What to do with thousands of acorns!

This year is an acorn year. It is crazy out there. I wish I had a penny for every acorn on the ground in the back yard. I am pretty sure we could pay off the student loans. I googled acorn crafts and found some really neat ideas. So, instead of throwing the acorns in with the leaves to be sucked up by the sucker truck, I am going to gather them and do some crafting. I just may have discovered something really fun and neat and Christmas gifts for all my family! Don't worry guys, the pictures are pretty, not lame stuff. So, I am going to make the boys gather acorns and hats for me tomorrow while they are home from school and I am at work.

A Privilege

I voted yesterday. I will not pass up the opportunity to have my small voice counted. My town was voting on Mayor and two town council spots. Apparently not many people in Apex care. There are nearly 40,000 residents in my town. Just over 4,000 votes were counted in this election. Pathetic, I tell you. In my opinion, the only people who now have a right to complain about the way the Mayor and Town Council run things are the 4,000 who voted.

20/20 vision

I rolled out of bed this morning, put on my glasses and headed downstairs to make lunches before taking Madsen to Seminary. There was something wrong with my eyes. I could not see well and I was getting a headache. I even joked that maybe it would be safer for Madsen to drive to church then me with my screwy vision. I was worried that my eyes changed over night and I was going to have to get new contacts and glasses. It was really quite frustrating. It felt like a disconnect between my eyes and my brain. I made it safely to and from the church, walked in the door and looked at a newspaper sitting on the floor. I thought to myself, "I think I can see better without my glasses than with them!" I took the glasses off and miracle of miracles! I could see better without them. Hmmm... something fishy is going on here! I went upstairs and there on the bathroom counter sat my EMPTY contact case. Duh! I somehow forgot to take my lenses out last night so wearing my glasses doubled my prescription causing blurred vision and headache. I decided to take out the contacts to rest my poor eyes and wear glasses for a while today. I am glad that it was just a dumb thing not over night change in my vision.

Days and Years

 

 

 

Several years ago an older, wiser, more experienced mother told me that days are long but years fly by. At that time in my life, I did not fully understand what she meant by that. Now I do. I get it.

I should not have titled that post Murphy's Law

My water heater adventure was a disaster yesterday. My 4 hour window was 12-4. He showed up at 4:45 with the wrong sized heater. Awesome. My options became he could go try and get the right one and be back in about an hour and do the install then or I could reschedule. I was frustrated and irritated and had been scrambling all afternoon trying to get kids taken rides to races, my brain was fried. I called Matt to ask what he thought I should do but he never answers his phone when I actually need him. I wanted to get to Madsen's race so I said fine reschedule. No hot water this morning so no one showered. I bet we are a hot smelly group! In retrospect, should have had the guy come back last night while Matt was home. So, every single thing that could have gone wrong with yesterday, did.

My time window today is 2-6, kid pick up time again. Only today he called to ask if it was ok if he came early! Yahoo! He should be here in a few minutes and hopefully it will be completed before I need to go get kids.

The first thing I will do is take a shower! Then dishes, then laundry, then all my stinky people can bathe.

Murphy's Law

I feel like Murphy has moved in and I am ready for him to move along. Just yesterday I had the thought that it had been an entire month or so since we had something break that we had to pay a few hundred dollars to repair. Last night just as we were putting the kids to bed, Matt decided to look at the water heater and discovered that it is leaking and on the verge of disaster. Great. At least he found it before we did have a flood that caused damage to the house that we would also have to fix. A new water heater is on its way and I get to spend the day waiting for it and I get to write a check for the $800 for all this fun. We decided to buy the cheapest one since we are hoping to be out of this house before the warranty is up. And, when we do list the house we can add brand new water heater to the list of good things!

It is only a little irritating to see how much easier it is to empty a savings account than fill it. I am very grateful that the money is there and I can write a check and it won't impact our life beyond that.

Here's hoping nothing else breaks, but if it does, I hope it is the fridge. I will buy a stainless steel one to go in my new house...

15 years to go!

Seminary started this morning. It is so early. One day down, 15 years to go!

