Winter 2011 - Jr./Sr. High School

Violet Cormier, Owen Rossi, Geneva Rossi - 12th grade, Augustus Thaytowski, Bryan Carson - 11th grade, Sierra Thaytowski, Dana Todd - 10th grade

This year the students' studies focused on physical education and health class.  They started with basketball

and then moved outside for some soccer.

The soccer game was cut short by a rainstorm

so the class headed inside for their health lesson.

Class went well until it was time to put the books away and finish class for the day.

Then Bryan and Sierra were at it again.  Hope was beyond frustrated with the pair of them.  Why wouldn't they just listen and behave themselves? What was it going to take to get through to them that this was no acceptable.

Soon it was the end of the school year and time for graduation.  This year three sims were graduating, Violet Cormier, Geneva Rossi, and Owen Rossi.  She was proud of all of them and she could tell their family members in the audience were proud as well.

Tosha thought her sister-in-law looked beautiful in her pretty pink dress.

"Please join me in congratulating our graduates and wish them the best as they continue on with their education and the next stage of their lives."

As the applause died down, the girls celebrated with some good natured punches.
The only thing missing at the graduation was Miss Ebadi.  Before her accident, Jessica had talked about having a dance for the high school students.  Hope didn't know much about how high school dances were supposed to be, since she came from a hood that was removed from SimNation customs, but the students had a lot of ideas and worked hard to help plan the evening.

They rented out a local club for the night.  Hope and Neil Hayes chaperoned the event.

They even got the internationally known band Aerial Bionic to play, since band member Gareth Thayer was also uncle to two of the students, Augustus and Sierra.

Owen still hadn't learned that bragging about being a teenage father was not the way to impress the girls.
"I got to go visit Charlotte and the baby, he was so cute.  I think he's going to look just like me when he gets older."

At least it was not the way to impress Sierra and she wasn't afraid to say so.
"The two of you were so dumb.  How could you get her pregnant?  She was way, way too young to have a baby and so are you."

"You don't know what you're talking about!  You don't have the right to judge me or Charlotte . . . no wonder nobody likes you . . . Hey, Dana, do you want to dance?"

As Owen and Dana danced together, Sierra turned around and cried.  Why did all the guys at school have to be such jerks?

Meanwhile, Violet and Bryan got up on stage with the band to share a slow dance.  Trevor seemed to think it was kind of cute,

but when they started making out on stage in the middle of their song, Gareth couldn't hide his annoyance.  This was the last time he'd agree to do something as menial as a high school dance, whether it was family asking or not.
As chaperone, Hope jumped in.  "Bryan Carson!  Violet Cormier!  Get down from there this instant!"

The kids seemed to have a fun time dancing.  Geneva and Augustus and Owen and Dana coupled up on the dance floor and danced exclusively with each other all night.

When they got tired of dancing they grabbed some refreshments and chatted.

Bryan was having a good time for the most part, but seeing Sierra just reminded him of the fights he'd lost to her and how humiliated she made him felt.

Violet noticed him giving Sierra the evil eye and stepped in to distract him.  She reminded him that they were having a fun night and that they wanted to keep it that way.  He agreed knowing that he was already on thin ice after the incident in health class.  He was lucky that Miss Miguel let him attend the dance at all.  He knew how much this night meant to Violet and didn't want to do anything to ruin it.

Unfortunately, Sierra didn't have anyone to distract her and once Bryan was free for a moment, she started insulting him again.  Luckily for Bryan, Miss Miguel was there to witness the whole thing.  Sierra clearly was the one instigating their confrontations. 

Since she was not making an effort to get along, Hope sent her home.  She was not going to tolerate any fighting from either of them any longer.

The students looked like they were having so much fun on the dance floor that Hope had the urge to join them. She asked Neil to dance with her, but after a few fumbled footsteps left them feeling awkward, they decided to just focus on chaperoning the kids.

At midnight the band signed off and the students lined up for pictures before they had to head home and call it a night.

Since they seemed to naturally fall into pairs over the course of the night,

they decided to take pictures as couples.

They each left with a keepsake that some of them would take with them to college next fall and the others would keep as reminders of friends that went ahead while they are finishing their last years of high school.

