Last of the 52

Blessing 43 {Sesame House}

This is by far and away Maelee's all time favorite toy. I hoped she would love the doll house she got for her birthday this much but once she realized the door didn't open to that she was through. But this little closable suit-case like replica of Sesame Street including Hooper's Store and Elmo's toy box has been a daily favorite for six plus months.

Blessing 44 {Health}

We realized this week in November that we have taken the amount of health Maelee has had so far in her life for granted. She got sick at the beggining of November. Nothing earth shattering, just regular kid stuff. But she hadn't been that kind of sick before, lots of throwing up, super lathargic, terrible cough, lost her voice, sad. It freaked us out and looking back now it did make us so concerned because it was the first time in 2 1/2 years we had seen it. We are very thankful for a Heavenly father who looks after us and is very aware of what we need.

Blessing 45 {Gloss}

Some old lip gloss that I never have worn kept Maelee busy for a few minutes solo and had the end results of a very proud-of-herself 2.5 year old. I was happy to have my mischief maker back vs. the frail little puker from the week before.

Blessing 46 {Temple Song}
"I Love to See the Temple" is one of Maelee's favorite songs. We drive past the temple to get the the library and she loves to wave and talk to the temple as we pass. We went for a temple walk as a family and ended up getting our Christmas card picture while we were there.

Blessing 47 {Sleeping In}

Maelee started to enjoy recently a few more minutes in her bedroom by herself after she wakes up in the morning and before she comes out to start the day and eat breakfast. She reads books, plays with her animals, or just lays in bed and relaxes. It may sound silly but she seems so grown up realizing that extra time in bed is a fun thing and not hurrying up and bursting out of her room the second her eyelids flutter open.

Blessing 48 {Wrapping Skills}

We got out our wrapping paper and let Maelee help us wrap some family presents. We learned we need to work on the use of the tape dispensor. That or conform to Maelee's method of yards and yards of tape smooshed into a ball. Blessing 49 {Dad Cooking}

Frank has taken the lead on baking and cooking with Maelee several times over that past couple of weeks. They made an unbirthday cake together one Saturday that I worked and sang Happy Unbirthday to each other several times and blew out candles. Frank also had Maelee help him make chocolate pancakes one morning and waffles another. He even lets her crack the eggs, a feat I have never attempted to allow Maelee to help with.

Blessing 50 {Mary E.}

I have loved Mary Engelbreit for a very long time. Frank came home with her illustrated Night Before Christmas. It was an instant hit with Maelee. Every time we read it we found another tiny detail that we loved in the illustrations. Maelee even became fascinated with the part of the verse where Santa puts his finger next to his nose and nods - she had it down pat.

Blessing 51 {Christmas Morning}

It was incredibly exciting to have a 2 1/2 year old to love on Christmas morning this year. Waiting for her to wake up and start the day was very exciting.

Blessing 52 {Christmas Decor Naps}

We had some fun Christmas decorations this year and Frank helped transform them into magic with the lights he put up on the inside. I loved being in this room all month long. I even changed my attitude about naps and took one almost every Sunday on the couch in this room because of these pretty lights. Now I have a new place to go in my brain besides cold cereal breakfast on the balcony in Oceanside when the going gets rough, nap time on the red couch under the white Christmas lights instant peace.

My 2009 list of 52 is officially complete!