House hunting trip

Last week we headed to Arkansas to look for a house.  We knew we weren't ready to buy because we have to sell our house first, but we wanted to get a feel for the areas and where we felt like we should live. We got a hotel for Wednesday night in Little Rock. The kids were so excited to go swimming when we got there so Jim took the older ones swimming and I hung out in the room with Averi. Here's a cute brothers picture

Thomas watching TV old school...I remember sitting in front of the TV when I was a kid.

We got up early Thursday morning and took the kids to JP's house (thanks so much!) and met with a realtor that a friend recommended (Thanks Clare we loved her!) We looked around West Little Rock and Maumelle on Thursday. We saw a couple of houses we liked, but nothing we totally loved. Little Rock is a very different housing market than Dallas. You can get a LOT of house for your money here (that is why we have a 4,000 sq  foot house) it just isn't the same there. We were planning on downsizing anyway, but it is hard to get your head used to these small, older houses. We went and picked up the kids and headed to Hot Springs to stay with my parents. The kids were so excited to be at Grandma's house finally! Friday morning Jim, Averi and I met the realtor in Bryant and started looking at houses. These houses were more up our alley, brand new or just a few years old with all the things I love (granite, wood, stainless steel...you get the picture). So we had 3 house we liked in the Benton/Bryant area and felt like the area would be a good fit for us, great schools, close to Mom & Dad and Os & Dollie, right off the interstate so not a bad commute for Jim. We were feeling good and excited we knew though we couldn't buy a house until ours sold so we just had to wait. I hate waiting and not knowing, ask my siblings I always would sneak and find out Christmas presents when we were kids. Anyway my mom has a friend who is planning on moving and wanted to sell their house in Benton so we went and looked at on Saturday morning.  It is in Hurricane Lake Estates, an area we were interested in. The house was perfect for us. Had everything we were looking for plus some and the kicker is they said we could rent it until our house sells and then buy it then!!! DING, DING, we have a winner! We are so excited. They are the nicest people and planning on moving out in the next couple of weeks so we can move in (hopefully) the week of the 24th of May! Everything is falling into place, now we just need to sell our house!!! Jim is finishing up his last week of work this week then we are going to kick it in high gear and get ready for this move! I have movers coming this week to give us estimates on packing and moving us. I really hope we can include the packing! There is so much to do in the next few weeks, go visit friends, clean out junk, sell this house and then just the normal day to day...