Edward
My lovely daughter was really in her element. She enjoyed being busy, and she was. She and her mother had baked for Asa's first birthday two days prior. They'd made the biggest rectangle-shaped cake that would fit in Nessie's oven, and built it up with many layers, each new one just a little smaller than the one beneath it. Asa was going to have the traditional first birthday "smash cake." I was curious to see if he'd actually smash it, as most one-year-olds did.
Nessie presented him with it on his big day, and quiet laughter rolled through the crowd that was watching when he requested a fork.
"You don't need one, it's your birthday!" she told him. His mouth formed a little O.
"Go ahead," Jake told him. "You can eat it with your hands, buddy."
So he shoveled a few large bites of sugary goodness into his mouth with his hands, to the delight of everyone who loved him. After the third, he pushed his plate away.
"Momma? All done."
He'd definitely preferred the steak he'd had for dinner. Those who ate, raved about the cake as they sat at the rented picnic tables that were all over the backyard. I quickly scanned the yard, including Asa and his parents and siblings, we were at forty-eight people. Twenty-eight of them, I'd flown in this morning. It would have been a tad rude to invite guests to your home in another state, and not provide them with a way to get there. I enjoy flying. Bella always came along with me. When it's just she and I up in the clouds, it's the only time I'm treated to total silence, no thoughts of others invading. Just hers, if she chooses. Just the way I like it. Nessie got a little emotional when everyone sang Happy Birthday to Asa. As she held him over his cake to blow out his solitary candle, I could see her thinking about how much she had wanted him. She remembered that feeling that someone was missing, and the one of validation she got when she became pregnant with him, and knew she'd been right, despite what anybody else thought. She'd wanted him almost as much as Anthony. I know she loves all of her children the same, but I suspect she may always be closer to her sons.
Mollie and Xandra had recently figured out a fun little game they liked to play with my gift. They'd think of something, usually something a little strange, and see if I could guess what it was. After they'd both consumed far too much cake, they wandered over to where Bella and I were seated in the grass and plopped down into our laps.
"Grandpa, my belly is so full," Mollie said, looking up at me.
"I'm sure it is. You've had plenty of treats today, my darling."
"Yeah, I have," she agreed.
"I like treats."
"Can we have cinnamon toast for breakfast the next time we come over to your house?" Xandra asked, looking up at Bella.
"Sure," she said, smoothing out a little tangle in Xandra's hair, messy from playing.
"Nice," Mollie said.
Xandra began staring at me, narrowing her eyes with intensity, and thinking about an unnaturally blue flower.
"Blue flower," I said, meeting her eyes.
Xandra let out a long peel of laughter, and Mollie cheered. They tried several more random objects including an umbrella, and a chair, and were delighted each time when I was correct. They both thought of them in just the same way. Like it was a drawing on a white sheet of paper. Eventually, they ran off to play with their cousins.
"Wow, he looks a little past two now, doesn't he?" Bella remarked, looking at Asa.
He was being covered in kisses by Rebecca as Nessie laughed and watch.
"That he does. He's even growing a little faster then Swan did, don't you think?" I said.
She nodded in agreement, then pulled back her shield. If he's faster than her, she is not going to be a happy camper! I chuckled and reached over to hold her hand.
Renesmee
"You're crazy. Serving steak at a one-year-old's birthday party. I love it!" Rachel said, digging into her second cut of thick, medium-rare steak.
"Are you sure you aren't eating for three over there?" I joked, poking her new tiny bump.
"Oh, God. Don't even say that! Not funny. We heard the heart," she said with a warm smile. "There's just one. I am pretty excited about this steak though."
"I know, Clem is absolutely tearing it up, it'll be a hassle to get the steak sauce off her face though," Rebecca snickered.
"Well, he said that was what he wanted, so I figured everybody else should get it too. Plus, it was what I wanted. So that was also a deciding factor," I said.
Everything was going great, people were eating, playing games, and showering my Asa with love and attention. What kid wouldn't love that? My birthday boy had pretty much planned his own party. He'd chosen the menu, and picked out his own theme. He'd gone for one of the many Aunt Alice had found, the messy party. So the most fun was yet to come. First though, I had one thing I wanted to do. When Rachel was finally full, I dragged her and Rebecca into the house.
"Come on, I want to give you something."
"And it's not even my birthday!" she said.
"It's your shower present." Since I wasn't going to Forks for it, I wanted to give it to her while she was here.
"You didn't go to overboard did you?" she asked and Rebecca smiled knowingly.
"Probably," I admitted. I opened the kitchen drawer and pulled out the check that I'd signed, but otherwise left blank. "I know I'm getting a zero for presentation on this, but here," I said, handing it to her. "Jake and I want you guys to use this to build that addition onto the house for the baby's room."
She'd certainly done a lot for me, so I really wanted to do this for her. Jake agreed, she deserved it. Paul, too. She was the first person to meet our kids, and welcome them into the world. It felt very appropriate to give this to her today. She just stood there and gaped at me. "Rachel, say something!"
"Yeah, you're killing me here! I've had to be quiet about this for weeks!" Rebecca clasped her hands together.
"Wow, thank you so much. This is...just amazing," she sputtered, her eyes filling with tears. She isn't even the crier between the two of us. Well, these days she is.
