Aug. 28th, 2021 10:26 am
The Green Family Story - Chapter 7
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avaricesims Generation 1: Living off the Land
You've always dreamed of running your own farm...living in the country, enjoying the fresh air, avoiding the rat race.
Goals:
1. Complete Freelance Botanist and Angling Ace (founder), and Big Happy Family (spouse)
2. Reach the top of the Gardening career
3. Max the gardening, fishing, and flower arranging skills (founder) and the handiness and parenting skillP(spouse)
Goals:
1. Complete Freelance Botanist and Angling Ace (founder), and Big Happy Family (spouse)
2. Reach the top of the Gardening career
3. Max the gardening, fishing, and flower arranging skills (founder) and the handiness and parenting skillP(spouse)
4. Get married...but no woohoo before marriage P
5. Have at least three children, and at least one boy and one girl P
6. Grow a garden with all types of plants (except the Outdoor Adventure plants)
5. Have at least three children, and at least one boy and one girl P
6. Grow a garden with all types of plants (except the Outdoor Adventure plants)
7. Catch every type of fish (except the Sulani fish)
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I was pretty heavily pregnant with our fourth child around Christmas.
In fact, it wasn't actually ON Christmas, but we hadn't yet gotten around to taking the tree down when the familiar pains started up. By this point I knew exactly what to expect, and was planning on a final home birth to complete our family.
Morgan - long since having given birth to her son, Josiah, by this point - came around to be my midwife again.
Of course, by this time we had three other kids and Brayden to consider too! So it was Minkz job to corral the kids and take them out of the house for the while to give me some peace and quiet while I brought our last baby into the world.
By the time Minkz returned, bringing Basil with him, our youngest daughter was being dressed and wrapped up by Morgan. Welcome to the world, little Willow! Minkz was so excited to meet his third little girl. Basil was less sure, but he'll love his sister as soon as she's old enough to play with, I'm sure. It was a bittersweet moment for me - I was so excited to cuddle my little Willow, but sad to know I'll never be pregnant or have another baby. Four children is quite enough, I think, but I'll still miss those days of carrying them, and the early newborn days when they are brand new.
Brayden, being his usual helpful self, took the older girls to the park while everything was happening at home.
Clover is still fast friends with Archer Delgato, who is a little older than her but still makes time for them to hang out.
We know Archer well now, and trust he's a good kid.
Fern still loves the outdoors and being active, but she's also sharp as a tack, and actually quite good at chess. Whenever one of us takes her to the park she likes to challenge others, and she often wins. Her and Clover are both friends with Annie, who is always happy to give Fern a match. She's another local kid we like a lot.
In fact, most of the local kids are really nice. Archer helps Brayden keep the girls busy at the park all day as we settle Willow in back at home, which is a huge help.
I think our outgoing, personable Clover had a lovely time!
While Willow is very small, the girls actually spend a lot of time at the park, and with friends. They love their baby sister, but babies aren't that much fun for kids, and we're happy for them to keep busy and spend time with their friends.
Clover also gets invited around to the Delgato household a lot, and knows Archer's Dad Justin well.
She's also met and gets along with his mother Supriya and his sister Evie. They're a lovely family - I wish our cottage was big enough to have them around, but it's just way too tiny!
Clover doesn't mind though, she says she's always welcome around at Archer's place. The whole family seem to love her almost as much as we do.
Meanwhile, Brayden has taken to picking up some life skills. Minkz has taught him some basic woodcrafting, and he enjoys practicing while I work on arrangements. It gives us a chance to talk about how things are going. I think he's doing pretty well. He misses Christian, of course, but he's doing okay at school and seems to have some good mates. No girlfriend yet, but I'm sure that will come in time.
In fact, though I am getting older, I feel like I am content. I still get out into the garden as much as I can, though I must admit its hard to put much time into it with the kids and work.
