School Update Fall 2025

Here is a quick update about the Fall of 2025! 

After a very eventful summer, Katya went back to BYU right after we came back from Romania, just in time to see her friend and mission trainer get married on Aug 30! Julie Pachev was Katya's first mission companion in Oradea, for about 6 months. Julia's dad is from Russia so Julia also speaks Russian fluently. Her dad is one of the biggest supporters of Ukraine and has been involved in major volunteering projects to help those fighting in Ukraine. 

Katya was so excited to start a new semester, with new goals and plans! 

Katya is living off campus this year, in a condo owned by her roommate's parents. She is meant to have a roommate for her shared room, but she doesn't. They also have a dog. 

I asked Katya to send me her First Day of School Picture. I love it! We miss seeing her every day but I know she is loving her independence. She is still working at the MTC this fall semester, it's a flexible job but doesn't make as much as she would like. She is an actor for the missionaries to practice teaching her. She is majoring in Public Relations. 

And here is Mark, starting his 10th grade! Crazy! He is still at Crossroads Flex which means he has an irregular school schedule with a lot of flexibility. This fall semester he has to be at school four days a week but only for 2-3 hours each time. It's a lot of additional driving for me, but we make do. He is still training at Cameron Moore Tennis. 

Pictures of Alex are missing. Oh!!! It's because he is on a mission! He actually arrived to Latvia around 21st of August and has been adjusting to his missionary life. He is having a major growing experience for sure! We miss him terribly but so happy he is doing what he has always wanted to do and we are so grateful for him. 

Lyana. 

 

Last Days of School 2023

This time, Alex truly had the LAST day of school. Senior year is over!!! 

He had a great year taking only two classes on school campus and one online through Wake Tech. Congratulations, Alex, on finishing your school career that included three different elementary schools, three different middle schools and one high school. 

Next step--BYU! 

Mark finished 8th grade!!! Goodbye Middle school!!! 

Although he was teased a bit by his friends that he wasn’t going to a real school, he actually was. It wasn’t home school and it wasn’t a real traditional school, but it worked perfectly for our schedule. We knew that we were taking a big risk by switching schools mid year of his 7th grade, but it worked out great! Taught us one more time it’s okay to be afraid of change and okay to make mistakes if they happen--it won’t ruin everything. 

Next step--Crossroads FLEX High school (are you intrigued? You should be intrigued-haha)! 

 

Summer Swim and End of Summer 2022

Summer swimming with the Apex Breakers is the absolute highlight for Alex's summer holidays, he loves being part of the team, and especially when he gets to be one of the coaches! Kids love him as well as he is so funny and social. He has also improved so much in both--his swimming skills and coaching skills over the last few years. 

Mark is a completely different story. We tricked him into signing up for summer swim by convincing him he needs it for cross training (which he does!). He religiously went to practices but absolutely did not enjoy swimming "properly". Tuesday nights were long and tiring for him especially after a few hours of playing tennis but he did not quit, just said “never again”-haha. 

I mean, I think Mark secretly did enjoy hanging out with his buddies during practices and waiting for his turn to swim during the meets. 

Proof! 

Here is Alex swimming, actually doing proper diving and strokes now. 

And Mark ready to swim. 

Hot summer nights under the pool lights. 

"Everyone jump in!" at the end of the meet. 

Parents have to volunteer at the swim meets as well, so Robert and I do mostly timing or ribbon distributing. It is usually VERY hot and it's crowded...and just in general a complete opposite from tennis or rowing. The boys know how to swim freestyle, breast stroke, butterfly and backstroke--that is way more than Robert and I. I am proud of them! I am so grateful Alex loves it and gets to do it as a job for one more year after his senior year. Mark said there is no way he would do it again-hahaha. 

And...so August came around and so did Alex's senior year. As a tradition we got to decorate seniors' parking spots the night before the school started. Katya and Mark went to town--amazing references to all parts of Alex's life. 

And here the official first day of school picture! Alex--12th grade and Mark--8th grade. 

Alex, the senior. 

And a great picture from Katya's missionary "farewell" party--Alex and Hunter, one of Katya's good friends who was on his way to Tahiti for a mission.

This post is a compilation of bits and pieces but it presents a glimpse into our summer lives:).

Lyana.

 

Does Mark Do Anything Besides Tennis?

Does Mark do anything besides tennis? 

That's a tricky question...really. So he watches tennis, he reads about tennis, he thinks about tennis and, in between, watches entertaining YouTube videos (some about tennis). 

Well, he also plays with his friends Tommy and Noah when he is not playing tennis. He plays ping pong too:) He spends time with Pepper, does school online, reads, does chores and eats. It seems that he is pretty content when we ask him if he wants to pick up another hobby, but we still are encouraging him to branch out.

