Round 5: Merrick-Ward
Last time in the Merrick-Ward household, there were lots of birthdays since there are lots of kids in that household! Leslie continued working her way towards her IW of maxing all skills and her LTW of becoming the City Planner. Daniel achieved his first LTW of maxing all skills which also earned him his Knowledge IW, and then he switched jobs to work on his LTW of becoming the General of the military. At the end of the update, the family got a big surprise when Leslie found out she was pregnant yet again!
I've also decided to incorporate ROS rolls into my Prosperity Challenge to give a little diversity and fun for these family updates. So this is the first roll for that and the family rolled to gain a roommate, so you'll see that later in the round. I'm also thinking of changing aging rates for teens, so that change might be coming up in future updates. We'll see!
We start this round off with a mid-way pregnant Leslie. Her secondary is grilled cheese and she had many grilled cheese cravings during this pregnancy!
Lindsay spent a lot of time on the phone with Aaron Scott this time around, although I wish Brooke or Hannah would become better friends with him. He's way too old for Lindsay, but he's the perfect age for her sisters!
You'll see lots of job promotions this round because Daniel and Leslie are so skilled. Daniel is blowing through the Military career. Here he is with a promotion to Junior Officer.
On simday 21, the first day of the round, the oldest Merrick child Brooke had her teen birthday. The boys of Bakersfield better watch out, cause she's one hot mama! She picked Fortune/Family as her aspirations and her LTW is to reach the top of the Entertainment career. She likes her men in swimwear and good at cleaning, but hates hard workers.
I expected her to hit the town to find some boys, but of course she hits the bookcase instead. This family is addicted to skilling!
Leo's OTH is cuisine, so he's getting a head start on that skill. He's actually pretty good at muffin making already!
Leslie finally earned her Knowledge IW of maxing all skills!
Brooke failed a chance card and lost some music and dance enthusiasm. No biggie there.
Daniel's moving right up and gets promoted to Counter Intelligence.
Hannah picks a very inappropriate time to show her parents her A+ report card! At least we know Leslie can't get pregnant again since she already is!
And it's time for baby Ward #5! You'd think after having so many babies it'd get a little easier!
And it's yet another girl! This one is named Ashley and she's got a much lighter skintone than all her sisters, but still that brown hair and dark blue eyes.
Everyone was hoping for a baby boy, but a baby is a happy thing no matter what. Leo was a little disappointed though. He's got enough sisters as it is!
It was about this time that Daniel got a call from his younger brother, Andrew, or Drew for short. Drew decided to move to Bakersfield and it was a perfect time for him to move in and help out with all the kids!
He got along great with all the kids right away. Leo likes him a lot since he's tired of playing with girls all the time!
The kids don't really need much looking after. They tend to keep themselves pretty entertained.
Unfortunately, on his first day in town, Drew made enemies with Larke Wilcox by spying on her with the telescope. Too bad too, because they would have been a cute couple!
Daniel keep working right along and gets promoted to Flight Officer.
Leo actually gets a chance card right and gains some Science enthusiasm.
Leslie's turn for a promotion! Here she is getting promoted to Architectural Partner.
Daniel decided to take his brother out on the town and try to find him some available women to date. They started out at the Pizza Place.
They've got a great arcade there, and the brothers had a great time acting like teenagers again.
And then they ran into Larke Wilcox. Drew was not happy to see her, but Daniel told him how hot Larke was inside and outside of the bedroom (he had an affair with her back in round 3 if you remember).
Drew thought better of his decision to hate the vixen that is Larke Wilcox, and decided to try to apologize and repair his relationship with her. He does have 3 bolts with her, after all.
Next stop for the boy's night out, was the coffee shop. Daniel talked about finding Drew a job. Drew's LTW is to become a Business Tycoon, but until he finds a position in the business field he's desperate to find anything that will pay some money.
Daniel suggested taking a part time job at the coffee shop until he found a permanent position in the business field, and that's just what Drew did. At least he can pay for dates with Larke once she forgives him.
Through all of the hub-bub in the Merrick-Ward household, Daniel and Leslie are still in love with each other as they ever were. 3 bolts and all. Thankfully, they can't get pregnant again since Drew moving in maxed out the household (unless I installed that more than 8 sims hack, which I don't remember if I did or not!).
Daniel keeps moving up and gets promoted to Senior Officer.
And Leslie becomes a Master Architect.
With all the kids except baby Ashley at school age, it was time for the family to try to get into the prestigious private school.
The house tour was no problem since this family has a ton of money and every room is decorated. And since they all skill all the time, a delicious lobster thermidore dinner was no problem at all either.
So the 4 oldest Merrick/Ward kids were excepted into private school.
Brooke's best friend is Adrianna Wilcox, daughter of Larke Wilcox and Hugh Scott. This is important because she is at the Merrick house all the time.
And ACR decided that Drew would have a high chemistry with her and become her first woohoo! This is very bad for a couple of reasons. One, Adrianna is a teenager and never woohoo'd before. Two, Adrianna is Drew's niece's best friend. And three, Adrianna is Larke's daughter....and Drew is trying to start a relationship with Larke! Oh what a tangled web we weave when we install ACR!
Larke finally decided to forgive Drew for his little peeping tom stunt, but she clearly does not know about how he took her daughter's W-card. But I checked her attraction panel and Drew and Larke are each other's highest attractions! They're meant to be together, since you know how many men Larke has been with!
Anyway, back to boring stuff...Daniel got promoted to Commander.
Leo lost a chance card, half a letter grade and $25. That sucks.
But on the bright side, Leslie was promoted to the top of the architecture career and became the City Planner which achieved her LTW!
On the last day of the round, the second Merrick daughter, Hannah, had her teen birthday and became almost as pretty as her big sister. She chose Popularity/Family as her aspiration and wants to own 5 top level businesses. She loves creative blond guys, but hates it if they wear makeup.
Also on the last day, baby Ashley became a toddler. I'm a little worried about those cheeks, but who knows. Maybe she'll become the prettiest Merrick/Ward girl of them all!
And that's it for this round. I think I'm going to cut the teen years down to either 8 or 10 days, so these teens should go to Uni sooner than the previous teens of Bakersfield. Drew moving in was the ROS for this family this round, but something tells me he'll be moving in with Larke Wilcox next round. As always, thanks for reading!