BOtU 7

Hello again! Let's jump right in with what the Benali family has been up to recently.

Actually....I don't have a ton of screenshots for you today. I was really, really focused on getting the twins grown up to teenagers and was sort of speeding through the mundane stuff. So let's see what I did capture.

First, the nanny thought that teenagers Sarai and Camille needed a monster under their beds sprayed. Better safe than sorry, I suppose.

Alex tried to get a head start on his gardening skills...

And then shared a sweet moment with Leah.

Sarai invited a friend home from school, so all of the girls spent some time doing homework together.

 Alex loses some cute points because he's the culprit behind yet another paint mess. The nanny tries to impale Jazlyn with her elbow while cleaning up said mess. Maybe if someone had done that sooner, we wouldn't have had all of these messes. 

Sarai ages up to a young adult. The other nanny, Reiko, invites her over to hang out. But wait, who's this kid? Meet Tre Gruber, Jazlyn's much younger brother. Guess Mama Regina and Papa Gerald got a little frisky quite late in life. They have both passed on, so Tre was adopted by Reiko. 

Back at home, the twins become children. 

Camille is going through an angry mood swing..I love the exaggerated facial expressions and walks when teens are going through these.

Dylan has completed his childhood aspiration, so it's time for him to become a teenager.

Wait for it....

Oh. He's got the nose, too. Sorry, kid.

Not long after, Dylan's head disappears from the lower left of my screen. Curious, I go off to find him, and am greeted by this:

Like, I don't even have words to describe this. I have never seen this happen before. 

Anyway, moving on. Going back to the twins, Alex rolled the Whiz Kid aspiration, while Leah rolled Social Butterfly. For being twins, they didn't have a stellar relationship, so I set out to fix that and chose Alex to be Leah's BFF. I mean, he's her twin, he should be her best friend, right?

Pretty sure Jazlyn is serenading Salim in the background yet again.

The family takes a trip to the park so that Leah can work on making some more friends. Goodness, that is some tedious stuff, doing social interactions over and over and over again. No wonder most of my other Sims are hermits most of the time, especially since we no longer have to have a certain number of friends to promote in careers.

Weird neighbor guy barges in and starts trying to play with toys again. This time, Jazlyn asks him to leave, and he acts shocked that anyone would dare to do so.

Jazlyn later spends some time helping Leah with a school project.

Finally, finally, the twins complete their aspirations and it's time to age them into teenagers. 

Ready for the big reveal?

Alex didn't turn out too badly at all!

Leah's turn....

She escaped the nose, but her mouth is far too large for her face. 

So, here we are, ready to choose who will be the next generation. I'm a little torn....I've grown very fond of Camille, but Alex has turned out fairly nice looking, as well. I'm leaning towards continuing with Camille, but...what do you think? Camille or Alex? Or should I keep tabs on all six kids and see where they end up? Leave a comment and let me know what you think I should do!

BOtU 6

Welcome back! When we last left off, Salim and Jazlyn had completed their own version of Full House by producing twins, meaning they are vastly outnumbered by kids. Sure would be nice to have that second nanny right about now, but alas, they are only graced by one.

Malia ages up to a child, so that helps a bit. She has rolled the Artistic Prodigy aspiration with the Dog Lover trait.

Dylan is quite the, uh, wild child, and makes messes back to back. 

Daddy Salim isn't having it.

But Dylan does not care, because as soon as Salim walks away, he resumes the mess making.

Dylan is not happy about being scolded yet again.

As a reminder, I've made the decision to start aging these kids up as soon as they complete childhood aspirations so that we can speed things up a little. Camille has made all of the friends she needs to, so she's up next.

During the party, Jazlyn tries to have a little play time with Dylan. 

Awkwardness abounds.

Camille is ready for her big reveal...

Oh, she's cute! A big girl, but cute all the same.

Salim works with Dylan on some flash cards. Is Dylan trying to cheat and peek at the back or something? Oh, hi, Akira, long time, no see. 

