>
When Mudgee dad Steve Mitchell came up with a bright idea for a 2016 Mother’s Day gift for his wife Annette, he enlisted local photographer Nikki Burke to help make it happen.
Steve and his baby daughter Eva then set about a stealthy, super-secret plan to create something beautiful and ever-lasting to show their love for their favourite lady.
Husband of the year!
Posting the results of their year-long secret squirrel project to Facebook yesterday, photographer Nikki explains:
“OK so here is the 12mth long secret Steve and I have been keeping from his wife Annette. Ok so this is father of the year material!!”
“For 12mths on the same day of EVERY month Steve has been smuggling his little girl Eva out of the house to come to my studio for progressive images. Can you believe he has managed such a task?!”
“Being a breastfed baby you can only imagine how hard and not to mention the stories he had to spin to get her out of the house!”
Happily Eva after
“I loved hearing the stories every time he came as to how he smuggled Eva out. He did so well and I’ve been busting for you to see them! Eva is such a gorgeous little girl and I’ve thoroughly enjoyed documenting her growth for you!” Nikki said on Facebook, tagging Eva’s mum Annette.
The loved-up mum-in-question chimed in at this point, explaining how much she loved this gorgeous gift and sharing her amazement that it all came together so beautifully.
“Such a beautiful gift, am wondering how he managed to pull it off but I’m glad he did” she said.
“What a wonderful mother’s day gift and my baby just looks sooo cute. Thank you Nikki Bourke and Steve.”
Cone of silence
Apparently Steve managed to pull off this amazing challenge without any help from family or friends, often against all odds:
“I can imagine the stories would have been funny as in the early days there was A LOT going on … apparently no one even helped with his escape plans … Thank you for making it happen,” Annette marvelled.
Scroll through to see the super-cute results of Steve, Nikki and Eva’s surprise.
Fresh as a daisy
One month old
Two months old
Three months old
Four months old
Five months old
Six months old
Seven months old
Eight months old
Nine months old
10 months old
11 months old
HAPPY BIRTHDAY!
Mission accomplished
“Yay you did it Steve!! I’m imagining tears tonight when Annette was shown the images. Hope you love them Annette. What precious memories you have of your little girl.” Nikki wrote on her Facebook page.
Congratulations to Steve, Eva and Nikki on a job beautifully done!