3 weeks old)

Narrated by Charlie Benton

Grace and Everett turned 12 last month and are both pretty happily settled into high school.

They started with all the same kids they went to primary school with, so the adjustment has been minimal. 

I think Camilla and I have had more trouble adjusting. We’re 29 and 30 and we have two kids in high school? I know we had them young but it still seems insane to me.

It’s also a little scary. Camilla and I weren't much older than Grace and Everett are now when they were born.

We figured it was time for “The Talk”, as much as we didn't really want to do it. It wasn't something we felt we should avoid.

Grace and Everett didn't really want to listen and were pretty embarrassed about the whole thing.

That was about what I was expecting. Hopefully something sunk in, despite the twins’ reluctance to listen.

So far, Grace and Everett haven’t shown any real interest in dating and I'm definitely not going to rush to encourage it. 

Everett is totally oblivious to girls. He’s very much still a kid at heart.

He spends most of his free time collecting bugs outside, like always.

Just this year, he’s developed a sudden interest in marine life. He’s saying he wants to be a marine biologist or an oceanographer now, which he’s never spoken about before. 

I don’t know if it’s something he’s been learning about at school but he is very into it now. It’s all he talks about these days. 

For his birthday, he wanted a gigantic aquarium, like one he saw in a restaurant one time. The thing wouldn't have even fit in our house. 

Everett had to settle for a much more modest aquarium. He seems happy enough with it.

He has full responsibility for it and the fish seem to be doing well, so I guess he’s doing all right with it.

Grace’s friend Jacinta seems to have a crush on Everett. Whenever she comes over, there’s always much giggling and whispering coming from the girls.

He’s started avoiding Jacinta when she comes over. Not that it takes much for Everett to hole himself up in his room.

According to Grace, Jacinta likes a lot of boys at school. She’s not actually allowed to date yet but it’s her favourite topic of conversation anyway. 

I have to wonder if Jacinta will have an influence on Grace at all. I hope she doesn’t get quite that far, though I can see Grace is starting to notice boys these days.

Or men, apparently. I had a couple of work mates over one weekend and Grace went all starry-eyed over the new guy, Eddie.

She didn’t actually say anything to him but she definitely checked him out as many times as she could, any time she could find an excuse to walk by.

I admit, I was a tiny bit alarmed at first but once I thought about it later, I don’t think I have much to be concerned about yet. 

From what Grace has said to Camilla, she’s not really interested in dating yet. I think she’s just looking. Hopefully when she does want to date, she finds someone a little closer to her own age.

My brother Jack became a dad just a few weeks ago, when Audrey gave birth to little Zoe. 

Zoe is my first niece and the first girl born into the family since Grace.

Grace has really taken to the idea of having a female cousin and loves snuggling the baby.

Camilla and I have offered to babysit when Jack and Audrey feel like some time to themselves. I know Grace would be more than happy to lend a hand. 

As long as there are no nappy changes involved. Grace is pretty quick to hand Zoe over if she needs changing!

When they were babies, I didn't get to spend as much time with Grace and Everett as I would have liked to. I'm really enjoying having a newborn in the family again. 

Since Camilla and I got married, I've been really eager to have a third child. I missed out on so much with Grace and Everett in their first year. I can't change that but I'd still really like to have that experience. 


Camilla wasn't sure she really wanted to start all over and for a long time, she was sure we were done with kids.

We kept talking about it though and she started to come around to the idea. She was still a bit apprehensive but we did finally agree to try. 

We weren’t sure how long it would take us, given we’ve never actually tried to conceive before. Grace and Everett just kind of happened.

We started in January and just a few weeks ago, Camilla got a positive when she took a pregnancy test. 

We decided to tell the twins about the baby now. We want them to have all the time they need to get used to the idea of a younger sibling. Grace is excited; Everett’s main concern is that he doesn't want to share his room with anyone. 

There's no need for him to worry about that. The baby will sleep in Camilla’s sewing room for a while but eventually, we’ll move to a bigger place. We don’t want either of the kids to share their bedrooms.

Camilla thinks we should move as soon as possible but I think we should just take it easy. The baby won’t mind not having its own room for a while, so I think we can just keep our eyes open and not stress out too much about moving for the meantime. 


We’ve never had the experience of a planned pregnancy before. I just want us to enjoy it and figure everything else out when the baby actually gets here.

