A Huge Weekend!

Wow. I am blessed. Lucky. Loved. You guessed it - we won the kitchen!!!!!! What an amazing weekend we had!

Saturday morning saw us off to Jordan's soccer match (which they won - go Coolum Mantarays!), then we headed off to the live radio broadcast from Look Cabinets in Yandina. We were late (as usual) and were listening to the radio station on the way. Mark (one of the announcers) said 'All of the finalists are here aren't they Caroline?' (the other announcer), and of course she replied - 'Umm, no, Chenoa's not here yet'.
How bloody embarrassing!!! When we got there we ate some of the yummy food that the Kleenmaid Appliance ladies had been cooking, and scoped out the other finalists. One lady was there with her daughter - who I taught at Bli Bli Primary in Year 4!

Mum, Kerry, Nana and Aunty Vicki were there as our support team, but I think mum was more nervous than me. Every time we would separate and then see each other again she would grab my arm and let off an excited squeal! Then she kept trying to show me colour charts and ceasar stone charts! Mum - we haven't won it yet! I'm not looking! I think Daniel was more nervous than me. By this stage I was doubting my bravado from the previous 2 weeks, we had heard the day before that a lady was handing out pamphlets at the Plaza (our local large shopping center) to vote for her.......very unnerving!

Of course they made us wait longer than anticipated. My phone was going off with Facebook hits and text messages. Mary Francis from New Jersey, United States, a soon to be triplet mum who is a few days in front of me, even stayed up late after a long week at work, listening to the station live from the US! All my October Mummies Facebook group ladies were either listening in or stuck on Facebook trying to see if I had won! Lots of friends were listening from all over the Sunshine Coast and the country! Finally they told us that there was one more song and then they would announce it. They had us all stand around together and one of the owners of Look Cabinets, Jeff, got to open the sealed envelope. I was holding Daniel's hand so tightly and repeating in my head 'it's not us, it's not us, it's not us'..........and is was!!!!!!!

I jumped in the air - yes jumped!! And then got very emotional (nothing to do with the jumping) and had to compose myself against Daniel's shoulder for a few moments. The announcers came over and were just as excited as us! Jordan and Amali were standing there a bit overwhelmed and I told them and Amali jumped up and down clapping her hands. We were asked lots of questions, and of course, I said 'awesome!' Everyone had paid me out for saying it twice in the initial phone conversation with the radio, so I let it rip again! Because it was awesome!!!!! Jeff offered his hand in congratulations, but I gave him a huge hug instead! Hugs all round for my family, and from the people at 92.7 Mix FM, and Look Cabinets. Even the other finalists came up and congratulated me, which was lovely. One said that when she heard my story she thought 'no way can I compete with triplets!' It was a huge emotional roller coaster of a morning, one that I will not forget in a long time! All I'll have to do is look at my new kitchen!

The moment the winner was announced!

So everyone is wondering what happens next. We chatted briefly with Jeff and Hamish from Look Cabinets before we left, we have a legal cooling off period (like I'm going to say - 'you know what, I think I like my old kitchen'....hehehehehehe!), then they'll come around and measure up the space, get us in the show room to 'pick and choose' what we want and the designing begins. Without checking with the guys at Look, I'm fairly confident to say that the new kitchen will be in before the babies are born!

After we left Look Cabinets, with ridiculously huge smiles on our faces, we rushed home to get ready for our wonderful friends', Skye and Mic's, wedding. And didn't the Sunshine Coast pull out all stops on the weather for such an amazing day! Not a cloud in the sky, over looking First Bay at Coolum Beach with nice sets rolling in, crashing on the sand. Mic was looking very nervous and completely rooted to the spot, I don't think he moved! Skye arrived looking absolutely stunning with her blonde hair in light curls down her back, gorgeous white dress with a train trailing off behind her. It was a beautiful ceremony with a blessing of the rings and sweet vows to top it all off. The bride and groom had a lengthy kiss at the end and were showered with rose petals from the tiny flower girls. I must say that the bridesmaids and head flower girl did an amazing job in their sky-high heels! And they looked stunning too!

One very happy family! Mum bought the kids down to see Skye looking beautiful, then took them home so we could relax xx

We headed off to the reception at Maroochy Surf Club for a night of yummy food, brilliant speeches and some dancing (not me!). I ended up having a lie down twice at the reception - I hadn't lain down all day and my back was aching, not to mention the top of my tummy feeling the weight of 3 babies all day with no rest. In the end though, we didn't end up leaving until midnight!

 Me at 17 weeks, and 1 day!

It was a fantastic day, topped off by a fantastic night!