There's not to much to be said about our second year, at least that's Tara's opinion. Colm has a different perspective on our second year on the island. While they didn't get any new classmates a few of the houses finally got settled into. Tara asked mom to help her with a science project for school on weather patterns. Colm had paid attention in class, but Tara hadn't wanted his help. Tara said that the project gave her a chance to talk to mom about growing girl changes too. Mom winks at me whenever Tara says that, as if she knew all along that the project was a cover up. Both Tara and Colm grumbled about school being year round. While Colm preferred to work alone, he had to admit that their homework got done faster when they worked together. Dad continued to paint wherever he could. His paintings were getting better and better. Folks were starting to take notice of his art where they had ignored his music. Dad even got contracted to paint some murals at the warehouse. Everyone raved that his "Elven Queen" was a masterpiece. That fall when Tara's big transition day rolled around she asked mom for chocolate cake and a small party. If mom wanted to freak over Tara's rebellious fashion style, dad talked her out of it. According to dad by not making a big fuss they didn't draw attention to the wrong aspects of Tara's self exploration. "I am not big on the idea that some guy might be oogling our daughter over what she wears, but I want her to be free to express herself safely." Dad paused for a moment. "Do you remember some of the girls at your high school? I remember a few from mine. Their parents were super strict, so they constantly snuck around and wore worse that what Tara's wearing. One girl was so oppressed by her parents she ran away and ended up on the streets as a prostitute, the other ended up raped at a party and pregnant. I don't want that for Tara, I'd rather let her explore and teach her how to be confident of herself." Mom hugged dad "We had more than a few like that at the parochial school I attended. I'm not a fan of what she's wearing, but you're right it could be worse. I think maybe ..." mom paused for a long moment "I think just maybe part of her outfit choice is due to a lack of stores out here. Even with regular ferry service it took 3 months for a new pair of jeans to arrive." According to Colm if they had any further talks about Tara's clothing choices it wasn't where he could hear. Colm suspected that Tara's new look was more about being thrifty than rebelling, while Tara says it's a little bit of both. Tara and mom were both in shock when dad gave Tara his guitar as a birthday gift. Mom had found a music box, with a gnome instead of a ballerina, at Mr. Peoples store, that she gave Tara for her birthday. Mom and dad took turns teaching Tara how to drive. All three swear that they saw someone moving around at the Danilova house. If mom and dad had hoped that Tara would pull fewer pranks as a teen, they were quickly proved wrong. As Tara booby trapped everything she could think of, no one was safe from her pranks. When the new library opened across the street from us dad was asked to paint murals near the entrances. As fall moved towards winter our family along with the rest of the islands residents started spending time in the new library. The odd design around the outside of the building is a tribute to the science center for helping with construction costs. When it got to cold to paint outside dad continued to paint inside. Neither Tara or Colm can figure out why or how dad changed but he did, and so did mom. Somewhere along the line dad stopped being scared of commitment and appreciated the outdoors more. Mom while still not perfect about cleaning was less of a slob. When dad asked mom to go steady Tara and Colm bolted, to much grossness according to them. Mom and dad started insisting on more family time, at least once a week we had what they called game night. The rest of the week everyone was busy with school, writing, even mom was writing some guides on where to find stuff for the science center, and after school activities. Tara was on the phone with one of her best friends at school when dad suddenly dropped to one knee in front of mom one winter evening. She rolls her eyes whenever she tells me that parents are weird enough without the added mush of getting back together. Colm says it's even weirder that they didn't just have a private ceremony. "I don't get them Siobhan they eloped the first time they got married, but this time they waited to finalize their vows." Mom's guides to the island were popular and she found that even though writing was stressful, she enjoyed it. So she began a novel that while labeled as fiction is a romance based off of her and dad's relationship. Her guides only earn her pennies, but the novel is earning her almost as much as Colm earns from his sci-fi stories. When snowflake day rolled around mom and dad threw another gift giving party. Tara rolled her eyes whenever mom and dad would steal a kiss under the mistletoe. Everyone enjoyed the gift exchange. We all had a chuckle when Tara, Colm, as well as mom all gave dad a new guitar for the holiday. As winter moved towards spring the days sped by. Sometimes on game night dad and Colm would play chess while mom and Tara cheered the game on. The attempted robbery wasn't the highlight of the end of winter, rather mom and dad throwing pre-wedding parties was. Tara and Colm only know that they invited friends over, because we weren't allowed in the house during the parties. Tara was allowed to go wherever she wanted, but Colm and I were taken to the library. I suppose Colm could have gone to the winter festival if he had wanted, but he liked the quiet of the library more. When a talent scout approached mom and dad about Tara's skating ability, and asked if they like to sign Tara up for competition skating, they asked Tara if she'd like to compete. She said that she wasn't interested in competing and just liked to skate for fun. More than the library got built that year. Someone had a new house built at the far end of the island, and a small spiritual center was built next to the graveyard. Mom took a tour of the center and talked to dad about having their wedding there. Dad took a tour as well and agreed that it would make a nice location. Then one spring day after Tara and Colm were done with the school for the day, mom and dad invited as many of the people they knew from around the island and renewed their vows, once again becoming Mr & Mrs Stone. Their wedding was the talk of the island for a few days. As big of a deal as a wedding is that wasn't the big talk of the town. Dad's art work had caught the eye of a big art dealer. Dad was invited* to work for a museum as an art critic, dad agreed. At first mom was worried that dad's job was going to require traveling the globe. Dad smiled and reassured her that not only did he not have to leave unless they wanted to as a family, but that part of his contract was to help build a museum there on the island. As his way of reassuring mom that he wasn't going anywhere dad made it a point to help mom water the garden every evening after work. He also promised mom that he had no problem with her hiring a sitter during the day to watch me if she wanted to go collecting while he was at work. After all the map she had made of the island was so precise that it took her almost no time at all to collect stones and minerals for the science center. Mom used her money from collecting to build her and dad a small master suite, with a deck, above what had been their room which she turned into a nursery play room. Spring practically flew by with mom making small changes here and there through out the house. * I'd forgotten that when a sim reaches level 10 of university based faction they get offered certain jobs. The bulk of the money from Sark's job will be used to build a museum, through tce build here interaction without actually owning the museum/art gallery lot. At this point Fern had enough ltr points to get her the collection helper, so her collecting is very concentrated. In two to three hours of collecting she brought in over three thousand simoleans between gems & small animals. So the family is no longer struggling to make ends meet, and hasn't been for a while now thanks to the book royalties.
When Colm reaches teen he'll be getting the good trait so the family can make donations to charity's.
2 Comments
Lisabeesims
3/18/2018 01:56:34 pm
LOL the pranking is hilarious!! Fun update <3
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Mama Dragon
3/18/2018 04:22:22 pm
All autonomous, and because Tara has the rebel trait she gets two positive moodlet's every time she scores another victim to a prank. :)
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