Pushard Round 10

And we're off... Round 10!

Last round at the Pushard's, Jaiden continued to make friends and worked at her grocery store, training James to one day take over. She also hired a new employee who wasn't really working out but refused to quit. Allan dappled in pottery and earned a gold pottery badge. In his precious free time, James headed downtown and met up with an unexpected young lady, Magenta Devivio, who was the same age as his sister. James and Magenta went on a few dates and really hit it off. Victoria went on a few dates with her friend, Keith Lee, but her heart was still with her boyfriend, Emmett Hoppes who was off at Sim State. At the end of the round, Victoria went off to university where she could be reunited with him. Lets see how things go this round as Jaiden and Allan age in to elders and the last of their children goes off to college.

Pushard (Lot 1) Thursday-Tuesday
Pictured (left to right): James Hurt, Allan Pushard, Jaiden Hurt
Jar Card 244 (Open from R9): Hire a sim and work them until they quit
Jar Card 123: No career [or aspiration] rewards for 1 round

We're going to ring in the beginning of a new round with a Birthday party. Jaiden, being a popularity sim, couldn't have been more excited... any excuse to throw a party, she thought. She conveniently ignored the fact that the party was to ring in she and Allan entering their Golden Years

The guests started to arrive right on cue

Kurt and Brittany Devivio

Melody and Darren Eich, Tia Eich, Jack Copur

Victoria Hurt

Allan and Jaiden entertained their guests a little before it was time for cake

When everyone was settled in, the group went into the dining room to witness Allan and Jaiden's transition into Elderhood

As soon as the candles were extinguished it seemed that Allan and Jaiden could feel the years wash over them, they both had everything they wanted so far in life, it was time to sit back and enjoy it

Allan Pushard

Jaiden Hurt

Even as old fogies, Allan and Jaiden knew how to have a good time. The guests all enjoyed themselves thoroughly, even James and Victoria

The party turned out to be a good time for all

The next morning, after Breakfast, Allan gave Jaiden her birthday present. Jaiden was a little confused why he didn't give it to her the evening before, but she happily accepted it nonetheless

After that, it was back to business. Jaiden harvested the winter vegetables and packed them into crates to head off to the market

When she had finished packing up the harvest, Jaiden was surprised to see a sprite-ly looking lady waiting for her. The young woman told Jaiden that he years of commitment to nature had earned her recognition with the nature club.

The market was bustling with people eager to get some fresh produce for spring

It was so busy all of Jaiden's employees were hustling. Jaiden was glad that she had brought James along to help her on the register that particular afternoon. He wasn't very good at it yet, but eventually he'd get the hang of it

It was at the store that Jaiden could really feel her age catching up with her. She couldn't work as hard as she used to without stopping for frequent coffee breaks

While Jaiden and James were off at the store, Allan was having a rough day. First, his dog, Suzi died. She'd been with him his entire adult life, he took it pretty hard

It also seemed that nobody was home that day, he tried calling many of his friends, and all he got was answering machines

Allan thought he was hallucinating when he saw a giant pink bunny show up in his foyer. Strangely the company of the imaginary bunny made him feel less lonely though

That evening when they returned from the store, James applied for his scholarships

and went off to join up with his sister and girlfriend at Sim State

After hearing of Allan's plight the previous day, and feeling a little empty nest herself, Jaiden went out to the wishing well and made a wish that they would never feel lonely again

Minutes later, as though through magic, she was surrounded by close friends

Scoring: 0 points (1 point for Jaiden's nature hobby plaque, -1 point for a social bunny visit)

Household Net-Worth: whoops didn't write it down! will check later

((This was a pretty uneventful round at the Pushard house. I actually find Jaiden and Allan more endearing as elders. The jar card for this lot was actually no career rewards for 1 round, but I expanded it to be no aspiration rewards as well... Running a business was really difficult without use of the energizer, and there aren't any snapdragons in the store either. The social bunny was a complete accident. Usually Allan does his own thing, I rarely even look at his needs because he usually takes care of them himself. When I looked it was too late and the social bunny had already shown up. I can't wait to see James as a YA, he's still sitting in the sim bin so I don't know if his features will balance out or not. Magenta is waiting for him at the Greek house. We're off to the Teer household next!))

Hoppes 2 (R9)

Emmett Hoppes is a freshly minted graduate of Sim State and bach-ing it up on his own this round. How will he do with his girlfriend, Victoria still off at school? Lets find out... ((This will be short and sweet... you know how single sims are))

Hoppes (Lot 14) Monday-Saturday
Pictured: Emmett Hoppes
Jar Card 63: Throw a theme party

Emmett settled into an unfinished house in Silvervale and managed to get a mid-level job in the Artist career track.

With his love of painting he figured it would give him a good graphics background to break into the game design industry one day. Plus... he was good at it

The job not only required him to be good at painting, but he also had to be social with people. Emmett frequently visited community gathering places to meet people and talk about his art

The socializing paid off and Emmett was able to earn another promotion

To celebrate the promotion, Emmett decided to throw a little party so his family and friends could see the house that he was working on fixing up. Plus it would be nice to be able to watch the big game together

After the game, everyone stuck around and caught up. They were impressed how well Emmett seemed to be doing so soon after college

The party turned out to be a great success and the family was glad to be able to catch up

Of course, Victoria ended up spending the night after all the other guests left

Victoria left the next day and Emmett headed off to work. Unfortunately for him he made a very costly mistake and took on a project that was just too large for him at the point in his career

Scoring: 0 points this round

Household Net-Worth: 36,875

((Yeah, like I said, short and sweet round. Emmett didn't do much other than skill and socialize for promotions. I built Emmett a victorian style house but the land and the shell of the house cost almost his entire 20k so it's not decorated or furnished too much yet. The party was nice and Emmett got to socialize with his family. The 50k penalty didn't really hurt too much because Emmett had less than 1000 simoleans. I ended up spending his money immediately after he got it so the 50k took him down to 0 but really it wasn't that much anyway. Just a few bloopers... while Emmett was out at a community lot, Columbia Devivio really had it out for this townie, they constantly were picking on each other

Moral of the story: Don't mess with Columbia. This is the last house on the playlist this round so we'll be cycling back to the Pushard's next and the beginning of Round 10 -- woot!))

