The Capp-Gavigan Family: Week 4

Click here for this family's week 3.

Hello and welcome to the next Capp family we are visiting this round.
Do you remember how this house used to be Tara Kat's place before she met, fell in love with and moved in with Chester Gieke?

It is now the house of Ariel Capp and her family, and bursting at the seams!
Here is Ariel, the lady who was determined to celebrate her Golden Anniversary when we last saw her - and now wants to become Game Designer. Oh dear... sorry, Ariel, you should have thought of that much, much sooner, before you decided wanting to marry off six children.
Now you have one teenager, one school-age kid, three toddlers and a baby - you do not seriously think going out for work every day is an option, do you?
By the way, she is holding her youngest here, and the only girl, little Carrie.

The boy jumping rope is Calogero, the second oldest of the six. In the back, you can see toddlers Carson and Carter quietly playing with their toys.

Ariel's husband (and father of her children) is Isaiah Gavigan-Capp, here teaching a nursery rhyme to the half-Alien son he gave birth to last round, Cassini.

The week with this family starts on Friday, and early in the afternoon, Cataldo (the oldest kid) is doing his homework while his little brother Carson patiently waits for him to finish so that he has time to play with him.

What is Carter doing there?

Growing up!

He is followed a few hours later by Carson. Now there is only one toddler left - Cassini. Phew! And of course Carrie will soon grow up from baby to toddler, but by that time, Cassini should have had his next birthday.
Out go the baby cribs and in come the "big" beds; not an easy task, with the house being rather small in spite of what it looks like from the outside. None of the children has their own room, and at the moment, they do not even have a desk to do their homework at.

But with some moving around of things the school-age children all have their own bed. While Cassini's crib and the changing table is in the same ground floor room where Carter (left) and Carson (right) sleep, Carrie's crib is in her parents' bedroom, and the two oldest boys, Cataldo and Calogero, sleep in the attic.

On Saturday morning, Carter shows off in front of his brother Calogero - I am impressed with how he keeps his bathrobe in place while doing a headstand!

Cataldo, the Knowledge teenager, uses every opportunity to gain skills, and so he makes breakfast for the whole family. His first attempt at toaster pasties is not a huge success, but everyone is hungry enough to eat it anyway - and this family is careful not to waste anything.

With always a lot going on at this house, I nearly miss Ariel's birthday - here she is, an elderly lady in a rather un-ladylike outfit. This will need to be changed as soon as possible. Shame that our Sims can not order clothes like they can order groceries!

Carrie has grown up into a very sweet-looking toddler at the same time, helped along by big brother Cataldo.

And last but not least, Cassini has left the toddler years behind and will go to school with his older brothers for the first time on Monday.

On Sunday, I send Ariel and the four younger boys to a community lot. Ariel really needs something to wear, and to have the boys out for a while will give her husband, their oldest and their youngest child a chance to spend some quality time together.

Excitedly, the boys get off the taxi and start exploring the community lot.

Meanwhile, Ariel makes her purchase. She is still cautious with money, although the family have had some money coming in from various inheritances during the course of the round. All she buys are four outfits - one for each season.

She immediately changes into her new autumn dress and then calls her sons together at the open-for-all grill, serving hotdogs. What a treat - the boys have never had hotdogs before!

Of course that is not all they eat today. Back home, Cataldo has been making grilled cheese and was maybe a little careless with the stove - all of a sudden, it erupts in flames.
A dangerous situation, and Isaiah is unable to do anything, suffering a flashback of the time when their oldest child, Caleb, died in a house fire many years ago.

Good job they had a fire alarm installed back then, and this time, nobody comes to any more harm than a little dirt from the smoke, thanks to the quick action of the fire fighter.

All is well again by the time cousin Cameron Capp walks by and is greeted by Cataldo. Cameron's branch of the Capp clan is not directly related with this family, he does not show as a relative, but the two teenagers look so much alike there is no denying the shared DNA.

Cameron stays for dinner - again prepared by Cataldo, but this time without any incident. The younger kids keep wondering at how much their guest looks like their big brother!

Carter is first up on Monday morning and heads straight for the toy fire truck all the kids love (and even their Mum plays with it sometimes!). But seeing that the others are still asleep, I take advantage of this and send Carter to have a shower - believe me, bathroom management is not easy for a family  of eight with only one bathroom that also contains the only toilet in the house!

