2. Welcome back to my legacy, friends! It is I, Cardamom Spice, supermom!
Well, I will be a supermom someday. Right now I’m just a cat mom.
Stephan and I had moved to a new neighborhood named The Spice Rack,
along with our womrat, Lord Snugglebottom, and our little kitten, Kitty
Pryde. Right after we moved, she grew up into Grumpy Cat, which never
fails to amuse me.

3. We tried to cheer her up, but grumpy cats gonna grump, I guess.
Kitty Pryde saw a lot of love in those days from both Stephan and
me, since we were both wanting kids but having trouble having
them.

4. It wasn’t for a lack of trying. As two family sims, starting our family
was the number one thing on our minds, but it just wasn’t happening.

5. I felt confident that it would
happen when the time was
right, so we just kept busy in the
meantime. We studied up on
skills. Stephan needed a few
more than I did. Despite being
so busy during college, I had
nearly maxed cooking,
mechanical, and cleaning (since
I knew those would help me be
a better parent) and creativity
since I had spent so much time
painting and throwing pottery,
but I had not done much else.
Stephan also got a job in the
education track. He had to slog
off to school each day in the
middle of winter.

6. One day Stephan came home to a quiet house. I had not been feeling
well all day, and after throwing up several times, I had gone to bed
early. Luckily, he was just the kind of guy to clean it all up without
saying a word to me later.

7. The next day we found out the reason for my sickness – which
seems obvious in retrospect now – when I experienced the first
pop in my pregnancy! We were both delighted that we were
going to be parents at last! I had to change clothes because the
old ones had gotten too restrictive around my bump, and
without my friends around in this new neighborhood to coach
me, I just threw on a collection of possibly mismatched pieces. At
least they were comfortable!

8. “Well, Kitty Pryde, are you ready to be a big sister? You know
you’ll have to be responsible now!”
“I don’t think she understands you, honey.”
“Oh, she understands me just fine. She’s just giving me sass.”
“Okay, dear . . .”

9. Stephan and I were so excited to be
parents. It seemed like the time to meet
our baby couldn’t come soon enough,
but we would have to wait. Meanwhile,
we congratulated each other on finally
getting me knocked up.
We were still living in our little two
room house. Stephan needed some
friends to move up in his career, so I
greeted everyone that walked by and
then called them later from the
phone in the bathroom. We kept it
there so it wouldn’t ring when we
were sleeping. Three guesses as to my
favorite topic of conversation, and the
first two don’t count!

10. “Hey there, Lord Snugglebottom. How ya doin’, pal? Oh, what’s that
you say? Cardamom should take prenatal vitamins and go to all her
doctor’s visits? Aren’t you a helpful little womrat. Don’t worry,
though. We’ve got it covered.”

11. Another day, another pop. I was going to be a mommy at last!

12. It seemed like that last day was the hardest one to wait through. We
were both just so excited. I was glad I had chosen Stephan out of all
the guys in Three Lakes, because he was definitely the most like me.
He was ecstatic about becoming a father and couldn’t leave my belly
alone. When I did get some time to myself, I spent it painting because
I was already pretty tired most of the time, so I didn’t have energy to
throw pottery.

13. Finally the day had come! Or night, as it happened to be. We
were both sound asleep and Stephan was woken up by my howls
of pain.

14. I had a beautiful little daughter who we decided to call Rosemary.
Since Stephan and I both have brown hair and he has dominant
blue eyes, the only genetics question left was whether the baby
would have my S3 skin or his S4. As it happened, Rosemary looked
more like Stephan as a baby! All of our kids – and yes, we definitely
planned on more – would end up looking a lot alike, at least from a
coloring standpoint.

15. To celebrate Rosemary’s birth, we took
the money we had been saving from
my artwork and Stephan’s job, and built
a little cabin to live in. I let Stephan
design it since I was still pretty tired,
and unsurprsingly, it had a strong
mountain influence.
This overhead picture was actually
taken much later, so don’t mind the
multiple beds, cribs, and toddler
blankets. For the most part, the layout
was the same from the beginning.
There was a nursery, a bedroom for
Stephan and me, a tiny bathroom, and
a large main room that served as
kitchen, dining, living, and study areas.
Later we added the kids’ room in the
top left of the picture.

16. Sometimes I love being a sim. One moment we were celebrating
the birth of our daughter in a two room shack. We then walked
outside, I closed my eyes for a second, and when I opened them
again we had a beautiful house to raise Rosemary in. Stephan
and I stepped back inside and got to know our little daughter.
*All the kids will be named after spices, as their last name
suggests, but I’m taking a liberal approach to what qualifies as a
spice. So technically, the kids will be named after spices,
flavorings, seasonings, and herbs, but Spice made a better last
name than Spice-Flavoring-Seasoning-Herb.

