Honey's Housacy Challenge Ch 2, Part 4

 Hello again, it's Honey, back to continue my story. 

As you can probably guess, it is Snowflake Day at last. The decorations on the front lawn, the snow and the lights all helped to add to the cheerful atmosphere for our tiny bungalow. I know bungalows are meant to be tropical but I'm not turning all the seasons to summer, 'cause that'd be boring. I like my Sims to have the full seasonal cycle.

Besides, what other time of Sim-year can you plonk a giant snow globe and a bunny-dog thing holding a gift on your front lawn and not have all the neighbors think you're weird? :D

Unless you like freaking the neighbors out, then by all means, go ahead. Doesn't really matter what they think anyway.

 It is Snowflake morning! Everyone is getting out of bed to a decorated house and a delicious breakfast. Hmm, my Sims get a lot of holidays, don't they?

Alisha: "Morning mum, morning dad. Why is the house all done up?" 

Agnes: "It's Snowflake Day, dear"

Alisha: "What's that?"

Leif: "It's a holiday. Come and get some pancakes, and we'll explain while you eat" 

She was either too young or not around yet for the last Snowflake day, so it's up to Leif and Agnes to show her what it's all about. 

Leif: *sings* "You put your left foot in, you put your left foot out...you put your left foot in and you shake it all about..." 

No Leif, that's the Hokey Pokey, I'm talking about Pancake...I mean, Snowflake, Day! 

Alisha: "Do people always have pancakes on Snowflake day?" 

Agnes: "I wouldn't know what other people do. I just know they taste nice" 

Alisha: "Dad, what's the Hokey Pokey?" 

Leif: "It's a dance" 

Alisha: "And people do it on Snowflake Day?" :D 

Agnes: "No" 

Alisha: @.@ "I'm so confused. What are we celebrating?" 

 Leif: "Well, now that you're sitting at the table, I'll tell you. Snowflake Day is...is...a day where you celebrate friends and family and have as much fun as possible"

Agnes: "And sleep in and have a day off, and usually have to see family members you don't like" 

Alisha: "And not put your plate on the table?" 

Leif: "That's more like a family tradition"

Now that we've (sort of), covered what Snowflake Day is, let's get into it. 

Agnes: "Leif, I want you to kiss me underneath this mistletoe. Pucker up!" 

Leif: "Why do we do this again?" 

Agnes: "It's meant to be romantic. Kiss me properly so the mistletoe will bless us" 

Leif: "Uh, o-okay. Don't know how we're going to explain this one to Alisha" 

 *Mwah!*

Think that'll do it?

  

Leif: "That was nice. Did it work?"

Agnes, why do you look so disappointed? And Leif looks worried. Ha ha.

Agnes: "Only worth 150 points? Maybe it wasn't romantic enough"

After playing under the mistletoe, we set things up for the guests that will be arriving. Looks like they have plenty to hand out at the party. 

Agnes: "And if those run out, there's plenty more under the tree"

I sent Leif to go fetch Alisha. She made herself scarce earlier, understandably. Oops, never mind the view of the bathroom. Forgot to set the game not to cut walls.

Ah look the first guest has arrived, and it's none other than Alisha's favourite person - her babysitter. Lol. 

Alisha: "Louie, you made it. Do you like my new dress? I totally dig it!"

XD Well she's thinking about a spade. And the rainbow fabric she's using is from the exchange. You can download all sorts of materials for free. Though, I'm not sure who created this one. Thanks goes to whoever uploaded it. It's so pretty. 

 Shortly after, the other guests arrive, bearing gifts. Mrs What's-her-name and Mr Somebody.

Agnes: "Great, everyone we invited is here" 

Leif: "Who wants to sing the frog song? No?" 

The party has started, and it looks like Louie has a present for Alisha. How thoughtful of him. And here comes our lovely maid; Mr Beret (okay, so I forgot his name too. I took these screenshots a while ago). Mr Somebody has changed into a different outfit that looks warmer than the one he had on. I think he's got his wardrobe a bit backwards today.

And I have to wonder just what Louie gave her. From what I recall, she liked it.

Alisha: "What's this? Books! 'The complete adventures of Mr Bear and Friends' I love it! Thank you Louie"

Louie: "Anything for miss Alisha. I know you like bears"

Leif: "Oh no, I got her the complete adventures of Mr Bear and Friends, too. What are we going to do?"  

Give it to a friend? XD

The gift giving has started, and the Sims gathered round. 

Mr Somebody: "I hope I don't get something rubbish like last year" 

Agnes: "There will be no rubbish here. We have an excellent maid service"

Kind of funny that they started to talk about that with Mr Beret standing right there.

Alisha: "Allow me to check the presents to make sure they'll all good"

Alisha: "Yup, this one's good. Think I'll keep it"

 Agnes, where did Leif run off to? 

Agnes: "I think he went to hide one of the gifts. Not sure why"

Louie: "Hehe"

Louie: "What, it's my turn. Oh my, oh gosh, a frothy drinks maker! I always wanted one of these"

*squints* I think that's what it was. Oh well, it is now. 

Agnes, you wouldn't have done most of the gift shopping, by any chance?

Mr Somebody: "Oo! A fluffy drinks maker! Score" 

Mrs What's-her-name: "How nice! A fancy drink maker. The colour will match nicely in my kitchen" 

Alisha: "Mum, I hope you at least got different colours"

With the gifting over, Leif makes a reappearance and everyone dances, plays in the snow or eats...parfait, I think. It turned out to be a good Snowflake day and the party got a good score. The guests left in a happy mood, ensuring (hopefully), the continued friendships with my Sims.