I pulled her into a hug and said, "We want you guys to have exactly what you want."
"I was a little worried about it, I wasn't sure if we'd be able to afford it, but Paul said it would all work out," she said, wiping her eyes after pulling away.
"I know you were. For once, Paul was right!"
She laughed and said, "It's a first, we'd better mark the calendar." She went to tell Paul, and Jake came into the house.
"She's pleased," I told him.
"Sounded like it," he said.
Outside, he teased his sister and said that I'd made him agree to this, that he'd wanted to get them something from the Everything's A Dollar store. It was time for the messy part of this party. Jake went around and told everybody to get into the swimsuits we'd told them to bring. So they invaded bathrooms and bedrooms changing, while Rebecca and a few others helped me set things up. The fridge in the garage was almost entirely filled with pudding. A few chocolates, a few Pistachios for some nice green, and lots of white chocolate and vanilla made into every color of the rainbow with food coloring. Aunt Rosalie and Carmen were laying out an entire roll of white butcher paper for painting, as Gabriel followed them around. My happy helper A.J. got the dozen or so paintbrushes out of the garage. He made sure all the bowls and brushes were lined up nicely in front of the paper. As the kids were all showing off their swimsuits to each other, I shouted out the instructions.
"Okay, guys. Grab a paintbrush, and paint whatever you want. The paper, the trees, yourselves. Go for it!" They sure did.
"Aunt Nessie! Can we paint with our hands?" Forrest yelled from across the yard.
"Sure, why not!" I called.
"How about feet?" Willow wanted to know.
"Go for it."
So a lot of them stepped into the pudding bowls and ran down the length of the paper. They brightened up the trees and much of the grass. Then they moved onto each other, and themselves. Mollie worked on painting Seth, who was kneeling in the grass wearing a pair of gym shorts. Once other kids realized an adult had offered himself up like an easel, it started a real frenzy. By the time they were done with him, you could hardly recognize him, his face was smeared with purple. Vanilla, from the smell of him. They went around and started begging adults to allow themselves to become walking works of art, too. One of the new wolves, Adam, surprised me by volunteering. Then the others did, too. All the mommies who were asked shot the kids down, so they wised up and started asking their dads. It ended up being the new wolves, Jake, Jared, and Uncle Emmett.
"Rose! Rose this is repulsive!" Uncle Emmett called to her as Gabriel and Anthony were painting his hair with the Pistachio.
Jake was covered in Asa sized handprints. Swan preferred to stay by my side and just watch all of the messiness. She didn't want to get dirty, but she did enjoy watching everybody else do it, and having a reason to wear her swimsuit. She watched, with a kind of amused horror as the other kids spread pudding all over each other. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Jake stalking towards me, still covered in the gooey pudding in every color.
"No!" I shrieked. "Don't Jacob!"
He gave me an evil grin. "How much do you like that dress?"
"A lot! A lot!" I yelled holding out my hands in front of me. He continued his pursuit. "Jacob! Don't come near me until you've had a run through the sprinklers with the other children."
"I love you," he said with a grin. "Just a kiss?" he asked.
I've heard that line before. He put his hands behind his back, leaned over and closed his eyes. I approached him with great caution. My plan was to give him the shortest peck ever and then run like the dickens. But as soon as my lips touched his, he grabbed my face with his disgusting hands and held it to his.
"No! No!" I screamed, laughing as he kissed me. I crossed my arms over my chest to protect myself.
"Geeze, Jake. No means no!" I heard Sam yell.
Without warning, he released me and ran off to go clean himself in the sprinklers.
"I don't even like pudding! I want a divorce!" I called after him, laughing in spite of being annoyed.
Rachel came from behind me, her hand deep in a bag of gummy bears, and a roll of paper towels under her arm. "I knew he was gonna do that," she commented, as I took the paper towels from her. "What a dick! Ooo, a pineapple one!" she said, popping the little bear into her mouth.
The last game we played involved filling bowls with whipped cream, and a few gummy bears that Rachel hadn't gotten to. Five in each bowl, to be exact. Whoever found all five gummy bears first, was the winner. We let them play teams that ended up being made of mostly siblings. "Ready, set, go!" Mom called. I watched Asa, on a team with his brother, frantically dig through the bowl and laugh. Asa shot up to his feet.
"Found red! Momma, look!" he nearly screamed, holding up the red gummy bear.
"Good job, keep digging!" I encouraged him.
"I keep digging!" he yelled, getting back down onto his knees.
Dove and Pearl ended up winning that round. I'd had a feeling this game would be the biggest hit, we played until I ran out of whipped cream. The second game was with a twist, no hands. My twinnies won that round. Kim's son Cole would have won, if he hadn't eaten all the gummy bears he'd found. We played a vampires only round. Garrett, Kate, Uncle Emmett, Aunt Alice, and my dad played. This was after some debate about if Aunt Alice should be allowed.
"She'll cheat!" Uncle Emmett said.
"No I won't, I can't see that! It's not like the gummy bears decide where to be!" she insisted.
It was a very fast round, less than five seconds. Dad won. Nanna took lots of pictures. I was already looking forward to making an album of this. I knew the kids would have a good time, but I didn't think I'd have such a good time myself.