Growing Sims

Over in Veronaville, Mariane Lillard (nee Maniere) has had a baby boy, Jeremy.  It took a lot of tries before she got pregnant!  Victor is happy he has a son and now wants another baby but Mariane's saying no.

Johnson has moved out of the apartment and left Heinrich and Sonique to it.  He's moved in with Carla, but he won't have a chance with her unless he loses weight or she starts liking fat guys.

Heinrich proposed to Sonique.  She said yes.  But will she be satisfied with just one guy?  She still wants to see Jean-Philippe.

Gerd Stein is getting older and won't have much longer to live.  Jasmine better hurry up and return home before he carks it.  She's now in her junior year at university.  She's in the same dorm as the Japanese couple.

Hiroshi Kobayashi and Akiko Takahashi have got to know each other better and are now in love.  Hiroshi's still in his sophomore year and Akiko is a little behind that, due to her moving around more and being neglected.

In Strangetown I've made a new character.  He's another mini-challenge.  His name is Ugly Bastard and I'm going to see if his ugliness dilutes over the generations.  He lives on a big Aussie property called Black River Homestead so he looks rich, but he actually inherited it from his great uncle.  He hasn't yet met any likely fiancees.  He'll have to go downtown to meet any because Strangetown, as we know, is full of strange characters, mostly men.

All for now

Death came for Winette at about 64.

It drove Gordon quite insane really even though his aspirations were now getting married or going on a date.  He cradled his sack baby quite often, the poor old man. 

Meanwhile Connor was still fighting Terence but also picking on Tyler. 

Only Candida seemed to be friends with him.  Candida and Tyler get on very well.  Being siblings, even if one’s adopted, seems to prevent them being able to flirt (which means limitations for the Freaks in Strangetown).

Death came for Gordon at about 68. 

The kids mourned for him far more, bursting into tears at any random moment.

So now there was just a household of teens and one child:

Terence reached adulthood and wanted to move out.  But I made him stay, as the eldest of this group of kids – he’ll get the house eventually. 

Henry, the youngest, reached teenhood finally.

Over at the twins’ apartment nothing much is going on.  Charlotte visited home a couple of times.  But there was some drama at Nigel and Woody’s house.  Kieran was attempting to cook and during my brief absence from the computer, he managed to set fire to the kitchen.  I had neglected to install a smoke sensor.  By the time I got back to the computer most of the kitchen was burning and Kieran managed to get within reach of the flames and expired (note the maid calmly cleaning).

Luckily Nigel loved Kieran enough to plead Death for Kieran’s resurrection and Death was kind. 

Kieran was alive again.  I wouldn’t have minded if one of the Random brothers had burned to death (since there are quite enough Randoms), but no, it had to be the non-Random gay guy.

So still no sign of marriages or babies with the Randoms.  Stay tuned.

While Ken was at work, Elle went to the local pet store and got a cat.  She called it Toulouse, budding artist that she is.

Meanwhile, over at Mellon's house, Devon went from a child

to a teen

She's virtually a clone of Penny with a different hair style.

Now that Mellon was in her mid-60s I felt a makeover was due.

So she looks less 'slutty'.  The dress has to go.  A visit to buy clothes is in order.

Remington also needed a makeover to reflect his age.

I got ahead of myself in the last post, as Ken didn't move in with Karla until after Sonique left and I haven't mentioned Sonique for a while.

Sonique had moved in with Karla after finishing uni.  Karla, you may remember, was an ex-flatmate of Heidi who is now Jean-Philippe's live-in girlfriend.  Dan, the philosophy man, was now married and owned the local bookshop, so that left Sonique without a lover.  Lucky for her a couple of new guys moved in - a blond guy called Heinrich and a black guy called Johnson.  She got to know them pretty quickly as they lived next door.  I thought Johnson would be a good match for Karla, but he's lazy and fat and she's not into fat guys.  I didn't realise I'd made him lazy but trying to get him to work out is pretty damned difficult.  So yeah, the blond guy was in Sonique's sights.

