Matthews Family Legacy G2E2

If you're new to the Ella Matthews Legacy, you can go {here} to begin reading with Episode 1!

In the last episode (G2E1), Generation 2's matriarch Alyson and her husband Quentin had their first child (Elliott, Generation 3 heir), and her sister Amelia left home (shew!). Little by little, this legacy is continuing on. 

Even though I'm moving the non-heir kids out as soon as they get an A in high school, it's still a little sad to see them go in a way. And today Sebastian got an A. Time to say goodbye, my young klepto fan. Time to wreak havoc with the town as a young adult.

Sebastian celebrated by himself. It was at night and everyone else was in bed.

He aged up with a decent trait this time. At least he's a cheerful klepto. *snort* 

I selected an aspiration for him. Along with his skills-set, I chose for him to seek the line of comedian.

Out the door he went, and I selected a nice little home for him to live in. Hopefully he'll find a partner who'll put up with him, and maybe he'll even have a kid or two. Who knows.

He's set up in his own home now, with a new career and some furniture to get him started.
Good luck to ya, kid. Sorry you won't get my full attention anymore. But hey, surprise me with some hopeful pursuits, eh?

Back to the main legacy house... Elliott and grandma Ella (who is stiiiiill an Adult, thanks to that aging up glitch that should've taken her to Elderhood) are hanging out together. Elliott seems like a pretty talkative kid. I've noticed that some sims will sit at a table, eating or doing homework, and never speak. Not this kid. He's a Motor Aspiration sim, but I swear I think he's a closet Social Aspiration kid.

He has a B in school, so he may be aging to Teen soon.

Meanwhile, Gramps Sergio is about to kick the bucket. Poor dude has been anticipating death for three sim days now. He doesn't seem to be feeling pressure though. Although he does have some sort of rash right now. Yikes.

I figure he'll pass away on the cusp of maxing out his piano skill. We'll see.

Grandma Ella got stuck. Tried to reset her, and it didn't work. In this picture, she is in the back yard talking to her husband Sergio through two walls, where he is in the dining room eating.

Those walls must be pretty thin.

Thankfully, closing the game and reloading set her to rights. Girl, don't be pulling anymore stunts. My time is precious, you know.

The artwork done by Ella and son-in-law Quentin is adding up. Sergio's music that he writes is adding a nice bonus, and Alyson's produce is selling at decent rates now.

They have nicely racked up some money, so I did a little renovating and added on some rooms and replaced the cheapie windows with more expensive ones.

Little by little, the house is improving, and the outdoors is coming along as well.

They've got a huge lot to fill up, and I imagine that it may not take them long to do it, with how quickly the money is piling up.

"You woke me at 2AM to tell me what?"

Alyson is flapping her arms like mad, and she's so excited she can't talk straight.

Quentin thinks this could've waited till 6am. "I guess you're pregnant? You act like this is the first time. Elliott is almost a teenager, so I guess you're just dying to get your hands on a baby, right? I'll let you wake up to feed it."

She's thrilled as can be. It's about time this  house gets filled up with kids again. At least now everyone has room to breathe.

Alyson was in a good mood after announcing her pregnancy, so I had her go ahead and get an early start on the garden. Alyson has the Freelance Botanist aspiration. She's doing very well with her gardening, and I think she'll definitely finish it before she croaks.

I've not had a Cowplant in Sims 4. I only ever had one in Sims 2, and I let it die. So I'll be anxious to see what happens with this one.

Last night, Sergio spun the want to Woohoo with Ella. Since Sergio is due to kick the proverbial bucket at any moment, I figured I'd go ahead and allow him to. Well.... that 10% chance became 100% with Risky Woohoo.

I play my legacy game this way, knowing that there's always that small chance. It keeps the Legacy Challenge from getting boring. The look on Sergio's face though is classic!

And, thankfully, Alyson doesn't look a bit upset by her mom upstaging her wonderful day.

Kudos to you, Alyson.

