Mary Hart snuggles her baby Aiken in the dining room her predecessor as Mrs. Hart decorated. She has no intention of competing with the dead, and even insisted on hanging up the photos of her husband's first family when she found them in the top of her stepdaughter's wardrobe.

Ginevra Hawkins brings the sorority along with her when she comes home for a visit, and her mother Ginger proceeds to be embarrassing. "Goodness, I thought I packed a lint brush when you left! And what have you done to your hair?"
"It's just a new cut and some dye, Mom! You don't expect me to look like a high school girl forever!"
"No, but - oh, well, it'll grow back. Come on in and have lunch. I made your favorite."

Cousins Annie Newson and Gracie Hawkins don't share a house at college, but they get together pretty often.

Lora Phoenix watches her husband Jimmy and their son James dance in the second-floor hallway of the ancestral home, the House of Fallen Trees. They've done their best to spruce the place up and make it into party central instead of The Haunted House.

Chloe Singles had a child by Zaphoid, the blue invader with harsh features. That child grew up to marry Sharla Ottomas, and they produced this interesting child...


I can see where her features came from, except for those eyes. Those bugging out OMG eyes. Her skin is not her father's, but is thanks to my genetisized skins; a mix of human and deep blue is a lighter blue.

From L to R: Eli, Erin, and Elliott

The Elberts siblings moved to the city with their father when they were teens. They all went to college, graduated and lived their adult lives, now they have all reached the start of their golden years.

Eli is a professional party guest, oozing with charm, charisma, contacts, and social graces - Eli was always a first pick for the party guest lists of acquaintances and friends. Ladies loved him. He is now looking into retiring and spending more time with his family and his only daughter whom he didn't raise who is now a college student. He lives in a downtown loft with his dog, Andre.

Erin is a retired rock god(dess). She cultivated her talent into composing and producing stellar electonica tracks that are used in movies and television. She even put out a few records of her singing - wholly talented in guitar, bass, and synthesizer - she lives with her long-time girlfriend in a mansion in the Memosa Bay Hills. She is responsible for a lot of contacts used to bolster Eli's party career.

Elliott, opposite of his siblings isn't as much of an extrovert and lacks the potent creativity and charm his older siblings possess. He got married, had two sons and his eldest sadly passed away when he was just a teen. Elliot is sensible and believes in justice. He has recently retired as Chief of Memosa Bay Police because his wife had an unexpected third son and this old man needs to help take care of the baby.

The Valon-Robards - from left to right: Morgan, Saoirse, Karys & Lheyia

The prettacy kids doing homework. Left to right there are Greg, Flora, Leicester, Bertie and Philomena.


Breakfast is lively in a family this size. That's Chester Gieke on the left. All the children except Bertie are his.


Abbie, on the right (in blue) is their mother. Next to her is her twin sister, Peggy.


The grandmother is the one on the left.

Gunther receives a hug from his sister Frida. Perhaps she's congratulating him for going steady with her friend Cornelia?



Victor returns from a long business trip to find his wife heavily pregnant. The two have had a problematic relationship and Victor knew his busy schedule was to blame, which is why he decided to ignore the possibility of him not being the father. And that, folks, is how Lolita Goth came to be, in my version of events at least

Just some pics of the Toyoda family - haven't played 'em in awhile.

Cramped in a tiny apartment, Akimitsu, Sayuri and Etsu all share a room together. Fortunately, bunk beds exist.

And in the morning, Seiji gets up to play with Sayuri...

...and Etsu plays with her toys.

Two Sim days later or so, Etsu grows into a child and has her photo taken.

Magic and her husband Toki wanted to throw another party like old time's sake and invited all of their closest friends. The gang's finally together again!

The whole family - (L to R)

Pryce - Current patriarch who inherited the Cosgrove estate. He owns the neo-classical theater downtown that he rents out for private events

Adriana ('nee Orbinson) - Doting mother and neighborhood socialite. Loves to throw parties and spoil her children

Melinda - Precocious Middle child, level-headed, loves cats and the color pink. Has a boyfriend and is working on scholarships.

Marshall - Bratty little brother. Loudmouth, loves to take things apart and not put them back together, mostly his sisters' stuff.

