3. A Whole Lotta Kids

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The next few days, the Willow Creek Orphanage was hectic. The social workers must have been working hard, because the city took away a lot of kids from their parents and was sending them to various orphanages. 

Jane now had a full house, with 7 children living in the Orphanage. She had been hard at work, figuring out how to accommodate all of them - she had to buy new beds and bassinets - and taking care of the new babies. 

She now realized that, until then, it had all been a piece of cake. Now came the true test! If she couldn't handle this, the Willow Creek Orphanage wouldn't survive. With all these kids living under Jane's roof, the city was keeping a close watch on the Orphanage. 

Introducing the new children:

Babies Terra and Andrea!

And this is Daniela! Her aspiration is to be a Rambunctious Scamp and she's got the Outgoing trait. 

With all that going on, the children helped out a lot around the house with chores. It made Jane proud to have such good kids in the Orphanage. 

But what some could see as a handful, was a tremendous joy to Jane. She loved being surrounded by children and taking care of the babies. She was glad this life was her job as well, because she got to see all the wonderful things these children could do.

For example, Antoine was proving to be a creative child. He was the first one to use the drawing tables (finally!)

And the children got along great and helped each other out while doing their homework. 

Xavier was determined to be the best at school, so he did some extra credit work. He was light-years away from the angry boy that had come to the Willow Creek Orphanage. 

Even Jane was working on improving her own skills. She focused primarily on cooking, as she wanted to be able to make the kids their favorite food and maybe even a cake every now and again.

Time flew by so fast that little Terra grew up and left the bassinet quicker than expected. I gave her the Artistic Prodigy aspiration and the Loves Music trait. She just looks like a musical sim to me. (Here's to hoping someone uses the violin I bought...)

Andrea followed suit, growing up a day later. She's a Self-Assured sim (trait) with the Whiz Kid aspiration. Here she is, with her bassinet partner Terra, already grown-up.

Also, they're really loving Jane's new recipe. She learned to make pancakes!

(they ALL have black hair!! how is that even possible?!)

The Willow Creek Orphanage children really started to come into their own this week. Bradly, for one, started to put his Genious trait to the test on the science table (it was the first time it was used as well. So exciting!)

The week came and went and Jane and the Willow Creek Orphanage had passed the test: they'd survived the first hectic week of a full house! The hardest part was keeping the babies happy at all times, while maintaining her rest. But the children helped a lot around the house and they were very happy.

Terra crawled into Jane's bed, one night. This sweet moment spoke louder than words. These were happy children, who embraced Jane as a mother.

To be continued...

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Willow Creek Orphanage Characters

The children:

               

                 

                                         

                                  

   

2. Fires, Ilness and New Children

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Monday began, bright and early. The children went to school and Jane decided to make herself some breakfast before receiving the new child that was coming into the Willow Creek Orphanage that day. 

But what happened was... a FIRE!! Jane didn't know how it happened, it was all so fast: one minute she was cooking and the other she was on fire! She feared for her life, but was glad the children had already left for school. 

Thankfully, after a bit of a struggle, Jane managed to extinguish the fire. What she couldn't believe was that she didn't own a fire alarm! She had been so caught up with fixing the house for the children that she'd overlooked that very important detail. 

After this scare, she was going to be way more careful. She could have died and the children would have been left alone, all over again. Jane wouldn't have that. She still had so much to offer these children!

Now, with a new sprinkler system in place, Jane could finally relax (and take a shower!) 

The calm was now back to the Willow Creek Orphanage. And, for once, after coming home from school, Xavier actually played with the dollhouse, instead of smashing it. 

That day, the Willow Creek Orphanage welcomed baby Bradly. 

Meanwhile, Jane had gotten a cold. The stress of the day had clearly gotten to her. But it was nothing an orange juice and some rest couldn't fix!

However, on the following day, her illness was getting worse, so Jane had to take some medicine. She couldn't be going around spreading it to the kids. And just like that, her health was fully restored! 

But it had been too late. Little Tiffany had gotten sick as well! She, too, had to take some medicine. Hopefully, no more children would catch Jane's cold. 