In fact, we're all getting older. Can you believe my firstborn Clover is a teenager now? It seems like just yesterday she was a little kid blowing out the candles on her pink cake.
Now she's definitely a young woman. Our Clover is still very sweet and girly, though, and an absolute romantic at heart. She loves talking to Morgan about love; my best friend gives good dating advice!
In fact, Morgan gives great advice all around. She still helps out in the garden from time to time, bringing Josiah around to play with the girls then leaving Minkz on kid-watching duties to catch some quiet time with me outside.
I also spend plenty of time around at her little place, too. She and Ronny live in Brindleton Bay as well now, not too far from us actually. Morgan left her sister, Siobhan, their childhood house, preferring to live in the Bay near us.
Wee Josiah is very cute. He didn't get Morgan's red hair, but he looks more like her than his Dad otherwise.
Speaking of cute toddlers, our Willow is just adorable. She looks a lot like her older sister Clover at the same age. She has my eyes and hair too.
Whereas Basil, as he's gotten older, looks a bit more like Minkz, though he has beautiful green eyes as well.
We have one last round of toilet training to get through with Willow. Minkz doesn't mind - he's an absolute natural parent. Seriously, I don't think I could have picked a better Dad for my kids. He's patient, loving, fair, but also makes sure our kids know we expect them to be polite and kind. I admire him so much.
He's also a stickler for the kids doing their homework. Brayden is doing okay at school, and considering the disruption he went through when Christian died Minkz and I are proud of his effort. Fern and Clover are both A students. Basil will be too, he just needs a little time to catch up to his older sisters. Its important to us they all make the most of their education, as this wasn't something I had the chance to do when I was younger.
As she's gotten older, Clover has become a great help with the younger kids too. She's already talking about wanting her own babies, but hopefully not too soon!
We all think we know who might join her on that adventure one day, though. She's as close to Archer Delgato as ever, and still spends most afternoons around at his house.
His sister Evie has become a close friend, too.
Clover says they have a lot in common, and never run out of things to talk about. They're just about inseparable.
So no one was surprised when she told us he'd taken her on a romantic date to a cute little restaurant in town on Valentine's Day.
Clover just blushed when I asked her if they were officially dating now, but I think they probably are. She said their dinner was lovely, and Archer looked handsome all dressed up in a suit and tie.
Its strange for Minkz and I, to see our daughter so grown up, but he's not one of those silly overprotective Dads. Archer is a nice boy and we're happy for Clover if he's what she wants.
And there's still plenty of child-raising to do, with Willow still being very little. Her favourite thing is to be read stories.
Also, I don't know that I've mentioned it, but money isn't an issue any more. Even putting aside some for Brayden to get him set up on his own once he's old enough, we're comfortable from my wage and the proceeds of the farm Minkz works so hard at. After how poor we were for so long, it's honestly hard to believe. We could extend the cottage if we wanted, but we choose not to; we'll put the money aside for our kids instead.
After the scrimping and saving I had to do at Clover and Brayden's age, it makes me happy to know that we'll be able to set all the children up with a decent start at whatever they choose to do. Clover, I think, will want money for her wedding. We'll help Brayden renovate Christian's house when he's ready to move back there. I don't know what Fern, Basil, or Willow will need yet, but we'll be able to give them a little something. Not heaps, but certainly something.
Basil might want to do something with his friends? He's a social butterfly, always asking if he can have people over after school.
Brayden's no wallflower either, for that matter. He seems to be sweet on a very pretty Japanese girl called Kaori.
Their favourite past-time is catching stand-up comedy shows together. He assures us they're not dating, but they spend a lot of time together. Again, we don't mind. Kaori seems a nice girl.
And anyway, Brayden is just about an adult now! We are delighted we were able to give him a family home for his latter teen years, but we can tell, as grateful as he is to us, that he's itching for some independence.