Later that evening, little Elliott brought home an A from school. Mom made him a chocolate cake for his birthday.

He aged up nicely, and thankfully no really bad personality traits were randomly selected. His aspiration is Computer Whiz.

Alyson's pregnancy passed by quickly enough! Baby Ewan was born, and I do believe he's going to look just like his brother Elliott and dad Quentin.

I'll be anxious to see if he has any of Alyson's features.

Two hours after Alyson had "the spare" Ewan, her mom Ella gave birth to a fourth baby, Martin.

Martin appears to be taking his father's physical features as well.

Ella had Martin just as it was time to go to work, so she left him crying with Alyson to feed him a bottle while I sent Ella to her job as Illustrious Illustrator. We need that almighty dollar, ya know.

Then, oh my goodness, Sergio was literally walking out the door to go to his job that afternoon, and The Reaper showed up. Oh shoot!

What made it worse is that Ella and her grandson Elliott came home right in time to see The Reaper take Sergio's soul away. Ella didn't even get to plead. :(

I think I'll wrap it up on that note. The first has passed in this challenge. Ella still has 12 days left till Elder, thanks to that glitch. I hope she manages to age next time.

Check back for the next episode, as Elliott will be finishing up high school, and the babies will be toddlers.

Thanks for reading! And as always, if you have any suggestions for future names, please leave them below. I keep a list! Thanks to Kristin for Ewan's and Martin's names!

Ella Matthews Legacy Challenge - G1E5

If you're new to the Ella Matthews Legacy, you can go {here} to begin reading with Episode 1!

The previous chapter of Ella's journey ended with a house renovation. The beginning of this journey starts with another renovation.

The house is slowly accumulating more stuff as Ella and Sergio get more rewards from their job promotions. Ella's items specifically take a lot of room, as she's in the Painter career. And thanks to Sergio's field of Music, he's got a honkin' piano in the basement. One of these days I hope that piano can be moved to the living room. Unfortunately, though, I'm sure Papa Sergio will be long gone. 

But for now, here you can see the improvements I made to the first floor. A second floor will have to be added soon, as the kids are quickly going to need more room for all of their stuff.

L-R: Sebastian, Alyson (next heir), Ella, Sergio, and Amelia

I promised you a family photo, and this is the best I could achieve. These people are totally uncooperative and clearly camera shy. Only Sebastian seems to want to stare at the camera. Too bad there's not an acting career--I bet he'd be a shoo-in.

Yes, I sprang that on you really fast, huh? Alyson caught her a man really fast. His name is Quentin Hagan. He's a Romantic Snob with a Painter aspiration. He is actually in Alyson's study group and they hit it off really quickly. 

They quickly became Boyfriend and Girlfriend, and they became quite besotted. 

Alyson and Quentin exchanged Promise rings, and as you can see, Mom Ella is looking on and has no qualms about Alyson's choice to take on the family line.

Speaking of Ella, neither she nor Sergio have sprung any desire to have further children at this point. Sergio is literally moments from going elder, but Alyson is still several days behind him, as he was an Adult when they married. As I've mentioned in the past, my rule is that I control the neighborhood population by only allowing my sims to have children when they spin the want. It helps with my already bloated neighborhoods.

Speaking of Sergio, he got himself another promotion. Yay! Means my second floor is coming right up in 5, 4, 3, 2 ....


See this? This is Quentin moving in. Since he's an NPC and he is not living in any neighborhood, I decided to move him into the household while he's still a teen, so that when Alyson ages up, he can age up with her and they can get married at that point. There are no rules in the Legacy Challenge that speak against it, so I figured this would be the easiest way to get him into the home and allow everything to transition smoothly.

And now it's time for the second floor. Unfortunately, there's not enough money in the funds to do much more than build the second floor and add doors to the rooms. Beds will be moved up there, as well as a shower, but that will be all that I'll be allowed to do financially.

The room setup is (l-r) Alyson and Amelia, Quentin, and Sebastian. The last room on the far right will eventually be a master suite for Alyson and Quentin. Sergio and Ella will remain downstairs in the in-law suite.