When the older children are at school, Ariel invites her sister Desdemona, husband Beau (Broke) and their daughter Catherine over. They have not yet met Carrie. Both Carrie's auntie Des and big cousin Cath are instantly smittlen with the little girl, while Beau seems to wonder why women always make such a fuss with babies and toddlers.

Cataldo is the first to come home from school, finishing two hours before his younger siblings. The attic bedroom finally has a desk, chair and book shelf added, and Cataldo is glad to have this quiet retreat for his homework. (I wasn't sure the room under the roof would be large enough, and had to use move_objects on to place the desk, but much to my relief it is playable.)

Chris Capp comes home with the younger boys.

At 6:00 pm, Calogero grows into a teenager - wearing a kilt :-) I like this outfit on him, however, and it will remain. Calogero's aspiration is determined by my dice: Knowledge, just like his older brother Cataldo, and he wants to become City Planner one day. The wish to go to college appears instantly.

Ariel enjoys the fresh air and autumn sunshine in the garden on Tuesday.

The younger boys all bring home A+ reports today, Cassini being the first to come running in to show his Dad.

Mary Riley gets off the school bus with the boys.

And we have another birthday: At 6:00 pm, it is Isaiah's turn to cross the threshold to Elderhood. If he wants to reach his lifetime want of marrying off six children, his kids better get a move on!

I find Isaiah holding Carrie early on Wednesday morning. A tender father-daughter moment, both look as if they are enjoying this quiet time before everyone else is up.

It was Carrie's very last potty break today - she is now big enough to use the toilet :-) Naturally, she has also outgrown her baby crib and needs a big bed like the rest of her siblings - more moving around of things is necessary, and all the baby/toddler items are put away.

Ariel tucks the boys in before it is time for her to go to bed, too.

Thursday is the last day of this week with the Capp-Gavigans.
Today, the teenagers bring their cousin Gary Gavigan home from school. His mother is Gerlinde Gavigan, one of their father's younger sisters.

Alan Riley hops off the school bus with the younger kids.

For Carrie, it was the first day at school, and Ariel supervises her homework - not a bad idea with Carson and Carter, either.

Meanwhile, you can see Cataldo in the background, waiting for the taxi to pick him up and take him to college. Yes, I have decided to send him early, although he still has quite a bit of teenage time left. But if I want Isaiah to have a realistic chance at reaching his lifetime want, it is vital to have the children grow up sooner rather than later.

We are of course going to check on Cataldo at college soon; for now, this busy household will be left to its own devices for a long time.
I enjoyed playing here, but it took me a long time to complete the week; with toddlers and older children around, I played most of it on normal speed so that I could take care of everything without any major catastrophes.

Next up is Calendula Capp's household; quite a change that will be to this large family!

The Broke-Capp Family: Week 9

Click here for week 8.

This large house is home to the Broke-Capp family.

Beau Broke is the patriarch; he is now 74. You remember him, of course, as Brandi Broke's younger son when the game began. Ever since he became World Class Ballet Dancer 15 days from Elderhood, he has been on Permanent Platinum.

Here is Desdemona, his wife. She was a little girl in one of the Capp families when the game started. Now she is 62 and reached Permanent Platinum when she and Beau celebrated their Golden Anniversary years ago.
Like several other Sims in my game, she changed her lifetime want autonomously - and not just once! For a while, she dreamt of marrying off six children, which is why she has four; before she could have six, her lifetime want had changed again.

Three of her four are already teenagers. Catherine is the oldest, a Popularity Sim who sees herself as a future Media Magnate. Closest to her in age and looks is Charles. His aspiration is Knowledge, and he wants to become Space Pirate. Their younger brother Carmelo has only just turned into a teenager when we left the household last round. A typical Popularity Sim, he wants nothing more than to be New Maximiliania's Mayor.

Calvin is the youngest, and the only one of the children who carries the Broke surname - his parents were not yet married when the other three were born. The oldest two, Catherine and Charles, have a different father: Pierre Picaso, who sadly died long ago. Eventually, their mother met Beau, and the family became complete with the younger two boys.

On this Monday morning, hours before sunrise an unwelcome visitor arrives.

No burglar alarm is installed, and so Jessica Ebadi has free reign in the house. Her first choice is probably going to be the painting over the fireplace.

Yes, I guessed right!

Next, she grabs the book case next to the main entrance, before heading upstairs for more.

She does not even stop at the master bedroom's door, in spite of Beau and Desdemona being asleep in there.

Beau wakes up a little too late - the armchair that was placed in the baby corner (now obsolete) is gone, and so is the burglar.

