Week 3: Foster

Hello and welcome to the Foster house. I'm Miranda. Just make yourself right at home while I get the kids ready for school. *rushes off*

(An hour later...)

Sorry about that. It's a busy house with all these kids. But now that they're getting older I'm hoping that they'll be a little more independent. But let's start at the beginning, shal we? At the beginning of the week Jazz and Calypso joined Allegra in primary school. I was glad, because it gave me some time for myself when the babies didn't need me. Allegra came home with an A+ that day. Her father was thrilled!


I hired a nanny again for the little ones so that I could go to work. I knew that with all the networking I did during my last pregnancy I was lined up for a promotion or two. It looks like I was right. I was elected into Congress! I was so excited!


Now that three of our children were school age, we decided to have the headmaster over and see whether we could get them into private school. I've heard it's a lot more fun than normal school, and of course we wouldn't miss out on giving our children an advantage in life. It went well, despite the fact that neither of us can really cook. I should probably work on that now that Arcadia's gone.


Not everything went as smoothly as that though. There were times when I was so run off my feet that I was smelly, the babies were smelly and the house was smelly all at the same time. And Darren was working hard on his last promotion so he wasn't much help. But we got through those times as well somehow.


Darren did find time to tech the older twins to study though, for which I was thankful. I can't do everything myself, after all.


Soon enough it was time for the babies to have their first set of birthdays. Time flies, doesn't it? It seemed like they'd only been born the day before! We didn't throw a huge party. Just a small family event with some cake for the kids.


Here is Tempo's birthday picture. He really lives up to his name, since he's a very active boy. They all are, actually.

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

And this is Cadence. Aren't they just the sweetest things? I'm glad we had so many children. It's a busy house, but at least there's always something going on.

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

It looks like getting the kids into private school paid off for Calypso, at least. She started taking violin lessons and became astonishingly good at it. She likes painting as well in her free time. Shame we neither have the room nor the money to buy a piano. I'm sure all the kids would like that.


She also managed to get an A+ in school that day. Her brother didn't do quite as well. I think he was a bit disappointed that he couldn't keep up. He did manage to raise his grades soon after that though.


I went to work again the next day and got another promotion. I liked politics, but being a judge is much more satisfying. Now I can actually apply the laws instead of spending endless hours haggling about new ones.


Of course having two more toddlers in the house also meant that we had to teach them all their skills. It was difficult to find the time with everything else going on in our house, but we did eventually manage to teach them all they had to know.


And since I had a few days off coming up, we decided to try for another baby. This will be our last, I think. The house is full, and I would like to reach the top of my career too at some point. Can't do that if I'm constantly on maternity leave.


The kids had a lot of time to themselves after school, and they spent most of it socializing. They've become good friends with their... well I guess he's their uncle, technically. In any case I think it's good for Apollo to have some contact with children his own age. He's practically growing up as an only child, after all.


Allegra is growing smarter by the day. She became the spelling bee at her school. I guess it was logical for her to be one of the smartest there, since she was one of the oldest as well. She was almost a teenager already.


That day Darren finally managed to get his last promotion in the military career. He was promoted to General!


He looks so sexy in his new uniform, you wouldn't believe. Much better than that astronaut suit. The helicopter that picks him up is a nuissance though. The passers by always complain about the noise.


It was a good time to get that promotion, I guess, beccause I found out that I was pregnant again. Not that we're having money troubles at this point, but it would be nice to add on to the house. It'll be crowded, at least until the first kids leave for college. I'm sad to see them growing up so fast, but then I'm really looking forward to the day when they graduate and get married.


That helicopter was starting to be a real nuissance, so Darren switched careers to sports. I guess he can still use his high physical prowess there. I was surprised when he became a superstar right off the bat. His popularity is bound to help my career once I get back to work!


There's always a birthday party every few days at our house and on Friday we even had a triple party. Well, a quadruple one if you want to count the birth as well. First, Allegra became a teenager.


I was hoping she'd be of help with her younger siblings, but she seems to be more interested in having fun. It's a pity. But at least she doesn't go romancing everything that moves like her older sister.

Allegra Foster: Pleasure, with a LTW to have 50 dream dates
Saggitarius: 2 sloppy, 3 shy, 9 active, 7 playful, 4 grouchy

She wasn't too thrilled to have to share her birthday party with the younger twins, but it would have been far too strenuous to throw three at the same time. Besides, we only had my brother and father as well as a few children from the neighbourhood over.

Here's my younger son, all grown up into a big boy. He looks so much like his father!


And his twin sister looks like a miniature version of Allegra. Only that she's more of a tomboy. I think the pirate costume is cute, though she might change her mind about wearing things like that once she's a teenager.


Thankfully we had the party relatively early in the afternoon, because I was glad that the guests were no longer there to see me give birth to our youngest. That's not how I want the neighbours to see me, especially since they're only kids themselves. I gave birth to a beautiful little girl that we named Rhapsody.


After her birthday Allegra became very interested in her good friend Keith McMillan. I'm a bit worried that he'll break her heart, since he's quite a bit older than her. He's going to head off to college soon, and Allegra only just hit highschool. But I guess there's no harm in getting her first kiss and going on a few dream dates, I guess.


Tempo was very interested in the other gender as well, although I'm quite sure the pretty blonde wasn't too interested in him, at least for now. We've really got to have a talk with him about not trying to copy his older siblings.


Well, Darren isn't getting any younger so he decided to quit being an active player now. Instead, he's going to train the team. At least he's home more often this way, and he doesn't have to fear that an injury will end his career anymore.


We invited the headmaster again so that the younger twins can go to his school once it starts up again on Monday. Since their older siblings got in just fine, it wasn't a problem. And I guess my fears about not getting any help from Allegra were unfounded. She did a great job of keeping her youngest sister out of my hair while I was entertaining the man.


Assistant Coaches don't get the weekend off, it seems, but that did have it's good sides. Darren is moving up swiftly in his new career. I'm almost jealous, since I haven't been able to snag that final promotion myself.


It's kind of embarrassing to admit, but I should probably get Darren to do a bit of private coaching with me as well. All those pregnancies and no time to exercise haven't done a lot for my figure. And the fact that I've learned how too cook quite well hasn't helped much either. Now that I'm done having children, I hope I can get rid of that baby fat again ASAP.


On Sunday it was time for another round of birthdays. It seems nobody ever gets one to themselves in here. Not surprising, since we have two sets of twins. This time it was the older set who grew up. We now have three teenagers in the house! We didn't throw a huge party again, just a few friends.


My oldest son grew up into quite a fetching young man.

Jazz Foster: Fortune, with a LTW to become a Business Tycoon

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

And though I'm not sure whether I'd have chosen the outfit myself it seems to work quite well for his sister.

Calypso Foster: Family, with a LTW to graduate 3 kids from college
Gemini: 2 sloppy, 9 outgoing, 9 active, 7 playful, 4 grouchy

Last but not least, Rhapsody already became a toddler. I can't believe there'll be no more babies in the house now. But with three teens in the house at least I can go back to work now without having to worry about babysitters.

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

End of round accomplishments:
- Allegra, Jazz and Calypso become teens, Tempo and Cadence become children and Rhapsody is born and ages to toddler.
- Darren reaches the TOC in the military and switches to sports
- All the kids get into private school
- Miranda gets two promotions, but regrets neglecting her figure.

Points this round:
- 1 for the new baby, Rhapsody
- 1 for Darren's TOC in the Military