This weekend we went to El Paso to house hunt. Lucky for us that it is a buyers market. Not so lucky for us that the interest rates are so horrible. We surprised our friends from our old neighborhood at their Halloween party. It was fun to see everyone again. Paul drove out so his car is there and we flew back on Sunday together for his last week of work. He flies out bright and early on Saturday morning to go back. He will at least be here for Halloween which is great since he has missed the last 3!!!

We have had only 2 bites on the house but no takers yet but I am not discouraged.

The kids are all good. They were happy to have us back and I have to admit, I really missed them. It is fun to get away but fun to come back to open arms and lots of warm hugs and kisses.

Ethan turns 11 today. He is quite the character. He has earned his Webelos, arrow of light and religious knots all just in the nick of time. He has quite the imagination. He loves to build, fold and create anything he possibly can. He does super good at school and always does his homework right away so he can play as soon as he gets home. He is a rule follower, the gestapo of the family. He always makes sure we are doing what we supposed to. He loves to pose the question what if to everything and loves to talk, talk and talk! It is hard to believe he is already this old. The picture of him blowing out the candles on his birthday cake which happens to be pumpkin pie, is at his favorite restaurant, Carrabbas. He doesn't like cake or chocolate but loves pumpkin pie. I made him pumpkin pancakes for breakfast.

The house is officially on the market. I am in maintanence mode which is still stressful but okay as long as my kids don't come in the house except to eat and go to bed, hahahaha! We aren't expecting much since the housing market is in a slump and this is the worst time to sell a house but we may just get lucky! Paul is working tons to get everything done. We have been cramming in the last of Ethan's stuff to get his Webelos scout badge and Arrow of Light badge before his birthday next week. We went on a family hike today to finish off one of the last things(it was 3 miles) and the kids came home and sat quietly doing nothing it was great! I will have to do that more often(snicker snicker). We walked across the Lake Murray Dam and it was a beautiful day and of course I didn't bring my camera.

Yesterday I went through the spare room and straightened up all my scrapbook stuff and stamp stuff. I still have high hopes that I will get back to scrapbooking. I am only 8 years behind now...

I also mowed, edged and planted flowers outside. Paul powerwashed the driveway, camped and made a fire with the boys to pass off some of Ethans stuff. I took the kids to the toy store yesterday just to get them out of the house and made them promise me, before we went in, that they would not ask for anything but just show me what they wanted. I seriously think the kids think they should get something from every store we go into and I am putting an end to that.

That pretty much sums up the weekend!

Did you know that desserts spelled backwards is stressed?? (which is maybe why I am craving all kinds)

Can you say stressed???

Did I mention that I am STRESSED!!!

The house is finally ready after we have worked tons on it, the realtors have been interviewed and one chosen...and the economy and housing market has been analyzed, fretted over, and stressed over. In order to buy a house you have to sell a house. Let's hope that our house sells.

The last few weeks have been quite crazy. I have left a lot of detail out of my blog until all facts were known and so now we find ourselves going where the wind(which happens to be Eaton) blows us once again and that happens to be back to El Paso Texas. We now find ourselves in the tumult of moving. It is planned that we will move around Christmas time. It is a convenient time for the kids and school. We are hoping, even though the housing market is in a slump that we will get our house sold in quick order. I am DEFINITELY not looking forward to dealing with my crazy psycho personality that emerges when we sell. I pretty much become OCD(obsessive compulsive) and it is hard on the kids. Most of the toys get put away, the clutter gets put away and everything is wiped down, vacuumed and put away on a daily basis. Its exhausting and stressful, especially when no one comes to see it... We are hoping to get everything done by this weekend, touch up paint, fingerprints wiped off, baseboards dusted and wood floors polished, so we can get it on the market next week.

We never know where the wind will blow us and it pretty much came as a shock since we didn't think we would be moving till next spring AND didn't think we would ever go back to good ol' El Paso. We have wonderful friends there but of course will miss being on this side of the US near our family members.