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

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