Didn't take long for her to move in on him...

and move in!

This guy might be the one!

Yeah so Karla was alone again until Ken moved in and moved out. 

I fast forwarded Ken's stay at university.  He was staying in the same dorm as two others I had created who'd only just reached their sophomore year - Adrian, the gay guy and Katya, the red-head.  Adrian failed in the process because I neglected him.  I concentrated on Katya who I wanted to pass, and making sure Ken failed.  He did, then headed back to Veronaville.  Unfortunately his name was still Ken Bachman, so I don't get it.  Jasmine, adopted by Gerd Stein, had her real surname of Gregory when she reached uni.  Never mind.

While at uni, Ken met and fell for Elle Harris and the feelings were mutual.  Once back in Veronaville, Ken moved in with Karla Heineken (the flatmate to everybody - more on her and Sonique later).  He invited Elle round and as soon as she moved in, Ken and Elle moved out.  I built a weird-shaped house for them.  They got engaged and married within minutes of moving in.

Unfortunately Ken's the spitting image of his brother, Stephen, so I'm going to have to add facial hair to one of them to tell the difference.

After I saw Ken Collie visiting his brother's house as a friend of his own nephew I thought, well this is ridiculous.  So I made Helen and Leo (currently kid-less) adopt.  It was a pretty strong possibility that Ken would turn up and sure enough he did.  He managed to complete his homework this time, even scoring an A at the end of his childhood.  The minute he turned into a teen (finally!!!!!) I shipped him off to university.  Damn him.  I'll make sure he fails so he can become an adult and try catching up to his siblings!  Of course now his family tree shows Leo as his father and his name is Ken Bachman.  Oh well.  Helen was promoted then demoted after a wrong decision (I'm good at making the wrong decision when it appears to be the right one.  I should just ignore them.)

Nothing much else happening in the Collie family after all the upset.  I'm concentrating on getting Mellon to her proper age (she ended up being younger than Ben when she should be at least 8 days (read years) older.  She and Remington are stuck on their career levels because they don't have enough friends so she needs to make some more.

All for now.

Sharlene enjoyed flirting with her co-worker (who's first name is unpronouncable but begins with Z).  She invited him over again to flirt and then took a spin in the car and invited him along.  They had a dream date in town, singing a duet on karaoke, having a picture taken together, etc. 

Sharlene drove them both home again but Ben was now awake and caught them in the kitchen flirting and slapped Sharlene and told her off.  I imagined she'd move out but suddenly she broke it all off! Ben sobbed and left! 

Darlene was upset in the bedroom crying and now hated her mother.  Denny was asleep at the time and didn't really know what what was going on so he wasn't affected.

Poor old Ben found a place to live just down the road but it was very lonely.  He bought a bird for company.  

Darlene visited him there.  

She thought her mother's boyfriend would move in but he didn't, although he did visit again.  Slowly Darlene's anger diminished.

Meanwhile a burglar stole their car and spa pool.  (Darlene had used the spa pool to try and get friendly with Francois Champignon who visited one day after school).  So everyone was upset about the burglar and wanted to see his ghost.  Perhaps they should contact him, invite him round, and lure him into a doorless room?  (Sorry my evil mind is taking over here...)

But wait, there's more. 

After Z's last visit, Sharlene fell pregnant.  So now she has a dark-skinned baby.

You can imagine the talk among the rest of the Collie family...

Woody and Charlotte were at university and I planned to make them fail – it was too  much effort to get them through and Charlotte had a tendency to failure anyway (she did get taken away by the Social Worker).  The results of what I did surprised me.  I basically put them on fast-forward and left them to it.  And they looked after themselves fine – they went to classes and even managed to get to the exam so after the first exam they got a C each.  Damn!  They hadn’t done any assignments, term papers or skills!  For the next semester’s exam they got a B!!!  Why the hell do I bother with others trying to get them to keep up with the work?  But even the fast forward was taking a while so I made sure they missed the next two exams and they were expelled.  Phew.