A Grateful Bummer

I have decided I should be grateful that the hurricane was such a bummer. The sky had lots of cool looking dark clouds Friday and Saturday. It rained a very little bit. The wind blew, sometimes pretty hard. One of our patio chairs fell over. Yep, the extent of the damage! We did not lose power or have any trees fall or our yard even pretend to flood. There were people around us that lost power for a while and some trees fell, but the Triangle was not in trouble. I have not watched the news to see what happened on the coast, but I know there was some actual damage out there. Some piers were toppled, some business and houses damaged, some power out. But, as the storm was downgraded to a category 1 from a category 4, the damage was much less than anticipated and for that we are grateful. Even though I was really looking forward to a good storm!

Hurricane Irene

Hurricane Irene is on the way to hit the coast of Carolina. It is a huge sized storm that will pack a pretty heavy punch on the coast. The Outer Banks and other coastal towns have been evacuated. We are supposed to get about an inch of rain with winds in the 30-50 mile per hour range. I hope it rains a lot! I love a good storm when I feel nice and safe. It smells really good outside right now! Currently, it is 5:00 on Friday night, there are lots of very dark clouds, some wind and some rain.

Soccer games for tomorrow have been canceled.

I am actually kind of excited to see what the storm brings. Hopefully, I will still be excited when it is all over.

Declan's Day

 

 

 

 

Happy birthday to Declan! I feel bad for him, his birthday is always the first day of school. Yesterday he had school and soccer and scouts so he waited so patiently to be able to open his presents. I did not even make a cake because he said he would rather have it for his friends tonight. He is having a few friends over for pizza and games and cake. Declan is a good boy. He has a fun sense of humor. He is smart. He is kind. He is cute. He is a good helper. He is now the official front lawn mower and actually looks forward to mowing. He plays soccer and basketball. He likes to try new things. He is one of my very favorites! We love you, Dec!

Milestones

I spent the day with Madsen today. First thing on the list head to high school to get drivers eligibility certificate followed by a trip to the DMV for his permit. What a strange thing to do. He passed his test and I signed papers one photo later and off we go. We went school shopping and then headed home. I let him drive the back road home. I am still shaking! He did just fine. He tends to lean a little to the right side of the road and was a little slower at turning and stopping than I was totally comfortable with. He will get better and I will better. He was trying to park as far up in the driveway as I do but he was too far over so I had to yell at him to stop before he crashed into the Saturn. I am not sure if I can handle riding with him all the time. Matt might have to be the responsible party for a while!

Cannon: Then and Now

 

 

 

 

Happy birthday to my Cannon Boy! I sure love that kid. He makes me laugh and he drives me crazy! He has the best giggle ever and a dimple that comes out with the giggle. He is getting big and smart and learning new things. This summer he finally learned how to ride a bike without training wheels! He is very proud of that! He has lost 6 baby teeth and has those big man teeth coming in. He loves Star Wars and playing wii. He is a little addicted to games! He decided to take a break from sports this fall season but has plans for the next few years! I hope we can find something he likes to play! He is a good, fun, smart, helpful boy and he has been and adventure and a blessing over the past 7 years! We love you Cannon!

Place mat projects

I have 2 sets of hand made place mats. One set of 7 that my mother made are quilted and an assortment of colors and patterns. I use these all the time. My only problem is that there are only seven and now I have a table that seats 8 so I need at least 1 more. I think I need 3 more so that when I have guests (Mom and Dad) we can all have a place mat. My other set is Turkeys that we obviously, only use at Thanksgiving. I made these several years (read pre-Waverly) ago so I only have 6. Now I need to make at least 1 more so Waverly can have her own turkey. I knew that I had saved the left over fabric from the turkeys just in case I ever felt like making extras to use with guests. I figure if I want a turkey for Waverly for this Thanksgiving, I should start working on it. I just went in the attic and dug out the fabric and... Happy surprise! Not only do I have the fabric but I actually have 5 turkeys cut out just waiting to be completed! The head/beak and gobbler are even sewn on. So maybe next week I will work on some turkeys. And maybe when the boys go back to school I will head to the fabric store to buy quilting fabric and see if I am talented enough to copy the place mats Mom made and make a few more. Or maybe Mom will read this and is in need of another project and she will make them for me?

15 more days...

Yep, I miss my boys. I know they are having fun. In some ways it is nice here without them, much less fighting. But, I miss them. It will be nice to have them home again and have our family back together and everything normal.

Oh my!

 

 

Yesterday after Waverly got dressed in her pretty dress she started spinning in circles chanting "a Princess Forever! I am a Princess Forever!" What do I have to look forward to with this girl?

Good bye, Boys!

