~~

Trinity

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After that little power granting incident, the party got back on track to being all about the twins. There was a party game that Riley wanted to have all the babies play. He said that they played it at Roan and Alexia's parties when they turned one, and that every baby should be able to participate even if they don't win.

All of us set to work and started blowing up some balloons for the game. I admit, I got lazy and used magic to finish my pile. They all looked at me slightly annoyed after that so I finished all the balloons with magic.

All the balloons were lined up on the opposite side of the room and all the parents lined up with their babies. Shane, David, and Jackson helped Cedar and Shawn with their extra kids since they had more kids than parents.

The babies had to go on a race to see who could get a balloon first. The older kids, the ones who could walk, were to bring a balloon back to their mom, dad, or adult who launched them into the balloon hunt.

Music was played and babies were set free, all twenty-two of the babies from our little group and about two dozen others including Riley's daughter, Alexia. It was chaotic, but it was so cute.

I don't think there was a person in the entire ballroom who wasn't laughing at the scene of almost four dozen babies and toddlers racing for balloons. The thing is, not a single one of them wanted to bring the balloons back.

That was what made it so funny. Four dozen babies just started crawling and running through the hundreds of balloons we had set out for them. That part of the ballroom had become their own personal ball pit, and they were in baby and toddler heaven.

"Oh well, sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn't." Riley laughed. "At least it was cute, and they had fun."

"Definitely." I agreed with him. "This will be something I remember for a long time.

Following the unsuccessful balloon race, we called everyone together for the cake. Everyone sang to the twins as their own little cakes were set in front of them just like on their actual birthdays. After the singing was over, Reece and I helped them to blow out the single candle that was on each cake. They still weren't used to it yet, and the large number of people were making them a little nervous.

Several people came forward to help cut the larger cakes that were made with multiple different flavors so everyone had something that they would eat. And for those that didn't like cake, whoever those monstrous fiends might have been, there were pies. There was obviously way more food than was needed, and we asked people to take some home with them when they left so none of it went to waste.

Some people wanted the babies to open their gifts during the party, but there were way too many for that to happen. Opening the gifts was going to require an entire team of people, and we were going to have everyone write down who gave it and what it was. With nearly three thousand presents in the other room between Reagan and Rika, there was no way that something wasn't repeated. What we planned on doing, though, was donating almost all of the gifts to families in need. It was close to Christmas, and I am sure that a lot of families would love to have these gifts that our babies didn't need.

Finally at just after five, the party was over. It had been a long day, and I could tell that Reagan and Rika were both very tired. All I wanted to do was rest after everyone had gone home, and for the first time since coming to live at this estate in the forest I was really, really glad that we had a staff to clean up for us. I just did not have the energy nor the desire to clean after that birthday party.

We had dinner in our room with Lila and the twins so that the rest of the house could be cleaned up. There wasn't a lot of talking since we were all sleepy by now. We bathed the babies and then took turns showering. I didn't really want to leave the twins in their room tonight; it had been so long since they had slept in our room, and I missed that closeness with them.

Instead of them sleeping in their cribs, Reece and I put them to bed with us. We laid on either side of them and held hands above their heads as they drifted off to sleep. This was honestly the sweetest and most peaceful way that I could think to end the night, watching my babies sleeping.

Reece and I stayed like that all night. We didn't move at all. We either looked into each other's eyes silently over top of our sleeping children, or we watched them sleep. I think we both were sort of broken hearted because so much time had already passed since Reagan and Rika had come into our lives.

When I drifted off to sleep that night, I had dreams of different things that we had experienced over the last year. All the memories that I had accumulated and stored of the days with the babies that weren't actually babies anymore. They had officially passed on from that stage and moved on to being toddlers. Pretty soon they would be big kids, and before I knew it they would be running off to live their own lives.

I wasn't ready for this. I wasn't prepared to lose that time when they were babies. No one ever told me that it was so sad when you watch your children growing up. No one ever told me that every day brought smiles of joy as well as tears of sadness. I really wasn't ready for all of this.