Provided below are the highlights of Ciara’s birthday party last Sunday. Consider it a reward for our new, but geographically misplaced leader. And, to a lesser extent, Marie, who’s just as geographically misplaced, but whose picking lately can also be described as misplaced.
Basketball Faux Pas
My regular present. Well, plus this.
Me, after watching her receive her morning present.
Us, after shedding awkwardness and realizing we had two basketballs in the kitchen.
Mom’s subsequent apprehension.
Mom’s more frightening apprehension.
So we decided to do something else.
Basketball Faux Poop
After getting the “Ahh, can’t miss” jokes out of the way, Ciara’s first shot with her new basketball barely hit the front of the rim and landed in a very small concentration of dog poop. This resulted in a 20-minute delay.
Dad pulls a fast one
Dad had previously mentioned that he needed us to move one of those huge desks from the kitchen to the living room, so Joe and I obliged. It was a little tricky, but not that bad. Dad then said, “Great, now I have one more thing. It’s really not very heavy.”
But it was very heavy and required four people to lift it. And we had to put it on top of his dresser about three feet off the ground. It was a trying experience. Matt arrived just in time to help get it on the dresser. Dad gave him the most credit and Joe got mad.
Ciara, Uncle Roger
Erin acted like Buzz Killington by bringing up the topic of Mom’s will. Particularly, who would have become Ciara’s legal guardian if anything happened to Mom and Dad before she turned 18. The answer was Uncle Roger.
Joe’s Designated Cake
Mom (as she prepared two small cakes): “This one has mint chocolate cookie dough, frosting, and Peanut M&M’s. This one’s for Joe. It doesn’t have Peanut M&M’s because he’s allergic to peanuts.”
Mom (after Ciara blew out the candles): “Okay, this is the Peanut M&M’s one and this is Joe’s cake.”
Mom (to me, because I missed her explanation of the ingredients): “It has mint chocolate cookie dough and one of them has Peanut M&M’s. The other is Joe’s ’cause he’s allergic to peanuts.”
Erin (cutting slices): “Here you go, Joe.”
Joe: “Nah, I’m all set.”
McManus Picks 
I’m glad we’ll be getting regular postal service. For a while there, I thought you had been going through menapost. And thanks for the visuals, I really felt like I was right there. Especially the one of Matt and Joe watching Dancing with the Stars together with way more sandwiches than they were really hungry for. Typical.
did anyone clean the small concentration of poop?…
Yes, but it took a strong cleaning liquid to get it off. Then we started to play again and the ball went right back in the poop. So we had another 20-minute delay to try to clean the poop off the driveway. We had to use the same strong cleaning liquid.
The picture of Grover applies to how I felt too when Joe refused the cake.