 

 

 

 

I did it. I put those boys on a plane heading to Colorado and I walked away. They are about to have the best summer ever. I think this will be a time they remember for the rest of their lives. So fun to spend this time with their grandparents, getting to know them better. I sent little notebooks with them with instructions to write about the days adventures every night. They are going to have so much fun!

I think they were a little bit nervous in the airport, but once on the plane, I am sure they were fine. I know those grandparents will be there waiting in Denver and all will be well.

I did not cry. It was strange to turn around and walk away. I had visions of doing this again in a few years, only sending them off to college and missions.

It is so quiet at our house without them. It will be fun and different. I have never been away from my kids for this much time. We will all survive. I hope Mom and Dad survive!

All right boys, be good, help your grandma, say please and thank you! Have super fun and we will see you in 4 weeks!

A lot changes in 15 years!

 

 

 

 

15 years! Amazing how quickly that time has gone. Madsen is a good boy. He is smart, helpful, funny, we like him. I think I will keep him for another 15 years!

Dentists

We have been going through the dental appointment fun that happens every six months. I get dentist anxiety, mostly about the kids. Cannon was fine, Madsen, as usual, needs fillings and was told he needs to do a better job taking care of his teeth. He makes me batty. I told him this is the last free filling. Any more and he is paying. I don't know how to motivate the boy! I even made him watch a show that had real live people without teeth. Irritating, I tell you! Declan and Sullivan go next week. I know Dec has some problems that I am worried about. He has one tooth, that at some point is going to have to get a crown. Sully's teeth are fine, just crooked. Last time Dr. Garcia told me it was time for braces. So I am sure when we go in and he does not have braces he will harass me. I guess I need to get it done. Dr. Garcia's wife is an orthodontist in our town. He always refers me to her. My problem is that our friend who is a dentist, does not recommend her. Although I do not go to Mike as my dentist, I kind of trust his opinion in this matter a little more. I guess I should ask Mike who he does recommend. Today was my turn. I struggle with x-rays and all the tools in my mouth. It is a trial not to vomit on hygienists! I had a harder time today than usual. I could not wait to get out of that chair. My jaw is screwed up and every time I go, my dentist freaks out about it, asks how long it has been like that, and if it bothers me. I don't know what it would take to fix it, not really all that interested at the moment. I am glad that my turn is over and no real problems with my teeth. Just one more day of appointments and we are good for another 6 months!

I Stand All Amazed

We had a young family in our ward lose a baby at 30 weeks gestation this week. It is so heartbreaking. I am her visiting teacher so I have been arranging meals and I will be making food for the family luncheon after the burial. So so sad for them. What has been amazing to me has been the overwhelming response from so many sisters in the ward to help out. I had started thinking of who I would call to ask to take meals. I did not have to call anyone. The email chain gets going and news spreads and I had people contacting me asking what needs done and volunteering help. If I had every sister who contacted me take in a meal, they would not need to cook for a couple of months! People are ready and so willing to serve each other in times of need. It touches my heart.

She did not want anyone to do anything. Her family had to convince her to let me bring in dinner last night. She only agreed to let me arrange meals when I suggested that I be the delivery girl. I am so very glad that for once in my life I have actually been doing my visiting teaching so that when this happened she was willing to let me serve.

Not so very long ago when Cannon was in the hospital I hesitated to call anyone because I did not want to be a bother. Mom told me to call because the Relief Society women want to help and that is just what we do. She told me that I would be willing to help someone else any time. It is true. I am willing. I was so grateful for the help we received that week and that was just a minor bump in the road.

I am amazed and grateful for the outward expression of love for this family. The actions of these women who are fulfilling their covenants to mourn with those that mourn and strengthen the feeble knees and lift up the hands that hang low, to bear each others burdens has been impressive. This is the gospel in action and I stand all amazed.

From Sea to Shining Sea...

Yesterday at church we sang some of the patriotic hymns. I could barely hold back tears and had goose bumps up my arms. It stirred emotions deep inside me. We sang the entire Star Spangled Banner, standing up, in honor of our country. Songs do not always sound so amazing at church. This one did. It was incredible. We also sang My Country 'tis of Thee. The words to these songs have so much pride and emotion and beauty and gratitude in them. My favorite of them all is America the Beautiful. It describes the country, the fight that went on to allow those freedoms and this country to be born. it is a prayer for continued blessing. These songs remind me of what the founding fathers had in mind when they were inspired to form our government. What we should all feel and hope and work for for our country. The little hint of how to sing these songs in the hymn book says "with dignity" and "vigorously". I am proud to be an American and I will fight the fights I can with dignity and vigorously.