17. We spoiled Rosemary from the beginning. She was our first little
baby, so she got all our attention. We hoped that soon she would
have a little brother or sister to play with when she was old enough.
That day was coming sooner than I wanted to admit.

18. Stephan finally got enough cooking skill to make us pancakes,
but I couldn’t even enjoy them because I couldn’t keep them
down. I wondered whether this meant I would soon be
holding another little baby in my arms.

19. While we waited to find out, Stephan and I spent time with
Rosemary, then tried to keep ourselves busy while she was
napping. I kept painting and Stephan tried out pottery, but he
didn’t have the aptitude or patience for it that I had, so I don’t
think he ever even finished his first piece.

20. The long-awaited moment of truth came when I felt that first definite
sign of pregnancy. Rosemary would soon have a sibling!

21. First though, it was time for Rosemary to have a birthday. I
couldn’t believe time was passing so quickly!

22. Rosemary looked a lot like her dad. Of course, I love Stephan so
I thought that was great, but I did hope she might have some of
my features. Her personality was a good mix of both of ours,
though she was quite shy like me. She was neat, somewhat
active, a little serious, and very nice.* I was delighted to get to
know more about my daughter.
*7/1/6/4/8

23. Kitty Pryde took an early interest in Rosemary. She was a
pretty independent cat, but she really liked being cuddled by
Rosemary and sought her out for it. Not that you could tell
from the faces she pulled!

24. We were excited for the birth of our next child, but Stephan finally had
to return to work. He had taken some time off after Rosemary’s birth
and then had had a day off, so he hadn’t been in for a while. I had
been popping during the day, so it seemed likely that I might give birth
then too, and we were worried he might miss it.

25. It just so happened that that’s exactly what transpired. I was busy
teaching Rosemary her skills when I went into labor. Of course she
couldn’t help me – and was more than a little alarmed by the whole
thing – so I went through it on my own.

26. To my delight, the birth revealed that I was carrying twins! Two
more little girls who looked almost exactly alike as babies. As I
knew they would, they had brown hair and dark blue eyes, but
they also both had my skin color. I named the girls Saffron and
Sage.

27. When he got home that evening, Stephan spent plenty of time with all
three girls. When they were all down for the evening, we spent some
alone time in our bedroom. We knew we wanted a big family, so we
were trying for a baby again right away.

28. Still, things were a little crowded. We hadn’t built the children’s
room in the back of the house yet at that point, so Rosemary
slept in our room so she wouldn’t be wakened by the
occasionally crying babies. I stayed home to take care of the girls,
and Stephan kept working to earn money for us. Our finances
were pretty tight in those days, but we weren’t going to let it
stand in the way of having the family we desired.

29. When he got home from work,
Stephan put in lots of good time as
a father. I was also spending a lot
of time with the girls, and
Rosemary was learning more and
more by the day.

30. I liked our mountain-style house, but where I really wanted to live was
on the beach. There was a beautiful beach lot across the street from us,
but we didn’t have enough money to purchase it and build a house
there, so I simply dreamed of it for the time being – and apparently so
did Kitty Pryde! Maybe we would earn enough one day – though it
would be tough with the number of kids we planned to have – or
maybe one of my children would be able to move us there when she
(or maybe he, eventually) was in charge of the legacy.

31. Soon it was Rosemary’s birthday again. I couldn’t believe how fast
my little girl was growing up. Now she would be going to school
soon!

32. Rosemary grew up beautifully, in my opinion. She definitely favored
Stephan over me in her looks.

33. Her first action as a child was the take out the trash. I had to laugh.
For sure, I thought she would want to play or at least talk or
something, but she just wanted to clean up, I guess!

34. The night of Rosemary’s birthday also happened to be Saffron and
Sage’s birthday. Our kitchen was a bit small in those days, so Rosemary
had to stand pretty far away in order to cheer her little sisters on.

35. Again, my daughters looked rather like their father, though Saffron
did get my rounder nose. Saffron, on the left, was our first
outgoing child, though she was just as lazy as me and as serious as
her big sister. She was also quite nice and neat. Sage, on the right,
was also neat and nice, but she was shy, active, and playful, unlike
her twin.* I was glad I would be able to tell them apart in looks a
little bit and personality a lot.
*Saffron: 7/7/2/4/6
Sage: 7/3/6/8/6

36. The girls were very close from the beginning and spent all their time
together happily, with no arguing or pushing. Not that they could
argue much when this picture was taken, since neither of them could
talk yet!