One side note, not sure if mentioned before, he has been doing school online since January of 2022, starting in the middle of 7th grade. It's through the American Heritage School. He has a class online Monday-Thursday at 11ish, and Math whenever he schedules it in his day. He is able to regulate how much and when he does work, completes his assignments and tests on his own, and seems to be enjoying this flexibility. Three times a week he then starts tennis training right after lunch (a bit later on Tue) and is able to have two 2hour sessions. On Mondays, Fridays or Saturdays he plays practice matches or goes on court to do drills. On Tuesday mornings at 8:30 am, I drive him to Raleigh to have a fitness training with Quentin for an hour. He definitely needs to do more fitness/footwork and agility. Tournaments don't happen each weekend, but they do take up a lot of our time. 

Mark and I spend A LOT of time together--driving, hotel time, tournament time--we are not always talking either since Mark is happy as a clam just being quiet. My life has definitely changed since he started doing more tennis and is not at school for 6 hours. Driving to tennis, making lunches (unless he preps it before the 11 o'clock class), making sure he has a bunch of nutritious snacks available, driving back to his courts while he is having a break between the sessions, getting him water, etc., has really been taking up more of my time. I am still working on the attitude of "I am grateful to be spending so much time with my son”, as this is actually an intentional choice we have made. Failure to manage my time on my part is what is sometimes so frustrating to me...scheduling all personal appointments or errands around tennis training and driving is quite tricky. But that's my stuff to deal with.

A quick rundown of our summer tennis adventures! 

Mark and I got to go to a new location--West Virginia. It was so beautiful there in the middle of July! And so cool, not muggy or hot. I loved that place near the border of WV/VA. Mark got to play mixed doubles with a girl we didn't really know, and they got second place! 

Mark's partner's name was Emma Jakovenko--and we kind of randomly picked her because her last name sounded Ukrainian-haha. It turns out her dad is indeed second generation Ukrainian and her mom is Romanian:). All these international kids! 

One more cool thing was that this park with tennis courts is located exactly where the state line passes through between VA and WV. So it was funny that Mark pretty much was playing in a different state from his opponent. 

We found some time for a peaceful hike on Sunday morning. 

Brush Creek Falls. The trail was pretty straightforward but after a while overgrown with poison ivy, so we had to cut our "hike" short. 

The weekend after this tournament, Mark went to the amusement park with Robert, Katya and Alex. After he got home he started having horrible headache so we thought it was from too many roller coaster. Shortly, the headache transitioned into fever, chills, congestion and everything else. Basically, after three days Mark was pretty miserable...and he had a huge tournament to play starting Thursday (day 5 of him feeling sick). We had tested him for Covid four times and it was always negative. In fact, I took him in to see the doctor on Tuesday as he was feeling a lot of congestion in his ears (the doctor said it was close to getting an infection, but she'd rather work him out on his own). She said, if he is feeling up for it, he is fine to play tennis on Thursday. 

Well...kind of drugged up with cough medicine and Tylenol, Mark decided not to withdraw and hoped that with each day he would start feeling better. The reason was that it wasn't a simple tournament he didn't want to miss--it was ZONALS, the biggest TEAM competition of the year in their Southern section. This is the time when your usual rivals can be your team mates! And you cheer for them all, and you get a team coach who can actually coach you during the match (normally NOT allowed in tournaments). So yeah, Mark decided to stick it out and just be careful around other kids. 

With each day he was indeed feeling better and by Saturday was completely fine. He was not playing his best though, for sure. It's crazy how much sickness and lack of a pre-tournament training routine can change the outcome--Mark lost all of his singles matches. Nevertheless, he had so much fun! Paul Goode (Griffin's and Gavin's dad) was his coach. And their team won second place overall! 

Here you can see how they follow college format--once you are done with your own match, you can stand and watch the other matches finishing up on court. 

Here is the team--six girls and six boys. 

It was actually quite beneficial for him to be part of the team. 

Just a couple of days after Zonals was done, it was time to head down to Mobile! I know! Crazy August schedule and the fun part is that we get to do it again next year in 2023. 

We actually made a fun trip out of it! Katya had driven to Atlanta with Everett, so Robert, Alex, Mark and I drove to James and Michelle's house, stayed the night there, picked up Katya and then headed down south. Splitting up the drive helped a ton. And then I drove everyone to Pensacola, where we met up with Bridget! So Robert, Alex and Katya then were able to spend a few days with Tom, Bridget and the kids near Destin (but that's another post).

Mark and I headed to Mobile and spent a few gloriously hot and humid days there. 

This year Mark was playing 14s for the first time (he gets to do it again in 2023), it was all official with pictures and everything. 

Repping his Physical Therapy place-haha. 

Here is Mark with his friend Saahil, next to the Southern Section flag. It was nice to know the lay of the land this year after playing in Mobile for 12s. 

And here is Cooper, Mark's doubles partner whom he got randomly. Mark was unpaired as he wasn't sure he would get into singles, so we just didn't ask anyone in advance. Cooper had a very long first singles match and was cramping badly...so they had to withdraw from their first round of doubles. But in this tournament they had consolation doubles, so the boys had a great time playing a couple of matches the following day. 

