Love is in the air...

I totally love how I almost always buy my children birthday gifts, and they never notice them.

 

Isa wants a piano, so I get her a piano. Isa is an ungrateful little brat of a teenage sim, so she doesn't even glance at said piano. Pfft.

Although, her brother is very sweet, isn't he?

 

Altogether now...AWWWWW!! :-D It's so cute when sims look like they are feasting on the little one's heads.

And then, of course, we have the black sheep of the family that goes to school in her fancy dress:

And sits around, playing chess in her swimsuit.

What can ya do? 

Arielle apparently thinks she looks rather smart in her swimwear.

I say just let it go. She's in her own little world. ;-)

Things have started progressing between Ryder and Ella. They go to school together, (Hence the stuffy formal wear at the beach.) and have become the best of friends.

Of course, Ryder wouldn't be bothered if they started to become...a little  more. That's why he invited her out to the beach that day, after school. It seemed like a nice secluded spot that two people could get to know each other a little "better" at. ;-)

 

Apparently, Ryder is quite the smooth talker. They went from being best friends...

To grabbing onto each other pretty quickly. They are teenagers, after all. ;-)

Ryder was determined that nothing was going to ruin their date this time, unlike last time when they were rudely interrupted by the stupid police. Cops - always ruining everything.

Kinda like...

Family. Always ruining everything.

Apparently, my "secluded" spot looked like the perfect location for a Braxton-Patterson family outing. There you have Jenna, Lewis, and Marlin for all  your date ruining needs.

And that's just the beginning.

Dina Caliente had to show up, as well - heaven knows why. She is definitely NOT in safe territory, after the "Lil' Bling stealing" incident.

Ryder had been asking to hang out with Jenna for some reason, so I figured that this was the perfect time to have him do so.

His compliments were not well-received.

I'm thinking that she and Dallas needed to bake a little longer before they popped out of the oven. Something is amiss in their personalities.

Speaking of something being amiss...

Now, there's a happy looking twosome, if I ever saw one.

I believe that Shayna and Tom do nothing but fight all of the time. At least, that's what Story Progression would have me believe. I'm going to blame that on Tom's general asshat-ness.

Now, all I need to do is get Dallas, and the rest of the fam and we'd have a nice little reunion. :-S

Since they were all reading their books (?), Ryder decided it was time to get back to business.

Well, that was until my attention was averted elsewhere.

Tom apparently was trying to flirt with Shayna and in her pissed-off state, that was not his finest idea.

Apparently, it has come to blows. :-O

It's really fun when your non-controlled sims are doing great stuff. It's like watching a show.

He just brushed off the whole thing.

Get that dirt off your shoulder, Tom! 

Feeling completely done with the whole situation, Ryder gave up and decided to take his lady elsewhere. TO THE BISTRO!!

Unfortunately for him, Beau was feeling stir-crazy, so it was time for a fun family outing. So sorry, Ryder.

Heidi was a little bothered by the fact that Arielle runs around in her gym clothes all of the time.

 

Maybe she should have brushed up on her parenting skills. :-P

(on a side note - I don't recall picking that outfit out for Heidi. She seems to make her own choices. Hmmm. Maybe she should have been a stylist?)

 

They all decided to eat outside, to give Ryder and his little date some space. Unfortunately, they had to come out of the door at some point, and there they were...in all their chaotic glory.

 He was not going to be deterred this time, though...and decided to do a little flirting with his family present.

 Uh...I'm thinking that for whatever reason, Isa has decided that she doesn't approve of Ella for her brother. Hmm...seems to be some hidden issues there. 

It wasn't too long after that, that they were all forced to head home because of something that I would like to call:

Babysitter Fail.

This miserable child is starving, and about to fall into a lonely sleep in a puddle of her own urine if her parents don't make it home in about 5 seconds. I smell Child Protective Services. 

Oh, the sitter tried to feed her, but then ran out of the room because she was crying - as one normally does when they are miserable, I would think.

Ugh. You suck at life.

While the older children were taking care of unimportant things such as the nearly-dead toddler, Heidi and Beau were up to more important things.

Oh well, at least they are keeping the spice in their marriage, right?