Mira - Oldest daughter. Going to college soon. Incredibly smart and well-liked. Popular. Her goal to be a professional party guest is easily attainable.



Adriana and her girls



The men of the estate



Sibling Love?

Guadalupe Newson, the oldest of Garret and Lourdes Newson's four (so far) kids, long ago decided to deal with her raging jealousy of her younger siblings by making herself indispensable to them. It's working, as her shy little brother Laus, who can barely bring himself to give the time of day to anybody, demonstrates.
"Lookit me, Lupe! Lookit me!"

She takes him to Kid Stuff, the local business devoted to items for the very young. "So what are we buying the baby?"
"We're not buying anything for the baby. You're going to pick out something for you."

She certainly has Laus convinced that she's the best big sister ever. Anything she ever wants him to do, he's going to do it.

Maddy Estic-Moiselle encouraged her grown son Dominic to be neat; and then she vaulted nimbly back into the hot tub. Elderhood doesn't slow her down.

Cornerhill
The Lopez family just arrived in town, with the purpose of awaiting three other families, where the husbands (4) will start a business together.
Father Arko, mother Zita, daughter Cora Leigh and the benjamin, Mano.






Although the family looks happy enough, they have a problem.
Despite the business plans, Arko and Zita are broke. How are they going to tell this to their friends?

The Hawthorne Family

Trina and her husband Johnathan decided it was time for a new addition to their family - and since they've been having trouble conceiving, they decided to adopt. Trina, sells her bridal boutique, as she wants to focus more on her family.



Their son, Thomas.



They spend the first day getting to know one another and having some family fun.

After the wedding of Rhett Hart to Penny Weiss, everybody gets comfortable. Valentine has just taught his son Aiken to walk, Penny and Mary are cleaning up after the party, and Rhett is fortifying himself for his wedding night.

Mary and Valentine's daughter Rhein is not going to feel neglected if Valentine has anything to say about it - and he does. "You're almost a young lady! You need to learn to dance with a gentleman." (Valentine obviously doesn't feel that the clothes make the man. If you're a gentleman, it doesn't matter how you're dressed. Or if you're dressed at all. Rhein is used to this.)

"Daddy!"
"Now, Precious, you can't afford to be afraid of the ball. Nobody's going to be lobbing you easy ones out on the field! Your job is to catch them where ever they go and however they get thrown. Now, come on, pitch it back to me - hard as you can. Remember where your power comes from!"

Aiken has let himself out of his crib and gone into Mommy and Daddy's room, pursued by Rhett. "There you are, you little monkey!"
"I can take him, son. Don't you have to get ready for work?"
"I don't go in till two today. Go on - I've got him." Rhett and Aiken don't have that high a relationship, but Rhett is continually pouncing on him. He thinks everybody else in the house is going to spoil the kid.

The Isles siblings.
Lotta, Zlatan and Ronaldo.

Mary made waffles the morning after the wedding, and everybody assembles for family breakfast. Laika, there in the kitchen, doesn't feel left out - she made herself a defiant muffin and is now busy suborning the cat.

Morning at the Manns goes a bit differently. Junior comes down late to find the oven cold and his mother Lana playing with Yardbird. S'okay, he can make his own brunch. "Morning."
"Afternoon. Where were you so late?"
"I went out after I closed the store."
"With Her?"
"It's not your business, but yes, I took Candy to dinner."

"Not my business? Not my business? I'll show you what is and is not my business. I told you to drop her."
"And I told you, I'm not going to."
"And I tell you, you will!"

Junior doesn't know what's gotten into his mother, who's spoiled him all his life, but he's had about enough of it. Lana's effort to assert her authority is backfiring badly - he's more determined than ever to move out and marry Candy.

I hope that a non-explicit mention of suicide in the text isn't too "rough" or "adult" and I will gladly edit it out if someone finds it distressing or offending.

Recently I've started giving my sims Finnish names again just to mix it up a bit and I'm also trying to make the neighborhoods more vibrant by adding sims of different cultural backgrounds. So, let me introduce to you the Kuusisto-Casales family living in Riverside. Marjatta met her husband Esteban through a mutual friend nearly 40 years ago and they're still going strong. In fact, they believe hardships have improved their relationship.
Together they have two children - daughter Silja, their firstborn, and Paavo, their son. In a tragic turn of events, Paavo took his own life after battling depression since teenage.

