flashback friday

the story behind the picture:

In case you haven't heard . . . or have forgotten, I give you the story behind our traditional "bed picture" at Christmas time:: When Jacob was not quite 1 we wanted a family picture to put in our Christmas card. We took quite a few (non-digital, I might add!) and the one we liked best was of the 3 of us laying on our bed. The next year it was just the 3 of us again and we decided to try and recreate the picture since it had turned out so cute . . . and thus began an unintentional Stoll family tradition of the bed picture. As one of the Peterson girls (Beka, i think) said one year "They did it on the bed again." (which caused many a giggle, since Beka was probably not even in high school yet at that point) .The Peterson's found it extra funny when they read through our Christmas letter, after the comment about the picture, and discovered (for the second year in a row) that we were (again) pregnant! As a side note, that was the Christmas letter of 2001 and we announced that we were pregnant with the little person that would turn out to be Lydia in that Christmas letter. No one, not even ONE person (except me and Kirb) knew of our pregnancy before getting our letter . . . not even our parents! And since Rebekah was only about 8 months old it was a shocker to most everyone. Us included (although our shock came a few weeks before everyone elses . . . and not in the form of a letter). So, 2010 marks the 12th anniversary of the Stoll family bed picture. 11 years and 5 more kids later, we're all still on the bed for the annual picture.

more than a decade worth of stoll christmas pictures. enjoy::

kirby, shana, jacob: 1999

kirby, [pregnant] shana, jacob: 2000

kirby, jacob, [pregnant] shana, rebekah: 2001

rebekah, kirby, jacob, shana, lydia: 2002

kirby, lydia, jacob, shana, rebekah: 2003

kirby, [pregnant] shana, lydia, jacob, rebekah: 2004

jacob, kirby, joe, shana, rebekah, lydia: 2005

jacob, kirby, rebekah, shana, joe, lydia: 2006
kirby, jacob, rebekah, joe, [pregnant] shana, lydia: 2007

kirby, lydia, anna, joe, shana, jacob, rebekah: 2008

jacob, anna, kirby, rebekah, joe, lydia [not quite pregnant] shana: 2009

The first batch of this years Christmas cards are already in the mail. So, those of you who actually know us, and get our Christmas card will see this years picture soon. It'll probably be a few more days until I get them all in the mail, but the wait won't be too much longer! If you read this blog, (which, clearly, you do!) the Christmas letter won't be nearly as funny as usual, since, rumor has it, the most popular part of the Christmas letter each year is the page of Stoll kid quotes. But, since those are on the sidebar of the blog and you can read (and re-read) them anytime you please, I apologize for the lack of side-splitting laughter at your home this holiday season! You'll have to find someone else's family to laugh at this year.

My personal reflections after looking through 12 years worth of pictures of our family::

• We were all (well, the 3 of us, anyway) babies in 1999.
• I should not have bangs. Jill, if you are reading this, don't let me talk you into cutting bangs on my head again. Hold me accountable on that one, ok people?
• If I do have bangs, then I should absolutely not curl them as I did in 2002!
• Rebekah's hair didn't get curly until 2003.
• I love Rebekah in the 2003 picture. SO cute!
• Our bed has pretty much reached capacity at this point!
• Kirb's hair used to be MUCH bigger (and darker and thicker!)
• My hair was best in 2009. Can I get an amen? (but I can pretty much guarantee you that on that particular day in 2009 I hated my hair and thought I needed to do something about it. What's with that anyway?)
  
• It would seem I over-think hair?
• The matching stripe-y turtleneck idea was better the first time around.
• How cute was Jacob in 2006 showing us his missing tooth?
• 2005 . . . that's SO Lydia!
• Joe was kind of a chunk at 18 months (2006). I had forgotten that.
• Anna must be the opposite of Beka, since her hair just keeps getting less curly as she ages! (see last years picture)
• My mom is a fabulous photographer! I am amazed each year that we even get one remotely decent picture. Thanks, Mom!