Cars II

I got my van back tonight! I have been driving the Saturn for the last week which has been an adventure! We bought the Saturn in April, 1995 just before Matt graduated from BYU, we had been married for about 4 months. I was so excited to have that car, I could actually drive again and it started right up when we turned the key! For a while it was the only car, then it was the nice car, then it was the old car and now it is the spare car. It has 172,000 miles on it, no air conditioning, no power locks, no power windows and a cassette stereo,that by the way, does not work and it is a stick! I feel like I am sitting on the ground driving that little car. It is funny to have to roll up windows. The lack of air conditioning is the worst part right now. I had sweat running down my face while driving. But, I have been so grateful to have it this week, and it still starts up when I turn the key. Madsen will be grateful to have that car next year when he turns 16.

My van has a newly rebuilt transmission that should last us for as long as we want it to. It has air conditioning! And driving it home I felt really big again. We bought the van just before Declan was born because we could not fit 3 car seats in the Saturn. Matt was in graduate school. I was so excited to have that car. I love my car. I am so happy to have it back and I look forward to driving it for 5 more years, for reals this time!

An Observation and a Question

 

 

Yesterday at the pool I was observing a lady and her interactions with her 2 girls. Everything was very soft, gentle and FEMININE. It occured to me that my interactions with my kids are completely opposite of this. Of course there are times when I am soft and gentle, I believe even my rough and tumble boys need that gentleness and femininity in their lives. Everything, from the way I talk to them, respond to their actions, to their scrapes etc... I do not respond very feminine.

The question- do women like me, who are surrounded and up to our necks in boy, lose a little of the softness? Would I be and act a little more gentle and feminine if I had more daughters than sons?

I do treat, talk to , respond differently to Waverly. I think of women who have lots of girls- my mother, my friend Alexis, Matt's cousin, Angela... I am totally different in how I interact with my kids than these women.

Honestly- I think it would be worse if I treated the boys like girls. Gender, after all, is more than skin deep.

I must say, one of the very best things about having one little girl in our house of testosterone has been to see the incredibly sweet and tender way those boys treat that little girl. It melts my heart. Maybe just maybe, they will grow up to be real men, which includes being GENTLEmen.

Our Daddy

 

 

 

 

 

I am thankful for the Daddy to all my kids. Matt is a great dad. He loves the kids. He works hard for us. He likes to play with the kids. He likes to work with the kids. He encourages them to be the very best they can be. He is an example of a what a man and dad should be. He loves his little girl. We love you, Daddy!

My Dad

 

 

 

 

 

My dad is the best dad. He loves his girls, all 5 of us, more than anything. He has always taken good care of us. He was always super involved in the things we did. He encouraged us in everything. I think he was only a little disappointed not having a boy to share his love of sports, until he discovered that his girls loved them too. My dad is fun. We had fun growing up in our family. He is a great grandpa. There is not much he won't do to entertain those grand kids- notice the Cash Grandpa picture! We have great conversations when they call to check in several times a month. My parents still care about what is happening in our lives. They are still involved and they still help us have a fun, good life. I love my Dad.

Shopping

After dropping the boys off at church for Scouts the other night, Cannon was begging me to take him shopping for gum. I told him the next time I was at a store I would buy him gum. He wanted to know when I would be shopping next and could he please go with me. I told him that if I don't NEED to go to a store I won't go, that I actually do not enjoy shopping. He was surprised by that since the kids think shopping is so much fun. He asked why I don't think it is fun so I told him that all I ever buy is food, nothing fun. His response,"why don't you buy yourself treats while you are shopping? You could get, like, 3 bags of peanut butter m&m's. That would be fun." I explained that all the things that would be a treat to me are too expensive to buy all the time and if I don't buy little things, I can save that money for the big things I want, like a new house. This must not have impressed him much because he told me I could buy my m&m's and him some treats while I am at it because a house would not be much fun.

Day 2

I am a little sore, can feel my arms and legs. My 3 mile run was a little slow and difficult this morning but I did it. Jillian was a little harder today than yesterday, but I did it. I just have to believe that if it does not kill me, it will make me stronger. The hardest part is the push ups. The best part is when Waverly joins in. She is so dang cute!

