Family Jewels Name Game, Chapter 1-10

 

Woo! It's been a minute, but here we go again. We'll kick off with Ru in the pool, as usual. Last chapter saw the birth of Topaz, the first of the second batch of generation two now that we have some space in the house! After her, we just need baby Z, and luckily Quartz is already hard at work on cooking that up. Let's check in with the family now...

Topaz spent her infancy in my default outfit before I remembered that we had bought a onesie on Plopsy, so Declan changed her into it. Haleigh (MeadowThayer) recently linked me to a fix for the baby skins changing on the crib, but we'll see some oddities for the rest of this gen because I played ahead through the baby stages long before I got the fix.

Anyway, there wasn't much point to the onesie, because all too soon it was time for Topaz to grow into a toddler. She's my first kiddo born post skin patch, so I'm curious to see what she'll look like.

Hmm. Interesting. Someone get this tot some vitamin D, please.

Anyway, here's our pale little baby, continuing the recent trend of having their father's hair color like Ru. She's also got Declan's eyes. Technically, she's got an intermediate skintone between Quartz and Declan, but because it is a neutral skintone and Quartz's is warm, it appears paler (I guess!). Topaz is fussy. Rad.

She is very cute, though, so we'll forgive her. She gets to break in the new toddler nursery, which has been decorated just for her.

A Rock comes to check on the newest member of the family.

And like a good guard dog, he settles in to keep watch over her. This couch in the toddler room will prove to be pretty much his favorite place in the house, which is good because no one else uses it.

Ru enrolled in drama club so we can get those sweet, sweet points from her (eventually) topping it. Since she has a family aspiration, she can't really make any progress in it, so might as well put her to work earning points elsewhere.

She practices her lines with such gusto! Very impressive! Look at her waving that script around!

Ru: "I'm just trying to focus on it since I'm not allowed to wear my glasses to drama club, apparently."

Pregnant Quartz is kicking around, and she finds Declan in the greenhouse for a sweet kiss.

They are very excited to welcome their last baby into the family. It'll be kind of sad that this generation is all downhill from here, but they've certainly had a good run of it with their current six kids, and we still have to get all these kiddos grown, count up the points for this gen, and have an heir poll. Guess I shouldn't count my babies before they hatch.

After Quartz heads off to bed, Declan is still toiling in the garden in his secret agent suit, but he takes time to show some affection to A Rock as well. With so many dog lovers in this family, A Rock never has a problem with his social need, that's for sure!

Topaz is proving to live up to her trait. She's the first kid that's really been a mess machine, and she is defiant like whoa. I'm gritting my teeth getting her through the toddler stage.

Ru spends most of her free time in the pool, and occasionally A Rock joins her for a swim. He only swims when she's in the pool, which I think is sweet. As for Ru, she's practically a fish at this point.

Despite being a fussbucket, Topaz is actually a quick learner, so she's making great progress on her skills.

But enough of that! We drop by a newly-downloaded Futures Past Reno for Axi to work on her Painter Extraordinaire aspiration. She needed to view some artwork, of course. But, sweetie, don't you think you should be looking at the paintings instead of taking selfies?

Axi: "I know what the real masterpiece in this building is!"

When she's done, she paints up a storm until she's exhausted. She always does her best painting with an action figure in hand. This girl is one of a kind. However, after a while we had to return home...

Because Quartz is ready to have her last baby! Uh, Quartz, don't you think you might need your hands for this?

Quartz: "And not respect the rarity of a skirt with pockets? I think not!"

Pockets or no, she soon gives birth to a little girl...

Quartz: "That's not all! Don't worry, though, I tossed him in the stuffed animals so he'd have a safe landing."

...and a little boy. Ugh, of course we got twins again since there was space in the house. I swear she doesn't have any fertility boosts, but at least we got twins on Q and Z. If we had to get twins twice (and I really would have liked all singles, because then we could have had the whole gen in the house at once), these are the absolute best letters for it.

While Quartz takes care of the newborns, bratty little Topaz comes in to express her disapproval.

Anyway, meet Zoisite (girl, right) and Zircon (boy, left). I didn't want to redo this corner of the room since all those stuffed animals are hand-placed, so I just put in an extra invisible crib and screw nice pictures. Finally we are done having babies for this generation. It only took eight children!

Topaz: "You should have stopped at six."

Nah, there was room for improvement.

Although I'm giving her a hard time (and to be fair, she's giving me a hard time, just in a different way), I do think Topaz is absolutely adorable. She may have thrown a fit before we could get her in the bath, but isn't she so cute once she's in there? Quartz is about to drop, though, but Topaz was getting stinky.

Ru: "Mom, I was just looking up newborn care and I'm pretty sure you're not supposed to have stuffed animals in their crib, let alone on top of them."

Quartz: "Cool! Since you're now a parenting expert, guess who's on babysitting duty?"

Ru: "Well, you seem to still be breathing so I guess it's okay for now."