Woody is definitely gay.  The whole time at university he was dreaming of his father with love hearts – ugh.  On becoming an adult his clothing was definitely tending to gayness as well, so he moved in with his gay brother, Nigel.  The three gays can stay together.  

(Woody's behind the easel painting)

Charlotte wanted to move in with her sisters but their apartment is tiny so she moved in with Kieran’s ex-flatmate, Willy Brannon, next door to Nigel and Woody.  Willy tends to keep to himself - he's pretty non-communicative and tends to paint or go on the computer every chance he can get.  He's barely acknowledged Charlotte.

As for the rest of the family:  Candida reached teenhood, so now there are four teens and child, Henry in the family home.  It seems when an adopted child reaches teenhood they use their real surname and not the adopted one.  Tyler’s is Hubrick (or something).  Terence is working part-time but still going to school.  I think I’ll make them all miss university – can’t be bothered with them all.  Terence and Connor still fight.  All the boys (except the adopted ones obviously) look the same.

Candida dances, Tyler looks on, Henry watches TV and Gordon relaxes.

A few pics of Ben and Mellon's families.

Mellon with her dyed hair visiting Dan's house.  Compare with an older photo of her talking to her sister:

Penny, Devon and Remington (yes Devon's grown already).  Remington doesn't look too bad for an old guy.

Penny and Devon take after their father I think.

Then there's poor old Ben.

His kids take after him too:

Darlene, now a teen, has an unfortunate jaw deformity.

So does Denny.  Should I let them breed?  They look nothing like their mother:

It'll be some time before Sharlene becomes an elder.  She must be daydreaming of having a bit on the side.

Flirting with a co-worker.  Hmm, we'll see what happens... 

If you're wondering why a guitar is on the front porch - it was one of those attempts to get Ben happy enough to take an elixir.  Didn't work obviously.  I didn't bother moving it - the house is too tiny anyway.

Oh, a strange and ironic thing happened.  Denny came home one day with a friend - and who should it be but Ken, the Peter Pan of the family - taken away by the Social Worker twice and doomed to stay a kid forever.

Coming up - an update on the Randoms!

Gerd's getting older, now in his mid-60s, and since Jasmine was at university, he was alone again.  But with the addition of Sims Pets (yay!) he could now have a companion!

Gerd's new companion is a lovely, but naughty, German Shepherd (naturally!) called Jagd.

Here's Jagd chewing his squeaky bone, while old Gerd plays guitar.  The unfortunate thing is that Gerd will probably die before Jagd does.  So Jasmine will have to take care of it.

Jasmine was at Academie le Tour and she moved into Dan's dorm just after Sonique left and before Dan left so she got to know Dan a little.

Here's Jasmine (her real surname is Gregory apparently).  She's the blonde.

She was hoping to get to know Dan better, but it was apparent that he had a girlfriend already - she spotted him hugging and kissing redhead, Veronica Go (sister of Katelyn??). 

Dan has actually now asked Veronica to marry him.  She said yes, so Dan's moved back to Veronaville and will soon ask Veronica to join him. 

(Now I've got pets, some of my other characters want one, the demanding buggers - Darlene wants a puppy, for example.  Well she ain't gettin' one!)

Mellon and Ben were very close to elderhood – Ben closer than Mellon, which didn’t seem right because he’s younger, so I hopped on over to Mellon’s house to see how things were getting along.  Penny wasn’t quite the little terror that I thought she might be.  She dutifully did her homework and did well at school and even cleaned up after herself.  She’d turned out ok after her little temper tantrum to begin with.  Mellon, you may remember, got pregnant after the wedding. 

Here's Remington telling Penny about the new baby.