Quote of the Day

I am making spaghetti sauce and trying to run out the door to go help my friend move. I asked Sullivan if he could cook the sausage and dump it in the slow cooker.

He said," no, I don't cook, that is why guys get married."

Now we know!

30 day shred

I have a friend who has been documenting her daily battle with Jillian Michaels 30 day shred dvd. She said it was super hard and she could see/feel the difference after just one week. I bought the dvd and am giving it a try. Today was day 1.

The workout is 20 minutes combining strength, cardio and abs. It was pretty tough. My arms are so weak, that was the hardest part. I was sweaty and breathing hard and could feel the burn in my legs and arms.

There are 3 difficulty levels on the dvd, I did level one, will do level one for the first week, at least. The dvd claims that you can lose 20 pounds in the 30 days. That would be awesome!

I also ran 3 miles this morning while Madsen was running with his cross country team. So maybe between Madsen and Jillian I can lose some pounds and build some muscle!

I need to find a race to train for. Maybe I will go for my first half marathon!

101546 miles and counting?

My van hit the 100,000 mile mark over spring break. I have loved that car. I was so excited when we bought it. The deal we made when we went for the more expensive van was that I would drive it for 15 years or more. We are 10 years into it. Last weekend the check engine light came on and it started shifting weird. I am taking it to the car doctor tomorrow. I am hoping so desperately that it will not be too awful. I hope the transmission is not going out. I hope that if it does need transmission work it won't be too many thousands of dollars. We have been thinking about at what point is it not worth fixing. I am happy to put a few thousand into it and drive it for five more years. I have been looking at new vans on line just for fun, only it has not been so much fun! New Hondas run about $30,000 for the cheap one! Then I started looking into used vans. At least we could find a not too old van with low mileage for about $18,000. There are some vans that are only 4 years old with way more miles than my 10 year old van. I really think mine has many more miles to go and I am happy to keep driving it. I have been worried about it all week and now I am totally sick to my stomach worrying about the diagnosis tomorrow. I am so hoping it will be a minor thing and my car will keep going for another 100,000.

The Last Few Days

The boys are in the final week of school, Hurray! I am as ready as they are to be finished. I am tired of waking up in the morning, packing lunches, buses, homework, projects, time limits and schedules. We are all looking forward to summer and all the adventures ahead of us. This is also the last weekend of soccer!

Sully had his award ceremony yesterday. He was on the All A's All Year honor roll and received top honors in Social Studies and Drama.

Madsen said he is not sure if his school does academic awards. He has done an excellent job this year. So proud of him.

Declan and Cannon have awards this week. I am hoping the teachers will warn me if the kids are getting awards. I won't go up there if I don't know something.

We have doctor's appointments and drama class performance and final soccer practices this week. All the ending stuff makes for one busy week. ONE busy week!

Madsen has finals this week so they take one test each morning then have review time for the next day test and come home early. He thinks we should go to lunch and have fun before the brothers get home. I have to remind him that they are out early to spend time studying! Silly boy.

I am gearing up for the summer time. Thinking of things to do with the kids for fun and for work. We only have a few weeks with Madsen and Sully before they are off for their Colorado adventure. Madsen will be taking drivers ed. classes for 5 days the end of June. That is a little frightening!

We are counting down days til the end of school and the beginning of summer. Come August 1, we will be counting down days to the end of summer and the beginning of school!

Oh to be the kids and have a vacation during summer!

Finally!

For my birthday I had a simple request- I wanted my blog made into a book. I do not really trust technology to keep this record of my life forever. And what fun- a book I wrote!

My book arrived in the mail- yesterday! My birthday is in December. I am not complaining, actually, I forgot that I did not receive this gift!

I stayed up late last night reading my book. It is fun. Matt included all the comments for me which, in my mind, is half the story! There are things I forgot had happened, things that made me giggle and things that made me cry. I must be an amazing author! :)

So, if you have not done this yet, I highly recommend it. I think I will do it annually.

Now I just need to start making my digital pictures into books.

whew!

