Thanksgiving with the Beasleys

This was Madeline's very first Thanksgiving! So what does she do? She steals mommy's remote and watches the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade.










At Mimi's house getting ready for lots-o-food...







...then following up at Grandma Willoughby's house for more food followed by football. (Hey, look, some Thanksgiving alliteration! Only from the daughter of a reading specialist... *laughs*)

It's been awhile since Brian and I have had a picture together... when you have a baby (as most of you know) your world, and photographs, start to revolve around that bundle of joy! There are two nearly identical ones at the top...that is because my smile without teeth just isn't good enough for Brian or mom. Hmph. ;) The rest of the photos are us just goofing around.

Ooh... mommy's magazine. I bet this tastes GREAT!

Happy Birthday (and early Christmas) to Rachel~ with love, Craigslist

This year for my birthday my Mom and Richard bought us an armoire, and my Dad and Kim (with a little extra help from Papa and Marilyn) bought us a couch/chair set. All that you see here was purchased of of Norfolk's Craigslist. I highly recommend checking out Craigslist for anything you need, especially before buying something at a full retail price- you can find some beautiful things at awesome prices.

The armoire is originally from Cool and Eclectic. They have some amazing furniture for not so amazing prices... but we found this gem on Craigslist for a fraction of the price. It's a solid peice- it weighs over 300 pounds- and I adore it's shiny laquered finish!

The furniture is from Hilcraft, and though I don't know the original retail price, I know it's still a steal- it's a beautiful microsuede set not even a year old.

Various cute pictures...

Uncle Levi and Madeline

Grandpa and Madeline (You can definitely see the family resemblance!)

Brian: "I think we should put the tree up."

Rachel: "It's not even Thanksgiving yet."

Brian: "But Melanie is coming to visit! She needs to see our tree!"

Rachel: "Ok, fine." (Brian has been asking to have the tree up since we bought it last week... I knew he would just keep asking every day until I finally gave in!)

Brian smiles deliriously as he rips open the box and begins to assemble our first "real" tree.

For our first Christmas last year our tree was a mere four feet tall. This year we decided to get a seven footer for Madeline's first Christmas. As I type this, Brian is playing Alabama's christmas album and getting ready to heat up some hot cocoa.

Brian's favorite part of the day: coming home to his beautiful baby girl.



Grandpa and Gigi (Dad and Kim) got Madeline this adorable winter coat, and it was cold enough to use already! We went to Mt. Trashmore (yes...it's made of real trash!) and watched the sunset and listened to the crazy geese honk the night away.

I call this one "Look what I can do!" At five months old, my baby girl can STAND! Yet we're still putting off the babyproofing...hmm. We should really get on that.




"What are you looking at?"


Someone gave us this cute bunny outfit for her first Halloween costume. Unfortunately it was quite warm and she only wore it for a short time... but I did manage to get her to my mom's school to show her off before taking it back off! (Double click the last photo to see it up close- it's too cute to miss.)