The 1st week with this family is here.
Welcome back to the Goth mansion in TS4!
We still have the same constellation here as last time I played this household: Bella, Alexander, Mortimer, Cassandra...
...and baby Giselle Goth.
Monday morning starts with some quiet time for the couple in the living room, while the children are still asleep. Mortimer, always the Rennaissance Sim, has his nose in a book while Bella has an early breakfast.
The weekly bill arrives and is just as high as the previous week - around 9,000 Simoleons. So far, money is not a problem, as the family have everything they need, but they shall be careful nonetheless, since Mortimer is the only family member with a paid job.
While the older children are at school, Mortimer is at work and little Giselle sleeps, Bella meets and greets a few neighbours, among others Nancy Landgraab (left).
Cassandra is invited home with classmate Malcolm Landgraab after school, to attend a party. Good job she happened to have her party clothes in her school bag and does not need to remain in her school uniform ;-)
Summer Holiday is the hired caterer.
There aren't many guests at the party, as you can see, but the food is nice, and visiting with Malcolm makes a welcome change of scene for Cass.
Back home, Bella plays chess with Alexander, who takes advantage of his mother's unsuspecting nature and shamelessly cheats! (I did not influence any of it.)
On Tuesday morning, the family have breakfast in the living room. This is easier than in the kitchen, as Giselle's bed is also here, and they can all be at hand if the baby needs anything.
When everyone (except for Giselle, of course) has left for work and school, Don Lothario surprises Bella with a visit. They only talk; their former romantic interest seems a thing of the past.
Is is Mortimer's turn on Wednesday morning to change Giselle's diaper.
Bella has been wanting to throw a party since the start of the week, and today is the day. Although it is a pretty low-key affair, with a hired caterer producing culinary delights the event ends on "Gold" status, and a reward appears in the family inventory.
It is Giselle's birthday, and she turns in to an adorable toddler, strangely wearing a woolly hat indoors.
She looks even sweeter without the hat. Alexander is happy that his little sister is now old enough to play with him.
The party guests eat at the formal dinner table...
...and Giselle joins them.
It is Thursday morning, and Giselle - still in her PJs - discovers the radio. She bobs to the music and has plenty of fun.
Bella makes sure Alexander, who was the "baby" until Giselle's birth, does not feel neglected, and reads with him for a few hours.
On Friday, she teaches Giselle to express her basic needs (I didn't think toddlers needed to be taught that!).
Cass and Alexander come home from school, Alex finally as an A student.
The reward for his efforts is some reading time with his Dad.
On Saturday, the family have a more relaxed breakfast together, Cass still in her PJs. No school today!
Bella throws another party, and everyone dances in the kitchen (including Giselle).
On Sunday, Alexander discovers that someone must have overturned the dustbin in the back yard. Unfortunately, he can not pick it up himself; an adult has to do that.
He loves reading, and retreats into his big sister's room for a while
In the meantime, his parents have been busily preparing cakes and candles downstairs.
It is both Alexander's and Cassandra's birthday!
Alex turns into a teenager...
...and Cass into a young adult (strangely still wearing her school uniform).
This is basically how the week ends. It was hard going, as I always had so much to take care of - Giselle was difficult to keep happy, Bella wanted to socialise a lot, Mortimer wished to be left alone with his books most of the time, Alex and Cassandra needed to do their homework and helped their parents with household chores as much as they could.
I hope once Giselle grows up into a child, she'll be happier. Then, I will also have to remodel some of the rooms; so far, the toddler sleeps with her parents in one room, while Cassandra has a large room to herself, and Alexander the entire attic floor.
Phew! I am now very much looking forward to playing Giselle Goth in TS2.
The Goths! There can't be a Simmer in the world who does not know them. They were introduced to the game from Day One, when "The Sims" was released in early 2000, and never left the Simlish sphere all throughout The Sims 2 and The Sims 3, and of course they had to be there in The Sims 4 as well.
In this latest incarnation of our favourite computer game, the Goths' house looks like this:
And here are the family:
From left to right, we have teenage daughter Cassandra, a High School Student whose aspiration is Musical Genius; her little brother Alexander, Grade School Student and aspiring Whiz Kid; their father Mortimer, a Renaissance Sim currently working as Freelance Article writer and with several friends and one romantic interest (apart from his wife) in his relationship panel; and last but not least, Bella - the eternal Party Animal who loves Don Lothario and a townie named Davon Halverson. Her current job is Intelligence Reseracher. Not that she really needs to work; there is plenty of money.
When the game starts for this household on Monday morning, Cassandra and Alexander have homework in their inventories, although they have never actually been to school yet. Big Sis his helping her little brother here.
Her place is soon taken by Mortimer. He and Alexander are very close already, and will become even more so during the week.
Strangely enough, both parents choose to just nap on their bed instead of going to bed properly like their children have done.
After some hours, it is time to get up again so that everyone will arrive at school or work in time.
In the afternoon, Alexander puts in a few hours at the chess board...
...Cassandra cooks her very first meal...
...and plays the piano until bedtime.