Mark received three sportsmanship tokens during the tournament! That's pretty awesome! And for each token he was allowed to go to the Babolat prize table and spin the wheel... Every single time he got a tennis ball keychain-hahaha. 

Overall, Mark played very well! This is a high level tournament so every match is a tough one. Mark only won one match but learned a ton! 

Quick intermission to show you Mark and his Slinger. It's a ball machine that feeds you balls to practice, but Mark is not super keen on it anymore as he thinks it always hits with too much spin. I need him to like it though!!! 

Random pictures from my phone... nutrition between matches... We always have to know what is nearby as sometimes you get just a little over an hour to hydrate and eat. Panera Bread is probably our standard (chicken noodle soup for some sodium;), Harris Teeter or Publix sushi is also great and light. Smoothies are ok, but we have to tell them no sugar added. 

Here is Mark at his fitness session with Quentin. 

And this is kind of cool too...Mark's physical trainer works and lives in our area, but he also travels all over the world to be a physical trainer for the top ATP players. Sometimes we see him on TV! Like on this picture, it's our PT Jon with Pablo Carreno Busta at the US Open. 

And finally! Mark's first day of 8th grade! Picture taken probably in the evening because that's the type of stuff you can do when your school is online.

And so that's the not so short update on what Mark has been up to, guided by pictures. I am sure there is a lot more to his life than this, but I simply fail to take pictures of those happenings:)).

Bye for now!

Lyana. 

First Day of School-2021

I really do love that it's still hot when the kids start school at the end of August. It seems that the summer is never ending but this kind of keeps us on track. This year I was dropping Katya off at BYU, so I missed the boys' first day of school, but they survived. 

And...drumroll...this year we only had TWO children starting school in North Carolina.

Alex headed to 11th grade. He knows it will be his busiest year yet, not just because of rowing in full force but also because he has such great ambitions to take many AP classes--five, to be precise. They still have to wear masks at school, and Alex absolutely despises it. 

Mark is going into 7th grade!!! He's got a lot to look forward to--especially band, Mark is one of the percussionists. He is in 8th grade math--NC Math 1, and that is his favorite subject still. 

Here are the boys! Last year with such a huge difference in height as Mark is slowly inching upwards. 

Oh, and look who interrupted our North Carolina news channel! Katya sent us a picture of her first day of school that actually happened on Aug 30th, a week after the boys. 

There we go, as fresh of a freshman as one can get! In front of the Cannon Center.

Hoping the kids have a fantastic school year! What a wonderful period of their time when they know it's their season for receiving education and discovering more about themselves.

Lyana. 

 

Katya’s Senior Pictures

***As I am writing this blog...it’s Labor Day. We are nine months into the new year and I have only two blog posts posted in 2021! Well, it’s not going to stop me and I know I will try to be up to date by Christmas. So....I’ll start with a few easier posts. 

Writing about Katya is always easy. She is such a sparkling young lady that I don’t even have to add much descriptions to my pictures and you’ll get the idea of what is happening in Katya’s life.

After her early graduation in January, she has been working at a few different jobs, making good money to save for her college and mission. She spent a lot of time at home too, but mostly was able to be out and about...although not really hanging out with a ton of friends. 

After finding out in February that she would be going to BYU, all things started to get more clear about her path, at least for the next year or so. It did feel though that she was not really having a real Senior year...because she wasn’t. She took it in stride and didn’t complain much about so many things that an average “American Senior” experiences usually, and we very much supported that. 

In April, we asked Melissa Romans to take Katya’s senior pictures. We liked getting them taken later in the school year so she would look the most like she will leaving for college. Greatest idea ever! 

Katya and Melissa took these pictures at Harris Lake Park in Holly Springs--a beautiful location, especially when spring is coming back. 

When we received Katya’s pictures back, we couldn’t believe how many amazing pictures actually turned out. So many! It was not possible to choose just one or two or five! 

This series of pictures is called “sunny Katya”.

This is a serious “sunny Katya"

I love that Katya loves her freckles!

Is this even possible to look so good on every picture???

“Oh, I forgot to put on my earrings"

This series is called “the tree and I”.

“I might look sad but I am actually very happy to go to college!"

Okay, so the next part is just amazing! 

Whoever decided to go with the color red is a genius (Katya).

And it looked “Ukrainianish”!

The most genuine smile! 

My mom says this one looks like it’s from a magazine. 

And friends boys told her that they are afraid of this Katya. 

Just emanating JOY!

And then her acting skills shine...

These pictures by the water are modeling agency worthy. Gorgeous! 

We love the next two! 

I think we added one of these to her acting agency profile. 

The Ukrainianish dress again for the win.

With a bit of attitude.

These photos required some serious dedication from the photographer!

So do you see our dilemma??? So many fantastic photos!

Lastly, she put on her cap and gown to get a few pictures in her AFHS gear.

Smiling wide because she is done!

And that’s a wrap!!!