Devivio 5 (R9)

Last time we saw Brad and Tessa was at University. Tessa discovered she was pregnant again and had to drop out of college. Brad finished up his degree and moved back to Silvervale. Lets see how this fledgling family is adjusting to life in the real world

Devivio (Lot 13) Monday-Saturday
Pictured (from left) Brad Devivio holding Carmen Ramirez, Tessa Ramirez
Jar Card 23: Dance by yourself or with Family Members

Despite his disappointment with his daughter dropping out of college, Checo Ramirez made sure to set Tessa and Brad up in a nice house in Silvervale.

Brad wasn't able to find a job in the Education field right away, but since they needed money, Brad took a job as a field agent in Sofia's SCIA office.

Because of Brad's job most of the child rearing esponsibilities fell to Tessa. Tessa was pleased though because Carmen was a very happy and amenable child, she always listened to her parents. She never fussed when they took her to the potty chair

and she loved learning anything she could from Tessa

She also loved the music that her parents played on the piano, she would sit there and wiggle and dance all day as long as they were playing, it was her favorite thing to do

Brad managed to do well in his new position. He got a chance card and was able to make a good impression right off the bat

On the off chance that he had a day off of work, Brad liked to invite friends and relatives over to socialize. One afternoon he invited over his cousin, Marty and his girlfriend, Sierra

Things were going fine until Marty though Sierra was getting too friendly with Brad. He wasn't pleased with her

Needless to say, Marty and Sierra headed home after the little incident

Carmen was growing so fast, it was soon time for her birthday

Carmen grew up into a gorgeous child with characteristics of both of her parents

Carmen Ramirez

If possible Carmen was even more playful as a child than she had been as a toddler. Much to her parents chagrin, she would always be jump-roping in the living room

She also still really enjoyed dancing around when either Brad or Tessa were tickling the ivories

With all the activity the little girl did, often to her parents delight, she would crash on the couch easily before bedtime

One night, after tucking Carmen in for the night, Tessa started to feel the familiar contractions, but it was more painful than she remembered it to be when she had Carmen

Tessa gave birth to two bouncing babies a girl named Nina and a boy named Xavier

Xavier favored his mothers coloring

Xavier Ramirez

And Nina favored her fathers coloring with the black hair of her grandma Sofia

Nina Ramirez

Brad adored his growing family, he had gained so many lifetime aspiration points that it was time for him to choose a secondary aspiration. During all of Tessa's pregnancies she had silly cravings, Brad was beginning to think that he cravings had worn off on him and he chose Grilled Cheese.

Brad's very large family was definitely a help while raising the twins. Grandma Sofia came over frequently to help Brad and Tessa care for Xavier and Nina

Having babysitters close by also allowed Brad and Tessa to have some alone time, something they didn't get nearly enough of

Finally one afternoon Brad found a position in his dream career of Education

Unfortunately the university required a somewhat lengthy commute so he wasn't home nearly as much in the daytime.

While the twins were napping, and Carmen was at school, Tessa took time to catch up with her friends on the phone. She was still usually chatting away when Carmen came home from school

Tessa was exhausted by the time Brad got home from work. Homework help usually fell to Brad because Tessa went to be as soon as he got home to relieve her of her stay-at-home-mom duties

As time tends to do, it flew by and before they knew it, it was time for Xavier and Nina to transition into toddlerhood

Xavier Ramirez

Nina Ramirez

They didn't think it was possible, but things were even more hard to handle with the twins as toddlers. Tessa implored Brad to hire a nanny to help her out during the day while he was at work. Reluctantly, given the poor reputation of the local nanny service, Brad hired some daytime help for his fiance

On the first day of the nanny's employment, Tessa couldn't have been more happy that Brad had agreed to hire her. Tessa found out that she would be expecting again, which would inevitably mean she would be ill prepared to deal with the twins

Unfortunately for the young family, it didn't appear that the nanny was any better equipped or trained to deal with two toddlers either

Scoring: 2 points (1 for each of the twins)

Household Net-Worth: 73,111

((Well I've made up my mind to try for the 10 kids LTW with Brad and Tessa, though it's not starting out too well and I might change my mind, we'll see... The twins are definitely a handful and with Tessa being almost perma-pregnant it's difficult for her to watch over them. I need a few non-pregnant days so I can get these two married! Back in my noob days when I gave Sofia a hairstyle in the custom bin her custom genetics carried over. I didn't realize that this was the same thing with her sons. I had changed the girls' genetics to just make them have black hair, but not Brad and Franks so I was surprised when Sofia's custom hair showed up on Nina. I have since gone into SimPE and changed all the genetics so they just reflect a color and not custom hair. As an aside with the Marty and Sierra thing... they came over I was watching Tessa and Carmen and totally not paying attention to what was happening outside. I guess Sierra flirted with Brad and Marty got pissed? No clue... Anyway, I'm glad Tessa was busy training Carmen some skill otherwise she surely would have gone ballistic too. We're off to the last house on the playlist for Round 9 -- Emmett Hoppes))