what's up at the Chibry's?

Kaeden started Grade 2 today at a new school
which was scary for all involved
but I am pleased to announce, drama free!

We chose the school ( a Catholic school located in downtown Calgary) for
a few reasons:

it is a gender taught school,
so boys and girls are in separate classes
but have recess and lunch together.
From the (limited) research
I did, I think this will be
an ideal learning environment for him.

it is a school (K-6) with approx 120 students,
his school last year (in the suburbs) was approx 900 students (K-9)
his class has 16 boys (grade 1/2 split)
compared to around 25 children in the suburbs.

I just couldn't get used to the size difference (in a good way)
as I didn't have to battle for a parking spot (so strange, just pulled right up to the school, where last year I would have to walk 2 blocks and deal with traffic jams)
the teachers knew most of the kids and parents by name
everyone was so friendly and
it was such a calm environment.

I usually dread the first day of school as it is so chaotic
dealing with the crowds, finding your child's name on a list
then finding the teacher in the crowd
but this year it was so simple.

a big reason for Kaeden?
he gets to go to the park every other day
where the other school, is once every 6 days.

we also hope to be living downtown at some point
in the next few years so having Kaeden
already in a school down here, will make it much easier to move.

not really a deciding factor but a really great perk in my eyes is
that Kaeden and I will commute downtown together (from the new house in the suburbs)
like we did when he was in daycare downtown,
I enjoy the 45 minutes each way that we can spend together,
talking and catching up on each others day.

as well, the school has uniforms
not a thrill for Kaeden
but I think he looked so handsome today
in his outfit.

Shelby has 2 jobs lined up
and we are very proud of her.
She wasted no time and is not all daunted
about juggling the two.

She has not started either yet as
she is in the orientation/training phase
but in the next few weeks she should be
working at AE (American Eagle) during the day
and Bliss and Co (a cupcake shop) nights and weekends.

She was shocked how quickly she got the job at AE
but I told her that I was not surprised at all as she
is their brand and seriously looks like she walked
out of one of their ads.

as well, she is a natural at selling
and cupcakes and clothes are her two favourite things
so to me this is a match made in heaven!

Scott and I are stupid crazy at work.
I have been working on a project that has been exciting
but emotionally and mentally exhausting.

One of my challenges is that I have a brain that never turns
off so when I get excited and engaged in a problem it becomes
a bit of an obsession so I have been trying to work real hard
on the work/life balance which has been difficult with the
travelling I have been doing.

We will be moving into the New Brighton house starting next week
as the market has slowed brutally and I am not sure it is going to
sell anytime quick .
As well we need to unpack our Storage pod
and go through and purge even more when/if
we move to an apartment.

so basically Operation Simplify is plugging along,
and even though it is seeming very complex at times
we are still making decisions designed to (eventually)
make our lives simple and focused on what is most important to us.

I apologize there is no pictures,
but I did purchase a new apple mac-book pro today on-line
and it should be delivered in the next week or so.

so that is about it for what is going on in
our little ittty bitty part of the world.