Round 7 Part 6: Bridgeview (2053 - 2057)

Greg and Joan are 61 years old, Joseph is 21, Seth is 17, 

Jeannie is 15, Gabriel and Edward are 14, Brian is 10.

"Starlight"

narrated by Greg Pons

You might think, if you didn't know us too well, that my wife Joan and I are pretty close to being empty nesters. We sent two more kids off to college recently--the big boys, Joe and Seth...

Our seventh child, Brian, became a teenager...

And our oldest, Sarah, is about to give us a grandchild!

But I think Joan has been feeling at loose ends since she lost her job at the magazine a few years back. They fired her, if you can believe that, after she worked there for years without giving them any trouble. They made up some cock-and-bull story about how she made a mistake that cost them a lot of money, but I think they just figured she was nearing retirement age and if they sacked her they wouldn't have to pay a pension.

She still writes her novels, but I guess that doesn't fill her days enough.

So she called the social worker who arranged our last three adoptions and got us doing this "long-term foster care" gig. Here's Lisa--she was our first placement.

And Starla was the second. Of course, I know what "long-term foster care" really means. It means that in six months or a year or so, once I've gotten good and attached to these girls, Joan is going to give me a speech about how if they're going to stay with us for the long haul anyway we might as well make it official. And I'll agree like I always do.

It's not that I mind kids, but at our age they should be grandkids, so we can hand them back at the end of the day and go enjoy a well-deserved night of uninterrupted sleep!

Admittedly, the older kids do help, though we insist that their studies and even hobbies come first. Jeannie even insists on sharing a room with the little girls, though we've got plenty of space. Says she misses Sarah and it's easy enough to get her studying done while watching to make sure Lisa doesn't climb out of the crib after bedtime.

Even Joan's mom, who's nearly 80 and getting quite frail, makes the effort to come over and see the new girls. She was thrilled when Lisa started calling her "Grandma"--Lisa's number 21 or 22 or something for her, but she acts like it's Sarah all over again.

So I fall into line (military training teaches you that almost as well as wives do!) and make sure the little girls are as well-provided-for as all the others. Getting Starla into private school was easy enough. I know all the headmasters and they know me, or at least know my checkbook--I've probably put all their kids through college with the tuition I've paid over the years!

Oh, and we got a dog. What we need a dog for with nine kids I'll never know, but Joan read something on the Simternet about dogs being good for visually impaired children, so next thing I know I was being sent to the pet store to pick up Dawn. Starla seems to like the creature at any rate, and if Joan takes a shine to it as well maybe I can convince her to get a puppy instead when she inevitably starts pestering me about another kid!

Notes:

- Brian is a Pleasure Sim, LTW 50 Dream Dates. Ugh.

- Greg will lose the kid debate one last time, and then I am never doing the 10 Kids IW again. It is way too much work--though not as much as 50 Dream Dates!

- According to the timestamp, I took the pictures for this update in March of 2013--about when my son was conceived, and he can walk and talk now! I obviously need to stay on top of this blog better.

Week Six Part Six: Bridgeview

Greg Pons: 54 years old. Aspiration: Popularity. LTW: Become General. Astrological sign: Aries.
Joan Pons: 54 years old. Aspiration: Family. LTW: Marry Off 6 Children. Astrological sign: Leo.
Sarah Pons: 17 years old. Aspiration: Fortune. LTW: Become the Law. Astrological sign: Aries.
Joseph Pons: 14 years old. Aspiration: Romance. LTW: Have 20 Simultaneous Lovers. Astrological sign: Aries.
Seth Pons: 10 years old. Astrological sign: Gemini.
Jeannie Pons: 8 years old. Astrological sign: Aries.
Gabriel Pons: 7 years old. Astrological sign: Aries.
Edward Pons: 7 years old. Astrological sign: Aquarius.

Here is Joan's family tree. Joan's mother, Beata, is the most prolific Sim in Prosperity Plains, with 7 children and 19 grandchildren. She is not even a Family Sim, but Popularity. Joan is a Family Sim, so she is likely to surpass her mother someday.

Greg is a former townie teen, so he has no family save his wife and children. 

"Multiplication"
Narrated by Joan Pons

Hello! You want updates on me and all my kids? Well, my eldest daughter, Sarah, flew the coop a while back. I made sure to give her some Tupperware containers of frozen chicken soup--told her she could thaw one out if she ever had a cold or the flu and it'd make her feel better right away. I think she was a little skeptical, but she took it to please her old mother.

Sarah's always been such a good girl and never once complained about having to help out with all her younger siblings, but I could tell that she was really excited to strike out on her own. She got four scholarships--for good grades, good job performance, high mechanical skill, and high creativity skill. Greg and I were--are--very proud of her.