Camille's new Aspiration, as decreed by the random generator, is Outdoor Enthusiast. Side note: both she and Sarai rolled the Unflirty trait upon aging up. Anyway, since part of this aspiration includes harvesting unknown plants and catching fish in Granite Falls, Jazlyn and Salim take Sarai, Camille, and Malia on vacation to Granite Falls. 

Camille roasts beetles over the campfire.

Mmm, so tasty. Much protein.

Salim and Jazlyn steal a tender moment together...

And Jazlyn spends some time getting her groove on. 

Back home, Camille attempts to identify some of these unknown plants she gathered in Granite Falls.

Um....I'm not sure that's how that works.

Also, there's a pile of trash and the neighbor's beloved llama toy stuck in the dead space around the elevator. The trash eventually disappears. The llama is still there.

Dylan ages up to a child. So far, so good. 

Akira invites Sarai to his birthday party, and she brings along Jazlyn and Camille. 

Happy birthday, dad!

Jazlyn's throwing him quite the come hither look, but thankfully, nothing comes of it.

The twins age up to toddlers. Somewhat cute now, but I have a feeling that they are going to inherit some unfortunate features. 

Camille helps her brother work on his Whiz Kid aspiration by playing chess with him.

Leah does what these kids do best and makes a giant mess. 

But what's this? She incurs the wrath of both parents! They are clearly tired of these shenanigans.

And yes, there's a garden growing in the hallway. Camille needs to eat 10 plants, and without a yard, she's gotta do what she's gotta do. 

Malia has by now completed her childhood aspiration, so...birthday party time! 

Drum roll, please...

Ah, there's the nose again. Sorry, sweetie.

It is apparently not a very exciting party, because folks start gathering in the hallway and cheering on the weird neighbor while he plays with an action figure.

Jazlyn takes her teen daughters down to the gym so they can get their sweat on. 

After all, they'll need to use any advantage they can to find a nice young man to settle down with soon.

That's gotta hurt.

The workout has done wonders for Camille's figure. She looks like she's ready to take on San Myshuno. 

Aaaannnd.... that's all I have for today! Until next time...

BOtU 5

Today on Lifestyles of the Genetically Challenged...

Sarai attempts to entertain the family with a puppet show. Her dad's hanging around again, but he walks off pretty quickly, as does Salim.

Jazlyn and Camille stick around for the story, though.

Afterwards, Jazlyn serenades Salim over the counter.

He's digging it; guess she sounds better than she looks, though I don't think she'll be getting any recording deals anytime soon.

After breakfast, Camille wanders off to make a mess in mom and dad's room, because reasons.

It's, um...a cow. An abstract cow.

Sarai comes in and cleans up the mess, for which she receives praise from Jazlyn. 

Camille, why can't you be more like your big sister? Because then you'd miss out on the awesomeness that is me, that's why.

Jazlyn decides they need to get out in the fresh air, so they head down to the Desert Bloom Park. Oh look, Akira's here, too. I'm so shocked.

Actually, I am. Because Jazlyn starts to serenade him. And tries to rip out his internal organs. I'm confused. Does she like him or hate him?

Are they...are they singing a duet?

She is apparently happy with what she's found down there. You shouldn't exactly be surprised, Jaz...you did  procreate with him, after all.

Clearly she remembers, because the next thing I know...

Girl, what are you doing? Think of Salim!

Meanwhile, Camille is hard at work trying to make a BFF. The kid she was working on before became a teenager, so she needed a new victim. Maricela is working out nicely.

Oh, we're back to doing this again. I'm disappointed in Jazlyn's lack of morals.

Back at home later that night, Salim tries to nicely ask the neighbors to keep it down.

He is not so nicely told where he can shove it.

Since sleep will be elusive for a bit, he figures why not mack on the wife.

Oh, Salim. Do you know what your wife was doing just hours ago? DO YOU?!?!

The next morning, it's Salim's turn to deal with one of the messes the girls are always making; this time, it's Malia. 

I think he's really got the dad look down. 

