This week the girls all survived their physicals. In all there were 13 needle sticks for their blood work and immunizations. Unfortunately they weren't evenly distributed. Olena got away with only two needle sticks. The other two, of course had a few more.

After Olena's and Julia's physicals we did some fun stuff to sweeten the deal. On Thursday afternoon we visited some friends who live near the pediatrician's office. The girls got to play on the playground of the nearby school with them. Swings were the favorite, but playing soccer and basketball also provided lots of smiles and laughter.

After the last physical today, we dropped in on Stan's mom for lunch. The girls thoroughly enjoyed eating fish sticks, pickles, noodles, tomatoes, and green beans with their Baba. The highlight of the afternoon was a shopping trip to Kohl's with her. This is the first time they've actually been able to pick out clothing for themselves as I had to pick it out in Ukraine and since we've been in the States we've had lots of wonderful clothing items given to us. It was nice to finally see what they were interested in. The vast amount of choices were, of course, overwhelming but they did pretty well for the first time. After shopping we cashed in certificates for free ice cream cones at McDonald's provided by the lab from the pediatrician's office. All those needle sticks did have an upside.