I missed her something awful, but at least I could reassure myself with the thought that the younger kids wouldn't be leaving me for quite a while. I still had four in elementary school at that point. They would bring home their cousins from school all the time, plus that little girl from across town, Priscilla. One time I caught Joe rocking out on the guitar so all the little kids could dance along. It was pretty adorable, but don't tell Joe that. He was in high school by then and thought he was way too cool for little kid games. 

From left: Joe, Seth, Jeannie, Charles Riedmayer (cousin), River Whitfill (cousin), Priscilla Kules (neighbor), Edward.

Once we saw Sarah off, we decided it was high time to call up the headmaster and get the little kids into private school. Joe and Seth had gotten in before, but things had been too busy for us to get the other three in. They got in pretty easy, though. The headmaster remembered us from before and knew we were a fine, upstanding family.

Academics at the private school were a bit more rigorous than at the public school, so Greg and I had to spend the evenings helping the kids with their homework until they got settled into the new routine. They caught on pretty quick, all three of them. I have some clever kids.

Jeannie already knew how to study and was just doing her homework, but doesn't it look like Joan is tutoring two kids at once?

Round about that time I was doing really well professionally--I published my third novel and it sold really well; my work in the art world got me hailed as a visionary--that sort of thing. Greg and I used the extra income to expand our house, since it was starting to feel a little cramped with our kids getting bigger by the day. We added a second floor with four bedrooms and bathrooms. We told Seth and Joe that they could split up and have their own rooms, but they wouldn't hear of it. (They're the oldest, so we figured we'd give them priority.) Gabe and Edward didn't want to split either, so we made the fourth room into a playroom. 

Downstairs, we knocked out a couple of bedrooms so we could have more room in the kitchen and living room. The old nursery, next to the master bedroom, got turned into an office, so I could stay up late working on novels without bothering Greg.

The renovations were actually paid for by a chance card...something about whether Joan should take a job painting for an organized crime boss. I figured that since her stepfather is leading Criminal Mastermind in Prosperity Plains, she's probably personal friends with this crime boss and would happily paint his house for him. My guess paid off big for the Pons family.

Joan's TOC bonus didn't hurt, though.

(TOC #1 for Joan.)

I switched from art to journalism after I became a visionary--writing has always been my passion more than the visual arts. The hours were good too; Greg and I didn't have to hire a nanny at all. Greg leaves for the base real early in the morning and gets home around the time the kids get home from school--the teens are alone for maybe an hour, but that's not a big deal. I do morning duty--getting the kids on the bus and such--and then have a few hours to myself for novel-writing before I have to head off to spend the afternoon and early evening at work. Then the teens all have after-school jobs, so we don't sit down and have family time until 9:00 or 10:00 at night. We let the kids stay up later than they should, probably, but Greg says they all take naps after school regularly, so I figure they're okay. 

I'm getting ahead of myself, though. Around the same time we extended the house, Seth turned 12 and headed off to high school with Joe. He talked about being a chef like his uncle Blake (Blake Whitfill, married to Joan's sister Millie), which is a fine ambition, but I worry about him sometimes. He and Joe are always talking about all the girls they're going to date once they head off to college and meet some that aren't their cousins. I'm not saying everybody's got to settle down right away and have a huge family, but I'd like to see all my kids settled someday. I suppose they've got time; I don't plan on dying anytime soon.

Seth Pons, Pleasure, Become Celebrity Chef

He seems to have his mother's eyes and chin

and his father's nose and mouth. 

Hopefully he'll grow into his features a bit...

It's a good thing we did build onto the house, because a few weeks after Seth's birthday we got a call from our old social worker, the one who handled things when we adopted Jeannie and Edward. Jeannie had gone into foster care when she was four years old and we adopted her when she was five. Apparently, right after we adopted her, her biological mother gave birth to a little boy. 

Now this second child was five years old and she was facing having him taken away by the state and decided to see if we could adopt him instead, to save him from having to go into foster care. (We sent her pictures and letters from time to time, so she knew Jeannie was happy and doing well.) Greg was a little worried about taking on a seventh child at our age, but I talked him into it. We met Brian for the first time a few weeks later and within a year he was officially a member of the Pons family.

We had figured on letting Brian have the playroom as his bedroom, but the little boys wouldn't hear of it. So we had three of them all in a room together--I think it helped Brian to adjust, not being all alone at night. 

Somehow, having my own study didn't afford me a lot of extra privacy. The kids seemed to have some kind of radar to know when I was writing and they'd all be in the study at once, practicing the violin or doing their homework or whatever. I can't say I mind too much; why would I have seven kids if I didn't want to be surrounded by children the rest of my life?

