Week Six Part Nine: Lothlorien

Francine (Riedmayer) Whitfill: 44 years old. Aspiration: Knowledge. LTW: Become World-Class Ballet Dancer. Astrological sign: Virgo.
Jihoon Whitfill: 37 years old. Aspiration: Pleasure. LTW: Have 50 Dream Dates. Astrological sign: Cancer.
Lauren Whitfill: 9 years old. Astrological sign: Virgo.
Rishell "River" Whitfill: 6 years old. Astrological sign: Scorpio.
Elijah Whitfill: 1 year old.
Tamara Whitfill: 1 year old.

Jihoon's family. He's the middle child.

Francine's family. She's the middle child too. (Well, 3 of 7, but in many ways she's much more middle-child-ish than Millie.)

"Cost of Living"
narrated by Jihoon Whitfill

So, um, hi. I guess Fran told you about, you know, our life. At least most of it. I think she left off after the twins were born, right?

Okay then. Um, well, we'd tried to get the girls--Lauren and River--into private school right after the twins were born, but I guess the headmaster wasn't impressed by our hectic household. So we tried again a year later, you know, when the twins were a bit older, and that time they got in. It made Fran really happy, plus now the girls are in school with all their cousins. I always liked having my big brothers look out for me. They've got plenty of older cousins on Fran's side, so they won't get picked on in school.

I was teaching at, you know, the college level. I taught art, 'cause that's pretty much the only thing I'm good at. Anyway, somehow I got, um, nominated to be Education Minister. I didn't really want the job, but we kind of needed the money, with four kids to feed, so I took it.

Soon, the twins were two years old, so, not babies anymore. Toddlers are really hard. We spent all the time we weren't at work taking care of them.

You know, teaching them to use the potty...

...coaxing them to walk...

...and making sure they could talk right.

With all that going on, we didn't have a whole lot of time to spend on the big girls. They're good girls, though. They would just play together in their room or practice ballet or whatever when we were busy with the twins. Fran's a dancer, you know, so she makes sure the girls do ballet. Says it's good to have a strong body to go with a strong mind.

She'd give them little lessons every chance she got when she wasn't busy with the twins.

So, well, time went by pretty quick, with how busy we were. Seemed like just a day or two before it was Lauren's twelfth birthday. That's, you know, kind of a big deal in our culture. We couldn't afford to get her anything real fancy, but Fran took her out for some new clothes and makeup and stuff. It made me feel funny, looking at my little girl all grown-up...practically, anyway.

Not too long after that, it was time for the twins to go to school. Lemme tell you that Fran and I both breathed a sigh of relief on that day. We love those kids, but man were they a lot of work the first few years.

We got them a couple of easels as birthday presents. Fran and I have always loved to paint, and we wanted to pass that on to our kids...my mom passed it on to me; Fran actually uses the easel that used to belong to her. Anyway, they took to it like fish to water.

I stopped working in education 'round about that time...Fran suggested it; she could see I was unhappy and thought that a change of career might do me good. So now I'm working at a club sort of place downtown, doing entertainment--juggling and stuff like that. I guess the guy they used to have quit to be an oceanographer. I told them there's no danger of that happening to me. I've never been the science type.

'Course, with me juggling and Fran dancing, we were both gone in the evenings, and Lauren was too young to look after all the other kids. Luckily, we have lots of brothers and sisters around to babysit.

Not too long after that, Fran became world-famous for her dancing. She was the happiest I've ever seen her when that happened...said it's been a dream of hers since she was a little girl. Now she's probably going to retire, since dancing is hard work when you are getting a bit older. Said she might see if her stepfather has something for her to do, more of a desk job.

Next thing we knew, it was time for River's birthday. She turned out just as pretty as her sister...though I might be a bit biased.

We didn't get her anything in particular for her birthday, 'cept clothes and stuff, but we did end up fixing up the house that year. We made over the living room first, so that when we have our families over they've actually got somewhere to sit and all that.

Then we fixed up the bedrooms. Elijah has his own, 'cause he's the only boy. Most of the toys are in there, but he knows he has to share. It's just that his room has the most space for toys and stuff.

The girls' room is plenty big enough for their beds, but there isn't a whole lot of extra space...or at least that's what Fran says when she tells them not to leave stuff out on the floor.

Sometimes I remember how me and my mom and my brothers and sisters all lived in a little house that was hardly bigger than our living room now, and didn't even have proper walls...but we were together, and we were family, and we were happy. Sometimes I wonder if maybe we all--Fran and the kids and me--wouldn't be happier if we didn't have so much stuff, didn't have to work so hard to buy it and keep it and all that. Not like I want my kids to be out in the cold, but they're growing up so fast and I'd like to actually be there for it, not just sort of watch it fly by me.

Anyway, I guess that's enough talking. I ought to go play with the kids now.

The downstairs is much improved over last week...it has walls and doors and all sorts of other fancy luxuries.

The upstairs hasn't changed much, though you saw that there's some better furniture and decor.

And the outside hasn't changed a bit.

Notes:

1. Jihoon hasn't made much progress at all towards his LTW. Now that the kids are more self-sufficient, he and Fran might have to do some marathon dating. 

He did manage to top his first career, though, as you saw in the update. Once he tops his second career he might be my first Prosperity Sim to retire--I just get the vibe that he doesn't like working and would rather stay home and paint.

2. Fran fulfilled TOC and LTW #1, so she's pretty happy. Her new LTW is to become a Criminal Mastermind. That really didn't seem to fit at first but it's been growing on me.

3. Lauren is a Popularity Sim with the LTW to become Captain Hero. She only has about 2 outgoing points, so I hope that Popularity thing works out for her...

4. River is a Knowledge Sim with the LTW to become a City Planner. 

5. Fran actually was doing simultaneous potty training in that picture. You learn these things when you fail Toddlermania. (Twice.) 

6. Donte "babysitting" was all smoke and mirrors...he just randomly came over to visit while the grown-ups were at work and stayed almost all night. But in real life, you'd never leave your 13-year-old in charge for 8 hours at a stretch, and in real life you'd be able to ask your friends and family to come over instead of having to hire a nanny.