'Cause we know what happens if they don't.

You have children that like to work out in sundresses. Go figure.

Anyways, Heidi had to pay for the fun she and Beau had the previous night...

...
...

...

.

LITERALLY!

It cost her 800 simoleons to pay the paparazzi off, so they wouldn't spread the rumor that she was "Woo-hooing with an occult."

...a little late with THAT news, aren't they? *raises eyebrow*

Isa finally noticed that she had a piano in the foyer.

She played for a little while, and then decided that she had more important things to do.

It was Saturday, and she had been waiting all week to invite her...friend...over.

You see, our little Isa has somewhat of a teensy crush on someone.

Mortimer Goth. And, boy, is he lucky that Isa has such a crush on him. Because I would never let my little dear go after someone with...such an outfit.

Master Controller, for the win!

I approve!!

They stood around talking for a bit...

And gossiping, of course.

 

"Did you know Heidi Braxton has the inventing skill??"

Y'don't say?

*glances stage left*

 

Well, whaddya know?

Sadly...Mortimer already has a girlfriend. The lovely Miss Autumn Hemlock - who is a descendant of my Hemlock family that I had prior to the Braxton's. She's a good catch for Mortimer, really...especially since he was wearing a sack 5 minutes ago, but she's not my Isabeau. ;-) (I had a photo of her to show you, but it disappeared somewhere. Not to worry, you'll see her soon enough.)

Heidi somehow found time to tear herself away from the inventing bench to cook her children some food.

The grill that used to be awesome has been reduced to not-so-awesomeness by the arrival of Outdoor Living Stuff. The Braxton's need an outdoor kitchen! HMMPH!

Mortimer is able to overlook this lapse in cool-ness and apparently find Heidi to be very interesting:

Arielle, however, must have something against hot dogs:

Maybe she's a closet vegetarian?

...Oh, right...she's crazy as a loon. 

Beau just thinks that anytime they have visitors and are eating outside, that someone is having a birthday.

I'm really going to have to start letting them out more often. :-D

The next morning, over a breakfast of plasma juice and cereal, Isa enlisted the help of Ryder into a plan that she was formulating.

See, Isabeau knew that her brother had been trying to go after Ella, of course, but after their epic fail of a date the other night....Ella was now steadily dating another guy. Since he was technically free, Isa didn't see any reason why her brother shouldn't help her out with Mortimer. She knew that certain girls found her brother to be...ugh...charming, and thought it should be no problem for him to steal Autumn right from under Morty's nose.

Of course, who else would Morty run to but his BFF, Isa? 

It was a magical plan.

Surprisingly, Ryder agreed. He loved his sister, after all, and wanted her to be happy. And, it might be fun to steal someone's girlfriend away. It was something he had never tried before.

Isa went to school with a new outlook on life. She had been a little depressed about Morty and Autumn, but she knew that her brother would take care of her.

She was so happy, in fact, that after school that day...she decided to throw her sister a birthday party. It was getting pretty close to Fiona's birthday, and figured it might be as good a place as any for Ryder to meet Autumn. 

Arielle was excited about Fiona aging up. They had grown to be pretty close.

Awwww. Sweet, little blonde girls. :-D

It was time for the guests to arrive, which included the likes of Sugar Bijou-Sword...

...and the daughter of my sister's simself and Romeo Rake, Kingston. 

 (I swear the game told me that it was a BOY, so now she just has an...ummm...interesting name for a girl. :-S)

Isa busied herself with being the perfect little hostess, she was trying to impress Morty, after all.

Although, I'm sure he wasn't impressed by the hot dogs. I believe that's what he was served last time. :-P

Soon, it was time to give Fiona her birthday cake. (Before people started to complain about the party, that is.)

Her father did the honors:

You know they are about to age when they go cross-eyed. :-D

SPARKLES!!! And...

...

EEP!!! Send it back!!

I was really starting to get a little scared, but, thankfully, it didn't get stuck like that.

Although, they did really put her in that outfit. And, of course, the paparazzi was there to document the whole thing.

I would love to show you how gorgeous she turned out, but unfortunately, she insisted on making those wonky eyes for the next 500 hours.

