Round 1- Henshaw

Michael moves to Autumn Shore bringing his brother, Christopher and daughter, Marie.

Marie had loved taking things apart, seeing how they work and fixing them for as long as Michael could remember so for her 21st birthday he bought Marie a car that she would be able to restore.

Unfortunately, it didn't always go to plan...

Christopher, who spent most of his spare time at the telescope, had a nasty surprise one morning when the woman he had been watching through the telescope turned up and had a go at him. So she had seen him after all...

Mealtimes in the Henshaw house were always quiet. Michael almost choked on a meatball when his brother brought up the topic of woohoo. How could his brother still be considering that at their age?! And to discuss it at the dinner table of all places....

Marie had hopes of one day becoming General. She knew that to achieve anything in life, she would have to start from the bottom and work her way up. Her father had also been nagging her recently that as an only child it was up to her to carry on the Henshaw name. At that moment in time, Marie didn't care, she was more interested in focusing on her career.

Christopher and Michael also got new jobs. Christopher was unaware of just how ridiculous he looked...

Marie had to be up early every morning for work so decided to surprise her dad and uncle by cooking them breakfast. Turned out that her father hadn't passed any of his culinary skills on to her...

Michael was feeling his age. After his discussion with Christopher about woohoo he decided to try and get back some of his youth. Rollerblading was not as easy as he remembered it.

Michael brought home a colleague from work. He liked her and she liked him back. He realized that maybe he shouldn't be as hasty to put his love life behind him afterall?

Marie was very pleased when she finally finished her car. There was no more waiting for the carpool to arrive each morning. She was free to go wherever she wanted and follow her dreams.

Christopher wished the same could be said for him...

Notes: I have no idea what happened to the family-loading picture. I definitely took a screenshot but when I when to crop these in photoshop, it had disappeared. Thanks to the rolls of a dice when setting up the game, Marie is the heir but since I want to avoid my sims mixing with townies/npcs as much as possible (I want to see how far my custom genetics stretch without adding in dodgy maxis faces- they can stay in my soon-to-be maxis megahood!) so I think just to keep the name going, she's going to have to get frisky with either Jonny Mason or Max Walker. At the moment, she doesn't give a damn about getting with anyone so we'll see! The Henshaw's are the most rich family (yes, I know they still can't afford to have a decent house, i'm working on it) but also the most boring. I'm glad that Marie is there otherwise I would end up falling asleep during gameplay. Michael rolled the want to go rollerblading so I sent him downtown in an attempt to liven the round up a bit. Then Marie and Christopher both did that for me by setting the kitchen on fire. Twice.

Round 1- Saenz

Elsa, Declan and Georgina move to Autumn Shore for a fresh start after Elsa found herself a single mother for the second time. She vowed to raise her children without the help of anyone, least of all a man.

With Declan old enough to entertain himself for a while, Elsa gets to work teaching 1-year-old Georgina basic skills.

Of course, children are expensive and Elsa knew that for her kids to stand a chance, she would need to get a job even if it meant leaving them in the care of a nanny for a few hours each day.

Declan left for his first day of school and did well. He was joining the 'little class' with Gary Mason and Joanne Walker at newly built Autumn Shore Primary School. Due to Autumn Shore being such a small town, there was only two schools- a primary school and a high school. The headmaster of Autumn Shore Primary had explained to Elsa how the education system works in Autumn Shore. Declan would attend the local primary school until he was twelve. During his primary years he would be in two classes, suitably named 'the little class' and 'the big class'. The little class consisted of kindergarten to year three (the five to eight year olds) and the big class was years four to six (the nine to eleven year olds). Declan would then go on to Autumn Shore High School and complete years seven to twelve (twelve to seventeen year olds). Declan was then out of compulsory education but had the option to attend a university- he would have to travel elsewhere for this education though.

Determined for her children to do well, Elsa helps Declan with his homework.

Elsa found being a single parent was rewarding but very hard. She almost never had any spare time to herself. If she wasn't working, she was with Declan or Georgina, often multi-tasking with other household jobs at the same time.

Declan often made matters worse by doing things like splashing in filthy puddles just as the school bus was pulling up. He wasn't a bad kid, he just had bags of energy.

Declan brought Joanne Walker home from school one day. There weren't many kids Declan's age in the town so Elsa was thrilled her son had started making friends with the few children that resided in Autumn Shore.

Declan found a love for science so Elsa bought him an ant habitat to keep him occupied whilst she was busy answering to Georgina's demands.

Georgina celebrated her birthday. Although slightly less demanding, she still insisted on having her mother's attention whenever possible. Elsa decided she had to get that out of her. She wanted her children to stand on their own two feet instead of relying on everyone- her in particular!

Notes: The Saenz family seem to be the poorest family in Autumn Shore at the moment. Not sure it'll last though as Elsa had promotion after promotion this round. I've already stated playing their second round and they're slightly better off financially. And I mean slightly... I based the schools on our local primary school (there's about 30 kids in the whole school). Our primary school has 2 classes- the little class (primary 1-3 or 5-7 year olds) and the big class (primary 4-7 or 8-11 year olds). I tweaked the education system a little as we have primary 1-7 and then secondary 1-6 and I decided I wanted kindergarten/years/college instead of the nursery/primary/secondary/college.

Round 1- Mason

Jonny moved his family out to Autumn Shore after his wife died. It was a new start for the kids- Allie, Gary and Louisa.

Jonny had to leave for a new job shortly after moving in so while Gary entertained himself, Allie took care of Louisa.

Allie and Gary were due to start school the following day so Jonny had to hire a nanny to take care of Louisa.

Jonny made sure to help Allie and Gary with their homework.

Allie quickly started making friends and brought Ramona Brockman home from school one day.

Despite their lack of money, Jonny decided to surprise the kids with two dogs, a black labrador- Sooty and an Akita- Jess.

The family soon learnt not to let Louisa out of their sight...

It wasn't long before Louisa was old enough to entertain herself.

Notes: I couldn't wait for Louisa to age up, little trouble maker... Pretty boring round. Can't remember who rolled up the want for a puppy- think it might have been Gary so I sent Jonny to get a dog, decided I might try and breed them at some point so made him get two, realised I had two boys so had to fiddle around in simPE... Oh and please excuse the grass floors and unpainted walls in all houses. I'm determined not to cheat with the money so my sims are currently working very very hard.