Gen 3 Chapter 5: You're Fired!

I just don't know what to do about Dad. He's been spending a lot of time working on his guitar skills, which is good and all, but he's started to ignore his family! I've never known him to be so uninvolved in our lives.

I've tried to talk to Mom about it, without actually letting her know that I'm worried... you know, just casual conversation... but she just tells me that Dad is fine. Then again, she's his other big interest these days so she might not notice much of a difference.

Meanwhile, Bonni was practically alone for her birthday!

I don't think it bothered her too much, though. She mostly just wanted to graduate and get on with her life! She rushed right out and got a job at the same science facility where I work. I would have put in a good word for her, but it was totally unnecessary. She's pretty smart. (Not as smart as me, of course, and still dorky but she'll make a good lab rat!)

Dad felt a little guilty about being out of the house so much, I guess. He usually takes care of a lot of the cleaning up around the house, being kind of a neat freak, and the rest of us are not used to picking up after ourselves. Anyway, he decided to hire a butler to pick up some of the slack! It's kind of nice to have someone cooking good food several times a day, but the collateral damage was a bit much.

Luckily, Lorali jumped in to save the day. She's a resourceful kid, that one.

Later, Lorali talked to me about the need to improve our fire safety systems. Replacing the stove wasn't cheap, so I think she might have a good point!

I really do get on well with my baby sister. I kind of can't wait for her to grow up and join Bonni and me in the science field. She's going to be an amazing researcher.

The butler, on the other hand, I could kind of do without. I mean, the food is great and all, but I'm starting to wonder if she's trying to leave us homeless...

Lorali to the rescue! Again!

Really? Three fires in two days? This woman takes incompetence to a new low.

Though I guess I should be grateful that she at least tried to take care of her own mess this time.

We ended up with a visit from the fire department anyway, though. I guess she's not very good at putting out the fires she sets!

 

I told Mom that it was time to get rid of this butler, no matter what Dad says. Mom tried to fire her, but she got all offended.

Like it's our fault she's incompetent.

Even Grandpa tried to get rid of the evil butler. And he knows from evil.

After all that, she didn't even leave! It's like she didn't even listen! I wonder if Dad will even come home to take care of this. I'm definitely taking over the management of this household. It's time for Mom and Dad to move into their "cottage" in the back yard.

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A/N: Kevin has been spending a lot of time out of the house, but the butler is a total menace! Does Kevin have to fire her for it to take? She's showing no interest in actually giving up the job even after Neli fired her. 

Also, I put the kids up on the exchange if anyone is interested.

Outtakes!

Bonni is thrilled about her birthday, Jagger is uninterested. (Don't the other sims in the room usually at least react? Must be the evil.)

Another unfortunate picture of Bonni.

She tries to burn down the house and then complains that she's not getting enough rest?

Really Zeke? You're the heir! Stay away from the fire!

Gen 3 Chapter 4: Growing up

After all of the birthday excitement wore off, I continued my quest of becoming a Robot/Creature cross-breeder. Which meant more gardening.

Lorali has decided that she's going to follow in my and Bonni's footsteps, but she's working on her fishing skills first. Too bad, I could use more help in the garden until I can get the sprinklers installed!

Dad decided to retire now that he's an Elder. I know how much he liked being part of the rock and roll world, but he says that he wants to work on mastering the guitar and catch up with old friends now that his days are numbered!

And old age hasn't slowed him down at all when it comes to hitting on Mom. It's actually kind of... cute?

Then again, he's also taken to hitting on random women so maybe we should stop letting him go out unsupervised. Or put him in a home. Luckily, his attempts were unsuccessful. I'm pretty sure that Mom wouldn't have taken it well and she probably has a license to kill by now, being a spy and all.

Bonni and I are getting along pretty well these days, but she's so moody (her and Lorali both) that I sometimes have no idea how to talk to her. I'm pretty sure teenage girls are crazy.

Dad practices in the weirdest places.

But we all like to encourage him.

I decided it was time to go get a real job. I took Jagger with me on my job hunt at the Science Center so he could see me become a test subject. He should have some not-crazy family influence, I think.

Dad did try to make sure that Jagger learned everything that a toddler should learn, though. When he wasn't trying to score with Mom, hit on random women or playing guitar in weird places!

Meanwhile, Mom's been working too much. As usual.

Bonni and Lorali went to prom. I think prom is overrated, but they seemed to have fun with it.

I'm not sure what Lorali got into there, though... this is how we found her.

Mom and Dad are just way to preoccupied to keep track of what their kids are up to, I guess. I'm starting to think that I'd better keep a closer eye on things.

For instance, no one even noticed Jagger's birthday! I'm used to it, but the poor kid was all alone!

Jagger seems to be a pretty serious kid. He looks a lot like Dad, but he acts more like the stories I've heard about Grandpa VJ... something about the look in his eyes.

The Hodgins men. It was kind of nice to have breakfast with Dad and Jagger (without the moody girls!) until I realized that Jagger was skipping school to be there! And Dad was just sitting there, allowing it!

I guess it really is time for me to step up as heir and man of the house. Someone has to yell at these kids when they screw up!

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A/N: Zeke has suddenly become a responsible adult! He's going to have an interesting time, I think, since Kevin has become very mellow in his old age, and looking through my pictures I noticed that he also hardly every gets dressed, and Neli is often called in to work. Jagger inherited VJ's evil trait (I actually use the randomizer for traits, but he's been evil since birth) and is already acting up. And the girls are always moody! Poor Zeke, the lone voice of reason in the house.

Gen 3 Chapter 3: Birthday Daze

How sad is this? Mom went off and had a baby right before Lorali's birthday party. Poor kid.

We waited as long as we could, but eventually we just had to start the party without Mom and Dad. Bonni and I tried to make it up to Lorali, but I'm not sure that it worked.

Dad actually made it back from the hospital just in time!

Mom and Uncle Storm showed up for the cake.

Is just me, or does Lorali look a little smug now that she's a teenager?

After the party, I went to check out Jagger. I kind of like the new little man.

In fact, helping out with him might be good practice for if I ever have kids. Plus, I hear that babies are a chick magnet.

Enough already!

I started using the telescope that Dad bought a while ago, between that and the gardening I'm hoping to score a good job in the science field once I graduate.

Apparently, cooking is not my strong suit.

So this is it. My birthday. Today, I get to leave all of the teen stuff behind and finally take charge of my own life.

I hope Jagger doesn't have as lame a childhood as I had. But it doesn't look good.

I spent the day gardening, avoiding my family. Not that they'd throw me a party or anything. (A/N: Because having birthdays in the dark isn't annoying at all.)

Meanwhile, Jagger was having his first birthday!

And Dad was getting OLD!

I'm going for a more mature, intellectual look now that I'm an adult. But still cool, you know?

Dad has apparently decided to embrace the old fogey look.

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A/N: I know that there's not a whole lot of story progression here, but the birthdays were crazy! Three of them going on at the same time was not easy to document... if it happens again, I'll do birthday cakes whether they want to or not, just so that I can have a little more control of the timing. 

Outtakes!

Three kids (and counting) and no one used the sand box until now.

VJ came to visit, making the bedroom all glowy.

The weird part was that it stayed that way for days!

Even during the day, whenever anyone was in the room, it turned all glowy.

Apparently, Trixi is still an author.