What a day! Cannon did amazing today with his surgery. They discovered infected adenoids that are the likely cause of this big infection. Drained out 22 cc's of pus, that is a ton! He was cracking jokes with the nurses pretty quickly. When we were leaving the OR Recovery room the nurse had had a little spat with our doctor and she put her head in her hands and said, "this is my long day..." Cannon quickly said with just a touch of sarcasm, "YOU are having a long day!" Made us giggle. He was not impressed with his pureed lunch or dinner. I think he will survive off of mashed potatoes, fruit and pudding. We did buy him some yogurt and more pudding and jell-0. He made a little friend out in the lobby playing Wii and had some time in the play room. When I left he had not had any more pain meds, but maybe the morphine had not really worn off! He is happier and looking better than he has in days. I am so grateful for the miracle of modern medicine. Matt is with him again tonight so I can deal with the morning chaos. I am going to do my shopping I did not get to do on Wednesday so my family will have food to eat after the RS meals stop :) and then I will head up to relieve Matt. I think I will spend the night so Matt can deal with soccer on Saturday. Hopefully, he will come home on Saturday but I am planning for Sunday. I guess all is well that ends well!

Not the plan for the day!

I woke up this morning planning to take Cannon to the pediatrician, be told to keep taking the medicine and check back in a few days, then we were going to go shopping. None of that happened! He has had a sore throat, sore neck since Friday night. We did take him to urgent care on Saturday where strep and mono tests came back negative. He was put on an anti-biotic and we were told to take him to the doctor if he was not better in a couple of days. He is not better. The pediatrician told me she could not see anything wrong but obviously, something is wrong, so she sent me to an ENT. The ENT looked and said that he could not see anything wrong but was sure something was, so he sent us to the local hospital for a cat scan. You know things are not good when the radiology tech tells you that the ENT is in the hospital talking with the radiologist. We saw the scan and he has a large abscess in his throat, behind/under his tonsils, most likely staph. So, we were sent to UNC hospital for IV anti-biotics but it ends up he has to have a little surgery to have it drained. The ENT told me he called a friend up at UNC and that all we needed to do was go up there, tell them who we are, that the doctor is expecting us, but he told me to go to the pediatric ER so I did. We were in the ER for a couple of hours, saw residents and attending doctors and a surgeon. He got a bag of goodies that he was really exited about and then finally, he was admitted to the childrens hospital. We left the house at 9:45 and I got home around 9:00. So tired, so hungry. Cannon could eat up until midnight, he was very worried that Matt would not get to him with dinner soon enough and that he would starve to death! Matt saved the day with Burger King including a crown and shake. He will have his little surgery some time tomorrow. Then he will stay in the hospital until the lab results are in and we know what it was and what medicine he needs so he may be there until Sunday. Matt is spending the night tonight. I will go up tomorrow and relieve him so he can go to work for a while. He will probably spend the night again so I can deal with the kids in the morning. Then I will take the weekend duty. I know he will be fine. It is a little stressful, I am trying really hard not to worry. My friends have already stepped up taking care of the other kids. What a blessing to have so many people willing and ready to help!

I will return and report when we have a report!

Snakes and Snails vs. Sugar and Spice

 

 

How can something so cute be so disgusting? The answer is a whole bunch of big brothers!

Waverly has finally started taking the initative to go potty all by herself, up unitl now she would announce that she needed to go and then I would have to go with her and help. I have been so happy to see this next step happening. Until the other day when I heard her saying, "I have to go whiz" and I found her in my bathroom standing in front of the toilet trying really hard to get into the correct position to pee, standing up like her brothers. I did catch her in time and explained that little girls sit down.

She burps and laughs about it and she says "safety" whenever she toots. Strange, I know, but for some reason the boys did this. If they did not say safety before someone else said door knob, they tooter could be punched until he touched a door knob. Where do kids come up with this stuff?

My sweet little girl made of sugar and spice and everything nice, is being corrupted by snakes and snails and puppy dog tails.

For the Last Time

 

 

 

 

This morning I took down the crib for the last time. This is one more symbol of babyhood that is gone forever! I am not realy sad about this. I loved my babies but I love them growing up into the fun, smart, good kids they are. This growing up thing is part of the plan. This crib is our one and only! Amazingly, a $100 crib from Sears lasted for 15 years, through 5 kids and is really in good shape considering these facts. I have slept on the floor with my hand through the slats just lightly touching my baby boy so he would stay asleep. I have peeked in on sleeping babies. I have firmly placed toddlers back in bed. I have placed sick babies in there too. I have had them climb in ready to sleep and climb out not wanting to sleep. There have been several shades of blue blankets with cars and balls and animals and one set of pink with flowers and hearts. This crib has been used as a boat and a cage for wild animals and a trampoline and a bed for my sweetest babies for 15 years. I guess we got our monies worth out of it!