She gave birth to another girl, Devon.  Devon’s surname is Landchild, whereas Penny’s is Collie.  Makes sense but this was something I wasn’t aware of in my newbieness.  Mellon became an elder just after Devon became a toddler.  (Devon got far more attention than Penny.  Things weren’t quite so chaotic.)  Remington wasn’t far behind and he became an elder on the same day Penny became a teen.  They’ve both decided to colour their hair – they don’t want to look ancient so soon. (Sorry, forgot to take pics again.) 

They held a combined party for Remington and Penny and invited family around, but Mellon went to work and missed the whole thing.  Remington slept through half of it.  Not the greatest of parties.  At least Penny was old enough to make sure Devon got put into the cot when she got tired.  So generation three of the Collies is growing fast.  

Clockwise from bottom: Leo, Marie, Penny (now a teen), Steven, Helen, Remington (about to become an elder), Ben, Darlene, Devon.

Over in Ben’s house, he had two days to elderhood.  I thought I’d make Sharlene’s life a bit shorter by making her take the elixir when her aspiration level was only about a third to a half full.  To my surprise she lost some years.  That hardly seemed fair when Ben’s level was higher and he gained!  So I made her take it again and she went back to what she was before and the elixir was used up.  Oh well.  Ben grew into an elder but his beard stayed white, regardless of what hair colour he chose, so he went white.  He could have shaved his beard off but he has a non-existent top lip (somehow) and looks rather weird.  I let him have a moustache to cover that but of course it’s still white.  (Forgot to take pics again!)  Toddler Denny grew into a child, but Darlene hasn’t yet reached teen-hood, unlike her cousin, Penny, who she’s friends with.

Penny playing with Darlene before her birthday. Devon's in the high chair.

Over to Steven and Marie’s house (the family home).  Steven was approaching elderhood too and there was no elixir.  With that in mind he approached Marie about having a baby and she seemed quite happy. 

Steven became senior manager and came home to find his wife giving birth to a baby boy. 

He’s named Kenny, after his lost uncle Ken, victim of the Social Worker.

Remaining sibling, Helen, is still her cheerful self and has no intention of being a mother.  She’s still very young compared to her brothers and sister.  She’s still just a fast-food checkout chick and Leo is a gas station attendant.  They seem to have no worries and enjoy life.  Let’s see how far they go in their jobs with no kids to worry about.

I'll be back with pics!

Sonique's mother, Genieve, married Jonathan Ternynck(?) in a quick ceremony at home. 

(Oh look, she has bridesmaids... ;) )

Over in Academie Le Tour, Sonique appeared to have forgotten about Jean-Philippe, and had her sights on Dan, the philosophy man.  They hadn't quite got to the bedroom yet and besides those dorm rooms aren't quite big enough for a double bed.  She did surprisingly well at university (drama was her major) and managed to keep up with enough assignments and skills to breeze through.  Well, there you go - I misjudged her. 

(Dan contemplating his relationship with Sonique?)

(Sonique eyeing up another conquest?)

She had a sports party one night and invited her mother and aunt and a few others, including J-P.  J-P went off and watched TV while Sonique was dancing with Dan.  She later went over and hugged and kissed him and Dan caught them at it and slapped Sonique silly.  He stormed off and J-P must have had a little inkling then...  Later on in the evening, J-P caught her snogging one of the Ebadi boys and got angry.  So that was that, really. 

Sonique gossiping about her aunt to her mother!

J-P, meanwhile had got friendlier with the new neighbour, Heidi Heineken. 

 J-P

He introduced her to his dad, Raoul, and invited her to stay the night.  I'm not sure where she slept but she turned up in the morning wearing undies.  The apartment kitchen is more trouble than it's worth.  Even the nanny has started using it to feed her face.  So, after Heidi agreed to move in, the kitchen had to go.  The spare spa pool went in that room instead.

J-P and Heidi in the tub.

