Life in the Johnson house was as crazier than it had ever been. I realized one day that I hadn't been to work since Caitlin was born. It felt like a life time ago and at times I felt my dream slipping away as I cleaned up baby puke and poopie diapers. My boss assured me that as long as I kept up with my spy reports, then I could continue where I left off when I returned. It gave me some comfort.
Well, the time had finally arrived where I felt like things were good at home. Marvin's job was progressing. Caitlin and London were doing well in school. Sophia and Lynelle were healthy and learning new skills all the time. The sad news was that Dylan had left. His parent's had died and he needed to take care of his siblings. So, we bought Bonehilda. It was a little creepy at first, but she always did an excellent job cleaning, helped with the kids and even fixed computers.
The day I called my boss was a relief. My boss was very excited when I called to say I was returning the next day. I may have sounded a little crazy, though.
When I went back to work, we hired a baby-sitter for the twins. Thankfully, Marvin always came home a few hours after I left, so it wasn't too bad, though there was always a little guilt as I was always home with the other two. It didn't seem to affect them, though, so I tried to ignore it.
My first day back to work (finally)! I couldn't tell you how excited I was to get back into the field. I loved my job! (Don't ask me about the outfit or I'd have to kill you.)
We'd given my old car to Caitlin, but there was something else we thought she'd enjoy as well...a guitar. She loved playing that thing and played it whenever she had free time.
Sometimes she could be caught singing to herself. I'm not sure of Bonehilda thought she was good or not. It's hard to read her...
She had her friend Priscilla Willa (yes, that's her name) come over and they had some fun talking about boys and such.
She finally asked her Dad to teach her to drive. I think he was a little nervous, but he did it anyway.
At first, they just drove up and down their road, but as she continued to drive back and forth, she became more comfortable. Eventually, they drove all over the city. At one point, he asked her to stop in front of a house she'd never seen before.
"Dad, why did you make me stop here?"
"Well, this was your Mom's house when she moved to town. I came here sometimes to visit her."
"It's cute! I can't believe Mom lived here."
"Yeah, she had a hard time moving to my house when we got together. She loved this place."
"Man, you and Mom must have been REALLY young. You're so old now. This is cool, Dad, really, but can we go? It's getting late and I want to get more practice time in."
"Yes, I suppose," he said as she started driving off. He felt surprisingly good after his reminiscing, so he let her attitude go this time.
Her attitude was a bit annoying to us at times, but we also appreciated her relationship with London and her help with the girls...especially potty training.
Once London started school, he seemed to go to Caitlin for issues. He came to us as well, but he really looked up to her.
"Caitlin? Did the kids at school make fun of you when you were my age?"
"Ugh! Yes, definitely. When it happened to me, Mom and Dad said it was normal. At first, I was upset because I didn't like it. But one day, I'd had enough and I talked to them. I wanted to know WHY they made fun of me all the time. You know what they said? I don't know. I just told them if they didn't know why, then why do it? It eventually stopped."
"I don't get why they would do it if they didn't know why."
"Yes, I agree. I do think sometimes they just don't know why. They haven't really figured it out themselves at your age. Usually, it's because we are different or they are jealous of something we have that they don't. After observing them a little, I try to put myself in their shoes to see if I can figure out why.
Like sometimes a girl may have red hair and I have brown. They hate their hair but love mine. Then, they get jealous and start to get upset. So, they start bullying or making fun of me. It seems like a silly and shallow example, but I've seen it a few times. Walking away is usually what I do. Then, later to help calm myself down, that's when I try to put myself in their shoes. Everyone has issues at some point. It may stem from home life or their feelings or just about anything. It can be hard, though and it doesn't always work."
"Well, it could be that I'm different since I have blue skin. I can't help it, though. It's how I was born. I hated it at first, but now, I think it's kind of cool. I'm very different and I like that."
"Well, that's a great perspective to have! If you just keep that confidence up and show everyone you love yourself, then maybe they'll be more jealous that THEY don't have blue skin. It's more important to be confident and love yourself than worry what others think (who, might I add, don't even know you). Hold your head up high and let them see it.