Winter 2011 - Harris

Winter 2011 - Gregory (26), Robin (26), Melody (4)

Just like with her first pregnancy, Robin was craving fresh fish.  Even though it was freezing outside, she dusted off the fishing pole and tried to catch something for lunch.  If the baby wanted fish, that's what he or she was going to have.

She made sure she took good care of herself, getting a little fun and exercise by dancing to the radio while Melody played nearby.

And added some quality time with her hubby when he came back from rehearsals and joined her.

When it was time to have the baby, her labor went quickly and the family welcomed a second little girl to the family, Savannah.

Gregory was delighted to have another beautiful, precious girl in his life.

The proud parents couldn't be happier.

Soon after Savannah was born, Robin had to return to the office.  Her time off during her pregnancy left her behind at the law office and at her duties as hood president.  Gregory picked up the slack at home.

And enjoyed spending quality time with the girls during the day.

Luckily the business seemed to run itself.  It was doing well and seemed to be constantly busy with sims dropping in and out during the day.

Tosha dropped by occasionally to use the gym, eager to get her body back to its pre-pregnancy shape.  When Robin wasn't at work, or busy with the girls, she would take a few minutes to greet her friend and chat about the girls.

She was excited that they both had daughters almost exactly the same age.  It was going to be fun to watch them grow up together and interesting to see if they would become good friends as they got older.

Winter 2011 - McMillian

Winter 2011 - James (40)

James sometimes wondered if he was working too hard.  He would come from from the office, his hand sore from working at the drafting table.  He was glad though, to have so many exciting projects to work on for the hood.

When he came home he would brush up on his hobbies and skills, working on his creativity by painting (if his hand wasn't tired from drafting) or practicing on the chess table.

When she started to get lonely, he'd hop online and find a sim to chat with.  He looked foward to news from his family back in Apple Valley.  His niece Laci asked if he had ever adopted the stray cat he'd mentioned, but he hadn't.  He hadn't seen Ferdinand in a long time. 

He looked forward to working on the expansion of the elementary school to accommodate the junior and senior high school students, not only for the work, because then he got to see Jessica.  He enjoyed talking to her,

and the little flirtation they had going on.  He wondered why he didn't think about her more when he was at home, why he didn't call her up and invite her over more often.  Of course, now it was too late.

He was shocked and saddened to hear of her unexpected death and regreted that he hadn't taken the initiative to get to know her better when he still had the chance.

He felt especially bad for the children, losing the only parent they'd ever known.  He had a chat with Joy London who was at the cemetary with the children and who was the current caretaker of Jessica's house.  She had temporary custody of the children, until their father could be located.  She hinted that she had a good idea of who their father might be.

He could see she was good with the children, especially Bridget.  He was glad that they had someone they were comfortable with to be there for them during this difficult time.  It just didn't seem fair that they had to go through this.  He wished there was someway to go back and change what had happened.

He'd  heard the rumors just like everyone else in the hood that Genesis Sartor had found a magic lamp and used it to bring Chase Platz back from the dead.  Any sensible sim would doubt that's what really happened, but it's what he'd heard.  He called Genesis and asked her about it.  She insisted that the story was true.

"Is there anyway you could use the lamp to bring Jessica back?"  James asked.  Genesis seemed annoyed by the suggestion.  "She has two small children that don't deserve to lose their mother so young."

"I guess I could," Genesis said reluctantly.  "I did have one wish left, but I don't have the lamp anymore."

"What happened to it?"

"I lost it when I was moving to the new dorms.  I thought I'd placed it in my inventory, but I must have left it behind.  I'm sorry, but there's nothing I can do.  Really."

James thanked Genesis and said goodbye and his life fell back into it's regular pattern of work, study, sleep.

Winter 2011 - Cormier

Winter 2011 - Rich (28), Tosha (28), Violet (17)



After what happened to Jessica Ebadi, the darkening storm clouds made Tosha apprehensive.  She was eager for these autumn storms to go away and hoped the weather this winter would be more peaceful.

Rich could tell how shaken his wife was about the accident and did his best to comfort her.  It came as a shock to him too.  He knew Jessica very well from teaching with her at the Jr./ Sr. High School.  She was only a few years older than he and Tosha, so the news of her unexpected passing hit close to him.