37. We added on the children’ room to
the back of the house for Rosemary,
Saffron, and Sage to sleep and play
in together. They also learned a lot
in that room. Before long the
youngest girls were pottytrained
and talking, and Rosemary had
learned how to study effectively and
was bringing home great grades.

38. Rosemary liked spending time by herself or with us – a typical
firstborn child – but she also enjoyed playing with her sisters
sometimes. As for them, they were inseparable.

39. While making best friends with Sage – who is just out of the picture
here – I felt that familiar wave of nausea that signaled my morning
sickness. Number four on the way!

40. “Yeah, it’ll definitely be me taking that vacation to pick out a spouse.
I’m the firstborn, right? That’s how it should work.”
“Honey, we’re a long way away from picking an heir, and we haven’t
even finished having kids!”
“What are you talking about? I already have two sisters! How many
more do I need?”
“Well . . .”

41. Stephan and I had a fairly even
division of labor. He did most of the
cleaning since I was tired from being
pregnant, and I did most of the
cooking since he kind of sucked at it.
It was while making lunch one
day that I popped the first time in
this pregnancy. Whether she was
ready for it or not, Rosemary was
going to have another sibling! I
had earned enough lifetime
experience points to increase my
odds of twins, so I was hoping
we’d see another two babies.

42. While I was in my third trimester, the twins’ birthday came up
again. Rosemary celebrated with us, even though she wasn’t in
the picture.

43. While the girls were getting changed
for me to take their child pictures, I
went to the bathroom, but soon
realized I was going into labor. We all
crowded around in the bathroom while
I gave birth to my first son.

44. His name was Coriander and he was a brunet, blue-eyed, S3 baby like
two of his older sisters. I thought he was just darling. Although I
loved all of my kids equally, I was glad to finally have a boy to balance
the family a bit.
*Cardamom had the lifetime perk to have twins, which in my
experience has always been 100%, but she had a single baby this
time anyway.

45. Now back to the twins. They wanted to dress alike and keep their hair
the same, so I was glad they had different noses and picked different
colors to wear so I could tell them apart! They were both such
beautiful little girls, though, and they handled Coriander’s birth with
aplomb. I was so proud of them.

46. Stephan and I tried for another baby right away again. I should probably let
you in on a little secret. We knew it was a common family sim want to have
10 kids, but what we really wanted was 13.* It would take a lot of time and
effort to get there, but the getting there was fun, so I thought we were up
to the task. It helped that we were both family sims.
*Why 13? I wanted an extra challenge and 13 is a lucky number in my
family.

47. Having three girls and one
bathroom was not the easiest thing
in the world. They all seemed to
need it at the same time every
morning and right after school. It
was times like these that I longed
for the soothing effects of
snapdragons, but we would just
have to deal with their needs the
traditional way.
“Hey Sage! Done with the shower
yet? I need to get ready for school!”
“Yeah, it’s all yours, Saffron. I’m
going to go play dolls.”
“Wait! Why is the water spurting
out like this?”
“I have no idea what you’re talking
about. Well, have a good shower!”
“Grr.”

48. It didn’t help matters that Kitty Pryde was apparently quite shy, and
didn’t like going to her litterbox when people were in the bathroom.
She would wait and wait and wait until she really had to go rather
than use it in the presence of someone else. Such a finicky cat!

49. Being a parent of this many children
was difficult. Some days I had
everything under control, with cakes
baked for the birthdays, the baby fed
on time, and myself dressed as nicely
as possible.
Other days it was the middle of the
night, I was in my underwear, Coriander
was screaming, there was garbage on
the floor and I was exhausted.

50. Then there were those days where all of the above happened, but
Sage had also broken the shower again before bed and it had been
spraying water for hours while we all slept. Since I was up anyway, I
fixed it instead of waking Stephan up, also since I had more
mechanical skill and he had to go to work tomorrow.

51. If it was a really bad day, I would get finished fixing the tub just to throw
up in the toilet, my knees wet from the shower’s mess.

52. And then on the worst of days, my puking would back up the toilet
and I’d be up in the middle of the night, in my underwear, sick to
my stomach, standing in toilet water, plunging. Being a parent can
be kind of not so fun at times.

53. With three children in school in those days, we spent a lot of time
helping with homework. The girls were very good about studying
when they were done with their homework. We wanted them all to
get scholarships.

54. To ensure they had the best chance at success, we decided to try to
get them enrolled in a private school. Mr. Ryan, the headmaster,
came over for dinner and a tour. He and Stephan really hit it off, and
we got an excellent schmooze score. It must be because they both
work in education. Mr. Ryan was very pleased with the dinner, but
not so impressed with our small, sparsely decorated house. The only
room he really liked was the nursery, but I was not thrilled about
him yelling and cheering while I was trying to put Coriander down.

