Back to Chapter 3.4 | On to Chapter 4.2

First, we check on our brand-new goals...

Set #41 - Dog Trainer (Cats & Dogs) - Claire Ireland - (Heir)
Complete the Friend of the Animals aspiration
Have a pet with 1500 Simstagram followers
Level 5 Pet Training skill
Train one of your dogs with all tricks possible
Have one of your dogs have puppies

Set #55 - Handisim - Cody Orlando - (spouse)
Complete the Renaissance Sim Aspiration
Master the Handiness Skill
Create All Woodworking Objects in Excellent Quality
Upgrade 20 Objects
Decorate with 10 Woodworking Objects

More about said spouse in a moment....

Second thing, we run Claire through CAS:

Third, we make her spouse (as per rules, if they're going to work on a goal set, they have to be made by me!) I went with a lumberjack vibe for him because he's going to be a Handisim.

Fourth, and perhaps most importantly - we move them to a bigger, nicer, brighter house for pictures. It's not AS big as the one I tried last generation, and this house has a lawn. Which we need for dog training. It's also in Brindleton Bay, which will be nice for the pets wandering around. This house is also not built by me, but I do quite a bit of remodeling. Shown here:

The house pre-makeover

The addition (basically, the kitchen rotated and moved over to the other side of the house.)

Expanded area for a greenhouse

Overhead view of the upstairs.

Basement for collections. Eventually.

The backyard view of the house. (The featured pic for this post is the front yard version)

The addition with some furniture.

Proof #1 that I brought our collections with us.

Proof #2 - this is also a view, if you look closely, at the new "office" walls, and you can see the new basement stairs.

And, FINALLY.. it's time to get playing. Been waiting for this since last play rotation, and it's been tough waiting! I've never completed either of these aspirations, so this will be all new for me. Plus, puppies... what's not to love there!?

Cody and Claire getting acquainted. Gotta start somewhere!

... And we don't manage to get them to boyfriend/girlfriend by the time it's bedtime, unfortunately. But fortunately, there's a lot of beds in this house. They're friends, at least, but the flirts kept failing.

Cody getting to know his future mother-in-law over breakfast.

Cody getting through his "read three books" goal for his aspiration.

Time to make nice, guys. No more flirt fails. (Spoiler: there's quite a few more flirt fails.)

Finally. A flirt worked. I had to get both of them flirty first. Weird.

First kiss!

... (Please work please work...)

Hooray!

And we got them hitched finally. That took forever, it felt like.

The wedding night...

The next day is Winterfest... and Cody surprises his new wife with a puppy. Meet Shiloh! (Loyal, Active, Jumpy) Also, the game calls him a "Silky Terrier".

Claire meets Shiloh... and immediately decides we need more dogs.

Tasha would be the other tiny puppy. (Loyal, Active, Adventurous) and a Parson Russel Terrier. The big floofball is Queen Cupcake... who got adopted because of her name... and someone on boolprop Discord said I should definitely adopt her. She's a Chow-Lab mix, and is Active, Loyal, and Troublemaker. What are the odds that I got three Active and Loyal dogs on the first pass through the adoption page?? I learn - very quickly - that the troublemaker trait is a GODSEND for training out bad traits for Claire's aspiration.

Claire meets "Queenie" while the adoption agent looks snobby.

Meeting Tasha. Queenie doesn't look particularly pleased with having two puppies underfoot.

But she loves her new owner!!

... And did I mention that 1, Shiloh is ADORABLE.. and 2, he's going to be our "Simstagram" pet-target. Goal is ultimately to get that crazy high number of 1500 subscribers... and not to get sick of taking Shiloh pictures.

Decorating the tree. Cody was too busy reading a book, and Claire was.. chasing pets around. Obviously.

... And this is why Active is such a troublesome trait. The pets are running wild ... like.. ALL the time.

At about midnight, I finally get some time for everyone to sit down for presents. Got a karaoke machine and some other small stuff.... none of which they need, since they have more than 700k in the bank.

Brent looks particularly pleased with himself.

... And he should. He just got that last point pretty much autonomously!

Another adorable Simstagram picture. Shows how tiny these puppies really are.

Jeez, buddy, take some medicine! You look horrifying!

Autonomously - while Claire and I chase pets around... again... (still?) - Cody and Brent decide to play Juice Pong... and Brent wins. Also - why is Brent in his undies or outerwear almost all the time in these pictures??

Time for some training. On a filthy dog. Priorities. Also, I decided Cupcake here will be our well-trained dog with all the tricks. Should be interesting getting a Troublemaker dog to be fully trained.

One of the best pet pics I've ever taken. Shiloh is just such a cutie. I can't resist.

With that troublemaker trait, Queenie is ALWAYS dirty.

Shiloh is a little jealous of all the attention/training that Queenie gets.

Shiloh - all grown up... and able to take stairs all by himself. (Finally!!) Taking him (and Tasha) up and down the stairs to potty has been such a headache.

And Tasha's all grown up, too! Going to wait for puppies until after Brent and Brynn are gone and the heir is born, though, I think... just to make sure we don't overfill the household and make it so we can't have an heir.

Learning to lay down. Not sure what Brent is doing, but he's in his underwear.. again.

Shake!

Cody .... that's NOT how you cook grilled cheese. No standing on the stove, buddy. Which reminds me. I never bought them a fire alarm. Oops.

He then complains that he's filthy. I send him to take a shower, and he comes back to make himself a breakfast pastry on his own. I approve. Of course, he then gets a moodlet complaining that it was cold in the middle - but at least there was no more fires.

Claire meeting a couple of strays for her "5 pet friends" requirement for her aspiration.

Why do Sims 4 pets get filthy so often? I seem to be giving baths all the time!!

*points* There's another dirty dog. And it's New Years. Claire officially misses the countdown because she's too busy bathing pets.

... But at least Cody gets there in time. (Also: both boys are in their outerwear. .. why??)

And.. that's the end of the week. I managed to get to 250+ Simstagram followers for Shiloh, and have most of the second tier of Cody's aspiration, and well into the third tier of Claire's. Cody is currently waiting for his first day of work to start getting promotions... while Claire is WAY too busy with pets to ever think of getting a job. It's not like they actually need the money!

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