Right after Quentin's moving in, Amelia aged up to Teen. Remember my talking about Evil being my worst nightmare to roll for my sims? Well, Amelia rolled the Chief of Mischief Aspiration. Glorious. I really have no desire to cause mayhem in my legacy house, but if Amelia really wants to be a dastardly individual, I won't stop her. But I'm not going to encourage it either.

Meh. At least she's not Evil.

 






























 Poor girl aged up quite unfortunate looking. The dress is not a fit for her personality, and the bluish black hair totally washes her out. So, I sent her on for a makeover. The After photo is much better.

Three days later, it was Alyson's turn. Which meant it was Quentin's turn, too. They used the same cake. Yeah, we're cheap like that in this legacy house.

Alyson looks like she's ready for her turn as legacy matriarch. Good luck, girlfriend. Good luck.

Thankfully, her Young Adult trait rolled as Family Oriented, which is good. I'm glad she doesn't hate children, because we kinda need children to keep this thing going. *ahem*

I purchased "Entrepreneurial" from the Rewards Store, and I hope that doesn't break the rules. I didn't read anything that led me to believe that it was wrong to do so. I stay away from the Rewards that reduce their bills, give them money, etc. Entrepreneurial gives them promotions faster, but I figure it's all going to come out in the wash--they only get so many promotions, so I figure it's not that big of a deal. She's not going to go to work right away right now anyway--I'm going to wait till Papa Sergio is gone first, then I'll put her into the Cooking field since she already has a garden.

Quentin rolled the trait Jealous for his Young Adult aging. That one annoys me, but I can deal with it.

He's a Painter like his mother-in-law, so there will be a nice, steady stream of income coming in when Sergio and Ella are passed.

That's all for Ella's generation. At this point, Sergio and Ella will continue to live in the downstairs suite and continue working like always, but my major focus will be on Quentin and Alyson. By the way, Quentin took on the Matthews name since Alyson technically is the Matriarch and heir to the family.

Check back in a few days for Alyson's taking over the challenge!

Ella Matthews Legacy Challenge G1E4

If you're new to the Ella Matthews Legacy, you can go {here} to begin reading with Episode 1!

After the birth of Baby Amelia in the {last episode}, the family continued on as usual. 

Sergio is almost an elder now, and Ella is inching closer to adult status. Little Alyson is about to become a teen.

Literally the next day after having Amelia, Ella spun the want to have a baby. Are you kidding me?! Oh my goodness. I've never had sims want to have kids like this back to back to back. They're wearing me out, and they really have no idea how nervous they're making me with their finances.

But I relented and allowed her to have her wish. She woke up in the middle of the night, woke Sergio too. The two of them have been exhausted with trying to keep up with their jobs, take care of baby Amelia and pay the bills.

Sergio, ever the charming, has had no qualms about being wakened. Bless him.

These four are living in a cramped home. They obviously need some more space. I'm going to try to give them a basement where she can put her easels (she has two now, thanks to her career advance unlocking a spiffy easel). Now maybe her friend Ulrike will stop reading 5,000 books and leaving them all over the floor! Ulrike never ceases to annoy me.

Another couple of days passed (sorry I didn't get pictures--this has been an insane week and I've only played hit and miss). Amelia became a child, and Ella is about to pop. In fact, she went into labor in this photo as you see.

Sergio is getting some skilling finished before the baby comes.

Let me take a moment to brag on these two. I work them to the BONE but they seem to always want to talk and interact with their kids. They're a pretty phenomenal team.

Yes, Ella. I'm not joking this time.

Keep eating your yogurt. Ahem.

Literally moments later, she had to go to the bathroom and then it was go time.

She cracks me up with her facial expressions when she's in labor. She really makes childbirth look quite frightening.

This is baby number three, Ella. Are we done now? You look like you're considering wrapping up your childbearing.