On Tuesday, Bella is the first to wake up. She quietly reads in the bedroom until Mortimer wakes up as well.
Now the day can begin! (This is actually just to show you what Mortimer wears for the night.)
Bella pays the bills that were delivered yesterday. She is not too happy about having to fork out more than 9.000 Simoleons! I wonder whether their bill will be as high every week, due to the size and furnishing of the house, or whether these are several bills together, just like the homework in the children's inventories was from days of school they never really attended.
While Malcolm Landgraab, one of Cassandra's friends, passes by (shouldn't he be at school right now?!), I have Bella phone her work to quit her job. It does not seem necessary for her to earn any money, and she certainly can work better on her lifetime want without a job.
Nina Caliente passes by and is invited in, too.
And just as Cassandra gets off the school bus (which, by the way, you never see in the game), no other than Don Lothario turns up. "What does HE want here, while my Dad is not home," Cassandra seems to be thinking.
None of the visitors stay very long, and Bella makes sandwiches to eat with her children in the living room instead of at the formal dining table.
It is Wednesday, and time for breakfast. Everyone is there - everyone but Cassandra. Like a typical teenager, she sometimes does not get up until minutes before it is time to go to school, even though her energy level is full.
Bella meets Giulianna Riley in front of the house.
While the children are still at school, husband and wife take advantage of having the house to themselves and spend some time together in bed - in Cassandra's bed, actually! I didn't tell them to go there and have no idea why they did not choose their own bed. But it was Mortimer's wish to try for a baby with Bella.
This is, by the way, Rita Pearson - the townie-lady showing as Mortimer's romantic interest. She knocks the door today, obviously knowing Mortimer has the day off but not yet knowing about his wife having quit her job.
Don't worry, though. No dramatic scenes happen that day at the Goth villa. Instead, for the first time this week, the formal dining room is fully occupied with the family and their guests, Rita Pearson and Bob O'Malley.
On Thursday morning, I discover that clicking on the toilet with Bella as the active Sim gives her the option of taking a pregnancy test.
To celebrate the pregancy test's positive result, Bella bakes a cake.
Meanwhile, Cassandra arrives home and decides to do her homework in the kitchen, for a change. In TS4, homework can be done at all kinds of tables, as well as standing up with no table at all.
On Friday morning, Mortimer wants to surprise his pregnant wife by making breakfast. You can tell he is not the most accomplished of cooks!
His scrambled eggs stick somewhat to the pan, but the meal is good enough to be eaten by all. And it is the effort that matters, right?
Later, he wishes to plant something and so I have him go for a walk to find some wild plants he can harvest.
He then plants mushrooms and bluebells in a corner of the backyard.
Meanwhile, Bella has ask Katrina Caliente and Rita Pearson in and invites Katrina to feel her impressive baby bump.
On Saturday, the children have breakfast together while their parents are still asleep.
Later, Malcolm Landgraab pays a visit and joins Alexander and Mortimer at the dining table - not for a meal, though; Alexander is doing some extra credit work for school, and Mortimer was reading when their visitor appeared.
Cassandra wants to visit the museum.
Outside, she meets and greets Travis Scott and Alice Spencer-Kim, yet another member of the Spencer-Kim-Lewis family whom we will meet properly later on this round.
After having spent some time at the museum, Cassandra gets hungry and decides to make use of the facilities for public barbecues on the banks of the river. Someone else has had the same idea before her, it seems. Hovering over the plate of burgers reveals the name of the Sim who has prepared them and the quality or status of the food.
When Cassandra sits down to eat her hamburger, she is joined by Steve Fogel and a townie she already had as a friend in her relationship panel (sorry, I did not take note of his name).
On Sunday, Bella wakes up feeling VERY pregant indeed.
She allows Alexander to feel her belly. "It's your little brother or sister in there, sweetheart," she tells him.
Maybe for the last time in a while, Bella enjoys a cosy chat in the kitchen with her older two children.
In the early afternoon, Bella has just been taking a nap on the settee when she wakes up from the first sharp pain of labour.
It takes another three hours until precisely at 4.04 pm,
this bassinet appears (strongly resembling the way babies were "born" in
TS1), and then...
...Giselle Goth is born, and Bella instantly regains her former figure!
This is the first time I see a baby in TS4. They do look more "doll-like" than the ones in TS2, don't they?
Bella goes upstairs for a well-deserved few hours of sleep, while her husband and son make sure to be at hand, should little Giselle wake up.
On Sunday evening, Bella makes heart-shaped cookies - only a Sim in flirty mood can do that.
Mortimer wanted another child, and so it is hardly surprising that he is a devoted Dad to his little baby girl:
This was an interesting week! For the first time, I got to play age groups younger than Young Adults. Unlike TS2 and TS3, the school bus never actually pulls up in front of the house, just like the car pool for work is invisible. This does not bother me in the least.
Are Mortimer's and Bella's affairs going to crop up again, threatening the loving marriage they have now achieved? Is Cassandra going to be more than friends with Malcolm one day? Will Alexander have the chance to play with kids his age, and how long will it take before Giselle grows up?
