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i'm always grateful for my daily photo project as i go to put these birthday posts together. i'm also often surprised just how much we did in the course of a year. 12 was a good year for sabin. she had painting lessons and...

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and we enjoyed an early spring outing to esbjerg and the beach. she rolled joyfully down the hill in front of the imposing "men of the sea" sculpture in esbjerg.

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may found us in berlin, going to a concert with hot boyband one direction. i have to admit it was a pretty fun trip and the concert was even pretty good. it was very well-produced and those boys really are sweet to the thousands of screaming girls who are their fans.

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inspired by berlin and weheartit (pinterest for the younger set), we came home from berlin and sabin got a pink & purple dip-dye. it looked awesome.

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she spent quite a lot of time enjoying our kittens (as well as her laptop). being online is important when you're 12 (and possibly also when you're quite a lot older than that).

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but we did escape the internet with the occasional trip to the beach. since we had an actual summer, it was even good to be at the beach.

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and speaking of our wonderful summer, it was perfect for outdoor projects, like dyeing a pair of vans in rainbow-colors.

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we even set up easels and painted in the backyard one beautiful summer afternoon. and i can tell you that trampoline in the background saw a whole lot of use.

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another trip to the beach on a gorgeous august day. it was the first time (ever, in my opinion) that the water was warm enough to really go swimming and we played in the waves for hours.

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school started - the 7th grade already - and with that came the first gala party. the classes had two weeks where they worked on films and then they held a film festival and awards ceremony, for which they got all dressed up.

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we had to have a jump shot as well. it is pretty joyful being 12. these are the two best friends and it has felt like they pretty much live at our house as well. but they're fun, so that's just fine.

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we had a gorgeous autumn and suddenly (or so it seemed to me) sabin started looking more grown-up and less like a little girl.

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she went to st. petersburg with a youth organization and she even survived the trip, tho' i had my doubts in the weeks leading up to the trip.

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we held our 6th annual halloween party and it was a big success.

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2013 was the year of the selfie and sabin and her friends were no exceptions - she often got out my big camera and the tripod and took loads of photos of herself and her friends. we even got her her own camera for christmas so she could take it along wherever she goes.

she also got to go on two ski trips with friends, but somehow i don't have any photos from those in my iPhoto library (they must be in her own), so she also went to sweden and austria over the past year (we do rather judge how our year went by the trips we took) as well as learning to ski.

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and because this post didn't post as scheduled on the 25th, i could add a photo from lalandia, where we went with sabin and her big sister and a couple of friends to celebrate her 13th birthday on saturday. afterwards, we came home and ate dessert for dinner - three kinds, to be exact. but it was what the birthday girl wanted.
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it will be fun to see what 13 brings, but i still think 8 was great. time really does fly, so you have to make sure you enjoy it (and take loads of photos).