Heidi breakfasts with the boys.

The gardener actually weeding!  A view of J-P's apartment at the back of the house.  The lovely union jack design was destroyed during building.

The Champignon twins, meanwhile, seemed to get on better and Pierre did his homework.  They've just reached teen-hood. 

Pierre

Francois

They're quite handsome boys for Sims-generated offspring.

Sonique graduated and moved in with Heidi's ex-flatmate, Karla.

Collie update in the next post.

I haven't done much with the Randoms lately.  They're such a big family (duh) that it takes a while to get them anywhere. 

Hortense and Enid finally finished university and movied into a modern apartment in Pleasantview.

Nigel, meanwhile, succeeds in getting the flu all the time and has just given it to his new boyfriend - new neighbour Kieran Brannon, who has moved in.  Kieran is overtly gay and didn't want to live in such a desperate-looking house.  He's just remodelled the place with a sunken lounge in the middle of the (now) square house.

Woody and Charlotte are still in limbo in their freshman year over in the university.  I think I'll make them fail - getting them through college is such a drag.  Terence will soon become an adult.  The rest are a squabbling mass.  Adopted son, Tyler, is now a teen.  That leaves Candida and Henry as the last two children.

I'm a late-comer to this game (as if you couldn't tell) because my previous computer just wasn't powerful enough.  I'm learning new things all the time and discovered all these challenges others have done, such as a Legacy challenge, which other blogs are written about.  They're up to their 10th generation and more.  I don't think I'll bother with a challenge, just yet - too much work.  I'm happy to let my Sims do what they want with a bit of guidance from me.  I've ended up with favourite families or favourite characters and the Randoms are definitely not one of them.  I'm rather glad Nigel, and potentially Woody, are gay - they're unlikely to breed or adopt.  Yes, it is my choice but sometimes I just want to keep them happy - give them a kid to deal with or cement their love or something... all makes it interesting.  I'm not doing the 10 kid thing again though!  The village will be overrun with Randoms.

This will be my last entry for a week or so.  Other matters in real life need my urgent attention.   The Sims 2 is way too addictive - much better than Sims 1.  It's so much easier to get them to fall in love and move in and have kids and the kids actually grow up and do the same, so that whole new dimension is still very addictive for me.

In the meantime, if anyone reads this, give me some feedback!

Byeeeeeeee!

Ben is ageing more rapidly than his older sister, Mellon, so over to Mellon's house we go.  But Mellon was much older than Remington, so she had a couple of drinks of the elixir to bring her back a bit.  So she's even younger.  Back over to Ben's house and with Sharlene's help installed the elixir in their house.  First try was great - Ben became a bit younger but his aspirations are rather pathetic.  I tried my best to get him younger again (his wife is much younger than him), but the next try was a disaster - he aged - so now, instead of becoming an elder in 6 days, it was three.  Time was running out to get him happy enough to try again!  But that aspiration level just didn't get high enough and he now has just one day left.  I give up.

Back over to Mellon's house.  Baby Penny grew into toddlerhood.  You'd think, knowing how bad a mother her mother was, that Mellon would do her best for her daughter.  But she seemed constantly tired and hungry and never saw Remington enough.  She went to work as he came home from work.  Both came home tired and poor Penny ended up crying for attention a lot.

They nearly got her potty trained, but the attempts to teach her to talk didn't come to much.  Teaching her to walk wasn't even attempted.  Oh dear.

Remington wanted to get engaged to Mellon.  She was still officially engaged to Garrett, who she never sees now (and he still has a burnt face!).  No matter how in love they were, there was no option to propose.  Mellon had to invite Garrett over specifically to break up with him.  She did so and he sobbed and left.  Apparently he didn't see it coming (with Remington's child crying behind her).

