Uncle John is home from the hospital. Sadly, the cancer has spread and they’re stopping treatment. We saw him twice; he seemed to brighten up a bit when greeting Austen. He didn’t seem like he was in pain, just a bit lethargic and he liked to talk about “normal” stuff like the football game and his collections. Janet, Jo Anna and Gloria seemed very happy to have visitors, so we stayed for a while. We also saw Don, Kristine, Jason and Mark.
At Jeffrey’s birthday on Saturday, Austen had a wonderful time playing with the boys … and Grace and Julia (“the baby”). There were tons of fun toys and activities like Austen’s first piñata batting experience, a John Deere ride-on battery-powered car, and a indoor-sized air-powered jumpy castle. And chocolate cake! Austen was in her best mood, talking a lot and running around. Sometimes she would yell, “Pa! Pa!,” and run up to Grandpa, but he didn’t seem too excited by this. Grandpa was busy hanging out with Dolly, so we left earlier than we’d planned although we did squeeze in lunch with Janet, Grandpa & Dolly at MaGerk’s in Bel Air and a visit to the scrapbooking store, where Mama went wild.