The Life & Times of Finnegan Buckley The terribly exciting and ever expanding world of me, myself

Well, I finally hit the big oh-three. It’s a milestone to be sure.

The day started when I came across two awesome wheeled vehicles in my living room! One was a cool big wheel type of thing, and the other was my first big-boy bicycle. I was completely unaware that Grammy & Grampy had flown down last night, dropped off an awesome bike for me and flown back to Boston all while I was sleeping! Thanks Grammy & Grampy.

My birthday party was a really big deal. Mom and dad had been planning it for the last few weeks and yesterday was the big moment. We all met at the picnic are next to the pool. Thankfully there’s a roof to keep the sun off of the old people, because they can’t take the 90 degree weather at 10am anymore.

Cassidy & Me

I was dropped off at my bff Cassidy’s house so mom and dad could set up. By the time I arrived, there were balloons and fruit and drinks everywhere! Did I mention that there were a couple boxes of donuts? Yea, there were, and I love chocolate donuts.

There was also some watermelon, cantaloupe and other stuff that seemed silly to bring along when there was donuts, but there’s no talking to mom when she’s on a role.

All the cool kids alternated between playing in the little play area and running back to the shade for water and Capri Sun juice boxes. When we were just getting to maximum sweatiness Dad yells out “Who wants to open presents?”

MEEEEEEEE!

I look over and notice that there is an entire table filled with boxes wrapped in shiny foil, colorful ribbons and big bags of awesomeness. Where the heck did all that come from? Who cares, lets tear into it!

I was amazed at all the really cool Toy Story 3 stuff I got. I love Buzz and Woody. Thomas the train stuff, pool stuff, dvds, a memory game, squirt guns, a train table and so much more.

Then it’s cake time! Dad brings out an enormous sheet cake that has dog designs on it. I have no idea why there’s a giant blue dog bone on my cake, but who cares… I have a giant cake!

There’s singing and candles and then we cut into it. CHOCOLATE CAKE!!

The ration of cake to frosting is a just about right, 50/50.

By this time, the heat and heavy partying is starting to get to us all. Luckily my friends Ashley and Jon gave me a water shooter thingy and Dad uses the ice water from the cooler to fill it up. We use that a little to shock us back to reality. It’s like a water filled defibrillator for 3 year olds.

Most of my friends are starting to disappear now, the heat, cake, juice and fun has taken their toll.

This has been the best birthday ever. Thanks everyone!

Yoda with his mouth full

OMG!  I don’t know who’s idea Halloween is, but I need to meet him and give him a knuckle bump.  Heck, I might even give him a hug.  The only problem I can see with this day is, why in the world don’t we do it every day.  I’d even suffer the humiliation of these big ears again if it means I’d get another big pumpkin full of candy.

I knew something was up when Mom woke me up early from my nap.  We headed down to the end of our cul-de-sac, where I could see all my friends running around, and their Mom’s setting up snacks and goodies on the table.  Woohoo!  This is bound to be good!  A few minutes later Dad and Mr. John pulled up in our truck with a big bouncy house in the back.  I nearly passed out right then and there.

So while my friends and I spent the next few hours jumping around in the bouncy house, and eating cupcakes, Mom and Dad hung out with our neighbors doing ol’ people stuff.  Whatever that might be….  All I know is that if it doesn’t involve cupcakes and bouncy houses then it’s probably not worth my time.

Around 6:30 or so we started seeing trick-or-treaters wandering towards us so everyone started packing things up and shuffling off.  You know what that means don’t you?!  It means it’s time for CANDY!!!!!  I even made a deal with Mom….I told her I’d put on that silly costume if I could have a lollipop.  It took me a few houses to actually figure out how this all worked but once I figured it out there was no stopping me.  I could’ve gone all night, I tell ya!  At first I thought the objective was to ring the doorbell, wait for the person to come outside with a bucket in their hands, and then get some candy out of my bucket and put it into theirs.  But Daddy told me that I didn’t have to do that.  I should just pick out a piece of candy and then put it into my bucket.  Aahhhhh…..SO much better!  Why didn’t you just say so in the first place?

When we finished going to all the houses on our street Mommy took me over to Auntie Brett’s house to say Hi to Bubbie (Cali) and Bubba (McKenna).  That was totally awesome because Bubbie took me trick-or-treating at some of her friends houses.  Then we went back home to our neighborhood because our Morena Dr Block Party was still going full force.  Everyone had finished trick-or-treating and they were hanging outside together and cooking up hotdogs.  That made for a very long day, but a REALLY fun one!  Now the countdown starts for next year.

This afternoon was Clara’s 3rd birthday party.  She’s one of my next door neighbors, and she’s also one of my playgroup friends.  She had a wicked cool Halloweed themed party.  Everyone came in costumes.  Everyone, except for me, that is.  We had a little “issue” when I woke up from my nap, and it put me in no mood for fun.  Mom didn’t even think that I’d want to stay at the party.  She said we’d go, drop off Clara’s present, and then go home again.  But when I saw all the fun that was going on without me, I quickly changed my mind.

When we got to the party everyone was in the backyard.  All the adults were sitting around talking and the kids were playing on the swingset.  Clara’s mom brought out a pumpkin for me to decorate, and I got to do it all by myself.  Because now that I’m 2, I don’t need any help.  First I had to show everyone my “buh boo” though.  I held it up for everyone to see so they would know why I was using my left hand to paint my pumpkin, instead of my right one.  If you ask me though, it still came out pretty awesome!  See for yourself.

