Another busy week!

Wow, this week flew by! Emmelia had her belt test on Monday evening and she amazed us with how much she's learned and how focused she was. She earned her yellow-and-white striped belt and we are so proud of her for putting forth the effort!

Of course we had our usual hectic schedule including karate class, violin lesson and soccer practice. We also visited with friends a couple evenings this week. Suffice it to say that I'm looking forward to a quiet evening at home to rest, do some laundry, get the kids to bed at a decent hour, and watch Roomba clean my floors.

Last Saturday, while helping Emmelia warm up for her soccer game, I had to jog a little to catch the ball. I was pleasantly surprised to find that when I did this there was no ankle pain like I've had since my tendon release surgery! I was (and still am!) so excited about that discovery! And this week I started exercising again. I'm taking it slow, because my physical activity has been very limited since the surgery last December. But, I'm proud to say that I exercised every day this week - a big accomplishment for me! Every morning, I did a 10-minute segment of my Pilates DVD. On Monday, Wednesday and Friday, I walk/jogged along with a podcast of the Couch-to-5K running plan. On Tuesdays and Thursdays, I lifted weights. And... it's amazing how much better I feel. I've already noticed an increase in energy level and a decrease in appetite. Combining that with being very good about sticking to a low-carb diet, I've lost a few pounds already as well. So I'm very excited to keep this going and glad my ankle doesn't hurt anymore.

I didn't have a lot of time to scrap this week, but I did put together this LO of Maura that I took in August. I just love how the background paper goes with the photo. Here are the credits:
This week we managed to get all the stuff picked and ordered for the baptism next Saturday. After MUCH looking, we found the perfect baptismal outfit and baptismal cross for little Abe. The Deac and I also got him an icon of his patron saint, St. Joseph of Damascus. I'm really looking forward to becoming Abe's godmother!

Well, it's nearly time to go get the girls. Hope you all have a wonderful weekend! It's supposed to get cold here... I guess it's finally fall. I am hoping to get the supplies for a knitting project this weekend - seems like perfect knitting weather. Maybe I'll have some time to curl up and read a few more chapters of this month's book club book. I was hesitant about reading this book, but it turns out it's written by the author who wrote Everything Is Illuminated. I enjoyed that movie, and so far I'm enjoying the book, too (but I'm only a couple chapters into it).