We're not surprised when not too long after he finishes school, he asks if he can move back into Christian's house - his house now, legally speaking. We'd given the tenants notice already, and Minkz and I also said we'd help redecorate once he moved back in. He has fond memories of the house but we want to help make it his, let him put his own stamp on it.
It didn't take us too long to get the house sorted, and then there was nothing to do except to hug Brayden goodbye, wish him luck, and make him promise to visit often. He'd even found an entry level job in engineering, which would pay him a small wage while he studied for a degree. Minkz' tuition inspired him to work with his hands, though he wanted to go a little more high-tech than wood-working! We'll miss have Brayden around all the time, but we'll see him as often as we can.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
I was pretty heavily pregnant with our fourth child around Christmas.
In fact, it wasn't actually ON Christmas, but we hadn't yet gotten around to taking the tree down when the familiar pains started up. By this point I knew exactly what to expect, and was planning on a final home birth to complete our family.
Morgan - long since having given birth to her son, Josiah, by this point - came around to be my midwife again.
Of course, by this time we had three other kids and Brayden to consider too! So it was Minkz job to corral the kids and take them out of the house for the while to give me some peace and quiet while I brought our last baby into the world.
By the time Minkz returned, bringing Basil with him, our youngest daughter was being dressed and wrapped up by Morgan. Welcome to the world, little Willow! Minkz was so excited to meet his third little girl. Basil was less sure, but he'll love his sister as soon as she's old enough to play with, I'm sure. It was a bittersweet moment for me - I was so excited to cuddle my little Willow, but sad to know I'll never be pregnant or have another baby. Four children is quite enough, I think, but I'll still miss those days of carrying them, and the early newborn days when they are brand new.
Brayden, being his usual helpful self, took the older girls to the park while everything was happening at home.
Clover is still fast friends with Archer Delgato, who is a little older than her but still makes time for them to hang out.
We know Archer well now, and trust he's a good kid.
Fern still loves the outdoors and being active, but she's also sharp as a tack, and actually quite good at chess. Whenever one of us takes her to the park she likes to challenge others, and she often wins. Her and Clover are both friends with Annie, who is always happy to give Fern a match. She's another local kid we like a lot.
In fact, most of the local kids are really nice. Archer helps Brayden keep the girls busy at the park all day as we settle Willow in back at home, which is a huge help.
I think our outgoing, personable Clover had a lovely time!
While Willow is very small, the girls actually spend a lot of time at the park, and with friends. They love their baby sister, but babies aren't that much fun for kids, and we're happy for them to keep busy and spend time with their friends.
Clover also gets invited around to the Delgato household a lot, and knows Archer's Dad Justin well.
She's also met and gets along with his mother Supriya and his sister Evie. They're a lovely family - I wish our cottage was big enough to have them around, but it's just way too tiny!
Clover doesn't mind though, she says she's always welcome around at Archer's place. The whole family seem to love her almost as much as we do.
Meanwhile, Brayden has taken to picking up some life skills. Minkz has taught him some basic woodcrafting, and he enjoys practicing while I work on arrangements. It gives us a chance to talk about how things are going. I think he's doing pretty well. He misses Christian, of course, but he's doing okay at school and seems to have some good mates. No girlfriend yet, but I'm sure that will come in time.
In fact, though I am getting older, I feel like I am content. I still get out into the garden as much as I can, though I must admit its hard to put much time into it with the kids and work.
In fact, we're all getting older. Can you believe my firstborn Clover is a teenager now? It seems like just yesterday she was a little kid blowing out the candles on her pink cake.
Now she's definitely a young woman. Our Clover is still very sweet and girly, though, and an absolute romantic at heart. She loves talking to Morgan about love; my best friend gives good dating advice!
In fact, Morgan gives great advice all around. She still helps out in the garden from time to time, bringing Josiah around to play with the girls then leaving Minkz on kid-watching duties to catch some quiet time with me outside.
