The first sentence should be corrected thus: "On my way home, I dropped in AT my mother's house." In a more casual tone, you could write "On my way home, I dropped in TO SEE my friend." (or, "at my friend's house"). I sort of agree with Randy about the meaning of "drop in". It could mean "not agreed upon beforehand" and "unannounced" as in "I didn't tell you I was coming or, at least, I didn't tell you until shortly before I arrived". However, it's possible for me to say to a friend, "Why don't you drop in around 3pm Saturday afternoon?" Here, we agree that you're coming Saturday afternoon, we even agree on a time but there's sense of casualness and spontaneity. If I said, "Why don't you come over for dinner at 6pm Saturday evening?", that would be a more formal invitation where I expect you to arrive at 6pm. Another example..."While we're in London, let's drop in on our friend Steven." Here, there's still spontaneity and casual tone but it's clear that we're planning to see Steven significantly in advance of our arrival in London. It's unclear when we're going to tell Steven we're coming. Maybe we'll figure it out after we arrive in London based upon the other commitments in our schedule.