55. The girls got into private school
that night and left in their
adorable uniforms bright and early
the next day.

56. “Hi Mom! Good morning.”
“Hurk . . . bleg . . . Good morning,
Sage.”
“I’m gonna break the shower again,
okay?”
“No, don’t you . . . gurg . . . bleh. . .”
“Okay, mom! I’ll break it later!”
“Ugh!”
After a really bad bout of morning
sickness, I was compelled to change
back into my ugly blue pjs when I
popped again. Here comes number 5!

57. “You know what I really like, Stephan?”
“I can take a guess.”
“Babies. I like babies. And now we’re going to have more! Hopefully
twins this time!”
“I like babies too.”
“I know. Being a family sim with this controller is so great. Babies,
babies, babies!”

58. Although we all kind of ate on the run in the morning, we tried
to have dinner together most nights as a family. We
congratulated the girls on the great grades they were bringing
home, and they cleaned up after dinner all on their own. I love
having neat children!

59. Soon it was Coriander’s birthday. We got the whole family except
for Lord Snugglebottom in the shot this time, since we had added a
few counters onto the kitchen.

60. Finally, a kid that looked like me! In fact, except for having dark blue
instead of green eyes, Coriander looked just like me! He even had my
freckles. He was a very active and nice little guy, neat like his sisters,
and slightly on the shy and serious side.*
*6/4/10/4/8

61. “Um, hello . . . children.”
“Hi, Mr. Spice!”
“Cardamom! Do we have more children than usual?”
“They’re just visiting, dear.”
“Oh, phew. We’ve got enough to worry about at the moment as it
is. Carry on, girls.”
“Okay, Mr. Spice!”

62. “He looks just like me!”
“Not so much dear, but 1 out of 4 ain’t bad.”

63. The kids’ room was getting pretty full, but I definitely had
another baby on the way! I was getting very excited to have
another baby – each one made me blissfully happy, and
then I rolled lots of wants for them, so I was pretty much
happy all the time, which was good, as I had a lot of chores
and symptoms of pregnancy to deal with.

64. I was home alone with Coriander one day when it was
time to give birth. I had to stop our little learn-to-walk
session. It was a lot like when Rosemary was the only
witness to her twin sisters being born.

65. Also like that time, I had twins again! Yay! It would be really hard to
get to 13 if I only had single births. The babies were a girl and a boy
this time.

66. Our daughter, Salt, is on the left, while her twin brother Pepper
is on the right. You will probably not be surprised to hear that
they had brown hair and blue eyes.

67. Stephan was really moving up
the ladder in education. He
raced home every day to play
with the babies, teach Coriander
skills when I was too busy or
tired, and hang out with the girls
while they skilled. He needed to
skill too since he was hoping to
become Minister of Education.

68. “Hey, do you think they would even notice if we adopted ourselves
into the family? They’ve got a pretty sweet game system here.”
“Are you kidding? We just visit a few hours a day and you see how
crazy it is. Can you imagine needing to use the bathroom around
here?”
“Good point. Speaking of which, I have to go home now.”

69. Time flew, and soon it was my oldest daughter’s birthday again. I
couldn’t believe Rosemary was becoming a teenager. It actually
made me sad and I had trouble cheering at the party because I
knew she would be leaving for college soon. I kind of wished I could
keep all my babies together forever, but I knew the nature of the
legacy meant only one would be moving back in with me. I kicked
the funk and did manage to celebrate eventually. I didn’t want to be
a drag on Rosemary’s big day.

70. Rosemary grew up very beautifully, and she picked out another
outfit of bright colors to wear. She declared that she was a
knowledge sim with a secondary of grilled cheese, and that she
wanted to be Chief of Staff at the local hospital. I was so proud of
my little girl!

71. It was almost time for Rosemary to head off, but first she helped
out by feeding Salt and Pepper, and then she got a little good
advice from the ever-practical Lord Snugglebottom. I think he told
her to study hard, not skip classes, and watch out for the food in
the cafeteria.

72. The time to leave came and Rosemary called for her scholarships
and then for the taxi. She was the first one to leave the nest, but
she would not be the last by a long shot.

73. Rosemary sent us a picture from college to show she was doing well.
She would wait there until her other siblings – some of whom hadn’t
even been born yet – arrived. Time is such a strange thing in sim lives,
but I don’t bother questioning it too much. I was just happy that my
Rosemary was happy living at college.

74. I had finally gotten too old to have kids, but a few quick sips of elixir
fixed that. Stephan was waiting for me. We had a free bed in the
house, after all.

75. That’s the end of the chapter! Thanks for reading, and check back for
more on my legacy in the next chapter. We’re on a race to 13 kids,
and we’re nearly half way there! See you next time!