Salim and Jazlyn head off to work; Sarai and Camille are off to school. The nanny, Malia, and Dylan are having a quiet morning when all of a sudden, the neighbor just waltzes right in and grabs a toy from Malia's bedroom. He then proceeds to sit down in front of the TV and play with the toy llama. What. The. Fuck. 

The nanny totally doesn't care that a stranger just barged in and made himself at home; she's making faces at Malia in the kitchen. 

Hang loose, dudette.

That evening, Jazlyn is getting her archaeological study on when the nanny comes in to chat. Is she....is she trying to cop a feel? Jazlyn's looking like she'd be ok with that, and would probably like it if that other hand was going in for a little spanking action, too. This is so weird. 

Then...oh no. No, no, no. 

She's pregnant yet again. 

Salim has no choice but to accept his fate; no one said he had to look happy about it, though. 

At this point, I decide I need to take some matters into my own hands. Full disclosure, I use Master Controller Command Center and have some custom lifespans enabled. With so many kids, however, I think it's time to start aging them up as soon as I can.....otherwise, it's going to take quite some time to get to the next generation. Sarai has completed her childhood aspiration, so I have Jazlyn throw her a little birthday party. Bonus, she can let her folks know they're going to be grandparents again. 

Even they don't seem thrilled with her news. Clearly, four was more than enough for everyone but Jazlyn to handle.

Sarai becomes a teenager....time to really see the genetics she's inherited.

What are YOU looking at?

She is not happy...presumably because she's inherited her mother's nose. 

You'd cry too, if you were doomed to stabbing people in the eye when you kissed them.

I mean, it could be worse. 

The next afternoon, Camille invites Maricela over to make some more progress on obtaining BFF status. 

Success!

Dylan ages up to a toddler. I don't know whether to find that stare cute or creepy.

Sarai gets to work on her homework. What is her fascination with doing her homework sitting on toddler beds while her siblings are sleeping? 

Camille's next goals are to become friends with two adults and three children. Sarai takes her down to Myshuno Meadows to see who they can meet, but there is NO ONE there. So Camille wanders down to the food truck carnival just outside of the park. No kids, so she gets to work on the first couple of adults she sees. Sarai is totally cool with her sister talking to strange men. 

They're pretty amused by Camille's stories, and she easily becomes friends with them. 

Then she goes and does this. Socks and flip flops back there is wondering why this girl hasn't been informed that making messes like this in public is generally frowned upon. 

Back home later that evening, Malia has a bad dream and chooses to wake up Sarai instead of mom or dad. Sarai is not moved by her sister's tears.

The next day, Sarai takes Camille to the park again after school. When they return, Jazlyn is in labor. I tried to send her off to the hospital, but it was too late....this kid was coming NOW.

But....oh God. Why. WHY. 

It's twins. 

On the bright side, I don't have to worry about any more surprise babies. This house is packed full. Welcome to the madhouse, Alex and Leah.

Oddly enough, after the twins are born, Jazlyn then heads off to the hospital. I have never seen this happen before. 

Jazlyn seems sad, and I have no idea why. I find it oddly adorable that every time she makes this face, her lower lip actually trembles like she's going to burst into tears at any moment.

Salim and Jazlyn take advantage of the nearly empty hospital. Nothing says romance like the hospital cafeteria, am I right?

Your nose is impaling my eyeball....that's fine. Harder for me to distinguish your features that way.

The next day, the nanny is stomping around, clearly pissed. I mean, if I was in charge of two toddlers and two infants, I'd probably lose my cool a bit, too. It was bad enough with my own kids when one was a toddler and one was an infant. 

Malia takes offense at the nanny's mood and...bites her. Well, if she didn't have a good reason to be pissed off before, she does now.

That afternoon, Akira shows up again, and.....Jazlyn, honey, WHY ARE YOU DOING THIS??? Salim, control your wife!

Oh. Salim is trying to tend to baby Leah....but so is the nanny. Hilarity ensues.

Until next time...