Season One - Summer - Broke

Broke Family of Pleasantview

Brandi Broke - Family - LTW Captain Hero - unemployed

Dustin Broke - Fortune - LTW Hand of Poseidon - working in the criminal field

Beau Broke - toddler

We begin out journey just before 8 am.  The family has recently lost their husband and father Skip Broke.  But life goes on.  Dustin heads off to school.  Brandi sits down to teach Beau how to talk without the use of smart milk.

I've already started rearranging the house.  I didn't think to take a before picture.  Sorry.  I sold anything decorative of value.  Surprisingly there was a lot of that.  I added a porch.  I divided one huge bathroom and made two small bathrooms.  

Later I did more.  I added a back porch for the kitchen table which means I added a back door.    I'm a tweaker by nature.  I will tweak these starter houses until they scream.

Getting back to it:  in a move I've never seen before, Brandi goes off on Dustin for his bad grades.  I'm assuming that this was something Maxis tossed into this starter family.  I've had kids with much worse grades who never got a lecture before.  And to do so right in front of his girlfriend.  Harsh.

Even Brandi wasn't sure what had gotten into her.  Then she suddenly realized that her dead husband had left her with a little something extra. 

A few hours later, Brandi gets a call to head downtown.  I swear these things come at the worse possible moment.  Maybe that's why I  started ignoring them in the first place.

She has just moments to see her toddler turn into a child before hauling her tired pregnant self into the taxi.

It was a casual outing with a bunch of townies she didn't know. At this point Brandi has only found one bolt attractions.  She's looking though.  Brandi is not the kind of girl that does well single.  Eventually she's going to roll up the want for a new love.  I'm scoping the possibilities and getting ready for the inevitable.

Being exhausted, Brandi headed straight for the strong stuff.  I'm not sure this much caffeine is good for baby but she didn't care.  All that extra money I got from selling her curtains will be gone soon. 

Brandi stayed for a while.  She met everyone she could.  She found someone she had two bolts of attraction for but he's married.  So she bought herself a cell phone.  She then splurged and bought one for Dustin.  She presented his gift in hopes for making up for being a right witch earlier.  Maybe bribery will help Dustin turn his life around.

With mother and son a slightly better footing, Brandi teaches Dustin how to study.  Dustin already longs to go to college.  He'll need to get those grades up though.  I don't have a hack or anything to prevent him from heading to school with bad grades but personally I just don't like it.

Dustin got a call from Angela asking if he wanted to sneak out with her.  He knew his mother wouldn't like it if she knew.  He'd just have to make sure she doesn't find out.

Unfortunately for him, Dustin was caught.  They brought him home in cuffs.  Yes, he's been working as a criminal for extra cash but he never thought he'd find himself in this position.  The cops dropped him off but never actually talked to Brandi.  She was asleep and has no memory of the event.

The next day after school, Dustin headed off to buy a new handheld gaming system.  He'd been wanting one for a while.  So he took the money he needed and tried not to feel guilty about it.  Dustin met a really cute girl, Tristin (I think).  He spent some time getting to know her.

But when she leaned in for a kiss, Dustin suddenly remembered his girlfriend Angela.  He leaned away from the kiss, rejecting her.  Maybe it was time for him to head home.

Beau brings Tina home with him from school.  Tina seems to be popping up everywhere.

Brandi is constantly tired.  The kids are driving her nuts.  She makes herself a little treat to make her feel better.  (I don't know why.  I think I temporarily lost my mind.)

Brandi was outside, meeting yet another married man she was attracted to, when she went into labor.

Brandi gave birth to twins, a boy and a girl.  She named them Hallie and Harden Broke.

Within an hour after giving birth, Brandi was headed to her first day of work.  Brandi had found a job in the  law enforcement field while pregnant.  Once again, Dustin is left in charge of his younger siblings.

After getting the twins taken care of, Dustin teaches Beau to study. 

Harden Broke - Gemini - 3-10-9-3-3

Hallie Broke - Gemini - 3-10-10-3-3

Before you know it, the twins became toddlers.  Now the fun truly begins.  Brandi and Dustin started teaching the twins to talk.

Brandi got a promotion.  She hired a nanny to watch the kids while she worked.  The nanny wasn't half bad.  She did bathe Harden three times in a row but later she made the beds.  I'll take that.

Brandi is doing well at work.  Her kids aren't getting much of her attention.  Brandi wants to fall in love and have a baby.  She also wants to work on skills for promotions.  I've pushed her towards the promotions.

Dustin is still taking up the parenting slack.  He would have been a good family sim.

The TV had been broken for a while.  Dustin finally tackled it and managed to fix it.  It was the last skill point he needed for a promotion.

Dustin tops out his teen career.  He has worked hard and now has excellent grades at school. 

Brandi's want to fall in love is holding strong.  She has found three men that she has two bolts of attraction for.  She invites over the only one who isn't married.  This is Darren Dreamer.  He is a widower.  He brought a friend with him, Cassandra Goth.  I'm not sure she liked Brandi's interest in her friend but we really don't care.  I'm trying to save marriages here.

Eventually, Brandi got her want.  She is in love.  Darren also loves her.  Her want for a baby has temporarily taken a back seat to her want to become engaged.  Unfortunately for her the twins needed attention.  She didn't get the chance to pop the question she was just dying to ask.

Dustin's friend, Ginger (maybe?), stopped by for a visit.  He had met her when he went downtown.  They have two bolts but they are strictly friends.

As the season comes to an end, Dustin heads to college.  I have no idea which college yet.  I'll figure that out later.