Now it's just my three sims, left on their own to wind down the rest of the holiday. 

Alisha: "Hey, maybe when I'm older, I should join the circus. They have bright colours, acrobats, clowns. I could wear rainbow stuff all the time"

Agnes: "Great, now I have a dish to wash *mumblegrumble*"

Leif: "Hey, this is a good song. Hm, I wonder if I should swap the Mr Bear books for the Mr Frog set of books!" 

Agnes: "Those decorations are going to be a pain to take down"

Good old Agnes, being her grumpy self.

What better way to finish the day than with a father-daughter pillow fight? 

Agnes: "I'm not cleaning up those feathers! You two had better sweep the house when you're finished" 

 

With the holiday over, it's back to business as usual. Alisha started school (which I probably should have mentioned), and has her first taste of homework. Meaning she gets to use her study desk for the first time (of many). With Mr Unicorn cheering her on, I'm sure she'll have it finished in no time.  

 Agnes is perfecting her cooking skills. 

"Someone has to make dinner, everyone else was busy"

And Leif is working away at his logic skill, although I forget why he's doing so. 

Leif: "Learning new things is always encouraged. I must set a good example for my students"

 

 Somewhere along the way, Alisha has met her first friend at school. A boy, who we will probably invite over to play and do some socializing at some point. Seeing as the house is a bit small, though...

...We have added a brand new playground. Off to the left hand side, there's a tree house, a jungle gym, a sand pit, some bouncy riders and a slide and I think I see a see-saw down there too. :) Little bit of everything, ha ha. 

Alisha's old enough to play on the items and the weather is warming up. And now she can invite friends over to help her break it in.

And if you'll notice the ice cream truck, a harbinger of spring. Maybe they're a little early.

Agnes got a painting done for each of our heir's life stages so far. It's a little bit dark, probably because it was taken inside the house, but at least you can see her in her cute ladybug clothes.  These pictures might come with Alisha when she moves out, so we can display them on the walls of the next challenge house. I'm looking forward to making it.

 Alisha doing homework again, got to keep up those grades if she wants to make it through school. I don't have University installed, sadly -it's on my wishlist! But grades help when choosing traits so it's still important. I don't want our only heir to be sent off to boot camp or the social worker. 

The only question is, why isn't she sitting at her desk? Hm.

It's always fun watching the seasons change. Seasons had to be my favourite expansion pack in the Sims 2, and the Sims 3 is no different. Spring is here, the grass has sprung, and now you can see the new playground better. Ha, I thought that was a see-saw buried in the snow! Isn't it lovely to see sunshine and flowers again? :) 

And if you'll notice, since Alisha's favourite colour is orange, I've incorporated that into her wardrobe. Bright juicy colours will make up most of what she wears. Orange, purple and lime green being the palette for today.

Gee, I always forget how tiny Sim kids are compared to older sims. She barely comes up to the mail box. <3

 

 Another zoomed out view of the playground, so you can admire my skills. Lol. I have terrible landscaping abilities, but I did try to make it look as nice as possible with the placement and colours of said objects. The parking lot in the corner does retract from it a little. I picked the colours to try and match with our little bungalow.

Oh! And I added a swimming pool. This is Leif and Agnes sitting in their backyard having a nice game of chess after a swim in the pool. In the previous picture, you might see a glimpse of the fence and pavers up the top right hand corner, just above the house.

Agnes: "What do you mean a nice game, I'm losing" *humf* 

Leif: "My chess practice is paying off! Heh heh"

 Not to be forgotten, Hesper, which is Alisha's toy that she had as a toddler, has poofed into an imaginary friend one evening while Alisha is playing with a school friend. I think these guys are really cute. Unless you get an evil one, they can be annoying. 

Alisha promptly creeps out her new friend by talking about her imaginary friend. Nice. Lol. I hope he's going to come back after this. 

Alisha: "I do too have an imaginary friend. He's sitting on that white bouncy-horse, right there, right behind you" 

Kid: "R-really? I don't see anyone" 

Old lady with a walking stick, and a horse wandering the property??? Hmm, now I'm trying to recall what I took this screenshot for. Ha ha. 

I THINK this might be Agnes, turned into an elder, though I might be wrong. It shouldn't surprise me if it is Agnes. Speaking of which, I'm not sure I'll let all my Sims age to elder life stage. I might make some adjustments so their life spans are shorter, and that will help complete the housacy faster.

Old Lady: "What's that horse doing here? If it doesn't stop putting hoof marks in my lawn, I'll turn it into minced mutton, bah!"

Horse: "This looks like a nice place to sleep. Nice soft grass. Gee, who's that scary old woman wandering around in the dark?" 

 Oh look, a kitty cat. Nawww~! <3 I don't remember adopting a cat. Leif, have you been inviting strays inside? Not that I mind at all, I just think it could have found it a nicer chair to curl up on. But then, cats can sleep anywhere.  Oh wait, there's a food dish. Maybe I did adopt it?

Ah, perfect timing, Rose has come out of her urn to say hello. Maybe because we have apparently adopted a new pet cat. 

And it looks like that old lady on the lawn outside wasn't Agnes after all. Whoops. I wonder who she was.

Leif: "Why didn't you tell me? I would have invited her to stay for dinner" 

 

Oddly enough, that's all the screenshots I had saved on my comp. I better get back to playing Sims so we can go make some more. I'm going to do a few time skips to move it along. Get ready to see Alisha grow up in the next chapter, and we'll get started on the second house of the challenge.