The Ficek Family: May 2012

Thursday, May 31, 2012

Cade's 6th Grade outdoor School

Just a few pictures from Cade's week-long 6th grade outdoor school where he requested neither his mom nor dad come along! It looks like a good time was had by all!

Monday, May 28, 2012

3v3 Tournament 2012

The 3v3 this year was not quite as exciting as last year when Willem's team won their age group. Willem was really hoping for a repeat and came oh-so-close! His team won all there pool play games pretty solidly and then met their EMFC teammates in the semi-final losing to them in OT on a goal with about 20 seconds left. Such drama!! Elle's team struggled a bit in pool play ended ended up with a win, tie and loss. They won their consolation game which made for a good ending. Chad took Cade to ODP training so no 3v3 for Cade again this year. It was a beautiful day and it was fun to be there with the kids even if it didn't match up to their dreams ;)

Willem's Spring Soccer Season

Willem's spring soccer season ended a couple weeks ago. He played for the EMFC U10 Valencia White team in the U10 academy (the academy created two equal U10 teams this year). The team played in the U11 Gold division of the local Kidsports league. His team finished 5-3-1 which was great considering most games were against the better 5th graders in the area. Willem is currently a young U9, so he played up two age groups and three grades. Willem did great; I really love watching him play! He is very passionate and really, really wants to win every game. He played in goal for first half of each game and then on the field, usually at forward, for the second half. Willem probably averaged a goal each game and is a great passer as well. I love that he is proud of his assists and he is especially proud when he gives an assist to a player that doesn't score very often. He takes what the coaches tell him to heart and really tries to please and listen to them, though sometimes his passion gets in the way :). Willem is strong and fast and makes amazing diving saves in the goal; he did a few Maradonas and lots of other moves out on the field...now if we can only get him a left foot, he'd be really deadly :)! Willem says he likes playing goalie better than on the field and he's pretty certain of that though for now we ask that he only play half in goal which is okay with him. We decided to let Willem continue to play with the Valencia team and play U11 this next season which is starting this week. He was really excited to have made the team after the tryouts (22 boys tried out and they took 15 for the U11 team)! Here are a bunch of pictures from throughout this spring.

Willem has so many pairs of soccer shoes, all hand-me-downs from his soccer-shoe-crazy brother and sister!

Willem's team was usually coached by Porter but sometimes by Finn

Sometimes Willem would get bored playing goalie (though overall he loves it more than playing on the field)

I love all the facial expressions when Willem plays. Such determination!

A scrimmage game against the EMFC Valencia Blue team

Such a little powerhouse even against the older boys!

Parker

Abe

James

Sunday, May 13, 2012

Happy Mother's Day

Happy Mothers Day to all the incredible moms I am lucky to know!

I had a busy but fun Mothers Day. I got to sleep in (well sort of...till 8:15!) and Chad had a great brunch ready for me. I then spent much of the day enjoying the 80 degree weather at Willem and Gabrielle's EMFC soccer tryouts. They both did great but, with so many great kids trying out, we will all be a little nervous until the teams are announced in a couple days. Chad spent much of the afternoon taking Cade to his ODP practice in Portland but the two of us met up at 5:30 for a workout at CrossFit (training with my team for the regional competition coming up in two weeks). After our workout, we headed home to the kids and I got spoiled with cards and gifts and we all had some treats. Then, my favorite part of my day, we all headed outside for a walk (for Chad, Nev and me) and bike ride (Will, Elle and Cade) in the fields as the sun was setting.

I love being a mom to our four awesome kids!

A few pics I took during our walk this evening (our big kids were far ahead of us on their bikes before I thought to take out the camera so I just got a few fun ones with Nev :)...

I sure love this girl...and her brothers and sis :)

Nev collecting rocks to throw in the creek

Wednesday, May 9, 2012

A Little Nev Update

Some pictures I have taken over the past month of Genevieve and some tidbits about our three and half year old...

Nev has lately been pretty affectionate and loving toward Nelly. It's very sweet; she even reprimands me when I don't speak 'nicely' to Nelly :)

Nev loves it when her Uncles visit!

Nev LOVES picking flowers for me. I am trying to teach her to pick them with a long stem and to not pick too many but it's hard getting too upset with her when she comes in the house proud of the flowers she's found for me :)

Genevieve continues to enjoy picking out her outfits!

Catching raindrops on a walk around the dairy

Nev joins me at CrossFit a couple times a week. She's usually happy to play with the ipad for most of my class but sometimes when I stay a little longer, she will get out the chalk and color on the mats!

This is a rare occurrence lately. In fact, Nev hasn't taken a nap in the past 2 weeks! She is content with sleeping from about 9:30 pm until about 8:30 am (give or take 30 minutes either way)

Friday, May 4, 2012

State Cup 2012

Another club soccer year ended last weekend with both Cade and Gabrielle's teams losing in the State Cup semi-final.

Cade's EMFC Boca Jr. U14 team went 4-0 in pool play, then beat RVSC 3-0 in the quarterfinal and finally lost 0-2 to FC Portland in the semi-final. His team was, unfortunately, missing two of its best players Jay and Akira because of injuries; the team really missed them in that semi-final! Cade was happy to get a lot of playing time at forward in all the games (nearly 60 minutes out of 70 in the semi-final). He played so hard and fought to get a goal for his team in the semi-final but it wasn't to be!

Gabrielle's EMFC Athletica U12 team went 3-1 in pool play, losing 1-2 to Lake Oswego in their first game but winning 4-0 in each match vs. WSM, RVSC and Bend. They were matched up with FC Portland in the semi-final and just did not play their best in a 1-2 loss. FC Portland will play THUSC in the final; and Elle's team beat THUSC 3-0 the last two times her team played them. Such a bummer, Athletica really should be in that final! Hopefully next year for both Cade and Elle! Elle played fantastic in the semi-final match, she was physical and composed at left defense and played about 55 minutes of the 70 minute match.

We are so proud of both Cade and Gabrielle for their hard work and dedication to their teams! They both get about 10 days off before tryouts take place again and another year begins :)

Here are pictures from some of Elle's State Cup and late spring league games. Cade's pictures to come soon!