The Return of Tony

Well the day I had been waiting to arrive finally came around... My big brother moved home this past weekend.

Last week my mom flew to North Carolina to help my brother and his wife pack up their home and get ready for the move.  If anyone was going to help, she would definitely be the one to do so, she is incredibly handy at that type of thing.  After two days they had gotten the house packed up, cleaned and ready to move out.  Friday she hopped on a plane and flew back home.  At the same time my brother was hopping in his moving truck, car in tow, and making his way to Texas.  It's quite a long drive for one person to do alone but he was motivated and ready to see the rest of his family.  He finally made it in late Saturday night. 

Josh and I had been at a dinner celebrating our friend Amanda's Birthday that night but as soon as the festivities were over we headed toward my parent's house to see him.  I was gitty with excitement, it had been over TWO YEARS since I had seen him!  I walked inside and threw my arms around him smiling from ear to ear.  My big brother was finally home.  It was late so we only had the opportunity to chat for a little bit, he was exhausted from his long two day trek and needed to get some rest.  After saying goodnight to the family Josh and I headed back home to settle in for the night.

Sunday afternoon my brother and parents unloaded his moving truck into storage.  After a while my mom, sister and brother came over to our house.  It was the first time Tony had seen our home and it was fun giving him the tour, it was just nice having him around.  We introduced him to the Wii where we discovered that he wasn't a very good bowler, but his tennis skills were up to par.  He played Mario Kart with Josh for a bit and then we all headed out to dinner.  Since it was his first full day in Texas we decided to take him out for some good Mexican food, Uncle Julios!

Jamie, Kenneth, Kellie and Cameron all joined us for dinner as well.  It was fun introducing him to my friends for the first time and we really enjoyed his company.  Dinner was excellent of course, but you could tell that Tony wasn't quite himself, he was desperately missing Melanie.  I mentioned before that she was staying behind in NC until she finshed out her semester in May.  She will be visiting in just a few short weeks during her spring break and we are all counting down the days until she arrives. 

I am so embarrassed to admit that I didn't snap a SINGLE picture of his arrival or our time spent together.  It just goes to show you how wrapped up in the moment I was. It was a chance for me to really get to know my brother again and the last thing on my mind was taking pictures.  Lucky for me he's not going anywhere anytime soon so I'm sure there will be pictures to come!  Their little peanut is the size of a strawberry this week and Melanie is doing wonderful. 

I guess that's all for now, but stay tuned for pictures and more fun stories as I get to know my brother all over again!  God has blessed me beyond measure with his return and I am very optimistic for an incredible 2010.