She had a boy this time! Baby Sebastian it is. Thanks, Kristin, for the name! 

Kiddo has his daddy's eye color--brown. So far Alyson is the only one with her mama's blue eyes. I guess the heir will keep the blue eye genes in the pool.

Sebastian looks pleasant, doesn't he? I like his little monkey jumper.

Let's hope his personality traits spin nicely and he doesn't become evil or something. I hate that.

Ella, sweetie, you did good. He's a cutie! A great last baby, eh? What? Don't tell me....

Two days after Sebastian's birth, the two of them had enough money ($5k) that I was able to do a little expanding. The basement was started, and furnished sparingly. But now they have more room to move around and more room when their club company comes over. Alyson's study group has six members (including herself and her sister), so the house gets feeling cramped quickly. I threw in a third bathroom, because they're a family of five now. Since Ella is still a young adult (though barely), she may have quite a bit more time to have some more kids.

This just happened. Golly gee, girlfriend. It just seems like yesterday you were born. Sniff. Soon enough you'll be taking over the reins and having your own kids.

She randomly rolled {like I've said before, I use this trait randomizer} Freelance Botanist. Not the worst trait, but not my favorite either. Gardening takes a lot of time, and I hate having to do it with a Legacy Heir.

I sent her right away to gather seeds. Wouldn't you know it--the tomato plant cannot be harvested. Isn't that glorious? Sigh.

This sweet girl needs a makeover so badly. I hadn't noticed her shoes until now. Her shorts are quite hideous too.

Oh well--first things first. We'll worry about your lack of style when we have more time, Alyson.

She gathered quite a bit of loot and headed home. It was almost 11PM by this point, so I sent her home.

Tomorrow, she'll plant!

I got her home and made sure she got her shower and ate some yogurt. Then she headed to the mirror for a little quick makeover.

I didn't change her hair. It seemed to go with her gardening trait, and seemed to fit her personality, so I just went with it.

Her outfit and shoes though had to go.

The after shot is much better.

This little dude just grew right up! Thankfully, his traits weren't disastrous. I was so afraid he'd wind up with Evil or something just as hideous.

He's Lazy, but that's not too awfully bad of a trait to get stuck with. Maybe he'll luck out with something better next time.

Like Genius. Hehehe

I mentioned when he was born that he was born with his dad's eyes, and he definitely was. But what I wasn't expecting was that blond hair! I couldn't tell really when he was a baby, because their eyebrows often look the same. So the blond really surprised me.

Cool dispersion of the gene pool! He's kind of rough looking though. I'll be anxious to see what he looks like when he's a teen.

So far, so good, with these kids. No one has been a complete disaster yet.

Remember how I told you that they have a houseful when the Study club comes by? Here's what I mean. The living room and kitchen are combined into one small space, and all of those people in one room make me feel anxious!

And there's Ella right in the middle of it, eating her yogurt. See that thought bubble she has? Yup. She's trying to drown out all the noise and focus on her yogurt. I get you, Ella. *thumbs up*

The next day Ella and Sergio both got promotions.

Sergio's promotion meant that he had to choose whether he was going to choose Musician or Comedian. He's a musician, so that was obvious. But now that meant I had to buy them a piano. Wah-wah-wah. That hurt. I've been saving up their money to buy a build-on to the house, but that ate into the budget, big time. Not to mention I wanted to spruce up Alyson's garden a bit, which I eventually did. (See below.)



After two sim days, I had enough money to build a fence all the way around Alyson's garden and build on to the house. Here's the result:

The little property is coming along. It has no sprucing up outdoors. We've got several generations who can be working on that. For now, it's about survival and having space for all of the people living there.

Stick around for the next episode of Ella's Legacy Challenge.
I'll be finally getting a family portrait and we'll see if
Ella and Sergio decide more kids are in the plans!

Ella Matthews Legacy Challenge G1E3

If you're new to the Ella Matthews Legacy, you can go {here} to begin reading with Episode 1!

