The document provides an update on four families in the neighborhood of Oak Grove: 1) The Collins family consisting of a grandfather and his three grandsons, with the two oldest sons moving out to start their own families. 2) The Stewart family consisting of a grandmother, her daughter and son-in-law, and their twin children, with the grandmother passing away and the twin children growing up. 3) The Monahan family consisting of a girl named Katie who was left alone by her father and is now dating one of the Stewart twins. 4) The Tierney family consisting of a wealthy elderly man who adopted a child to carry on his family name, but has also passed away,

2. Oak Grove is based around four families. The Collins – Robert, Preston, holding Richard, and William; The Stewarts – Roland, holding Marielle, Molly, holding Micah, and Pina; The Monahans – Katie; The Tierney’s – Sergei. I’ve been playing them on a rotation, so decided to put together a little update.

3. The Collins Family The Collins Family consists of a Grandfather and his three grandsons, living together in a small ranch style home. They are not wealthy, yet they are not poor. The boys parents were killed in a terrible accident on the tracks of the commuter train in Sim City. Robert, the elderly patriarch William, the oldest Preston, the middle child Richard, the baby

4. Since the last post, Richard actually had two birthdays. Here he is as a child. Despite losing his parents at a young age, Richard was a relatively happy child. He was lucky that his older brother Preston took an interest in all he did and helped him as much as possible. He was also probably very happy to never have had to do homework, due to a glitch with the port that brought him home from school into the family bathroom.

5. Here he is as a teen, getting his first kiss from a friendly neighborhood girl who is NOT Meadow Thayer. Richard is a family sim, and doesn’t yet have a secondary aspiration. I choose the secondarys my self based on how their personalities seem to develop in their childhood/teen years.

6. Shortly after Richard’s teen birthday, his older brothers decided to move on to the next phase of their lives. Preston, though a minute or two younger than his brother William, was the first to leave the nest. He had fallen in love. He had plans. He is a family sim.

7. Preston bought a small plot of land in the hilly neighborhood, down the street and around the corner from his boyhood home.

8. With the little money he had, and the money his love, Ivy Copur brought with her, they were able to build a small cottage. I’ve decided to start my families with an 16x16 base building, whether it’s going up or spreading out.. I figure it’s better than an apocalypse house, and I don’t have to spend all my time building. Also, the youngest child will be the one to stay in the family home.

9. Preston and Ivy were married in a lovely ceremony in their backyard and are currently expecting their first child.

10. William moved out the same day that Preston did, shortly after Preston in fact. He too was in love. He didn’t have any plans except for lots and lots of parties. He is a pleasure sim.

11. He too bought a small plot of land, right next to Preston and Ivy. He decided to build out instead of up. The house looks much better now since he asked his love, Ricky Cormier, to move in. They have a large deck that surrounds the house and are able to throw many parties.

12. William is a grilled cheese sim secondary, and lucky for him, Ricky doesn’t mind. The inside of the house has since been decorated as well. Parties and jobs are what they both do most of the time. Everything is going according to William’s life plan. Or lack of life plan as the case may be.

13. Well, almost everything. Squeeee!! Alien baybeez are on the way!!!

14. Robert however was on limited time and his time was up. You can see the hula girls. He didn’t gain his LTW (50 1st dates), but I was able to get him platinum for his last days.

15. Richard was now alone. He’s currently in a rebuilt house on a new lot placed in the same spot. After the homework glitch, other weird things started happening, so I decided to rebuild the lot. So far, so good.

16. The Stewart Family The Stewart Family consists of a Grandmother, her daughter and husband, and their twin children. Molly, the slightly addled elderly matriarch Pina, her spacey daughter Roland, the son-in-law, who often has impure thoughts about his M-I-L Micah and Marielle, the twin toddlers

17. Amongst all the fires that Molly set in the kitchen…

18. …Pina and Roland decided they wanted another baby. A totally unauthorized ACR baby. It’s no secret that this family drives me just a little bit insane when I play them.

19. The twins grew up. Marielle is a somewhat serious little girl. I realize her name is associated with a not so nice sim in the community, but the name popped into my head when I named her and I couldn’t get it to leave. So far, she’s shown no tendencies as a gold digging witch looking to climb the social ladder.

20. Micah is a delight. He’s very friendly, bringing home the neighborhood kids, and cleans up after everyone in the house.

21. Meet Tanner (the blonde) and Trent (the redhead). Yup, twins. In the tiny brick home the Stewarts were able to afford. It took some creative room arranging to fit them all, let me tell you.

