Thinking!!!

We've had our house up for sale since June with no luck. I know we're not in a hurry to sell our house, but I would really like to move before my husband deploys next year. I wouldn't choose apartment living as my first choice, but it's definitely my first choice right now. I don't want to be responsible for blowing the snow out of the driveway or mowing the lawn. I just don't have enough time for that with 2 little boys at home.
I keep hoping my husband will come home and say he's not getting deployed. I keep wishing we could just sell our house and build a new one next summer, but that is now on hold. He's been deployed in the past, but 1) we weren't married and 2) we didn't have any kids. The hardest thing for me to think about? My boys not having their father around! I can handle it, but it's going to be hard on them because they're too young to understand what's going on.
If anyone has any tips on making deployments a little easier on children I'm all ears. I'll take any advice I can get.