Portraits - My sweet Princess

Although Rachel has grown out of "Princess" stuff and even given away most of her dress-up stuff, she still loves to be girly. She gets dressed up in pretty clothes to go everywhere, and always wonders aloud if her cousins or friends (girls or boys) will find her outfit beautiful. She hasn't quite figured out that Brendan (8 years old) or any boy for that matter is likely to comment on her outfit, even if they happen to notice it.

Rachel and I are a lot alike and even butt heads over it, but I love having a daughter like her. She is full of grand ideas that build and build with hours and hours of work, and then, she just moves on to something else with no thought of it. The only problem is she usually wants me to help make costumes or write songs or build sets for some play or movie she's working on that I know will most likely never happen. It's a hard balance to keep her happy and encourage her without wearing myself out for nothing. But, it all reminds me of myself as I kid. I know I made my parents come watch play after play that I thought were masterpieces but were probably almost painful to watch.

She's a lot of fun and very photogenic.