Extra:

Inspired by Maisie, I'm doing my big family portraits again! I've only done a few so far, one of them being David and Kirstin and their kids and grandkids. They need some more babies in this family, right? ;)

Notes:
  • Title is from Sheets by Stephen Malkmus.
  • I've been running the careers criteria on all my teens, no matter their age. For the really young ones, I'm less definite about what career they'll eventually go into but Everett was a special case. He had only one career - Oceanography - that he got a perfect score for. Usually, my sims will have 4 or 5 jobs that suit them that well. So I have him pegged as a single-minded sort of kid. Grace is a little more wishy-washy and a bit more typical for a 12-year-old. She could go a few ways.
  • I find it funny that Jacinta actually had her first kiss with Everett in her update earlier this year, he accepted it but he is still just not having it. She tries romantic interactions with him every time she's over (he really has thwarted them all so far, just by remaining occupied while she's waiting for him, lol) and he never rolls romantic wants, for her or anyone else. He's just not into girls yet, I guess!
  • Grace was very cute with Eddie. She didn't try to flirt with him or anything (and with ACR, you can get teens trying to flirt with adults or vice versa, which can be creepy!) She just stood around looking at him with that goofy grin on her face.
  • And yeah...baby for Charlie and Camilla! Charlie actually doesn't have the want in this version of the hood but he had it in Sullivan 1.0 consistently for years, so I'm obliging him. Camilla is due in November. :)
  • I was going to include Tate and Zelda in this, seeing they visited twice of their own accord. But then I realised their update is coming up pretty soon anyway, so I'll save their shenanigans for then. Elder updates are hard enough to write without me using up all the material in their kids' updates!

18 comments:

  1. My goodness, they're having another one? Well, they're not as old as my sims are, and is it bad that I'm hoping for another boy?
    Aww, Grace is adorable checking out Eddie! It's good neither of them are thinking about the opposite sex much, despite Jacinta's antics. And after The Talk, I would hope they take it to heart.

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    1. Yep, another one! Poor Charlie has been desperate for another kid. Hope all you like for a boy. ;) I haven't got a preference yet, though I have pathetically already picked out names.

      Hopefully knowing about their parents' experiences as teenagers might make Everett and Grace a little more careful in the future. I'm more worried about Jacinta. ;)

      Thanks for reading and commenting!

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  2. Love - as usual - how well your pictures match the story, like the embarrassed faces of the kids when their parents sit them down to have "the talk" :-)

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    1. Ha, I'm glad that worked. I was feeling pretty lazy with posing for that scene, so I didn't do much!

      Thanks for reading and commenting!

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  3. Yay! I'm excited for another baby! As I was remarking at n99 it'd be a shame for them to be emptynesters so young in life! I'm excited to see what they have, I'm sort of hoping for another girl, Zoe would have a playmate, and I can imagine Grace would enjoy a little sister to spend time with too. Not that Everett wouldn't enjoy a brother, but he has quite a few boy cousins to hang out with.

    Pretty funny that Jacinta got her first kiss with Everett, and now he's acting like none of it happened. Goofy boys! Grace checking out Eddie was a pretty cute pic, he is quite good looking, so I can see the allure. Always enjoy seeing the big family portraits, this family definitely needs some babies, about time Lila settled down and joined the baby wagon. :)

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    1. Yeah, I definitely wouldn't want to be such young empty nesters. I have enough trouble coming up with things to do with my 50-something empty nesters, let alone ones in their 30s! I'm glad they're having another. I think I kind of would like a girl. Neither of the kids looks much like Camilla, which is a shame, because she's so pretty.

      It seems like a really 12-year-old boy thing to do to me, at least for a shyer one like Everett. The whole thing was all a bit too awkward for him to handle, so he's hiding out, lol! Eddie is a cutie, so I can see the appeal as well. Grace will hopefully turn her attention to someone closer to her age when she starts dating though! I'm going to have four new teenage boys next year (and two girls), so the balance will be a bit better.

      Thanks for reading and commenting!

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    2. I finally finished catching up with all the post that I missed. I agree with you the family needs a couple of more babies in the picture but they look great.

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    3. Well, I guess there'll be at least one more baby in the family by next round! Reckon Lila needs to start pulling her weight though. ;)

      Thanks for reading and commenting!

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  4. Yay, babies! Having a little brother or sister might be a far more effective deterrent for Grace and Everett than any number of talks. ;)

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    1. Ha, funny you should say that! I have a picture of Grace holding a screaming Zoe, seconds after she'd filled her nappy. I think even that was a pretty effective deterrent for her, lol. I've only posted it at N99 but I'm planning to put it up on Tumblr soon too - been lazy with that this week. :)

      Thanks for reading and commenting!