Also, remember to befriend others and use that good sense of humor. If you are a friend to them, then it is more likely that they'll be friends with you."
"I will try to remember all of that, but it is easier said than done. Those moments are hard when you are in them. Thanks, sis!"
I did notice that for awhile, he would come home from school a little grumpy and hungry. I figured it was just from the stress of school. I found out later there was a kid stealing his lunch. If I had known..., well, there would have been a meeting with the principal.
However, Caitlin told me the next day about her conversation with London. I told her I appreciated that she helped him. She was growing up way too fast and sometimes it made feel sad. (Other times, it made me feel old.)
A few days later, London started coming home from school in a much better mood. Later, he told me what had happened and that he had talked to Caitlin about it. He did truly love his skin and once that showed, the bully confronted him (more upset than ever). He demanded to know how he could get blue skin, too. London told him he was born with it, but he didn't need blue skin to be cool. Just being a friend is cool. I know, kind of cheesy, but they were kids. The bully did stop, though sadly he just moved on to someone else. London was very relieved! He was able to concentrate on getting his grades up and started enjoying school again. He even tried to help those who were bullied by teaching them the same tricks he used.
London's confidence seemed to spur him to start writing a book about himself. He called it "My Colored Life" and he finished it pretty quickly. It became a best seller, too, which we were all very surprised about. It seemed there were many others who were affected by this skin disorder and they all wanted to read about London's situation. It was very encouraging for him and we were very proud that he was able to encourage others in the same situation.
I'm sure he wouldn't want it to get around, but he also enjoyed playing dress-up (as a king he kept pointing out)...
...and sometimes talking to his doll. His favorite thing to do, though, was write.
One day, he went to the park and ran into Sophia and Esmeralda Macklamoor. He talked to them for a little and I think it is possible he developed a little crush on Esmeralda. Hopefully, nothing will come of that....at least until he's a teen or even better...a young adult.
He did get upset by his little sisters once. He was trying to take a nap in their room (not sure why he didn't just get in his bed). Lynelle kept playing her xylophone and he would wake up and yell. I finally told him to go to his bed and then he was fine after that. It was kind of funny to watch and I kept trying to hide my giggling from him. After he left the room, I looked at Lynelle and she said, "Siwy brover."
The girls kept us all busy with their activities...
Faster than we expected, it was time for their birthday.
Sophia Ivory
Lynelle Avery
All the kids together
Neither one of them seemed nervous about going to school for the first time, but maybe it had something to do with London being with them.
Of course, with Sophia & Lynelle starting school, they needed a new room with computers for school work.
In and amongst all the chaos of a growing family, Marvin and I did get promotions. I got promoted to a Secret Agent and Marvin got promoted to a Sous Chef. We were starting to see our dreams become a reality.
Marvin went on a little trip to China to get a special ingredient (and to get away as his mid-life crisis was driving us all insane). Here are a few highlights from his trip...
He learned quite a few new recipes while he was over there along with earning a few new belts. We were thankful when he got back and his mid-life crisis was gone. We were both back to our normal selves.
This was excellent timing as well because shortly after he got back Lynelle started acting a little strange. We caught her more than once talking to herself, hugging the air, and many other things. She even had a pillow fight by herself.
We tried to talk to her about it, but she insisted it was her doll Wiggles and that he was her size now. He grew with her, she kept insisting.
We tried not to talk down to her too much about it. We were ok with her having an imaginary friend, but it was a little tough to swallow at first. She was very happy, though. I just kept hoping she'd make friends from school, too.
Sophia did bring a friend home named Kizzy Davidson. Kizzy was a vampire and I was a little afraid of her at first, but their family was very nice and tried to only drink plasma juice.
She also had to find some gems and rocks for the local science facility. The one she picked, though, may have been a bit bigger than she anticipated.
Caitlin did get in trouble after she tried to skip school. However, we made her clean the front yard (sometimes my rummaging produced some lovely garbage). She loved it!
Once Caitlin learned how to drive, it was not unusual for her to be gone a lot. I know she had friends all over the city. Her friend Priscilla met her at the local pool and had a blast.
