Week 2: Foster

((Arcadia speaking))

Oh hey, you're back! Yeah, I'm still here too, though I left for uni right at the end of the week. But a lot of things happened before then. First of all, dad went on a promotion spree this week. I think he got one nearly every day that he went to work, despite the chaos we had going on at home. But then I guess Miranda took the brunt of that. On Monday, he joined Counter Intelligence. Sounds kind of cool, but he never really tells us what he gets up to. Something about it being top secret. Whatever. I half think that he just hangs around behind the computer all day vegging out. I mean, what kind of terrorist threat do you expect out here in the middle of nowhere?


The same day, or rather night, Allegra grew into a toddler. At least she can kind of tell people what she wants now instead of just screaming her little backside off. And she looks kind of cute too. A lot like her mother. She seems to have borrowed the fashion sense as well. Eww, pink! As you can see, Miranda was veeeery pregnant at that point.

Allegra Foster: Saggitarius; 2 sloppy, 3 shy, 9 active, 7 playful, 4 grouchy

With a screaming toddler in the house and two more soon to come, I decided that I needed to get out of there and have some fun. Sure, it was a school night, but no risk no fun, right? I doubt that dad would have let me go out anyway with Miranda just about ready to pop. I never knew Randy London had such a cool car!


Nobody even noticed that I was gone, which was nothing new for me. I was able to sneak back in no problem. And that energizer sure works wonders after a long night of partying!


Well, there was a reason nobody noticed my absence. While I was away, Miranda went into labor and delivered healthy twins. With a very healthy set of lungs too, unfortunately. At least you can tell them apart though because of the skin colors. The dark one is a girl named Calypso. She was born first. Dad says she looks a lot like me when I was little.


Her brother, younger by 10 minutes, is called Jazz. Yeah, looks like Miranda loves those musical names. Dad says it's because she's a very creative person. Well, she has to be in order to come up with names for all those kids!


Right after the babies were born she started teaching Allegra her toddler skills. Not like anyone could sleep anyway, with the babies wanting to be changed or fed every two minutes. We eventually moved them from the nursery back into the kitchen where Allegra was when she was little. They're not right next to my bedroom that way, and they don't wake up the toddler every time they need something.


Still, Miranda was so tired by the end of it that she even tried to take Jazz to bed with her in her confusion. That didn't work out too well, though. ((Hehe, I've seen them try ot take toddlers to work, but never carry the baby to bed. Shame I didn't get the picture until it was too late and she'd already woken up again.))


Her and dad's exhaustion gave me pretty much free reign to sneak out again the next night. I wonder where Hendrik Stevenson borrowed that car from. I know for a fact that his family drives a van! Not that I minded, of course. That was one cool car!


Maybe it was a tad bit too flashy though, because we got caught. Not by my parents, but by the police. Don't they have anything better to do than ruin a bunch of teenagers' fun? It was extremely embarrassing. Must have been even worse for Hendrik though, because both of his parents work with the police. Ouch! Thankfully neither of them were on duty that night, though. Just this Demi Love lady.


Miranda was really cool about the whole thing and didn't give me much of a hard time. We're good friends now, though I still think that she's crazy for wanting that many kids.


Now I thought the getting caught sneaking out thing was embarrassing, but that was nothing compared to what the nanny did. Yeah, we hired one for the day because Miranda really wanted to get back to work now that she was not pregnant for once. She works for some politician or other.


Now not only did the nanny leave a total mess in the kitchen, with bottles lying around everywhere, and dump a smelly Calypso right in the middle of it...


She actually peed on the floor right in the middle of the nursery! Eww! I mean, the bathroom's only a few feet down the hall, lady! And she didn't even have the decency to mop it back up afterwards. I don't think we're ever going to get that stain out of the carpet.


Going to work paid off for both parents though, because they both got promoted. Miranda to Campaign Manager and dad to Senior Officer. Dad had already been promoted to Flight Officer the day before, so it was the third promotion in a row. He's really working his way up. Shame his only real ambition is for studying though.


Just when I was getting used to Miranda not being pregnant, they decide to get to work on number four. Seriously, those two go at it like rabbits! I guess I'll have to make her cheeskake again. She really loves that stuff, and the faster she has all those babies the quicker she'll stop, right? Not sure how bearable life will be with five small kids in the house, but hey, by the time they're born I'm as good as out of here.


Oh yeah, and as if one toddler in the house wasn't bad enough, the two others decided to grow up as well. We don't really throw birthday parties at this house because there's too many kids around anyways, but we at least bought them a cake. Calypso got to go first because she's older.


Hehe, I guess she does look a lot like a miniature version of me. At least if they're going to have so many kids they might as well have cute ones.

