Spring 2011 - Elementary School

New Eden Elementary 2011 - Elsa Straight - Kindergarten, Bryce and Bridget Ebadi - 1st grade, Lance Huffington - 2nd grade, Kendra First - 4th grade

The subject of study for the elementary school this simyear was natural science.  Jessica started the activities with examining aquatic life.

The boots they caught were not what Jessica had in mind as a subject of study.

But, at first, that seemed to be what everyone was catching.

Not catching fish, wasn't the worst part, some of the kids, especially little Elsa Straight, were having trouble staying on their feet.

Even Jessica seemed to have trouble, much to her embarrassment.

But sticking to it was well worth the effort.

Soon everyone was catching one type of fish or another.

Having the children wear their coats and jackets was a good idea.  It was colder outside than Jessica had thought it would be.

So after a few moments of playing inside, the class headed inside to warm up and have some lunch.

A new high school student, Dana Todd, stopped by after her classes to help out with the little kids.  Jessica was grateful for the extra pair of hands and eyes.  The kids seemed to like her too.

After lunch and a potty break, the class headed back outside to look for insects and birds.

Lance: "Ms. Ebadi!  Ms. Ebadi!  May I be excused?  Please???"

He still wasn't feeling well after recovering from food poisioning, so Jessica excused him to lay down in the new teacher's lounge.

Also during the school year, they learned about planting seeds and watching them grow.

Jessica ended up doing more of the activity herself than she's initially planned.  Keeping five elementary school students focused on the activity at hand was no easy task.

Once the seedlings had started to grow, they planned a field trip to the Central Market Square to start planting the community garden.

The girls got to planting right away . . .

but the boys needed some reminders to get on task.  "Save the cops and robbers for recess, boys."

"Look, Mom, I'm planting," Bryce insisted as he got back to work.

Spring 2011 - Straight

Spring 2011 - Christopher (27), Sophie (27), Elsa (5), Sydni (1)

Time was passing quickly in the Straight household.  Elsa had just celebrated her fifth birthday and was starting her first day of kindergarten.  And Sophie was finished with her maternity leave and was headed back to work for the first time since Sydni was born.

The house seemed quiet without Sophie and Elsa.  He kind of enjoyed the peace of it being just him and Sydni in the house for most of the day.

Taking care of a baby single-handedly for the better part of the day was exhausting.  He found himself snapping at Elsa when all she wanted was a hug.

Elsa liked being a big girl and going to school, but she wasn't sure she liked the new baby taking over her place as Daddy's baby girl.

He and Sophie were both too tired and hungry to be much comfort when she was freaked out about the dead roaches in the backyard.

Sophie was not adjusting to returning to work very well.

She worked so hard and tried to catch up to where she had been before her pregnancies, but it was so exhausting.

She was worried that her dream of becoming a top athlete was never going to happen.

She tried to put it out of her mind when she came home at night.  She helped Christopher tidy up the house and drew herself a nice relaxing bubble bath.

Enjoyed the brief moments of alone time she could get with her husband.  It felt like the family was in chaos and they needed to reconnect.

It was Christopher's idea to sit down to a late family dinner together after Sydni was in bed for the night.

"We should really do this more often," Christopher sad as they sat down together.

"You work really hard, don't you, Momma?"

Sophie was a bit surprised by her daughter's words.  She didn't know she had picked up on that.  "Yes, I do.  Grown-ups have to work to make money to pay the bills and buy you the things you need."

"And while I'm gone at work, your daddy works very hard here to take care of the new baby, just like he did with you when you were a baby."




"Taking care of babies is a lot of work, isn't it?"

"Yes, but babies grow up.  Before you know it, Sydni will be a big girl like you and things will be much easier."

"Since I'm a big girl, I can help," Elsa said as she cleared the table and took the dishes to the table.  She was a very helpful girl.

"How about a quick game of catch before bed?" Sophie asked her daughter.

"In the house?"

"Just this once," Sophie winked.

Spring 2011 - Thayer

Spring 2011 - Fawn (35), Gareth (35)

Fawn decided she was done with being a one man woman.  This break with Winston was a chance to explore her options.  Maybe it was better to have as many lovers as possible instead of letting one man fulfill your romantic needs.  So she started flirting with James.  They had always had a strong attraction to one another.  He was always stealing glances at her with that dreamy look in her eye, but never did anything about it, probably because one of both of them were usually seeing someone else.

"You should come by my studio and let me paint you sometime.  I'd even pay you a little to sit for me."

Of course, James was getting a reputation around the hood of not being willing to commit and she didn't want to be in another situation like she was with Winston.  So she wasn't about to limit her flirting to just James.

Jimmy had a reputation too and she knew he was always up for a good time without any strings attached.

"Why don't you take a break from the register?  No one's buying anything anyway.  There's something I want to show you."

"Woah!  This is not what I was expecting you to show me."

"Uh . . . this is a nice painting.  Why isn't it in the gallery?"

"It's one of my personal collection.  Haven't you had enough of looking at art all day?  Come over here."

She wasn't sure what had gotten into him and his attitude made her unsure that this was such a good idea, but Jimmy finally gave in and climbed into bed with her.

She didn't regret it afterwards and he didn't seem to either.

Meanwhile, Gareth's love life was heating up as well.  He and Sofia had always felt a strong attraction to each other, since the first day they met.  But since she was still a teen and he her mentor, they resisted the urge to act on those emotions.

He couldn't say they didn't come close at times at crossing that line.  Especially when traveling for their summer concerts last year they happened to find themselves staying at the same hotel with their respective bands.

Nothing happened, except for some intimate, personal conversations.  Gareth, luckily, was able to control his urges enough to remember that he was the adult (and she wasn't) and walk away before they got themselves into a lot of trouble.

Now that she was eighteen, a high school graduate, and fully an adult, there was no reason to hold back their feelings anymore.

When she wasn't busy with her social life, Fawn was still busy in the studio.  She was always happy to take a moment to talk with any interested sims that wandered into her gallery to ask questions.

Gareth still helped out too when he was in town.  He was glad to man the front desk and answer any questions anyone had about art, to the best of his ability.

He was kind of stunned when one evening Heather walked in.  It was awkward, but he thought he should go over and say hello and try to be polite.

To his surprise, they actually managed to have a civil conversation.  She told him that Lance was interested in taking a new hobby, maybe music. He seemed interested in the violin.

"I could help him with that.  I'd be happy to give him lessons sometime."

It was nice to be on speaking terms with Heather again.  Afterall she was the mother of his child and he had to get along with her if he had a chance at a relationship with him.  He did feel guilty about not spending much time with his son.  But between traveling around sim nation and arguing with the boy's mother, they hadn't seen enough of each other to build a relationship.  He wanted to make that right.

He asked Heather to send Lance over sometime, so they could get to know each other.  He was sure Fawn would like to reconnect with him too.  She hadn't seen much of him since he was an infant.

They chatted for awhile and to Gareth's relief they got along well.  They went outside to play a good old game of catch, something Gareth didn't recall ever being able to do with his own father.  He vowed that he wasn't going to let history repeat itself.  He wasn't going to let himself get too busy for his son and he wasn't going to let him grow up before he ever knew his real father.