last GIRLS NIGHT OUT!

I started to put this in my last post, but I had SO many pictures already and this night was so fun and I took a lot of pictures. I LOVE these girls and was so blessed to be surrounded by such sweet friends when I moved here and knew no one! The Lord knew what I needed and sent me people to love on me and people that I could be myself around. We had the best time on our last girls night. We went to Dewey's Pizza, Coldstone for ice cream, and Barnes and Noble after for some gossip magazine/girl talk time. I am going to miss these girls SO very much.


At one point in the night I said that flamingos were pink because they ate Shrimp, and no one believed me, so I found a big ole book on birds and proved it...I like being right, in case you didnt know...
out on the Levee, too bad you cant really see the downtown too well. I loved all the lights. Growing up in pcola you dont really get a downtown skyline of any sort, so I have always appreciated it =)speaking of Skyline, I could use a chilito right about now...yummm

Fun in Cincinnati

we have had a lot going on here our last few weeks in Cincy. Get ready for a lot of posts, and a lot of pictures. We have been going non stop, and I dont want to forget a thing, and I wont stop taking pictures of everyone. They may be sad to see us leave, but Im sure they wont miss the camera in their faces 24/7.

We leave in 5 days, in case any of you are counting down like my mother, and so there have been so many "last time" occurances...

Kennedy's last check up with Dr. Fix (isnt that the best name for a doctor?!?!)

She wasnt too happy about the shots of course, but luckily I had a sucker in my bag to make everything better!
Our last time with our Freshman small group

Last time leading worship and looking like a dancing fool/queen in KidZone. I'm going to miss all those kids!

Last Book Club, although, I can still find out what books we're reading and read along from FL...

One night, we had a family-friend night. Our friends and their kids came over and we just hung out at 6821 for one last hoorah...



we still have a few more things to do just one last time so I'm sure I will capture some pictures of that. I am getting pumped about the move though. I would be a little more excited if we were moving and our house was sold, but alas, that has not happened yet. Keep praying we have a buyer SOON! Like this week...I just want to be excited and not have the stress of the house on the market weighing on me.

So, so far our last week here is going great and we are getting to see just about everyone, one last time. This only makes me more sad to leave though. We really did make some great friends. I hope they all know how much we love them!

Sweet Girl

Im just sitting in my room, listening to Kennedy party in her crib. If she falls asleep for even 5 minutes in the car, we get home, and I lay her down for a nap, and she will NOT go back to sleep. Apparently she thinks that 5 minute nap was all she needed...I do not agree with this...

So Im looking through some recent pictures of her, and thought I'd share what she has been up to this past week just here around the house. She is one happy girl...that shoves...I'll have to get into that later...

Children's Museum

We have been crazy busy around here lately and I havent gotten around to posting all the fun we've been having these last few weeks in Cincinnati! One thing I really wanted to do was take Kennedy to the Cincinnati Children's Museum. I had heard from a lot of people that it was really cool, and fun for kids, so I put in on my list of places to get to before we moved. Well last Monday my friend Jenny and I took the kids and we had a blast! It will be even more fun when we come back to visit and Kennedy is bigger. There was some WAY cool stuff in there that I would have LOVED as a kid.

Here are some pictures from our fun day

pray for Billy

I just received this letter from Compassion...

Dear Jill,

The catastrophic earthquake that hit Haiti yesterday has resulted in unfathomable chaos and devastation for hundreds of thousands of children and families.

Compassion sponsors and donors serve more than 65,000 children in Haiti. At least a third of them live in the areas that were hardest hit.

We know that you sponsor Billy Exael and that you must be very concerned. Be assured that we are working to locate your child and determine his specific situation as quickly as possible. We will share this personal update with you as soon as we have that information. We are working rapidly to assess the situation and determine the full extent of damage:

Sadly, we anticipate there will be many deaths.
We anticipate thousands of children and families will have lost everything.
We anticipate many of our church-based child development centers will have been destroyed.
Without a doubt, the children we serve in Haiti are in shock and face immediate needs for food, water, medical care, shelter, and counseling. We have teams prepared to respond, and we are deeply committed to helping each child.

We need your donation today. Please reach out in the name of Jesus to bring relief, comfort, love and restoration to precious children and families whose lives have been devastated by this crisis.


Needless to say, Im so incredibly worried about Billy. I have been sponsoring him for almost 5 years and I really do care about him and pray for him constantly. I am asking you to pray with me for him, and the other children in Haiti right now that are probably hurt, scared, devastated, etc.

Also, if you feel led to donate that would be awesome! I know they are in need of so much right now and have lost basically everything.

Donate Online

i know its wednesday

Well its already the middle of the week, and I have yet to get up some cute pictures from the weekend...We have been crazy busy and on Tuesday I actually woke up feeling as though a truck had hit me. I was aching all over from moving furniture around, packing boxes, cleaning, and all that goes on with packing to move, and trying to get a house ready to sell. Thankfully, we are done with all of that for now. So for the next couple weeks I can hopefully relax...until moving day gets here of course.