The party turned out to be absolutely NOTHING like I wanted it to be, they all just stood around in a big moosh, and complained about everything.

Although, I will mention that Ryder's target - Autumn - is the one standing right beside him in the animal print dress. :-)

 

Oh, noes! Not the evil hand again. I hate it when that happens, don't you?

Adrienne and Youssef's old room got a makeover, and now my babies get to share it! 

Isa was sort of pumped after the party. (Which was a *moderate* success) She couldn't sleep, so she went outside to practice her mixology skills.

 

 

She certainly seems to be enthusiastic about the whole thing.

Unfortunately, enthusiasm doesn't always equal ability.

Yum-yum!

Ever the optimist, Isa keeps on trying.

 

You would think since she keeps getting skill points, that she would eventually get better at making the drinks.

...nope.

 

Well, her drinks might suck...but she has maximum mixology skill in like...2 sim hours, thanks to being a vampire. 

At least she can do this:

While she was busy making herself nauseous, Arielle was busy dreaming the dreams of future Braxton leaders:

Great news!

Fiona stopped making cross-eyes, so I was able to finally showcase her beautiful-ness. :-D

 

Adrienne's blonde hair is finally starting to sink in! *lol*

After school, Isa found Morty standing around, waiting for his ride.

For her, it was a rare stolen moment. He usually had to run off to work after school.

They chatted for a few moments...

And then, eventually the tone changed...

 

And the next thing Isa knew...

Morty grabbed her and pulled her into a tight hug. She was so shocked, that her eyeballs almost fell out of her head.

All good things must come to an end, though...and the next thing she knew...

 

It was time for him to head to work. She is visibly displeased.

She couldn't help but be hopeful about her situation after that. She could only hope that Ryder was doing his best to help her.

Across town...

Ryder had already started trying to chat Autumn up. He somehow managed to get an invitation to her house, being the smooth-talking rascal that he is.

So, in his car he goes:

 

Well, technically it's his dad's car. Technicalities, you know. I think it's time I upgraded them. ;-)

See, I told ya she was lovely! :-)

They had the usual conversation about the weather:

And then he was gentlemanly enough to compliment her home.

 

Of course, THIS is her home:

I didn't build it. I wish I had that kind of patience. I would credit it, but when I downloaded it, I didn't check the name. I know it was from TSR, though. It was full of CC. :-S

Her parents certainly are very lovey-dovey:

While they were getting to know each other, I checked in on my other sims.

I had just bought them a playground, and the girls were enjoying it:

 

Now back to Ryder...

He had managed to convince Autumn to go out to dinner with him.

 I think it's fairly obvious that they have at least one thing in common. ;-)

Autumn got hung up at the hostess stand at the diner:

Gotta hate when that happens.

My sister's simself really should watch her child, she is at an impressionable age and apparently idolizes Dina Caliente.

I don't know why Dina is so snotty but she ignored the poor little girl. It was very sad.

The lovely couple finally finished their dinner without anymore glitches:

 

Ryder decided that he was going to have to take things slowly with Autumn, since she already had a boyfriend, and all.

So, they said their goodbyes...

And Ryder ran home. (So as not to be escorted by the police. AGAIN.)

Back at the home front, the girls were doing their homework together.

 

This could be a self-confidence issue in the making for poor Arielle. Fiona finished her homework in about 2.3 seconds.

Crazy vampires. Always showing off.

Heidi attempted to cheer her up by chatting with her.

 

But, Arielle is bored by talk of science and such things.

 She's too busy trying to position herself as a front-runner in the race to become legacy heir/ess.

She definitely gets points for discussing money. :-D

This is here for no other reason than it's just cute as a button!

That's all I have for today, guys!

Stay tuned for the next chapter of The Braxton Legacy, where we will find out:

- Is Ryder able to persuade Autumn to fall for him?

- Does Isa get her guy?

- Who gets to take over the Braxton household? (Maybe next chapter, maybe not. ;-) I already know, neener-neener. :-P)

But before we go:

Dead grandparents...

In your bedroom, disturbing your slumber.

I hate when that happens to me. ;-)