Yay, now Remington could at last ask Mellon to marry him.  One of her fears was staying unmarried, so naturally she said yes.  Remington rang in sick and Mellon invited the wedding guests.  But in all the confusion and trying to get Penny dressed for the occasion, Remington went off to work anyway!  So there were all the guests and Mellon waiting at the 'alter' (the wedding arch) and Remington wasn't there.  The party was a disaster.  Mellon was quite upset and the guests were grumbling on their way home.

Remington finally came home, apparently unaware that he was supposed to be marrying that day - it was a Saturday after all.  Mellon dragged him over to the wedding arch and they got married anyway.  A passing neighbour quickly dressed in their finery and witness the muted affair.  After the (tiny) event, Mellon was going to walk away to attend to their demanding daughter, but Remington dragged her back for the traditional kiss.

So now Mellon Collie was now Mellon Landchild....

and he's landed her with another child.  Mellon's pregnant again.  Penny has grown into a terror - her temper tantrums will probably be frequent.  Who can blame her.  The cycle repeats!

So Tash had her baby, but waited until Teri had reached toddlerhood to try for another.

Here she is feeding baby Teri in the kitchen.

She became pregnant first try. Meanwhile both Steve and Tash between them taught Teri how to walk and talk and be potty trained. So much easier when the child knows to go to the potty herself.

I just have to remember to get someone to empty it!

Teri was a happy child and it’s now rather touching to see her run out of the house to welcome her father when he gets home from work.

(Oops - looks like they need a gardener.)

Yes she’s already grown into school-age and she’s quite an attractive girl when compared to all the other children which have sprung from my creations. These poor quality pics don’t do her justice.

Steve hasn’t seen much of his friends lately (they’re all too busy screwing) but he did invite Rob around to advise him on his fatherly duties… (hahaha – so say I). Rob is rather too enamoured of his friend Steve as well – their hug is just a little too familiar. Oops – better cool that one down.

So Tash was heavily pregnant and just about to get some food for Steve who had just woken up when she had child number two – a boy, Ian. They’re all very happy. Awww.

What I love about this game is the way the characters tend to take on a life of their own - they'll prefer to do something you hadn't planned and before you know it you let them take on a whole new direction (such as Nigel Random ending up with definite gay tendencies).

So the four "Kents" - Rob, Mike, Cara and Sinead were living in one house - Rob and Cara as a couple and Mike and Sinead as a couple.  But it was soon evident that each of them also lusted after the other partner - Sinead and Rob, and Mike and Cara.  I thought they seemed better suited anyway.  I just had to be careful that they weren't caught out.  So while Mike and Cara cuddled downstairs:

Rob and Sinead cuddled upstairs:

No-one cottoned on to each other for a couple of days.  But, the inevitable happened.  Rob and Cara, the "official" couple, were about to 'woohoo' when Mike, Cara's new love, caught them at it.  He was not happy!  Hypocrite!

So, while Mike was at work one day, Rob and Sinead thought it better to move out and live next door in the empty house.

I can't recall if Rob knew at the time, but by then Cara was pregnant with his child.

So there was Cara, pregnant and loveless, because Mike was still angry with her as well as Rob and he didn't even know about Sinead and Rob being together.  It took a few days for Mike to calm down - enough to start accepting Cara's affections again.

Cara had the baby - a boy, who she called Robert (probably so she'd remember who the father was).

A little unrelated break here as I tell you that Giles Huntingdon from the flash house up the road, took to visiting the girls quite often (while Sinead was still living there and before the pregnancy).  He once stayed the whole night, jamming with them on the balcony.  I wonder what his wife would have thought had she known.

Anyway, back to the abandoned baby Robert...

Mike reluctantly helped out with the baby but his anger was receding.  Robert quickly grew into a toddler.

He has his father's angular features. 

Cara was out working and Mike found himself babysitting when he was at home.

Pretty soon they would be accepting each other as father/son.  They even played music together...

 sort of.

