Well, I’ve had a great couple of days with my Legacy Challenge family, the Shanleys. Nia married Sheldon (so he’s Sheldon Shanley now — d’oh!) in a very uneventful ceremony. They couldn’t afford any frills like the arch, the cake, or the champagne, but they did invite friends over and use the “Throw Wedding Party” option on the phone. It was such a successful party that the limo showed up to whisk the newlyweds away on their honeymoon. When they got back, their Needs were maxed, so I figured it was a good time to try for a baby. It took a couple of attempts, but eventually I heard the tell-tale lullaby sound which indicated that a baby was brewin’.

I had both Nia and Sheldon go to work the next day because they were in dire need of money (their bed was out on the lawn, for pete’s sake), and I believe they both got promoted. At any rate, I had enough after that to build them a proper bedroom. I also extended the living room, put some siding on the house, and planted a Japanese maple in the front yard. That tree is going to be my “legacy tree” — I’m going to see if I can keep it there for all 10 generations, which shouldn’t be too difficult, unless my lot gets buggy. *shudder* A lot of people seem to be having problems with that, so I’ve been packaging my legacy lot every other time I play.

Here’s the new, improved Shanley residence —

During Nia’s first day of pregnancy, she was sick as a dog. I’ve never seen a Sim throw up so often. She seemed better the next day — not too tired or cranky, so I was glad for that. While she was pregnant, I had Sheldon work on the portrait he had started of her a couple of days before. Some of the other people participating in the Legacy Challenge are having portraits painted of their legacy heir each generation — I think I’m going to try that, too. It sounds cool.

Finally the time came for Nia to give birth. I was shocked to find out that she was going to have twins! They are my first twins in the game, and I am just stupidly giddy about them, I guess because they’re rare, and because I myself have sisters who are twins. The awesome thing is that my Sim twins turned out to be two girls as well! I named them Bree and Kiara.

I was glad that they had different skin tones, because it made it a lot easier to tell them apart. I’m also glad I didn’t have twins the first time I played The Sims 2, because they are a LOT of work, and I wouldn’t have handled it well if I hadn’t already raised a few babies. Even so, I ended up moving in Sheldon’s friend Abjiheet Deppiesse so he could help out. He brought §2000 and 7 family friends with him, and has the job of Senator. I guess politicians don’t just hold babies in Mt. Geneva — they change their diapers, too.

The day after the girls were born, though, Sheldon had the day off, so I sent Abji and Nia to work, and the proud papa took care of his babies.

Now comes the nauseating parade of cute twin pictures. I couldn’t help it! I was smitten with them. Here’s Nia looking on as the twins, now toddlers, race for the bunny toy. Who will win?

(I find it cool that even though the girls are twins, Bree has her mother’s features, and Kiara has her dad’s.)

Poor Kiara — her sister beat her to the bunny. She doesn’t look too happy about it.

But a smile returns to her face as she makes her way towards the blocks.

So, even though we don’t get any extra points for having twins (unless they are the 10th generation), I’m excited to finally have them in one of my Sim families. I can’t wait until they become teens — at that point I roll a 6-sided die to determine their aspiration. I’m guessing at this point that Bree will be the one to carry on the legacy — she has 4 more personality points than Kiara does, with a 5 in Nice (Kiara has a 3). I like little Kiara, though, too — when they grow up I’ll have to move her into a nice house and have her start her own family.