22. The Stewart boys were lucky to have their Grandma around to help raise them. Relatively anyway. Ok, so at least she didn’t let them starve. It wasn’t long after their childhood transition that old Grim paid a visit to collect her.

23. Trent wasn’t the only one who mourned. Actually, the entire family did. I was the one who muttered under my breath, “finally!”.

24. Shortly after Molly’s demise, the older set of twins grew up again. Micah is a pleasure/knowledge sim who wishes to be a game designer. He is still awesome.

25. And Marielle. She is a popularity/pleasure sim who would like to become Mayor someday. Still no sign of gold-digging.

26. Oh, and Micah has fallen in love with another of our star players, but we’ll get to more of that later.

27. There’s not a whole lot to report. Or rather, there’s not a whole lot of pictures. Part of the reason I started the Prosperity Challenge was because the pressure of a story didn’t seem so prevalent. Anyway, the younger twins aged up on the last rotation. In fact, it was so recent that I haven’t even put their stats down in my notes. Here’s Tanner.

28. And Trent. They had time to make the shopping trip downtown to get their cell phones and clothing before the rotation was up. Their house has also recently undergone a rebuild because of some concerning glitches that were occurring. I’m hoping it’s not a neighborhood wide thing.

29. The Monahan Family The Monahan Family consists of a little girl named Katy. She never knew her mother. No one knew her mother, nor what happened to her. Her father was with her for a short time, but was never very good to her. The day he felt he could he left without a look backward. She has every material thing she needs, and it is all pink. Katy, a lonely child

30. As mentioned in the preceding slide, Katy’s father, Placeholder Monahan, took off (died) the minute she teened and could be left by herself. Katy is a knowledge/popularity sim, whose LTW I have forgotten to add to my notes. This is the dress she grew up into, which fits into the whole idea that while she is surrounded by fairytale pink goodness, she is truly blue herself.

31. The day after her birthday, a gift was left on her lawn. Count Katy amongst some of the luckiest sims. She wished for wealth, and was able to really improve her living space. It is pink. All over. And she has enough money left over to get her to adulthood without having to worry about running out.

32. For such a neglected child, Katy is a relatively well adjusted sim. She cleans up after herself, goes to school and does her homework…

33. Has restored a car, almost maxing her hobby enthusiasm…

34. And adopted two cats to keep her company. They are almost *fingerscrossed* at a point where kittens should be happening soon. I don’t encourage them to not sleep on the beds, because in our house, we really don’t view that as such a bad thing. Besides, they look so cute.

35. She’s also in love with Micah Stewart. They are going steady. She’s a bit older than he, and I haven’t yet decided if they will be allowed to continue or not. Of course, the possibility exists that they will make the decision for me.

36. The Tierney Family The Tierney Family consists of a wealthy, elderly gentleman named Sergei. Sergei is the wealthiest person in the neighborhood and lives in the first house with a functional walk-out basement in the neighborhood. Since he randomized gay, he will be adopting a child to carry on his family name. Sergei, an elderly gentleman

37. Sergei phoned the adoption agency and Katherine arrived to become a part of his family.

38. Sergei proved to be a wonderful father. Though a romance sim, he could always be counted on to read to Katherine.

39. Reading was important and he made sure she understood this. He helped her with her homework, made her meals for her and made sure she had everything she needed.

40. The were a pair meant to be together. She owned his heart and he hers.

41. Of course, this didn’t mean he didn’t share it with others, including Robert Collins.

42. There were also others. Though nowhere near the 20 he needed to fulfill his LTW.

43. After spending her childhood being reassured that she was truly loved by her father, Katherine became a teenager. She is a pleasure/romance sim who would like to become a Celebrity Chef.

44. With maxed enthusiasm in music and dance, she has also maxed her creativity skill and is well on her way to maxing her cooking skill in preparation for her adult life.

45. In between his dates, Sergei has painted a few masterpieces. Alas, the dates and the paintings were not enough to get him platinum in his final days.

46. He had the hula girls, but didn’t get the platinum head stone. Ah, he led a pretty decent life as an elder. He found love, which is more than most people get.

47. Katherine is taking it all in stride as the third orphaned teenager in the neighborhood. There should be a support group in Oak Grove. She won the cooking contest, by the way. She’s well on her way to a wonderful career.

48. Not sure when I’ll update again. Hope you enjoyed reading about the Collins, Stewarts, Monahans, and Tierneys. Oh, and Happy New Year to all! May 2010 bring only the best and brightest to your lives!