My masterpiece

After the pumpkin decorating was over we moved on to the really important stuff – cupcakes!  The cupcakes were decorated like brains and mummies…..so spoooooky.  And yummy too.  The eyeball donut holes were pretty good too, for that matter.  Don’t you just love parties.

Today was Sean’s birthday party.  He’s my friend from the end of our cul-de-sac.  He turned 2 a few days ago.  The big party was down at the pavilion next to the Arbor Creek playground.  Mom and Dad let me drive my fire truck down to the party too, now that I’m an expert.  Ok, so maybe I’m not technically considered an expert because I can’t steer AND put my foot on the gas pedal at the same time.  But at least I look cool when I’m driving it.  I just wish Mom had let me wear my new red cowboy hat to the party.  It would’ve totally matched my fire truck.  But Mom said it makes me look like a gay cowboy, whatever that is.  Hmph.  Like she could even know that.

So, on another note, while we were driving to the party, an off-duty Holly Springs fireman pulled over to say ‘hi.’  He told Mom to bring me down to the fire station this week to check out the real fire trucks!!!!!!!  OMG!  And it’s not even my birthday!

We ended up checking out of the party early, so that we could head home for nap time.  Mom said it was important to go down for our nap on time time today because we had to head to Noah and Truman’s house after nap.  We were going for a cookout, and Mom made brownies to bring along.  Mmmmm….brownies.

Hangin' with my peeps

So, BIG day today.  Auntie Brett came and got me and we went to her pool again.  I love going to her pool because Cali and Mackie are there and they’re lots more fun to play with than Mom.  We got to swim all morning, hang out by the pool and eat some snacks, and then go back in and swim some more.

That was, until Mom came to pick me up at noon.  She said it was time for lunch and a nap, and to tell you the truth, I was almost in a coma by the time she showed up so I was ready to go.  I didn’t even have any energy left for a half-hearted protest.  So off we went.   Ahhh…nap time….zzzzzz

After what seemed like 10 minutes of napping (although mom told me it was pushing close to 3 1/2 hrs) Cali came and woke me up.  Not Happy!  Just…Need…5…More…Minutes…zzzzzzzz

But when we got downstairs and out into the yard I saw all the balloons, all my friends, lots of food, and big presents stacked everywhere.  And did I mention food?  I didn’t know where to run first, so I ran straight for the balloons and POP!  Oops.

So we did lots of running around, popped some more balloons, and then it was time for presents.  Yeehaw.  I’ve never seen so many presents in one place at one time.   So much cool stuff.  I got a huge working crane that picks up and moves boulders.  An awesome new bike helmet with flames on it!  Oh, and a train!  Choo choo…  I even got a bubble machine.  It was just like being on the Lawrence Welk show.

But mom totally saved the best for last.  Check out the gigundo cupcake cake that she made.  And the dog cupcakes!

So today we rang in the New Year with a little New Year’s Day cake.  And for those of you who didn’t notice, I’m a big fan.  Especially of the frosting part.
Here’s a little sample:

We spent most of the day just hanging out…me, mom and dad.
Did a little playing…a little napping….then watched Madagascar 2.

Oh, and uncle Brad came over and brought us some pizza from Mellow Mushroom, which totally rocked.
Pizza and cake – it doesn’t get much better than that!

Christmas can be a stressful time for a toddler. There is a lot of projection that happens this time of year, a lot of “when I was a kid” talk that swirls around.

This Christmas was a time for a bit of Grandparent stress.

See…my maternal grandparents are down from Massachusetts to visit with me and my cousins, who live right down the road.  And since they wanted to be able to see all 3 of us opening our presents in our own houses on Christmas morning, mom came up with the idea of me celebrating Christmas in our house on Christmas Eve instead.  That way they wouldn’t have to worry about being in two places at once.  Problem solved!

So Grammy and Grampy stayed over our house on Christmas Eve eve, and at about 7am on the 24th I went downstairs to celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ in the time honored tradition of hording mass produced foreign plastic toys.

It was glorious. Toys as far as the eye could see and they were all mine! MINE!

Grown-ups like the speed that an 18 month old tackles Christmas at, slow and steady. I haven’t yet mastered ripping open gift after gift, so they get to help me “appreciate” each one.

Santa dropped off a boatload of goodies. Lots of  Little People, blocks, cell phone, clothes (ugh), cars and trucks, arts and crafts and even a chocolate thing on a stick that I found in the bottom of my stocking.

And on the “real” Chrismas morning, we got up and drove over to my cousins house and had Christmas Part II. More stuff, more fun, more love…and MORE YUMMY SNACKS!

Check out all the photos from both Christmas’ on mom’s flickr page.

On a scale of 1 to 10, I would give it a 10, and am looking forward to next year.

For anyone who may have missed the opportunity to feel the warmth of giving and would like to send me something, I am interested in the 17.5% share in the Red Sox the NY Times is selling.

Click on EJ's face to see the rest of the Thanksgiving pics!

List of attendees:

Auntie Linda & Uncle Tommy
EJ & Caitlin
Auntie Brett, Uncle Jamie, Cali & McKenna
Mom & Dad & Me
Pigeon & Tina
Kevin, Sandy, Sydney & Megan
Brad
Elissa

What a fun day.  Lots of cookies, which I managed to sneak from anyone that fell prey to my pathetic puppy dog looks.  Lots of laps around the house, through the kitchen, dining room and living room.  And lots of exploring.

Lunch consisted of turkey, green beans, brussel sprouts, mashed taters, stuffing, and gravy.  I only tried the turkey and the green beans, but mom tried everything and said that it was the best Thanksgiving meal she’d had in recent memory.  We can’t wait to go back and have leftovers!

Signing off until next time!
FSB