Kate at Three-and-a-Half

So, I usually take portraits of my kids on their birthdays, or right around that time, but 2012 was my year of failure in that department.  I didn't take birthday portraits of any of them!  Time to play catch up.  Kate is now three-and-a-half.  She's my helper around the house, always taking the initiative to tend to Maggie, work in the kitchen, or put things away (when I ask her to do something, her answer is almost always a perky "sure!").  She runs at 100% all the time, whether she's being sweet or sassy.  We just pulled her from preschool for this semester... mostly to save money, but also because she had several bouts of crying there.  When I asked her why she'd been crying, she told me that she missed me.  Awwww.  Kate pretty much refuses to wear anything but dresses these days, or let me put her scruffy hair into any kind of hairstyle.  She's still growing out her bangs from her Thanksgiving haircutting fiasco.  Her loves?  Princesses, pink, and sparkles.  She's still in her twice-monthly dance class, and although she won't show me the "monkey dance" she's learning there, she'll still do an arabesque around the house once in awhile.  She loooooooves hearing a good book, or will sit and look at her huge princess books for hours.