Caitlin even went on a new toy in the pool called a "Wave Station".
Then, she met a friend from school at a night club. Felix Picard was just a friend, though. She didn't have any romantic feelings for him. At least that is what she told us. If she was truthful, then I was glad. She needed to continue to concentrate on her dream.
London's birthday sneaked up on us. We noticed his skin color wasn't quite as bright blue as it had been before. London didn't seem to mind. He said it made him look less like a blueberry.
That night, I heard a noise outside and went to the window to look. I saw what looked like an alien from the pictures the doctors had shown us! I'm not sure why they were there, but I was glad I wasn't pregnant.
London seemed to be happy with his room the way it was, but he did mention he wanted a new computer.
Scot and Sophia had another little girl named Jenni. She looked just like her daddy.
I found Tiberius at the police station one day. He was now a private detective, so we would see more of each other. We caught up pretty quickly as we showed each other pictures and videos. Maggie was with him and she was getting older, too. It was awesome that I could see my friends and their children. Our children would all go to school together. It made me almost cry just thinking about how precious that was.
I was very sad for my friend Judy, though. Marvin saw her at a party and she told him that Fred had died. I may not have liked Fred much, but I didn't wish him to die. However, he was old and had lived a long life. I comforted her the best I knew how.
London started a job at the bookstore. He figured if he was going to write books, then maybe he could learn more about what readers liked. It must have helped because soon he was working on another booked called "London's Blue Humor".
I taught London to drive and he hated it at first. I told him it takes time to learn and we'd keep practicing. He picked it up and learned how to drive, but it took us awhile.
He seemed to perk up a little, though, once we showed him his new car.
After school one day, he went to his friend Caesar's house. London decided he wanted to learn the guitar, though I'm still unsure why he was in the bathroom.
Lynelle still wanted to learn how to garden, so I told her one great place to start was learning to fish. Fish would supply her garden with excellent fertilizer. That night, she tried her hand at fishing.
We continued collecting from our properties, which helped more than we expected with bills and growing kids.
Marvin got another promotion to Executive Chef and I got a promotion to Triple Agent. We both could see how dreams were so close within reach and we needed to concentrate on giving our last pieces of advice to our children. They were next in line to inherit and we wanted to make sure they were prepared. We knew only one of them could carry on our legacy story, but we loved them all and wanted them to be prepared in life.
As the night closed in, we pondered who our next heir would be.
*lovesstorm's notes*
Again, sorry it took so long, but it's a combination of things. Life is busy right now. I procrastinated some because I wasn't sure what I was doing next and I've been playing the game a LOT lately trying to get things moving. ;-)
Having 6 people in the house has been super tough on me. It was SO hard to not cheat...I can't even tell you how many times I paused the game to make sure I wasn't killing someone and making good use of the time I had. I had issues with Caitlin and London and both had to go to school (only once each) almost completely exhausted. Thankfully, once they are in school, I was able to choose the "sleep in class" option. Unfortunately, their grades were harmed a bit by that day of no "hard work". @-)
I may need to extend the teenage years a few more "days" because Caitlin has one day left before young adult and she has had NO indication of prom. :-/ I found I can trigger prom through the debugenabler mod from NRAAS, which I do have already. However, I just learned about that trigger today, so I'll do that next time I'm in game.
It was a nice break for me to take Marvin to China. It was kind of a boring trip, BUT it gave me a break from 6 people in the house. :D
The next chapter will be the heir chapter, which I'll try to have up as soon as possible. I want to get into the game a little bit more to age Caitlin (young adult) and the twins (teen). I'll put pictures and little bits about all four kids. Then, at the bottom, I'll add a poll so you can choose who you want the next heir to be. I'm not sure how long the poll will be up. It'll probably depend on how voting is going. It may be just a week.
There will be one last chapter to finish Justine's story. I'm very sad about it, but this is good for me. I need to do this. I did a trial run of this for a contest not too long ago and I managed just fine. So, I know it'll be good. :D
Oh, and just in case you didn't know, I get ALL of my cars from Fresh Prince because they are amazing.
London's Computer
Poses