Beau quickly goes to check on his youngest son. All is well; the burglars never intend to harm a Sim, all they want is loot in the shape of (more or less) expensive objects.

Before leaving for school, the children all have breakfast together.
The rest of the day goes by without any event worth mentioning.

When Beau goes out to post the bills on Tuesday morning, it begins to snow.

After school, Catherine does her homework as soon as possible.

What has Beau done to make Charles interrupt his homework and showing his disgust with his Dad?! Well - Beau and Desdemona were sharing a tender moment in the same room, that's all!

Calvin brings Chris Capp home from school this afternoon.

The kids enjoy a snowball fight before they start to feel the cold and Calvin has to rest a little before he can do his homework.
I would have thought Chris and Calvin are related, but she is from a different branch of the large Capp clan.

I catch Desdemona and Beau sharing another tender moment on Wednesday morning.

Later, over breakfast, Desdemona tells Beau that the Headmaster of New Maximiliania's Private School will come visiting at 5:00 pm today; it is Charles' wish to get into Private School.

Today, Calvin is accompanied home by Mary Riley, who obviously has forgotten her winter coat on the bus.

The groceries delivery man is NOT about to get into the Headmaster's car - the latter just happened to pull up in front of the house at the same time as the delivery man is leaving.

I was so busy having Charles give the Headmaster the obligatory house tour that I realised moments too late Calvin grew up into a teenager! His aspiration is determined by throwing a dice and turns out to be Pleasure, and his lifetime want turns out to become Game Designer.

Downstairs, Charles even lights the fire when his Mum serves dinner  - all for the Headmaster's comfort. And it works; Charles and all his siblings are invited to attend Private School from tomorrow onwards.

I would have liked to show you a picture on Thursday morning of the four siblings, all dressed in their brand new Private School uniforms, on the way to the school bus. But it is a very cold morning, and so they all change into outdoor wear as soon as they leave the house.
Instead, here is a picture of Calvin, cheering at his reflection in the mirror - obviously, he really likes the hairstyle I have chosen for him so that he does not look like his older brother's twin.

Catherine and Carmelo boost their fun with a game of punch you punch me before school.

On returning home, Ned Newson is with them. The snow is all gone, and Charles has hours of fun jumping around in a puddle on the front lawn.

Desdemona and Beau are the first ones to get up on Friday morning.

The kids all don their school uniforms and wait indoors for the bus; it is spring already, but still rather cold outside.

Friday is also the first day this week that Beau goes to work - as an accomplished World Class Ballet Dancer, and especially at his age, he does not have to do that many performances any more.

We find Beau having a nice hot bath early on Saturday morning. He is now 80, and I fear he will not be around all that much longer.

The kids don't have to go to school today, and Charles makes pancakes for everyone - as a Knowledge Sim, he is always eager to improve his skills.

Later, the whole family take a taxi to Doc Alan's Hangout.

At the microphone, Beau is a big hit with his wife and children. As a World Class Ballet Dancer, of course he knows how to pull off a great performance - even though it is singing now instead of dancing.

Doesn't Carmelo look real cute there, in his "rocky" outfit and hairstyle, but sweet boy face?

Back home, the kids retreat to their rooms, Beau's limousine picks him up for work, and Desdemona writes in her diary.

On Sunday morning, she fondly looks at Catherine, her eldest, her only daughter. "My girl... so close to adulthood now, when it seems like only yesterday that she was a toddler with her sunny smile and golden hair!"

Carmelo wishes for a guitar, and a guitar it is! The larger balcony at the front of the house turns into an impromptu open-air concert venue.

Later, Catherine slips a pretty dress on and greets her auntie Ariel (her mother's sister) and Carolina Capp - not showing as a relative in the family tree, but somehow part of the large Capp clan.

It is her birthday, and the cake is there in the kitchen, ready for Catherine to blow out the candles.

Ouch - that counter must hurt, standing like that! Only a graphics bug, of course; here she is, Catherine after her transition from teenager to woman.
The wish to go to college did not return, and so I did not send her. Interestingly, now the first wish she rolls after growing up is to move out.

But first things first - I put a computer in her room, and have her look for a job. There is no position available in the Media career, though, and so she shall be trying her luck again next time I play this family.

Beau is still around, but his lifetime bar is as good as full.
The second of the kids, Charles, wants to go to college but still has three days or so left as a teenager. Carmelo, too, is thinking of college already, in spite of being several years younger than Charles. And even the youngest, Calvin, wants to follow his brothers to college eventually. I wonder if the wish will stick!