Rob still hadn't visited his son, perhaps afraid of Mike's wrath.  His friend, Steve, the doting dad of Teri, must have given him a talking to because he eventually visited and met his son for the first time.

He even put the child to bed.

A bond had formed...

We'll see where all this goes.  Very interesting situation.

Will Cara get pregant to Mike?

Will Sinead get pregnant to Rob?

Will they all keep seeing each other?

I'm as curious as anyone...

Well, Marie had great pleasure in getting rid of the greens and browns and oranges in the old Collie family home.  So some before and after pics:

The kitchen and lounge before Marie's touch.

The kitchen/lounge post-Shannon's death.

The small master bedroom before Shannon died (they relegated her to a single bedroom).  To the right is the small nursery.

The master bedroom re-designed, and naturally a new bed.  The bedroom has been extended - since they don't intend having a large family.  One less bedroom.  The small room to the right has not been redecorated.

Steven was delighted with the result.

Over in Pleasantview:

Tash had a baby girl - Teri.  More on the Kent family later.

It's amazing what these Sims get up to when you're not controlling them. I thought it was about time I got boyfriends for the Maniere sisters who were still young compared to their contemporaries. Sonique was in danger of catching up to them. Well I needn't have worried. In my absence it seemed that Mariane had got to know, and fall in love with, Victor Lillard, or near enough that I didn't have to do much to seal the deal. He wasn't the best looking guy for Mariane. I'd hoped for someone a bit better looking since she is attractive. Maybe it was his money... Anyway, it didn't take much persuasion to get Victor to move in and it was only when a helicopter arrived that I realised he was a business tycoon and pretty loaded. No wonder Mariane had her eyes on him. Genieve didn't really see the attraction but could understand the financial aspect considering the house they lived in was a dump. Victor, naturally, couldn't bear to live in such a house and as soon as he got back from work, he and Mariane moved away to a grand house at the other end of Veronaville.

A night-time helicopter view of the new house.

Mariane was so overcome with its grandeur that she proposed to Victor on the spot and he agreed. There was an old graveyard beside the house. The headstones were swiftly moved over to Bluewater cemetery. Once the house had been decorated and furnished to their satisfaction, Victor invited the wedding guests and they got married the very next day. Talk about whirlwind romances on this game!

Wedding guests gathering.

The bride is fashionably late.  There's a trend here for evening weddings!

That left Genieve at home alone but it seemed that she too had got to know a guy called Jonathan Ternynck. He wasn't much of a looker either but good enough for Genieve I suppose. Who was I to argue when they'd done all the work? A similar thing happened. Genieve invited Jonathan round the next day but he brought a friend with him who he seemed to lust after... She wasted no time in asking him to move in and he said yes without hesitation. The seedy little house was no good for them either, even though Jonathan is just a paramedic. Genieve sold off the junk, kept anything she treasured, and they moved to a two-bedroomed house nearer to Mariane. No wedding bells in the air just yet.

Not a good photo - Jonathan moved his hand at the wrong moment.

Poor old Gerd, in comparison, has found romance such a struggle and remains single to this day. His hopes to woo Mariane never came to anything and here she was married off to the local rich guy. He had aged rapidly in any case and is now 61. Adopted daughter, Jasmine has moved to college. He'll be lonely once again. Perhaps I should try and find him an old widow or make a new one for him. I do feel sorry for him. He's a bit of a failure.

Where to start? When we left the family home, there were elders, Manon and Shannon, adult Steven, teen Helen and younger brother, Ken. Ken hadn't been doing well at school and was taken away by the Social worker. His parents weren't permitted to adopt him back so Steven did. So Ken was back, but also back to square one as far as age – we had to go through it all again. Pierre Champignon came round and played with Ken and also destroyed the lemonade stand in one of his tantrums.

He's a worry, that boy. Meanwhile Helen was getting A's so phoned for a scholarship and went off to Academie Le Tour. Not long after, despite Steven's best attempts to get Ken to do his homework, Ken was failing at school and another visit by the Social Worker saw the end of Ken. Goodbye Ken. You're out of the family story now.