The weekend started out fabulously with our fun sledding adventure, but I got some more fun shots of Kennedy...

Let me just tell ya'll that my girl likes to accessorize, and has good fashion sense. She is OBSESSED with these little bead necklaces that my friend Laura Davis gave me. They were in this cute little box with a fun story that she gave me for my bachelorette party, and while I have been cleaning things out I found them...and now K is growing attached to them...so funny. So, I get her up, change her dipe, and then she goes to the basket where they are and gives me one, or more possibly, to put on her. There is a pink, purple, and clear one. She seriously ALWAYS gives me a coordinating one. I think she is just a little diva basically...
Every Saturday at the Manny house is Pancake Saturday. Kennedy LOVES pancakes, but she loves powdered sugar even more =)
I loved Kennedy's church outfit on Sunday. Her sweater dress and boots were just adorable in the snow. She loved the snow and thought it was quite intriguing...Im in love with her sweet face

Keep praying the house sells super super quick. We'll keep you posted on the details and what not. Have a great rest of the week!

friday family fun in the snow

It has been snowing pretty much nonstop the past four days. There have been breaks, but pretty much at least flurries the whole time. I have so enjoyed it! I love sitting on the couch with a cup of coffee and looking at the window. Its so gorgeous and it has yet to get old to me, and now I guess it wont ever get old since this is my last few weeks in a cold snowy climate.

Thursday was a snow day for pretty much everyone. No school, and justin only went into work for a couple hours. He headed home early to avoid any crazy traffic or poor road conditions. We spent the rest of the day working on house projects, packing, and trying to stay warm. I'll update you on the progress of our projects later, and why Im a little frustrated about it all...

anyways, Friday my girls I work with had a two hour delay. I had to work, but not at 630 am, I didnt go in until 830, which was nice to have two extra days of sleeping in. When I got home, Justin and I took Kennedy sledding again. I was so glad he was able to see her this time bc she really is so cute and happy in her little sled. We got some videos too. I feel kind of bad I didnt take him the first time with us :/ I'll just pretend this time with all of us was her very first time! She wont even know =) There was a lot more snow this time though, so as she was going down the hill, the snow would just pile up into the sled. She was so wet within 15 minutes with cold snow. We had to leave bc I didnt want my lil sweetie to freeze!

I have sooo many cute photos of her sledding and its hard to choose, so just get ready for a lot of pictures =)"that's a lot of snow on me momma."let's do it again!she got a bit of snow on her, and she wasnt too happy about itand now she's ready to go
after our fun sledding, we went home for K to take a nap. Later that evening, while Justin worked on house projects with our good friends Matt (thanks for helping Matt!) Kennedy and I went to Ikea! Like I said in a previous post, I am trying to hit up the spots I will miss or not have once I get to Pensacola, Ikea was definitely one on my list. I finally got Kennedy a cute play table with super fun and cute chairs to match. I cant wait to put them in her new play room at my grandma's house. PS-we are going to be living in my grandma's old house, and I will never not call it "Grandma's house" even after I've lived in it, so try not to get confused =)

I hope everyone had a great weekend!

New Year's Eve

A little late for a New Years post, but New Years Eve was such a fun night with some of amazing friends, of which we will be moving away from soon. So, before I forget the fun and laughter, I need to "journal" it!

We went to our friends Jimmy and Julie's house. We have spent the past three New Years there, and we always just spend the night, so why break tradition. It was weird bc I thought, I'll start the New Year with these people, and end it with a completely new group of friends (well, if I can make friends, that is). SO weird that Im leaving all these friends I have here! BOO! Our friends Brian and Haley were there as well with their little boy Gunnar. The kids had fun I think. They didnt make it to midnight of course, but they got plenty of kisses...We also had a small group NYE party down the street, same neighborhood. That made it convenient to hit both! We went to our small group party for a bit, but I had to get back to put Kennedy to bed. We spent the rest of the night playing Rockband and Guesstures. We laughed a ton and had such a great time just being together. I really am treasuring every little moment I get with my amazing friends. I will miss you guys SO MUCH!!!!!

FINALLY! SNOW!!!!!!!!!

I have been asking Jesus for some fun snow to play in for the past two months. There has been snow, but not enough to get out in, but this morning I awakened to a wintery wonderland. Now that I am moving south, the snow does not bother me one bit. I actually cleaned off my car this morning at 6 am in 14 degree weather, with a smile on my face, because I thought, this could be one of the last times I'll have to do it...now if I thought I'd have to do it for the next several years I probably wouldn't appreciate it as much, but I'll miss the snow a little bit I'm sure.

As you may recall, I have mentioned wanting to take K out in the snow to play and sled. I have never actually sledded so I was a little nervous today taking her out, considering I dont really know the guidelines of correctly sledding and I was about to push my one year old down a big snowy hill...it was AWESOME tho! She had such a blast. I texted my neighbor to see if you her and her little boy wanted to come too, and they did. Eli wasnt such a fan of the sledding today, poor little guy, so we didnt stay too long. It was long enough thought to capture KP having a stinkin BALL!