I've seen it reported that buying the gnomes doesn't count; you just have to keep working on getting the game to award you each of the four. I don't think I bought a summer one before getting the badge though, so I can't say. I've only ever 'found' the one across all my games; though I have multiples of the other three. My longest running game has all gnomes earned (or stolen, in the case of the World Adventures ones :p ) except the Bling gnome, which no one will give me despite 3 5-star celebs in the family. :'(
Currently suffering from a surfeit of games, so Sims 3 is on hold a bit. Super Mario Odyssey, Sonic Mania, Sonic Forces, Morphite, Skyrim Switch (end of the week), Pokemon Ultra Sun/Moon, Xenoblade 2, and not least of all, Sims 4 Cats & Dogs, which is gradually downloading.