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  5. Yay, I got to see little Zoe!!
    I imagine it is pretty sobering for Charlie and Camilla to realize their children are young teens and are only a little younger than when they had them!! It kind of lends a little more urgency and saliency to "The Talk!" As for them not listening, it is always amazing to me how much more kids remember later than they let on at the time. It is nice that Everett's in no hurry to start dating, especially since Jacinta might be interested in him. It is really cool that he got an aquarium, and that his score for Oceanography was so high!
    The new baby coming for Charlie and Camilla was pretty surprising, but will be such a different experience for them, and for their child. The big group shot is great!

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    1. Heh, this was Zoe's first cameo! She was in Edward and Lucy's update too and will make an appearance in Tate and Zelda's update next as well. She's a little celebrity already!

      Sobering is probably a good word! I think you're right that kids are sometimes listening even when we don't think they are and even when they're rolling their eyes and groaning. Hopefully, Grace and Everett were paying attention and they can avoid having 12-year-old kids before the age of 30. ;)

      I'm so excited about this baby. I really want Charlie to have this experience of raising a baby from the start and for Camilla to have a totally different experience than she had the first time around (and with two at that!).

      Thanks for reading and commenting!

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  6. Another baby, yay! And congrats to Charlie & Camilla! :) I love the look Camilla gave Charlie when he first talked to her about having another one. lol Sometimes I think it's nice when parents have had their kids young, I'm not opposed to it, but it seems like it makes the family quite close.

    Everett makes me laugh not noticing girls and trying to avoid them, lol! That's okay tho, all in good time, what's the rush anyway. ;) Sounds like Jacinta might be a bad influence on Grace, tho Grace seems to have already notice boys only boys that are a tad too old for her.
    I noticed Everett looks a lot like his dad and they both have Charlie's dad's nose. Too cute!

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    1. I know what you mean. I think at the very least, Charlie and Camilla might be more understanding parents than most, given it wasn't too long they were in their kids' position. It will be a whole new ball game with this new kid - this is probably about the age they would have had their first child, if they had been able to plan their family.

      Yeah, Everett hasn't rolled a single romantic want so far! The only reason I know he's straight is because I checked with ACR. I think Grace is a pretty bright girl, so hopefully, she's just admiring Eddie from afar. The unattainability might be part of the appeal - he's a safe person to like, because there's zero chance for them.

      Yeah, Everett is like a Charlie clone! Charlie actually has his dad's nose too - that Kirby nose is very prominent. All of Trent's daughters got it too and I think most of his grandchildren have it as well. Grace bears a slight resemblance to Camilla now that she's a teen but I think she's mostly like Charlie too. Kind of hoping this new baby looks more like Camilla, just to mix it up a bit (and because Camilla is so pretty).

      Thanks for reading and commenting!

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  7. I was starting to think that Charlie wouldn't be able to convince Camilla to have another child and that these 2 were done with kids. But I'm glad they're having another one!
    I do have troubles believing Grace and Everett are teens now! I love seeing them as teens though, and I'm very much looking forward to seeing more of them.

    It's sweet to see that Jacinta is all over Everett and that he doesn't notice her at all.

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    1. Yeah, I guess I sort of pulled rank here and just decided they'd have a baby. Normally, when a couple has two kids already, I try to wait until both sims have a baby want before I take them off BC but I think Charlie and Camilla are in an unusual situation, so I just made it happen. :) I'm looking forward to meeting the new little one!

      Jacinta's a bit of a worry, lol! I do wonder who she'll end up with, ultimately, even though that's years away.

      Thanks for reading and commenting!

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  8. I'm doing catch-up-with-all-the-blogs in between my own play sessions. I loved the pictures of "The Talk". The kids really seem like they're 5 seconds from stuffing their fingers in their ears and in that first picture Charlie looks like he wants to escape LOL.

    I'm so glad to see these two having another kid. It would have been a shame if Charlie wasn't able to convince Camilla to try again. I can't wait to see which one they get!

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    1. Heh, glad you enjoyed The Talk! Grace and Everett both have such great expressive faces that made it easy to set those pictures up. :)

      I'm looking forward to Baby Benton #3 as well. Camilla's in her third trimester now, so not too long to go!

      Thanks for reading and commenting!

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