A Small Price



Jane Centowski is 35; Alex Centowski is 33
Christopher is 10;Janie is 9; Kimberly is 7; Jacob and Kathryn are 5; Orlando is 1

Kyla Bonaccord is 33; Remus Bonaccord is 33
Cole and Krysti are 6; Brandon is 4; Liam is 11 months

February 2026



The house was quiet.


Jane never thought that she'd ever say this, but the house was too quiet.


They were in a routine, now. Every monday morning, the five older kids would leave for school in the city, where they stayed as weekday boarders.


With Alex working, this left Jane at home alone with her youngest, Orlando.  At a little over a year old, he was just reaching that age when most parents would start to realize the surprisingly big challenges a small human could pose.


Not Jane, however. After five children, including a set of twins and three others each a year apart, one child - even an active toddler - in the house was easy.


Not that she didn't enjoy the luxury of plenty of time to devote to one child, but she just wasn't used to it being this easy.  The days seemed to move so slowly.

Once or twice a week, she'd take Orlando and they'd visit Kyla, Alex's sister.


Like Jane, Kyla had twins, although they were in school now... well, at least they were when the school wasn't closed for a snow day.


Kyla still had two little ones at home to take care of, but she never seemed too rushed or stressed either. Far from it, in fact... Kyla had a way of behaving like a playful teenager, without a care in the world.


Sometimes it was hard to believe that she and someone as serious as Alex were twins... or that she could be happily married to a man as driven and ambitious as Remus.

Part of the reason she could be so relaxed, though, was that Remus worked from home much of the time now.


He was careful to ensure that his work time was indeed devoted to work, and didn't like interruptions to it, but that didn't mean he didn't take regular breaks to enjoy a little extra time with his children.


Jane enjoyed the visits, and so did the kids. Their boys were already becoming firm friends.


There was one major advantage to the empty house, Jane realised - she and Alex had much more time to themselves.


Or, they did when he wasn't distracted by other concerns...


Peaceful as it was, Jane still found that her favorite time of the week was Friday afternoon when the school bus pulled up.


So she didn't have so much time to herself on the weekend...


...and she and Alex rarely had time to even talk to each other, when there was always someone else who wanted you to talk to them.


There was more to do...


... and the house was a mess...


... and Jane was perfectly ok with it all.

She hadn't forgotten how difficult things were before. She knew why it was better to have the kids away at school during the week, at least for now. The kids were getting better grades, she and Alex had more time together, everyone was happier now.

Compared to last year, a bit of boredom was a small price to pay.

----

Well, I never thought I'd say this, but... I played Jane and Alex's house, and it was boring! :)  It actually took more effort to keep Kyla happy, because as a pleasure sim she kept rolling playful/silly wants that weren't worth many aspiration points. Not much happening when I played her house, either, so I put both families together in the update.

One thing they did do, is give me some jaw-dropper outtakes:

1. Alex's autonomous choice of beds... I guess if all other birth control fails...



2. Krysti on the phone to her uncle Roman...


... because, what else would he talk to a six year old about?! Poor kid looks kinda stunned, too

3. Just... I have no words...



(and, no, we're not going there... so long as she's gold aspiration and she has other wants, I can ignore the crazy!)

Comments

  1. A realistic story well told and with great pictures! I think many mothers experience something similar when their children grow up.

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    Replies
    1. Thanks... Jane's had to let her kids go in a bigger way than most parents do with children that age. It was the only way to keep the family intact, but it's not surprising that she misses them a lot.

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  2. I could relate to this so much, I do not relish the day when my kids are all grown, and I hate quiet houses too! Love the pictures of when the kids are home, it definitely looks lived in with all that clutter on the floor and kids sprawled on sofas.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Sim houses are usually so tidy, so it was fun to put around random toys and mess that one up a bit :)

      I think probably when the eldest kids hit teens, I'll have them living at home again... the youngest will be at school then, and I can't imagine what Jane would do with herself if they were all gone during the week. Typical family sim, she has no real ambition beyond interacting with family members - and making more babies! (NoNoNO!).

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  3. Oh lord, Roman! Yeah...I'm not really surprised either!

    It seems like Jane and Alex have found a nice balance for themselves (even if you found them a little boring to play!). Peaceful weeks and then they get a little bit of the crazy back just in time for the weekend! I love the picture of Jane trying to read, with one kid trying to get her attention and another sprawled on the couch.

    I can't remember but how are you doing the boarding school thing in game? Are the kids living on another lot?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. It is more balanced now, everyone is a lot happier even if the week days do go slowly.

      For info on the boarding school, see below.

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  4. They are a cute family and boarding school? I have the same questions as Carla. I needed thought about doing a blaring school.

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    Replies
    1. I'm using this mod for the week day boarding school. It's the only family I'm doing this with, although I've used the prep school one several times to fit around parents' work hours - it's like putting the kids in an after school program or something :)

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