During the {last episode} of Ella Matthews' Legacy, Ella had her heir born--a little girl named Alyson. 

As long as there is no horrific accident, Alyson is going to inherit her parents' humble home, such as it is.

Don't look so forlorn, Alyson. I'm going to give you a home with siding and paint here very soon.

And a makeover. I promise.

Don't give me that look. You look like your mother when you scowl at me that way. Go play violin or something.

In order to determine Alyson's traits, I used {this trait generator}, and I really like it. It takes the traits of both parents and randomly picks the traits for children, teens, etc. I always use it for my legacies.

Here are Alyson's traits. Her dad Sergio is a musician, and her mother is a painter.

So now I'm going to go to work on the house and a makeover for Alyson. They finally have enough money that I can do a little building and sparse furnishings and cheap plumbing. Sergio was a NPC and happened to have a maxed-out Mechanical skill, so when the plumbing goes kaput, he'll be able to fix them in a jiffy.

The house looks pitiful right now, but hey we've got how many generations to get through? It'll get large with time.

I don't think I mentioned in previous episodes, but this lot is in Newport, on a 50x40 lot. Challenge calls for a 50x50, but I wasn't going to displace current sims already living on those lots.

Cheap walls, cheap floors, cheap everything really! They have what they need at this point. The rest will come later.

A small ranch-style house with two bedrooms and two baths with an open living/dining room will suffice.

Live mode. I go to send Alyson to bed and get Sergio to shower and Ella finds out she's expecting.

Looks like she's got her spare! She's inching closer to Adult, and Sergio is just a few days away from Elder, so my guess is that they may not have too many more children. But we'll see.

 I think Ella's growing up. Or happier. I dunno. Her typical scowls have lessened.

She now tends to carry around this blank look. Maybe I shouldn't be so hard on her.

Maybe I'll allow her to watch TV every now and then.

Or mindlessly get book after book after book off the shelf and leave them everywhe--no, I won't allow that to happen. Drives me nuts.

The next sim morning, I gave Alyson her makeover.

I wish I'd taken a picture of the outfit she spun into when she aged from infant to child. It was quite hideous.

I'd be happier, too, Alyson.

I think she'd be happier if she had a study group or something to gallivant and converse with children and teens. I need to get on that.

Speaking of social groups, this is what happens after Ella's Artsy Tartsy art group meets. And this is a result of ONE sim, because there are only two of them in the group.

Yup, you guess it: Ulrike. Five books, three mugs of coffee, and an empty bowl. All Ulrike's doing (remember her friend in Episode 1 & 2?).

I don't appreciate this, Ulrike.

The least you could do is clean up. Or hey, how about FINISH READING THE BOOK YOU START?

It's 3PM, and Ella has eaten three times now. She is like a bottomless pit. I've never noticed my expecting sims eating as much as she has on this day.

Sergio comes into the kitchen, and he must've thought the same thing I did because he came into the kitchen and just stared at her.

Weirdo.

Ella should be having this baby soon. I'm anxious to see what this new kid looks like. I hope it's blond just to see a mixup in the genetics.

I know I'm a slave-driver, Ella, but get out one more painting before the baby comes so that you can make sure you're not exhausted tomorrow when you have to go back to work.

What? You expect maternity leave? Sorry--you're scheduled to work tomorrow, so when you have this baby tonight, you'll be going to work in the morning. So, finish that painting!

Future generations need that money so they can one day have a foosball table and swimming pool!

I know I'm cruel. Sorry. :(

She went into labor shortly after finishing that painting, but she was so tired she passed out, so I sent her to bed while she was in labor. She had the baby at 2:32 am, and I sent her to bed after she had some yogurt.

This baby is taking after Daddy Sergio too, with what appears to be darker skin and brown eyes.

Her name is....

Amelia. Thanks to Kristin for the suggestion!!

Please send in your suggestions on any of my Legacy posts and if yours is chosen, I'll mention your name in my blog post.

Read the next post which will include another home upgrade and hopefully a family portrait!