Now that Ken was gone, Steven could concentrate on his own life and his up-to-now non-existent love life. He met a very attractive woman called Christa, who brought a friend along to visit and he chatted to both of them. He never imagined he'd have a hope of wooing the very pretty Christa, so he tried to woo her friend, Marie Rossi. It was very slow going. But we'll come back to them later.

Helen arrived at university and joined the same dorm as the three students already living there (the Hiroshi crowd). They were halfway through their freshman year and worked hard. But Helen was loving the freedom to finally party away from her parents and siblings. She went out and chatted up every male who responded to her. She got quite a number of friends in the process – among them, the Jesus look-alike, Dan. But the one she really lusted after was Leo Bachman(?). (All this has happened so quickly, I've already forgotten his surname.) He was a dark-haired pony-tailed guy with a big nose but she liked him and he seemed to like her in return. Before I knew it they were engaged! Helen missed her first exam and did no homework or term papers even while on probation. So come the end of her second failing semester, she was booted out of university.

She found a small house not far away from the family home and moved in and immediately invited Leo round and they 'woohooed'. They got married then and there when two visitors were there to greet them to the neighbourhood! So Leo quickly became Leo Collie and his surname disappeared forever...

Here he is outside the Collie family home with new sister-in-law Sharlene.

Part Two of the Collie saga:

Darlene Collie grew into a toddler and pretty quickly after that Sharlene became pregnant again. 

Darline has successfully learned to walk and talk (unlike her father when he was that age).

Meanwhile, Remington and Mellon were back in love with each other and Remington's wish was to have a child. On the first try Mellon became pregnant. Mellon gave birth to her baby before Sharlene and had a girl, Penny.

Over in the family home, Shannon's wish was to hold her granddaughter and she tried to invite her round but Mellon refused. Manon invited Mellon but of course she didn't bring the baby. Marie Rossi was visiting Steven at the time. It was a fairly short visit and Shannon tried to make amends with Mellon, but Mellon was having none of it and said goodbye to Manon and left. Little did she know it would be the last time she saw Manon. Death came for Manon in the kitchen as he was about to prepare dinner. Steven and Shannon looked on in horror and sobbed uncontrollably for some time. This didn't do much for Steven's date with Marie, but she was kind-hearted and understanding.

Sharlene gave birth to a boy, Denny, not long after the death of Manon at 76. Ben and Mellon are rapidly heading for elderhood themselves.

Shannon now wanted to meet her first grandson but that was not meant to be either. At least she was happy that she had another grandchild and her greatest wish was to have 6, but her days were numbered.

Steven asked Marie to stay the night and the next day asked her to move in. The engagement proposal came soon after and she agreed. Steven formally introduced Marie to Shannon, who seemed to approve.

However, Marie wasn't so sure of this strange old lady who would often just stand there and look at Marie.

Marie was secretly hoping Shannon would hurry up and die so she could redecorate the whole house which had horrid brown decor and old furniture and really needed updating. But Shannon kept on and was even hoping to fall in love again.

Finally, Steven suggested to Marie that they get married anyway – it would be good for his mother to see a wedding of at least one of her children. Marie agreed and on Sunday evening just before Shannon turned 81, Steven invited the wedding guests: Ben and Sharlene, Helen and Leo, Mellon (Steven didn't know Remington), Christa, and Jean-Philippe.

Just as they were about to start the wedding, Shannon died in the bathroom. Nobody noticed. They were all outside toasting the happy couple. After the wedding, Steven came across the ashes on his way to the toilet and cried briefly. The wedding party was a great success despite the death, and Steven and Marie were very happy.

They interrupted their hugging and kissing just long enough to move the headstones to the recently opened Bluewater cemetery. “Hurrah!” thinks Marie. Finally the house was hers to renovate.