(Chapter 11) Life Goes On

Here's our little bundle of joy, Aimee Stratton. Isn't she gorgeous?

And our other little bundle of joy, Amanda Stratton. Yes, we had twins. Guess I got the twin gene.

As usual in our household times go by rather quickly. In the blink of an eye it was time for the twins' birthday. Here I am holding Aimee.

This is Viola with Amanda.

Our sweet Aimee took after my side of the family. She's the spitting image!

Amanda takes after her beautiful Mommy. I know that everyone says this but we really do have the most beautiful children in the world!!!

Aren't they too sweet? I guess it's hard to tell that I'm a doting Daddy.

Don't get me wrong, we had our share of sleepless nights. Lots of crying and diapers. But it's so worth it. I'm beginning to see how my mother and father ended up with 5 kids.

Here we are celebrating Rebecca's birthday. I'm reminded of the day we adopted her and how much love and joy she has brought into our lives. I don't know what we would do without her.

My! Looks like I'll be grilling the boys she brings over. Look out fellas, nobody better mess with my first daughter!

Knowledge: LTW => Max Out 7 Skills S/N = 2 S/O =3 L/A =10 S/P =7 G/N = 10

Oddly enough, the twins and Rebecca share the same birthday. Here's Viola holding Aimee again and letting her blow out the candles.

Where does the time go? Make a special wish my sweet Amanda.

Yeah, I think it's official. My kids are exceptionally awesome! How I wish they could have known my mother and father. Life goes on I guess. My greatest hope is that I will live to see my own grandchildren.

(Chapter 10) The Next Generation

I, Maddox, the first heir of the Stratton household, was enjoying being an adult and out of college. One of my favorite things was going out to clubs and dancing. I'd met a few women I like to talk to and even flirt with. But never anyone special.

Until one night when I saw one of the most beautiful women I'd ever seen across from me at the bar. I knew I had to go over and talk to her. And so I did. Her name was Viola and she was single. We hit if off and spent every moment of the next several weeks together. It didn't take me long to ask her to move in with me. Thankfully she said yes.

And soon I asked her to marry me. Of course Viola's answer was yes! My family was very happy. Finally I would be able to start working on the next generation's heir or heiress.

My sister Stephanie invited us over to the birthday of my nephew Kevin. Viola was nervous because it was the first time she'd met the whole entire family. There was no need to be though, everyone loved her.

The next big family event was at our wedding. How sad it was going to be that neither one of my parents would be there for one of the happiest days of my life? I was blessed to have my sisters and my twin brother there to support me.

Everyone was happy - it was an awesome day!

We appreciated any occassion that allowed us to dress up and get together.

Viola was a beautiful bride and we couldn't have been more ecstatic. We opted not to go on a honeymoon for several reasons. We wanted to save money and start working on our careers. But more importantly we both wanted to get cracking on starting our family.

We wasted no time. We decided that there were lots of babies who needed homes and parents who would love them and take care of them. We adopted our daughter, Rebecca.

What a happy day! Our beautiful little angel arrived!

Viola decided maybe it would be better if she waited on starting a career. We both agreed that family was the most important thing and she should stay home with Rebecca. And I think both my girls were more than happy with this arrangement.

I spent as much time with Rebecca as I could. I couldn't wait for when I would walk through the door and get to snuggle my child. She was growing so fast.

Too fast for Viola too. She was very sad when it came time to celebrate Rebecca's first birthday. Where did the time always fly to?

Viola baked a cake and held Rebecca up to "blow" the candles out.

In normal Stratton fashion, time once again flew at warp speed.

Here we are again at Rebecca's birthday.

Once again I held her up to make a wish and blow out the candles.

What a beautiful little girl our Rebecca had become. And smart too! She loved school and making new friends. But more than anything she wanted a baby brother or sister. Or a puppy, but we told her we would discuss that if she kept her grades up.

Her wish was soon granted when Viola told me we were pregnant.

It was early in the morning when Viola went into labor... I was filled with excitement as we were about to welcome our second bundle of joy into the world!

(Chapter 9) Goodbye Again?

Keith and Stephanie got a surprise on their honeymoon... Stephanie became pregnant. After many months of anticipation the day we had looked forward to had finally arrived.


Stephanie seemed to be in a great deal of pain.


She asked me why I never told her how excrutiating labor was...



But I told her soon it would all be worth it.


And it definitely was! We thankfully welcomed a healthy baby boy into our family. Keith and Stephanie named him Kevin.


They were so happy!

And needless to say, so was I. I was very grateful to have gotten to see the birth of at least one of my grandbabies. Let's face it, I certainly wasn't getting any younger.

Soon after Maddox and Sebastian left for college.



My poor Maddox, I thought I had taught him to dress better than that.


There - that's much better!



Instead of going to SSU like the rest of our family, Sebastian decided he would rather attend La Fiesta Tech. It was alright with me. Also at La Fiesta Tech was Sebastian's girlfriend, Caryl Pai.



As sad and difficult as it was, I knew there wasn't much time left for me. It was time I wrapped up a few loose ends. Since there wouldn't be anyone to take of Linus I decided he should go to Stephanie.

Imagine my excitement when I made it to little Kevin's 1st birthday! I felt so blessed.

My little baby's baby was growing up. It was such a proud moment.

What a handsome little fella he was! Looks like he got a mixture of him mom and dad's hair color. But he clearly resembled his momma.

Melissa and her long time boyfriend, George McCarthy were engaged. What an exciting time for my family. I took comfort knowing all it would be okay once I was no longer on this earth.

Sebastian was the next Stratton to be inducted into the Secret Society.

Maddox wasn't far behind, although he wasn't sure what was happening at first.

He almost thought a prank was being played on him. It looked like the tradition was continuing... all of our children were a part of the Society.

Marisol graduated with honors...

Followed soon by Melissa. Could there have been a prouder mother?

Immediately following their graduation, Melissa and George got married. It was a beautiful ceremony.

Our whole family was there - even Mark in spirit.

They looked so happy and I could only hope it would last. Melissa's father and I had shared many wondeful years together so that was my wish for her.

And they left for their honeymoon. Would they come back with the same surprise as Keith and Stephanie had? And if so, would I be around to witness the birth of yet another grandchild?

It wasn't to be. I was in my garden doing what I loved when I got a strange feeling... one that I wasn't alone.

At first I was a little apprehensive. I didn't want to leave my children and little Kevin. I had so much to teach them still! But then I thought of my Mark.

I had missed him for so long...

I knew soon I would be with him again.

Would the family continue to thrive without the matriarch they had come to depend on? Who was destined to be the heir? Only time would tell...