This was pretty much unposed and I thought it was hilarious.

Of course, we got Brian into private school as soon as we could. Greg and the headmaster are best friends by now--Greg is one of those people who makes friends with everyone he meets--and the home visit was pretty much going through the motions. We all knew Brian would get in.

Greg got about 30 schmooze points just by greeting the headmaster! I think they're best friends, which could explain it.

I was glad to have Brian around, because before I knew it all the "little" kids were heading off to high school. Jeannie was first. She is a really pretty girl, but isn't interested in boys yet. She keeps her nose buried pretty well in books--she's not too serious, though; says she wants to design video games for a living when she's older. 

Jeannie Pons: Knowledge, Become Game Designer

The next year, it was Gabe and Edward's turn. Edward is a lot like Jeannie in temperament, but even more serious and bookish. He says he wants to be a world-renowned scientist when he grows up.

Edward Pons: Knowledge, Become Mad Scientist. 
He was the last to grow up and I was kind of hoping he'd be Popularity so Joan and Greg would have the complete collection, but he's really better suited for Knowledge anyway. Maybe Brian will roll Popularity.

Gabe, on the other hand, seems to take after me. He has been telling me lately how all he really wants to do is have a big family. 

Gabriel Pons: Family, Marry Off 6 Children. He has the same mouth/chin combo as Seth, but somehow he pulls it off better, I think.

Gabe has even been telling me who he wants to have that big family with. I think it's a little crazy for a 14-year-old to be thinking such things, but at least he's latched onto a nice girl. Her name is Alexis and she's related somehow to that Priscilla girl from across town. My biggest concern is that she's eight years older than Gabe. That's why I kind of think it's just puppy love at this point, though Gabe claims that they're soul mates and will get married someday. 

Gabe and Alexis are a 2-bolt couple, and both Family Sims, so I think they'll have a future together...

Maybe I shouldn't worry about him getting in over his head, though, considering that I noticed him giving Alexis noogies out on the front lawn. I don't think that's the way to impress a beautiful older woman...

It hasn't just been the kids getting older. Greg and I are 61 now, and starting to look rather wrinkled and gray-haired.

Greg is more handsome as an elder than as an adult, I think. He's wearing a very ugly suit, though. I got him some new clothes right away.

Joan is still very pretty. Sarah is still a teen because I hadn't loaded the college lot yet.

Greg and Joan weren't permaplat, but they were both regular platinum, so they should be with us a good long while yet. (As of the beginning of Week 7, Greg is an astronaut, just 1 promotion away from permaplat. Joan still has to marry off 5 children, though.)

Greg has been focusing on helping the kids get scholarships for college and things. He's assuming that we're going to be focusing on that sort of thing from here on out...but there's a tiny part of me that wonders if we should say goodbye to the little-kid stage just yet...

Here's the house at the end of the week. Not much has changed from the renovation pictures above, but you can see it from a different angle.

The second floor. Joe and Seth sleep in the room on the left, Jeannie in the room on the right, and the other three boys in the room in back.

The outside. The mahjong tables are from Family Sunday, which was unremarkable and therefore didn't make it into the update. I should move the obstacle course; when I was having Greg train the boys they kept getting in each other's way. (I was yelling "You are too stupid to live!" at my computer and my husband didn't bat an eyelash. He's a gamer too.)

Odd pic out: As it turns out, Greg is good friends with Zeeshan Kimbrell, father of Agatha Riedmayer's illegitimate son. Here they are talking about how hot Agatha is. Greg had better not let his wife catch him talking about her aunt that way...

Week Five Part Six: Bridgeview

 

Greg Pons, 47 years old. Aspiration: Popularity. LTW: Become General. Astrological sign: Aries.

Joan Pons, 47 years old. Aspiration: Family. LTW: Marry Off 6 Children. Astrological sign: Leo.

Sarah Pons, 10 years old. Astrological sign: Aries.

Joseph Pons, 7 years old. Astrological sign: Aries.

Seth Pons, 3 years old. Astrological sign: Gemini.

Gabriel Pons, baby.

This tree should look familiar; you've seen a similar tree in the last two updates. Joan is a member of the mighty Riedmayer clan and thus has many, many relatives; Greg is an ex-townie and therefore has no relatives at all save his wife and children. 

Incidentally, I think it's kind of cool that I started out with 4 families. It feels kind of elemental or something.

Life in the Pons household was a constant bustle of activity. In addition to the two busy parents and four active kids who lived there full-time, Joan's various relatives seemed to be over almost every day--the older ones helped with childcare; the younger ones just provided friendship to the kids.