But soon after, Xavier was developing symptoms as well. Jane vowed to take better care of her health. She wouldn't want all the children in the Orphanage getting sick at a time, especially as more kids came. 

After a dose of medicine each, the children were back to their normal happy selves, playing around the house! 

The only one that escaped the cold was baby Bradly. When the kids went to school, Jane spent her days taking care of him. He was a sweet baby, as all babies usually are.

Towards the end of the week, another child came into the Orphanage. His name is Antoine and he also has the Social Butterfly aspiration like Tiffany. He has the Squeamish trait. Let's hope fun things happen!

But once again, Xavier wasn't too thrilled to hear about a new child at the Orphanage. He always gets super jealous and sad about a new child coming.

An eventful week ended in style, when baby Bradly grew up! This kid just seems so proper and smart that I gave him the Whiz Kid aspiration and the Genious trait. I foresee great things in his future!

(I can't believe all the kids in this house have black hair!!)

As the Willow Creek Orphanage accepts more children, a packed house is sure to bring a lot of fun and adventures.

To be continued...

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1. The Willow Creek Orphanage

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Jane Goody had been a babysitter for years but she'd always known what she wanted to do was run an orphanage and help real children in need. So, once she became an adult and finally got the SimGovernment to approve the funding for her orphanage, she opened the Willow Creek Orphanage! 
Jane was optimistic - a house full of children running around sounded fantastic to her. But would it be that easy?

(Note: Jane will be my only controllable Sim. I won't be controlling the children, except through Jane, to make it more spontaneous. Here's to hoping some crazy, fun stuff happens!)

Her first baby was little Tiffany. She was a bundle of joy! Since Tiffany proved to be no trouble, Jane went along and adopted another child. She was eager to fill her Orphanage with happy children. 

That is how young Xavier came to join the family. He seemed like a sweet boy, at first. 

But he immediately proved to be a hot-headed sim. The first thing he did when he got there was smash a dollhouse!

But never fear! Jane stepped up to the part and explained to him why his behavior had been wrong. It had not been the first time that she dealt with destructive children, and boys always had a bit of a destructive tendency.

However, Xavier wasn't very happy to meet Tiffany, either. After meeting her, he proceeded to hit a teddy bear. Jane was realizing that Xavier was a troubled child, but it seemed he only craved attention, something she assumed he had never received much of. He was just acting out.

She managed to calm him down and they became Good Friends. Xavier was only a child, already dealing with the burden of being unwanted. This was the reason why she opened the Orphanage - to help kids like Xavier. And it made her happy to see progress so soon.

He soon began showing an interest for other (calmer) activities, such as reading, which made Jane very pleased. He even cleaned up after eating and always put his books away. He might be a hot-headed sim, but he is a good boy when he isn't feeling angry. 

The next day, while Xavier was at school, Jane repaired the dollhouse, so he wouldn't feel too bad about his outburst. 

And she was glad she did, because Xavier came home from school feeling very sad, that day. He found out he hadn't been invited to a friend's birthday party and felt like he had lost a friend. 

Jane did her best to cheer him up, but she wasn't sure it worked. It always hurt to lose a friend, especially at his age. Kids could be cruel, sometimes.

Meanwhile, Tiffany was just being her cute baby self. 

The first two days at the Willow Creek Orphanage had been a success! The weekend was now beginning and Jane had planned to make it a fun one. Xavier needed some cheering up, so she wanted to make sure he felt at home. 

Jane took him to the park, where he had a blast playing in the pirate ship with other children. 

And they spent some time having fun at the pool. 

Meanwhile, Tiffany aged up into a child. Because she was such a sweet baby, I gave her the Social Butterfly aspiration and the Cheerful trait. 

Here's Tiffany, all grown-up! I have to say, for some reason I was expecting her to be a ginger, but here she is with black hair!

And if things had started out a little rocky between the two kids, they were now on the right track.

All in all, the weekend was a success and the two children were very happy, ready to begin the school-week. And the Willow Creek Orphanage was ready to receive another child!

To be continued...

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