I also spend plenty of time around at her little place, too. She and Ronny live in Brindleton Bay as well now, not too far from us actually. Morgan left her sister, Siobhan, their childhood house, preferring to live in the Bay near us.
Wee Josiah is very cute. He didn't get Morgan's red hair, but he looks more like her than his Dad otherwise.
Speaking of cute toddlers, our Willow is just adorable. She looks a lot like her older sister Clover at the same age. She has my eyes and hair too.
Whereas Basil, as he's gotten older, looks a bit more like Minkz, though he has beautiful green eyes as well.
We have one last round of toilet training to get through with Willow. Minkz doesn't mind - he's an absolute natural parent. Seriously, I don't think I could have picked a better Dad for my kids. He's patient, loving, fair, but also makes sure our kids know we expect them to be polite and kind. I admire him so much.
He's also a stickler for the kids doing their homework. Brayden is doing okay at school, and considering the disruption he went through when Christian died Minkz and I are proud of his effort. Fern and Clover are both A students. Basil will be too, he just needs a little time to catch up to his older sisters. Its important to us they all make the most of their education, as this wasn't something I had the chance to do when I was younger.
As she's gotten older, Clover has become a great help with the younger kids too. She's already talking about wanting her own babies, but hopefully not too soon!
We all think we know who might join her on that adventure one day, though. She's as close to Archer Delgato as ever, and still spends most afternoons around at his house.
His sister Evie has become a close friend, too.
Clover says they have a lot in common, and never run out of things to talk about. They're just about inseparable.
So no one was surprised when she told us he'd taken her on a romantic date to a cute little restaurant in town on Valentine's Day.
Clover just blushed when I asked her if they were officially dating now, but I think they probably are. She said their dinner was lovely, and Archer looked handsome all dressed up in a suit and tie.
Its strange for Minkz and I, to see our daughter so grown up, but he's not one of those silly overprotective Dads. Archer is a nice boy and we're happy for Clover if he's what she wants.
And there's still plenty of child-raising to do, with Willow still being very little. Her favourite thing is to be read stories.
Also, I don't know that I've mentioned it, but money isn't an issue any more. Even putting aside some for Brayden to get him set up on his own once he's old enough, we're comfortable from my wage and the proceeds of the farm Minkz works so hard at. After how poor we were for so long, it's honestly hard to believe. We could extend the cottage if we wanted, but we choose not to; we'll put the money aside for our kids instead.
After the scrimping and saving I had to do at Clover and Brayden's age, it makes me happy to know that we'll be able to set all the children up with a decent start at whatever they choose to do. Clover, I think, will want money for her wedding. We'll help Brayden renovate Christian's house when he's ready to move back there. I don't know what Fern, Basil, or Willow will need yet, but we'll be able to give them a little something. Not heaps, but certainly something.
Basil might want to do something with his friends? He's a social butterfly, always asking if he can have people over after school.
Brayden's no wallflower either, for that matter. He seems to be sweet on a very pretty Japanese girl called Kaori.
Their favourite past-time is catching stand-up comedy shows together. He assures us they're not dating, but they spend a lot of time together. Again, we don't mind. Kaori seems a nice girl.
And anyway, Brayden is just about an adult now! We are delighted we were able to give him a family home for his latter teen years, but we can tell, as grateful as he is to us, that he's itching for some independence.
We're not surprised when not too long after he finishes school, he asks if he can move back into Christian's house - his house now, legally speaking. We'd given the tenants notice already, and Minkz and I also said we'd help redecorate once he moved back in. He has fond memories of the house but we want to help make it his, let him put his own stamp on it.
It didn't take us too long to get the house sorted, and then there was nothing to do except to hug Brayden goodbye, wish him luck, and make him promise to visit often. He'd even found an entry level job in engineering, which would pay him a small wage while he studied for a degree. Minkz' tuition inspired him to work with his hands, though he wanted to go a little more high-tech than wood-working! We'll miss have Brayden around all the time, but we'll see him as often as we can.