He knew with her death the school system would be lacking for teachers.  No one had approached him about getting his old job back, but he had a feeling that if he wanted it, it would be his for the taking.  He wasn't sure if he wanted to return to teaching.  He thought this might be a good opportunity to explore something different.

He was taking advantage of his time off, getting caught up on household chores that he never seemed to have time for during the school year when he was teaching, and getting ready for the new baby.  Their house was fairly small with only two bedrooms.  He and Tosha had the master bedroom of course and Violet had the much smaller bedroom.  She often complained about how cramped the space was, but there wasn't really any room to spare.  When the baby was born, he or she would sleep in a crib in the master bedroom.  By the time he or she was ready for their own room, Violet would be away at college (with any luck).  Still Rich was thinking about adding on to the house.  As he looked at the house and started to get new ideas, he started considering architecture as a possible career. With all of the building projects going on in the hood, he was sure James McMillian could use some assistance.

He also had a second possibility for his new career.  He wondered if he could make it as a writer.  So he sat down at the computer and started coming up ideas for a novel.  He knew writing a novel would take a lot of time, but he had time at the moment and working from home would be ideal with the new baby on the way.

Rich and Tosha were both really excited about the new baby.  They had wanted to start their family earlier, but getting pregnant took longer than they had anticipated.  Tosha was glad that Robin was pregnant again.  It was nice to have a friend who was going through the same thing at the same time to talk about her pregnancy with.

Things in the household were about to change in a major way, so the family took the time to enjoy the quiet moments before the baby came and before Violet left for college to watch a movie together.

Nine months of pregnancy went by quickly and soon it was time for the baby to come.

Rich was relieved that mother and baby made it through the delivery safely.

He and Violet were excited that the baby girl was finally here.  They named her Rosalyn after Rich and Violet's mother, Rose.

Tosha still had a few days of maternity leave left after Rosalyn was born, but being homebound during her pregnancy was giving her cabin fever.  She handed Rosalyn over to her daddy and ventured out to the grocery store to restock the refrigerator.

She was delighted to run into Robin while she was there and tell her friend how well things were going with the baby.

Things were going well for Violet too.  She had really hit the books during the last few years and managed to get her grades up to a passing level.  She had applied to New Eden University without high hopes that she would get in, but her charisma not only helped her ace her interviews and get accepted, but also earned her a scholarship as well.

She adored her little niece and offered to help out with the baby as much as she could.

But when it came to changing smelly diapers, she did not mind handing Rosalyn over to one of her parents.  She was learning first hand how hard taking care of a baby could really be.

Tosha seemed to come to motherhood naturally.  She enjoyed spending time with her baby girl, but was eager to get back to her work as an oceanographer.

It broke her heart anytime the baby cried or was unhappy.

Violet was nervous when Ms. Miguel called the house one evening to talk to her.  She was terrified that something was wrong with her grades and that she might not be graduating afterall, but she had nothing to worry about.  To her relief, Ms. Miguel was making calls to all of the graduating seniors to congratulate them and talk to them about their plans for graduation and beyond.

Violet wasn't sure what she was going to study in college or what career she would pursue after her education was finished.  She didn't know what the future might hold, but she hoped that Bryan would be a part of it.

As excited as she was about going to college, the achievement was bittersweet, because Bryan still had another year before he graduated high school and could join her at university.  She knew she would miss their lively discussions,

and being able to see him whenever she wanted.  She wanted to make sure he would never forget her.  She decided she was ready to take things to the next level before the next year would take them apart.

But their plan was not well thought out.  Rich couldn't believe they were stupid enough to try using their bed while both he and Tosha were both home and Rosalyn was sleeping in the crib three feet away.  He was just relieved that he caught them before anything actually happened.

He immediately sent Bryan home and decided it was time to have another talk with Violet before she left for school.

But first she let her walk Bryan out and say goodnight, provided that she was back inside in five minutes.

Once Bryan was gone, Violet was safely alone in her room, and Rosalyn was asleep, Rich and Tosha decided to put the bed to good use.  It might seem a little soon to start thinking about baby number 2, but with as long as it took for them to get pregnant with Rosalyn, they decided not to wait.