Calypso Foster: Gemini; 2 sloppy, 9 outgoing, 9 active, 7 playful, 4 grouchy

And of course her twin Jazz couldn't be left behind...


I think he's the cutest they've had yet. And of course I got talked into changing his diaper. For some reason dad always disappears when it comes to that. Says he's scared he'll do something wrong. I say he just doesn't want to tear himself away from his skilling.

Jazz Foster: Saggitarius; 2 sloppy, 3 shy, 9 active, 7 playful, 9 nice

Dad made a big mistake that day at work though. One of his soldiers got hurt because they couldn't find some poisonous frog or other in time. It really got him down, especially since it threw him back in his skilling as well.


That didn't last long though. I guess they thought it was better to promote him to something else before he hurt even more people. As an Astronaut he's only endangering himself, after all.


We hired a nanny again so that Miranda could go to work some more and she got another promotion too. She could have really made it big in her field if she wasn't so busy having babies, I think.


The nanny really surprised us all this time. Not only did she refrain from setting the house on fire trying to cook (I guess she was too busy to even try), she listened to us when we told her that the toddlers had already been fed (we gave them a bottle of smart milk each before we left and hoped they'd be busy skilling for the rest of the day) and even bathed them. They really needed it becaues they were stinky!


Fresh and early Friday morning Allegra had her birthday and became a child. I guess we could have waited until the evening, but it's not like we were planning a party and this was a good time when we were all home. you see, I got a job in the culinary field because I wanted the scholarship, and I work most evenings. She's as cute as ever, but that hair really had to go. She got extensions put in right away.


Her early birthday also meant that she could start school already, giving her all weekend to do her first set of homework and learn how to study. She was pretty scared about going to school, since her parents couldn't exactly drop her off with so many babies in the house, but I told her it would be fine since I'd be getting on the bus with her. I think that calmed her down a bit.


Although I almost made us late for her very first day because I'd forgotten to finish my homework the night before. Oops! Maybe I should have cut down on the partying after all. I got done just as the bus was pulling around the corner, so it ended up being fine.


The weekend was great. For the first time ever dad had more than a day off from work. He doesn't go back until Tuesday, so he had loads of time for us kids. And Miranda had the weekend off too, so it was very non-stressful for all of us, despite the many babies. With nothing else to do and Miranda pregnant again, dad suddenly became super!daddy. He spent all day taking care of the toddlers and teaching them their skills. I think by Sunday morning both of them could walk, talk and go potty. I guess that solves the diaper changing problem, at least for now.


Me, Allegra and Calypso decided to have some girl bonding time too. I can't leave for college without getting to know them a little better, after all. They really start to grow on you when they can actually communicate and you know that you'll never have to change their diapers again.


Heh, I guess there was no time for teaching the kids table manners with so many of them around. Not that dad's a great example. He usually just scarfs down his dinner so that he can get right back to skilling. That's no problem though when your guests behave the same way.


Sunday was a really busy day. First of all, Miranda had her next set of kids. Another pair of fraternal twins with one boy and one girl. This time the dark-skinned one is the boy. He's slightly older as well. Here's dad holding Tempo, and Miranda holding Cadence.


Later that day, the first set of twins grew into children. We even threw a little party, though our only guest was Allegra's friend Keith McMillan. Nobody really had the chance to befriend more kids that age yet. Though I'm sure by Monday they'll be bringing whole busloads of people home from school.


Here's Calypso and Jazz all grown up into children. That haircut looks about as good on her as it did on her sister. Shame I wasn't around to see what she looked like after her makeover though, because I was out the door that same evening. Making room or number six, I guess. Though to my knowledge she's not expecting at the moment. But we all know how quickly things like that can change.


Yeah, this is a shot of me leaving. I got a nice number of scholarships too, totaling 4750$. I can't wait to get to college. I was going to live in a dorm at least in the beginning, but I'm probably going to move together with Sarah Mitchell, a girl I met at work, and her boyfriend. I hope I won't be too much of a third wheel, but at least it means a little more privacy. And we'll have our own place to throw parties in! And hey, maybe I'll actually have time for some romance of my own now.


End of round accomplishments:
- Darren grabs several promotions and is now an astronaut, one pomotion from his TOC.
- Miranda is slowly moving up the politics career track despite her pregnancies
- Arcadia is slightly less emo about her new family, but sneaks out twice with mixed results
- Four new babies are born.
- Allegra, Calypso and Jazz all grow into children
- Arcadia grabs her scholarships and escapes to college

Points this round:
- 4 for four new sims: Calypso, Jazz, Tempo and Cadence