It was meant to be a family photo celebrating the first Easter for adorable twin seven-month-old girls Brynn and Avery who live in Cape Breton.
But when talk show host Ellen DeGeneres shared the shot of the giggling girls dressed up in bunny ears and surrounded by colourful plastic eggs, it became an online sensation.
DeGeneres posted the picture to her social media accounts April 13 with the words: “This photo is eggsquisite.”
The family still can’t believe it.
“Ellen DeGeneres shared it on her Instagram, Facebook and Twitter and they’ve had almost half a million views, likes and shares. It’s insane,” said mom Tarra Walsh, who lives in Glace Bay.
It took a lot of patience, and some coaching, to get the perfect shot, says Walsh, who took the picture. She captured one of the babies clutching an egg in each hand.
“When you’re taking photos of them, you literally have to take like 200 pictures because you get one slouching or one cranky or one crying. So it takes you a good 20 minutes to get a good one. And that one, when she held the eggs up to her chest, it was just hilarious. Loved it. So it was perfect.”
Walsh sent the photo to the comedian a couple of weeks ago after a friend’s suggestion. She thought nothing more of it until she saw it on DeGeneres’ Facebook page. She rushed to tell family and friends.
“I was weak when she came out of the room and said the babies’ picture has made it to Ellen,” said grandmother Annemarie Brown. “I said, ‘Wow.’ I was weak. I couldn’t believe it.”
The babies are healthy now but they were born five weeks premature and made many trips to a Halifax hospital more than 420 kilometres away. Walsh says the girls bring a lot of joy.
“For some other people to see them and put a smile on their face too is amazing. It’s an amazing feeling. And all the comments, everyone saying how adorable they are. And they are. They’re beautiful.”
The family is hoping DeGeneres shows the picture on her daytime TV show next week but either way, they are happy to read all the comments from around the world.
“There’s some comments there that I can’t even read, they’re in different languages. But it’s nice,” said Brown.
It’s certainly a memorable way to mark a first Easter. The family still can’t believe the picture caught the famous comedian’s eye.
“They mean so much to us because there’s two of them and they’re so beautiful and they’re pleasant,” said Brown.
“I don’t know if Ellen could see that in that picture or what. I was just so amazed she picked that picture out of probably lots of other pictures that went in.”
