A five-year-old is spreading smiles all over the internet after his cute photo posing with his grandparents went viral.
The Up-themed photo session was done at the boy’s birthday as well as the celebration of her mother’s reports coming negative for cancer after a 5-year-long battle against the deadly disease.
The overwhelmingly cute photo shows Elijah Perman, aged five, posing with Caroline and Richard Bain, his great grandparents, both aged 90.
The photos were not just a part of the celebration of the fifth birthday of Elijah and his twin sister Emilee – they were also shot to celebrate Elijah’s mom finally getting cured for cancer.
She’d been fighting the disease for the last five years, starting from the time when Elijah and Emilee were just three months old.
Speaking to Daily Mail, Rachel, who’s a mom-of-three and a part-time photographer, explained the importance of the pictures, saying: ‘Five years ago I was diagnosed with cancer right after my twins were born and I had fears if I would even get to see their fifth birthday.
‘My oldest, Mikayla, was five at the time and I hated not knowing if I would get the same time with the twins that I got with her.
‘So for their fifth birthday I wanted to celebrate the things they love with photos; it’s a celebration for me and them. The inspiration for the sessions was to celebrate all that my kids love.’
Talking of the costumes, Rachel said that Up is the ‘favorite movie and obsession’ of Elijah.
Rachel continued, saying: ‘Elijah is very particular, he is borderline addicted to Up and has been for several years.
‘The house with the balloons is the only thing he draws and colors and the only books he wants to get at the library, and the only toy he wanted when we were in Disney World last year.’
It was Rachel’s photography sense that made her invite her grandparents to pose as the balloon seller Carl Fredicksen and Ellie, his wife.
‘Inviting [Elijah’s] great grandparents was my idea and a surprise [for] Elijah,’ she posted on Facebook. ‘He loved that they dressed up!
‘Richard and Caroline were thrilled to participate and loved that I asked them.
‘Grandpa even went to the thrift store to get the jacket. Elijah was tickled at all the accessories and balloons, and I was so giddy at all the details my grandparents put into their characters.
‘What a fun time and wonderful photos to commemorate Elijah’s favorite thing. I am so glad Elijah will have these special photos to treasure with his great grandparents.’
Rachel also shared Elijah’s twin sister Emilee’s pictures, in which she can be seen dressed like a princess, posing with a horse with a DIY unicorn horn.
Rachel captioned the images, writing: ‘The magic is real.’
Talking to Daily Mail, Rachel said: ‘Emilee loves all things girly and princess, so her photo session was a surprise after trying to find someone who would let me put a unicorn horn on their horse and she loved it.’
She added: ‘The twins are turning [five] and Mikayla is turning 10. But its an even bigger milestone to me. Mikayla was five when the twins were born and I was diagnosed with cancer.’
‘I remember thinking “I got five years with Mikayla, what if this gets bad and I don’t even get five years with the twins??!” The pain of that idea still puts my stomach in knots.
‘But, here we are! We have come full circle! So its time to celebrate.’
Adorable photos of Elijah and his great grandparents soon went viral online. Comments flooded in from all over the country, with people saying how much they loved the images.
‘How wonderful that they’ll always have these memories and photographs with their grandparents too,’ said a person in a comment.
‘This is the sweetest thing. My heart is bursting! There’s nothing like grandparents,’ read another comment.
‘The kids loved their shoots,’ Rachel added. ‘They see me leave frequently to take other people’s photos so they were excited to do something special.
‘In fact, they are excited now to find out what we are doing for their big sister’s photo session, which will likely be a little more grown up.’
‘I had no clue this would receive recognition,’ Rachel said.
‘It’s been fun to see how many people are touched by it. I keep telling the kids, “You are good at bringing happiness to us, now you are making the nation happy too!”‘
Mikayla, the eldest daughter of Rachel, is going to celebrate her birthday the coming week and we can positively look forward to a set of adorable pictures from the event.
Replaced!