Chapter 13: Family Time

Lily hates leaving baby Ethan with Kristopher, but Sim law is very clear. Tessa died without a will, so custody immediately passes to the father. However, she resolves to keep an eye on the child, for the sake of her friend.

Despite being distraught about the future of Tessa's son, things are going well at home. Leo is thrilled about becoming a father, and Lily can't wait to start planning the wedding.

The delivery goes seamlessly, and Lily gives birth to not one but two healthy babies. A boy arrives first, and they name him Paxton. A little girl comes along next, and Lily calls her Beatrix.

With the arrival of the twins, Leo decides that they need to move to a bigger house with more land. He wants a home that his rapidly expanding family can grow into.

While Grandma Dakota watches the babies, Leo takes Lily to see a house that he thinks might work. Lily immediately falls in love with the house's soothing blue color scheme and beach-y feel. Without delay, the new parents purchase the property and move in.

Dakota takes a much more active role in the lives of her grandchildren than she ever did with Lily.

A doting dad, Leo can't get enough of his daughter Beatrix.

For the twin's birthdays, Lily decides to throw a big party. Phillip shows up, and Dakota can't resist bragging to him about her beautiful grand-babies.

His daughter Matilda, now a teenager, makes an appearance at the celebration as well. Her neuroses make it hard for her to enjoy the party, but unlike her mother she at least made the effort of showing up.

In the background, Tommy Ottomas, a good friend of Leo's and a long time married man, offers the soon-to-be-husband some marital advice. The three women on the couch, all unmarried, complain about the lack of eligible bachelors at the party.

Soon, it's time for the cake! Paxton, the oldest, goes first.

He has Leo's gray eyes. Who he got the blonde hair from is anyone's best guess.

Beatrix inherits her dad's black and blue hair and his gray eyes.

Leo's daycare business has become quite the family affair. When Dakota isn't upgrading appliances around the house or cooking meals for the family, she spends her time helping out with the toddlers. Likewise, Lily enjoys bringing Paxton and Beatrix down to the daycare center to play with the other kids.

Lily finds herself especially interested in one of Leo's new additions. Kristopher recently enrolled Ethan at the daycare, and Lily can't help but fuss over the poor, motherless toddler.

Ethan and Beatrix play together at the blocks table. They seem to get along fairly well, even at this young age.

Despite his reservations about Kristopher, Leo takes a keen interest in Ethan and even helps teach the boy to talk.

With the wedding just around the corner, Leo chats with the toddler about the upcoming event. Lily's been so preoccupied with the twins that Leo has had to do almost all of the planning himself.

The big days arrives at last. While the groom and his best man Paxton relax together in the groom's suite...

The bride and her little bridesmaid Beatrix fight a severe case of cold feet.

The ceremony goes off without a hitch however.

And Lily and Leo are married at last.

The event itself is quite small so the happy couple is actually able to sneak off and get a few minutes alone.

Which is abruptly interrupted by a scathing glare from Dakota. Apparently, she doesn't think that whatever Leo is saying to Lily is appropriate for Beatrix's ears.

After they put the toddlers to bed that evening, the newlyweds finally get some proper alone time. It's the first chance they've had to really be together since Paxton and Beatrix were born, and Leo makes the most of it.


Challenge Notes:

So yes, Lily had twins. I was so excited I literally started jumping up and down. And Beatrix is for sure going to be the heir. I like her hair color a million times more than Paxton's. When he aged up with blonde hair, I was seriously like What. The. Eff. I even went into a new copy of Riverblossom Hills to see if Leo's adopted mother, Vita Blanche, had blonde hair. But no, she had gray hair. So, yeah, no clue where that came from, lol. Here are my rolls for generation 3:

Generation 3 Information:

Name- Beatrix West
Marital Status- Single Parent
Number of Children- 2
Primary Income- Firefighter
Secondary Income- N/A
Generation Goal- Awesome!
Miscellaneous Fun- It's so YOU

I have always wanted to roll the "Awesome!" generation goal, but I have absolutely no idea what to do for it. The rules state that it is "preferable" to do something related to your heir's career or traits. Her career is firefighter, and her traits, thus far, are brave, good, and athletic. Nothing obviously awesome about that. I will have to think long and hard about this one.

Anyway, I ended up doing the wedding at this butterfly pavilion. It was a DISASTER! I shouldn't have brought the toddlers, as it was such a mess trying to look after them. And the venue was very pretty, but no one actually bothered to sit down to watch the wedding. I think there might have been some routing problems.

And Ethan! I cannot wait for him to become a young adult! I was planning on letting Tessa and Kristopher have more kids, but then her death fit so well into the story that I couldn't resist. I am curious what their spawn looks like. So far, he's adorable, but we shall have to wait and see.