PEAK & PIT {and death defiers}

meet mary clark.

photographer extraordinaire.

made my kids laugh with two fuzzy dusters. 

over and over again.

it was a HUGE HIT. 

and max and brennan told me that family pictures were funny. 

WAAAAAY FUNNY.

not boring OR lame. 

i can't ever remember thinking that about any family pictures we did growing up.

all i can remember was pure torture.

life before mary.

pity.

i seriously LOVE her.

...

at dinner every night we start by going around the table for everyone to tell their pit and peak of the day.

i'm pretty sure i stole the idea off of bachelorette or something super lame like that.

nevertheless, it's become this awesome family tradition 

that everyone in our family looks forward to every night.

brennan usually picks who he wants to go first.

sometimes it's him.

sometimes it's max.

dad.

me.

you get the idea.

it keeps everyone at the table long enough to eat their dinner,

and i love to watch my kids have their moment in the spotlight for the day.

it's also really funny when sean does an ad lib for chase.

you know, something like this:

brennan: chase, what was your pit and peak?

chase: {in the voice of sean}-

"my pit was being body slammed by brennan, 

BUT my peak was surviving!"

and everybody claps for him,

so he starts clapping for him,

and max and brennan think that's hilarious,

so we all start laughing.

stuff like that.

super super funny.

brennan will sometimes tell max that playing with her was the peak of his day.

and then max will say that playing with brennan was the peak of her day.

which makes them both smile really big,

and they look all honored at each other.

and then if it's really "lovie" night, 

they will say that not getting to play with mommy and daddy 

when they were playing with each other was their pit.

except sometimes brennan will interupt and say something like,

"also, my pit was when max hit me."

and then max will say,

"also when brennan hit me."

because she copies brennan a lot just as little sisters should,

and then brennan will say,

"i never hit you!!!"

and then max will say, 

"YESSS YOOOOUUU DIIIIID!!!" 

in a really high pitched extra screetchy voice,

and then that's the cue for sean or i to go.

and everyone calms down,

and usually wants to know what's for dessert by the end.

so tonight we didn't eat dinner at home because after family pictures 

it was just easier to let chick-fil-a feed us, 

but that's an entirely different story.

for another time.

and so with the play place,

dunking chicken chunks into our chick-fil-a sauces,

drinking freshly squeezed lemonade,

and eating delicious ice cream cones,

we just never got to do our pit and peak for the day.

but guys,

i just had this most awesome unexpected peak of my day.

and it was just highway robbery that we did not have pit and peak at dinner tonight.

because when i was walking around wheeler farm this afternoon,

and the sun was setting,

and brennan was chasing max with a stick taller than himself,

and she was squealing with glee and running through the tall grass,

and sean and i were sitting on the cutest little old fashioned suit case you could ever imagine,

with a long dirt road lining us with tall storybook trees in the background,

and chase was sitting in our lap,

and then max ran over to put her arm around me,

and brennan gave us his most adorable deep chuckle laugh that he's famous for,

and sean and i were just warm up against each other.

and that was it.

there it was.

for an entire hour.

it was the ultimate peak of my day.

all dressed up and fancy.

lipstick.

curled hair.

freshly pressed clothes for all.

just getting to enjoy each other.

putting our arms around each other.

walking through the farm together.

talking and smiling.

like some time warp,

where it was like no one else was there except for us.

and sean and i kept looking at each other like,

on what planet does this actually happen?

when on earth do we ever get to be together with everyone happy 

for an entire hour???

especially during family pictures???

TODAY FOLKS.

TODAY:)

surely a christmas miracle!

or a halloween miracle.

whichever.

it

was

my

peak.

and my pit you ask?

eating dinner at chick-fil-a.

{i know, i can't believe i'm saying it either.}

the fort union one is cursed.

that's all i'm gonna say.

except just know that i'm so glad we got to use all of our luck during an hour of family pictures.

which most certainly wore itself ALL out by the time we got to dinner.

and we didn't even see any black cats.

tragic.

at least there's always endless chick-fil-a sauce.

did you know you can buy it by the bottle?

i can't decide if it would be awesome or awful to have an entire bottle...

picking apples was pretty great too.

you know,

on my list of peaks.

because sometimes if you have a hard time picking between two peaks,

you're allowed to say them both,

and specify which one was higher on your peak list.

i'm gonna need to borrow an apple peeler...

by the end of my apple picking, 

briar and i were shaking the apples out of the tree.

they'd drop out of the sky

and

THUMP

THUMP

THUMP

THUMP THUMP

around you like the strings of a bass guitar.

death defying i tell you.

death DEFYING!

but totally and absolutely worth it:)

HAPPY FALL.