Chapter 5: Dryer Fires

We rejoin the Stars with Noelle dutifully taking care of her nephew. And where is Grayson's mother you might ask?

Well, after her transition into young adulthood, Zoe fulfilled one of her dreams and bought a restaurant. Welcome to Zoe's Kitchen.

It really was the perfect career for Zoe. She'd never been a fan of authority and this way she got to spend her days bossing people around and schmoozing with customers.

As it happened, the restaurant was also the perfect place to get a free date-night meal which Noelle and Shingo made sure to take advantage of

Later that day, it was birthday time for little Grayson.

SQUEEEEEEEE how CUTE is he????

And then as always in my game, the dryer caught fire -_-

Thank goodness Shingo and Noelle pulled out the fire extinguishers, saving the Star house once again.

Dryer fires: 3, Casualties: 1

Grayson was definitely well-looked after during his toddler days. Even Alivia took a liking to him despite the fact that she Hates Children.
She always left their interactions with a negative moodlet but for some reason all she wanted to do was talk or play with him.

I'd say Butterfinger had taken to him as well.

But overall, Grayson's favorite member of the Star family was Noelle

And it wasn't unwarranted. As the days passed, Noelle took over nearly all the duties of raising Grayson.

Including making sure he was skilling up sufficiently

It didn't help that every interaction between Zoe and her son seemed to go sour. To be honest, you couldn't really blame her. Motherhood has never been of interest to Zoe, and she did try her best but after a certain point, she just figured that Grayson would be happier in the arms of her sister. 

And to be honest, she wasn't completely wrong.

After all, Zoe had another child: her growing restaurant

And working there happened to be something she was very good at

Later that night, Butterfinger sparkled her way into Elderhood.

Following Butterfinger's age-up, I felt it best to get the household another kitty so everyone meet Cashew. Noelle seems very taken with her.

Butterfinger on the other hand seems less sure

Ok, now this is just getting RIDICULOUS.
I try guys, I really do, I clean out the lint trap every single time I direct them to do laundry but I swear every time I turn my head someone's trying to use the dryer and it frickin sets on fire EVERY SINGLE TIME.
I gotta admit I was scared for Shingo's safety at this point also but Noelle raced up there and put him out like a good girlfriend.

Dryer Fires: 4, Casualties: 1

He emerged a little toasty nonetheless

Elsewhere, Cashew spun into an adult looking quite pleased with herself.

Now I'm sure that you've all been wondering what Alivia's been up to since she's all but disappeared from this legacy. Truthfully, the gal's just a bit boring :l. She spends all her time at the gym...

...Or hangin out with her fav nephew

Although I really wish it wasn't in her llama outfit...that certainly can't be good for the child's psyche

But there was something special about this trip to the gym...

No, not Grimmie!

Ah that's better. See, Alivia had struck up a conversation with Ayden here while working out and they'd built up a strong friendship.

Enough so that she invited him over, where he proceeded to stare at her boobs the whole time. For shame Ayden!

Later that night, as was becoming typical in the Star household, Shingo pulled out a fire extinguisher, apparently fighting an invisible fire as everyone else panicked around him.

(But seriously, I never saw a fire so I was a bit confused at this whole endeavor)

And then our rug disappeared :( The casualties continue to grow!

At this point, Zoe's Kitchen was rising in the ranks and bringing in the big bucks, and since the house was getting to be pretty crowded....

I figured it was time to move the Stars into a much bigger abode built by yours truly :)

Later that night it was time for Grayson to age up into a child. The whole household was there to celebrate minus one person in particular...

Yea, Grayson's mother was too busy running a restaurant to attend her own son's birthday party. For shame, Zoe!!

Yey sparkly time woo woo!

Awwwww he's a lil cutie. Even though Zoe doesn't seem to have time for him, Grayson will always hold a special place in my heart <3.

With his age-up, he gained the Lazy trait.

Which explained why I seemed to find Grayson napping all over the house all the frickin time

Seriously. He's definitely not the most productive sim

On the bright side, he did find the time to do his homework, and soon climbed up to an A student in school. To be honest, Grayson didn't really have a lot of friends though. He'd meet people at school, and invite them over and then when they arrived just go upstairs to take a nap :(

So I got him a nice furry friend to play with for the time being. Everyone meet Storm, the newest addition to the Star household

Of course we can never just have nice things and as soon as Storm had been adopted, Grimmie stopped by to grab Butterfinger :(   Boooooooooooooo

I added Butterfinger's tombstone to the family graveyard along with Joslyn.

And speaking of, ever since we moved houses i haven't seen Joslyn's ghost once! I guess it must've been a glitch or something but I kinda miss having her around all the time

For the next couple of days, the household was in a bit of a somber mood with the death of their favorite pet

But it wasn't going to stay that way for very long. See, Shingo had a very special request for Noelle.

Now when she pulled this face I have to say I was a little nervous

But alas, I had nothing to worry about. Noelle and Shingo were always meant to be :)

They made sure to thoroughly celebrate their engagement

Engagements never tend to last long in my game so that evening I sent the whole fam out to the backyard to attend the wedding. But the bloody thing hadn't even started before Noelle popped out a huuuuuuuuge baby bump

Alas, the show must go on, and the ceremony proceeded

 Congratulations to Mr. and Mrs. Yamaguchi!!

In the days following, Shingo seemed truly ecstatic about the impending arrivals. For once in this legacy, it was a planned pregnancy so both parents had time to prepare.

Pretty soon, it was labor time so I sent Noelle to the hospital

But then something weird happened. See Noelle was a patient and climbed into the little surgery machine and looked like she was about to give birth and then she just climbed out to get a soda! And I couldn't check her in again, so it seemed like she was just going to be in labor hell forever

But never fear, I beamed her back home where a little crib appeared. Push Noelle!

Actually, make that two cribs! These two bambinos here are Akeno and Rai Yamaguchi

Noelle doted on the twins but because the baby stage is boring and short who'd like to see the two as toddlers?

Ahhhh, I knew they would be cuties, although for twins they're not very similar looking. Akeno (in the back) definitely ended up with his mother's coloring and features, while Rai takes after his dad.

And with their age up I am going to leave you dear readers. Join me next time to hear more about the Stars adventures. :)