Catching Up (Part 1): Ethan's birthday, Apple Picking and Mom's Surgery

Happy Tuesday everyone! I really didn't mean to take an almost 2 week break without posting anything except Jacob's birthday questionnaire. It has just been extremely busy around here. So much is going on I will break it into 2 parts...

So on  Friday October 2, we headed out to Utica to celebrate Ethan's 9th birthday! Ben and Bill stayed home as Ben wasn't feeling well. Ethan was happy that we came out and we had cake and presents. My brother's girlfriend bought pumpkins for the all the kids to carve and they did that. They had fun! 

Saturday, October 3, we were up early and out the house and back to Utica as we were meeting up with everyone to go apple picking and to celebrate Jacob's birthday. We went to Legend Hills Orchard to go apple picking and it was perfect weather for it. I am glad that we went early as it was packed when we left.

 

Then it was back to my parents house where my dad made grilled cheese and chicken noodle soup for the kids for lunch. The adults got Subway. Then it was time to celebrate Jacob. (We celebrated his birthday then since my sister Mary, her girlfriend Cecilia, my brother Josh and his girlfriend were all in town from college. Also my mom was scheduled for her colon cancer surgery that Monday and is out of commission for at least 6-8 weeks). Jacob got chocolate cake and fun presents! Then it was home to relax. 

Sunday was kind of a cool day. We ended up going on a long walk on the bike path in Howard, enjoying some early fall scenery. It was funny too because Rebecca almost stepped on a snake! When we came home I made beef stew and an apple pie for dinner! 

Last week was kind of a blur. My mom had her colon cancer surgery on Monday. Everything went as planned and her surgeon was able to remove the entire tumor. Thankfully her test results came back that it was stage 1 and that it had not spread to any of the 22 lymph nodes that they also removed. She was in the hospital until this past Sunday.

So I spent much of my week driving back and forth to help pick up my niece/nephew from school and watching them so my dad could spend time at the hospital. (Due to COVID he was the only visitor allowed and once he entered the hospital for the day he wasn't allowed to leave and return that day). It made for several LONG days but I would do it again in a heartbeat if it was needed. 

Well I think that is a good stopping point for today. I need to go and fix dinner for the family. Hope everyone is having a good Tuesday despite the crazy world we live in!