Meet Plumeria Dapple, the matriarch of this challenge! She's got a long way to go, because right now all she has is a starting house in Willow Creek and no friends around.
It's strange to have Linden and Azalea wandering around as children who can more or less care for themselves, rather than toddlers, but it's also nice to see.
Obviously, I had to get them working on their skills, so it was Linden's turn to experiment! He had a lot of fun with it, and we had no explosions, thankfully. But now that he and Azalea are children, it's time to start building their skills!
We've also started to head into colder weather, with winter on the way. With Harvestfest over, it's time to prepare for Winterfest making its way through!
I do sometimes wish the lot was bigger, so that there could be more outside things for the children, but oh, well. I bought the lot I bought, and that's just that.
After some struggles with the bathroom (now that we have a household of seven Sims) I decided to relent and add a second bathroom to even things out. Obviously, I had to theme this one pink as well.
Once I'd finished building, I got the notification for the Festival of Snow, and decided to send the kids there to experience it - and maybe improve our fortunes with some Simmi capsules! Oldest trick in the book for me, I know, but even a golden Buddy would improve our lot.
As the kids can't shake vending machines, I ended up bringing Plumeria to the festival to get hold of some of the ones that were stuck. The only way she was able to enjoy this festival was shaking these free!
We did actually end up improving the household funds by a decent amount, and the kids also had a great time meeting Yamachan. I do like the Mt. Komorebi festivals quite a bit, and they're always so much fun to go to. It might actually be my favourite expansion pack!
After getting home, Plumeria ended up fixing the fridge, which had broken. She's becoming very skilled in handiness, although I don't think she much likes having to fix everything when it breaks, as she's the only person in the house that can do so.
Also, just as an aside - I reread the rules of this challenge, and at this point, Azalea is the heiress, not Wisteria! So, there's that. It's always the youngest daughter, rather than the oldest.
As for Rose...she was busy setting the science table on fire, and possibly herself.
I imagine she got a stern warning about fire safety after that, and we ended up needing to replace her bed, which was on the other side of the wall, as well as the science table. Sigh.
But who's this familiar gentleman playing sweet music outside our door?
For those of you who remember the vendor from the food stall nearby, he randomly showed up on our doorstop with his violin. I guess he's pretty musical, huh?
Not one to look a gift vendor in the mouth, Plumeria wasted no time in getting his number.
A little while after this, Plumeria was pretty obviously pregnant. There's no space in our crowded little house for us to possibly have twins, so this baby will be our first singlet!
Poor Wisteria became sick, again, but her sisters were happy to keep her company. I really do wonder if there's a bug that's causing Sims to get sick so often...
Rose has been getting a lot of advice from Plumeria, too. I'm trying to make sure to aim for responsibility with all the kids, but it can be kind of hard sometimes!
Also, the computer broke, which was a major issue given that it's pretty much our biggest source of income - and there's usually no savings to fall back on, either.
After the computer had been repaired, I had Plumeria upgrade the bathtub a little. She was getting so tired with all the kids running around, and Yarrow followed her around like a duck, too. But then this is a challenge, so I guess I shouldn't be too frustrated.
And I believe this picture is Rose seeing her first snow! A very happy occasion, and one that definitely makes me think of the little baby she used to be.
It was time to prepare for Winterfest, and although the house is still pretty small, I decided to splash out at least a little. Of course, a fireplace is an absolute must...
Plumeria was heavily pregnant at this point, but she still made sure to decorate the tree with beautiful ornaments so the kids could have a decent Winterfest.
And yes, I was not kidding when I said Plumeria was heavily pregnant. Still, all the kids obediently clustered around to show how good they'd been and get a present from Clement.
Now, as we didn't have much money, I did end up selling a lot of the Winterfest gifts so we could somewhat expand the house. The reason? Aspen and Yarrow will be aging up soon, and I needed to give them something of a bedroom. So many kids, so little money...
But here we go, the updated house! Azalea is joining Wisteria and Rose in their room, while Aspen and Yarrow are joining Linden in the other one.
I didn't manage to get pictures of them blowing out their candles, but this means that most of the kids can now take care of themselves, mostly. Phew! That first bit as a matriarch is always the hardest.
Speaking of our matriarch, Plumeria FINALLY managed to get through to the Sylvan Glade!
Rose has also been hard at work on her homework, which, wonderful! Even if I'm not aging the kids up via their grades in this one, I'm still trying to keep on top of everyone's homework.
Mistletoe also became a toddler, and isn't he cute? He very much takes after his dad, I think. And, well, turns out his dad was a townie I didn't recognise (the dad of the bag head teenager.)
Aspen and Yarrow start the day off with a healthy breakfast of....leftover. Welp, it's not like there's anything else to eat around here. With seven kids, Plumeria is just cooking when she can.
I'm also pretty suspicious that he may have made the mess in the background, although Plumeria seems oblivious - not having the time to clean any of that up will do that to a girl.
As we're nearing the point where Rose and Wisteria will become teenagers, I've started upgrading the house a little more. This is the start of my plan, but we OFFICIALLY have another floor in the works! It's completely useless at the moment, though.
I got the notification for the Festival of Lights, so I gathered up as many kids as possible (who weren't exhausted) and sent them along. Our first picture is Jesminder Bheeda, who popped up wearing a yukata.
Plumeria came to shake a vending machine, but it unfortunately fell on top of her. I was terrified of anything else happening to her, so I sent her home right away to recover after this.
As we now have two teens in the household, it was time to boost our income a little. Not with jobs, as those just lead to absolute exhaustion and very little pay, but with hobbies! As such, Rose is learning (slowly) to paint!
Welcome back, everyone! It's been a hot minute since I got round to actually updating this thread.
Remember how I mentioned Plumeria finally got through to the Sylvan Glade? Well, I didn't get to take any pictures when she did, so I sent her back there so that I could explore a bit and take a nice look around. As one of the oldest hidden areas in the Sims 4, this has a nice place in my heart, especially as it's inspired several creative stories.
Rose has taken to painting wonderfully, which is definitely helping us bring in more cash. While Plumeria's work-from-home job is very good, it's not always enough, so having this income really does help.
Azalea seemed as though she'd be the sort to experiment with her hair a little once older, and it suits her. Of course, since they were teenagers now and we had some money, it was time to give each of them their own rooms!
Linden's room is a nice, mossy green, with some room for hobbies. I had a lot of fun putting it together, honestly!
Azalea's room is VERY pink, but I like it, too! Like Linden, she has space for some hobbies, and I'm hoping she'll have time to pursue them with the busy nature of the Dapple house.