Quartz: "ZzzZzZzzz"

Motherhood is hard, y'all!

Having discovered that they like talking about parenting, Ru and Quartz are suddenly closer. Ru has always been a bit in the background as she's a bit less...needy...than some of her flashy older sisters, but she's proving to be a very successful teen, and it warms my heart that she's working on her relationship with her mom.

We've been having a rough time with lightning strikes this summer. Both our mailbox and the little candle suffered.

Inside, many hours later, Declan crawls out from whatever rock he's been hiding under to realize his wife is about to give birth...only half a day too late. Oh, sim fathers. Never change.

With her lucky action figure in hand, Axi paints the final masterpiece she needs for her aspiration. She's completed Painter Extraordinaire!

Although she picked up The Curator, she's growing up soon, so instead of going out collecting, she's settling in to finally get caught up on her shows.

Meanwhile, Declan is dealing with another Topaz storm.

He finally convinces her to do some flashcards, though. A few of the kids have missed out on Top Notch Toddler so I'm trying to make sure I don't miss any more.

Axi is on dog-walking duty again, but she seems to be settling in to it.

Axi: "And you see, A Rock, that is why I think cats are my true calling. But you're still pretty okay, you know."

A Rock: "Woof?"

The baby stage has passed, and it's time for the last twins to grow up. First up is Zoi (her nickname), and this is where I realized the baby skins were not at all working correctly.

Topaz comes in to "meet" Zoi, since she was disapproving of Zircon before, and apparently hadn't realized yet there were two of them.

Now that they're out of the crib and potential playmates, she's a bit more chill about it.

It's interesting that the first four children all had purple hair, and the last four are all blonds. Zoi is a wild child, and she got her mom's eyes, her dad's hair, and a nice intermediate warm skintone.

Zircon has his dad's hair, skin closer to his mother's, and, for some reason, burgundy eyes. I can't for the life of me figure out where those came from, but it's kind of cool so they're staying. He's fussy, but after Topaz, it'll take a lot for him to convince me.

Quartz is still plugging away at her aspiration, and it's going...uh..."well."

Since I wasn't planning on twins, I had to awkwardly shove another bed in the nursery, but look, they're all asleep at once! Sweet, sweet silence!

When I mentioned A Rock is the only one using the couch in the toddlers' room, I wasn't kidding. For some reason, they much prefer to eat their dinners on a lounger in the gym.

The twins have a long first day getting a jump on their skills, and Zircon didn't quite make it to bed. Good thing this isn't my ISBI!

The next day, Quartz heads over to the older girls' house (where the Best Friends household used to live), and she takes up their precious time with one of her civil designs, since we want to keep job progress high.

Qusong: "Oh God, I can't look. It's a roundabout, isn't it? I just...I just can't, Quetzal. I'm going to lose it if I see a roundabout."

Quetzal: "Yeah, uh, don't turn around."

Ulex: "Guys! Look! It's a movie from before they invented color!"

Qusong: "Come to think of it, this direction isn't any less annoying."

Like a good guest, Quartz produces her dinner from her back pocket and proceeds to not offer any to her hosts. It's a wonder the girls are all still good friends with their mom.

Soon it was time to return home, and it's another meal on the lounger in the gym.

The teens, meanwhile, are hard at work on their homework to earn those good grades. Axi is careful to keep a toy nearby, lest she act her age for even a moment.

Speaking of acting your age...the heart hot tub, Declan? Really?

Since he was aged down, A Rock has randomly started sleeping on his back more often than not. Is that important? No. Noteworthy? No. Documented for all posterity? Absolutely.

Declan is cranky because he's picked up the workaholic trait and he keeps sneaking off to go in to work on his off hours, which then makes him tense. He won't stop, though, and I finally sent him for life coaching so he would knock it off. He kept getting the "missing work" moodlet for a while afterwards, but that must have been a bug.

Perhaps it was worth it, though, because his next shift, he gets a great chance card that lets him retire early. Since he's already maxed his career and he doesn't have much time left in his adult stage, I let him take it.

Declan: "Uh...now what?"

Off to the greenhouse, I suppose.

Declan: "Shoulda kept being a workaholic."

Chop chop, those plants aren't going to garden themselves.

And yet I still find him lurking around as Axi is once again taking selfies. 

Axi: "I may be in front of our minerals collection, but the elemental thing to know here is how awesome I look."

Declan: *thinking intensely about the career he just retired from*

Oh boy. On that note, let's wrap up here. Check back next chapter to see Ru and Axi age up soon, Topaz and the youngest twins go through their whole gosh darn childhoods (see? this is why six children would have been better), and Quartz hopefully someday make something--anything--on the fabricator as she creeps towards her aspiration goal. As for Declan? It's just not happening. Sorry, hon. So, make sure to check in with me at Boolprop, and keep an eye out for the next chapter soon! Thanks for reading!