Paavo was engaged to Sanna Lindman, his best friend since childhood. Sanna is very close with the Kuusisto-Casales household, especially Silja who has become a good friend of hers.
Silja wanted to become a reporter for a long time but her brother's death made her change her mind - these days Silja is as a social worker, determined to help young sims like her brother suffering from mental illness.


A portrait of Paavo.


Paavo with his father and sister in a photo taken after his graduation in the family home.


Silja and Paavo in a photo from their college days.


Sanna and Marjatta chatting during lunch at Bernard’s Botanical Dining two days ago. Silja and Esteban were also present.

Nowhere near the entire extended Capp family, but a good representation of their amusingly dysfunctional dynamic....especially since this was going on during Consort Capp's funeral. Regan and Cornwall are trying to grab control of the family, and feel that putting on appearances of being both respectable and passionate toward each other will help their case. Miranda and Desdemona are ill-dressed for the occasion for the simple reason that they're the poor cousins and can't afford to buy any more clothes; they are both tired of getting ugly looks and extremely bored with the proceedings, which is why they're playing rock-paper-scissors with each other and ignoring the rest of the clan.


The Greenman living room is great for informal family pictures! I can't tell which of the diaper-clad twins is Elm and which is Rue (please let them look different as adults!) but suffice it to say that they are well looked after by their mother and their sister. Oh yeah, and their currently happily-snoozing dog.

The Anderson family decided to pose for their annual Christmas card today with everyone dressed their best (especially Jolene and Rachelle in their adorable dresses). Unfortunately, Jacob had the bright idea to give his brother Xavier a noogie in the middle of the shot (though it was all in good fun; they do get along... most of the time), hopefully he only messed up his hair and not his glasses like the last few times. At least the youngest, Tristan, is well-behaved as always, doing his little "ta da!" pose. He is just a sweetheart.

Of course, Tristan is a bit of an overachiever, though he's very humble about it. He recently was the lead in his school play, earning him a dinner at his favorite restaurant and hugs and kisses from his family, along with this adorable high five from Jacob:





Just a typical day for the Anderson family.

The first order of business for Penny Hart when she wakes up the day after her wedding is to go into the nursery and play peek-a-boo with her brother-in-law, Aiken.

Her husband Rhett, meanwhile, is down in the kitchen making sure his daughter Laika feels wanted.

Amanda Ruben comes home from college on a visit. Mom insists on discussing her love life.

She and Dad, however, discuss family finances before she heads out. Amanda loves her family, but is happy not to be responsible for them anymore. In high school, she was always having to take up the slack, and trying vainly to apply brakes to family expenses.

Violet-Marie with daughter Eva


... and youngest daughter Sonya

An updated photo of the Hart siblings, it's been over a year since the last time



Harmony: Graduated, now a teacher's assistant. Got married and has two babbies.
Andante: Now an adult seeking a job. Engaged to his childhood sweetheart but must afford a wedding because she is not the eloping type
Adagio: Didn't end up with a red-head but likes his brunette fiance just fine. Got a gig in simtelligence.
Melody: Senior at the Academie and doing just fine.
Rhapsody: Changed out her grunge phase for a beatnik one in College. Now all the hipsters are wooing her.
Sonata: Has all the boys wrapped around her finger. Dominates the greek scene.

Frat boy Pollux Stacks is out on a date, and runs into his little sister Nova at Rodney's Hideaway. "Hi, little sister who's in a disreputable restaurant at three in the morning!"
"Hi big brother who's out with some girl I never saw before instead of his fiancee whose parents live next door to us!"
"Ah. Well, what the eye doesn't see and the ear doesn't hear the heart doesn't grieve after, right?"
"Just so we're on the same page."

Maddox Estic-Moiselle high-fives his sister Madeleine when she returns from finals. "Dean's List! And here we thought you'd never amount to much!"

Madeleine responds in kind. "And you got engaged! Just when we thought you were gonna be the sad uncle who's always free to babysit!"

Peter Ottomas teaches his daughter Viola to dance.