(From top left: Step-grandpa Malcolm holds Gabe; Joe chats with Cousin Todd;  Aunt Edith holds Gabe while Step-grandpa Malcolm looks on; Joe chats with Aunt Maggie; Sarah chats with Aunt Marion; Gabe gets attention from Grandma Beata.)

Meanwhile, birthdays happened constantly. In just one year, Sarah turned 12 and thus moved from primary school to upper school, Seth turned 5 and thus started primary school, and Gabe turned 2 and thus started potty-training and other such important things. (And Joseph turned 9, which was important but not quite the same sort of milestone.) 

Sarah Pons, daughter of Joan (Riedmayer) Pons and Greg Pons. S4 skin, black hair, gray eyes. Aspiration: Fortune. Lifetime want: Become The Law. 

 

In that same eventful year, Joan and Greg celebrated their 15th anniversary. Inspired by Millie and Blake's stories of their Twiiki Island honeymoon, they decided to book a weeklong stay at the Potterhouse Bungalows themselves. Joan was reluctant to leave her children (she'd never left any of them for more than a day, and Gabe was still so small!) but she ended up enjoying herself immensely relaxing, seeing the sights, and reconnecting with Greg as a couple instead of just as co-parents. She did head straight for Gabe's crib and wake him up for a snuggle the second she got home, however.

Shortly after they returned home, Greg and Joan decided that it was high time to try to get the older children into private school. A man named Vince came over to evaluate them and ended up accepting Sarah into the upper school and Joseph and Seth into the primary school.

I had a whole series of pictures of this meal; flipping through them is amusing because Todd and Gabe suddenly appear in the background and play peek-a-boo at one point.

Before they left for their first day, Joan took a picture of all three kids in their new uniforms.

(Joseph is on the left, Seth is on the right. I think.)

As time passed, Joan noticed that her three boys were quickly becoming best friends, but that Sarah was often off by herself. Part of that could be that Sarah was a teenager with teenage concerns like scholarships and an after-school job, but Joan started to wonder if maybe she felt left out in the house full of boys.

(From left: Seth, Gabe, Joe.)

Joan had rather hoped to have a fifth child at some point, but at 50 years old her chances of another pregnancy were pretty slim. Besides, that child would be at least 14 years younger than Sarah. So she discussed matters with Greg and after much deliberation signed on as foster-to-adopt parents with Sim City Social Services. Jeannie was placed with them almost immediately. She was 5 years old at the time, 9 1/2 years younger than Sarah. (And just six months older than Gabriel.)

Despite the age gap, Jeannie and Sarah soon became fast friends and happily shared a room. 

In the process of adopting Jeannie, Joan and Greg met a little boy named Edward. He looked like Sarah and was exactly a week younger than Gabriel, which tugged at Joan's maternal heartstrings. He was available for adoption and they had room; Gabriel was by himself in the bedroom that had been the nursery for so many years. So it was that Edward arrived at the Pons household some months after Jeannie did.

Edward fit right in and Gabe was delighted to have a "twin."

Of course, not everything was gender-segregated in the Pons household. Jeannie loved playing blocks with her new brothers.

Meanwhile, Edward seemed to be musically inclined like his new sister Sarah.

During this time period, Greg began to feel that his life in the music-making world was taking too much of a toll on him. He wanted to be home for his family more, with two new children and the older kids rapidly becoming teenagers. He managed to enlist in the military, which had been his dream for many years. Joan supported him even though it meant a drastic reduction in the family's income; her work as an artist was lucrative enough that they could weather a few lean years even with six children to support, and she had recently sold a successful novel, a sequel to the one she'd published her senior year of college.

(TOC #1 for Greg, and now he can finally work on his lifetime want.)

Joan and Greg were especially concerned about Joseph. Around the time he entered upper school he started talking about how he wanted to have tons of women hanging on his arm all the time when he was older. His parents hoped that it was a phase he would outgrow. Joan in particular wanted to see all of her children happily settled with families of their own someday.

Joseph Pons, son of Joan (Riedmayer) Pons and Greg Pons. S3 skin, black hair, light blue eyes. Aspiration: Romance. Lifetime want: Have 20 Simultaneous Lovers.

With a face like that and only 1 nice point, that'd never fly in the real world. Meanwhile, I'm tired of Romance, so he'll probably see the light in college and reform. 

 

The inside of the house was not much different at the end of the week. The nursery is now Gabe and Edward's room, and there's some new furniture in the common area, including a Rock Hammer. That's about it.

The only difference on the outside is the obstacle course.

Technically, Joan was young enough that she could have had a couple more children, but the way I calculate her age, she was 50, so I decided to have them adopt instead. Besides, adopting is cool.

(Two of my real-life siblings were adopted.)