Do-over

I want a do-over.  Today was not what I had in mind for our family.  It started out somewhat "normal" and Daddy even made the kids pancakes and bacon, so they were really happy.  Shortly thereafter, Clark's teacher arrived and he even seemed more receptive to her than he has been recently (since I've been at home on Thursdays).  I had a little trouble convincing the girls to join me in the garage for some painting, but eventually they took the bait and it was fun.  My thinking was to use finger paints.  They love them.  Instead I found the watercolor paint sets that I have (one for each that I found for 50 cents each on clearance!) and got out brushes, paper and small bowls of water.  Did I mention SMALL BOWLS OF WATER?!?!?!  Because you would have thought that I had given them a pony!  They loved the bowls more than anything.  I think they were under the impression that the point of this exercise was to color the water, not to add color to the paper.  Either way, they were content and I was pleased.
But then it was time for teacher to leave and Daddy to go to work and the world seemed to come to an end.  A dramatic, screaming, crying, fit-pitching end.  I eventually got the girls interested (safely) in a snack and a Wiggles movie while Clark decided it was time to check out the garage.  The main door was closed, so it was somewhat safe for me to run in and check on the girls at times, but still hang with him while he rode bikes, pushed the strollers and just did garage-play-stuff.  He got a snack too but wasn't at all interested in The Wiggles.  It was only when I threw in Baby Signing Times that all three were willing to spend some time in the playroom so that I could finally clean up the dishes and trays (from breakfast) and start making lunch.
All the while, I was waiting to hear from the water/mold removal/remediation experts.  Yes folks, we have a water leak.  In fact, they found two more today.  All hot water leaks, so this explains our $90+ water bills for three months and almost $400 electric/gas bills for the last two months.  We received a notice from the water company that our use was excessive and we should check for leaks (unless we were watering a lot or filling a pool).  Well, we were running sprinkler toys, filling kiddie pools and water tables, so it seemed possible that we were just using a lot of water.  But I had this weird feeling that I could always hear water running somewhere.  It was.  Under the house.  Under the kitchen, actually.  Hot water.  Running.  All of the time.  Ugh!  So the plumber found the leak last Friday and made the repair.  We've been waiting on estimates to fix the water damage and remove the mold (I should point out that it's NOT toxic black mold).  We had to call the plumber back when two more leaks were discovered today and now we are considering replacing much of the plumbing related to the hot water lines (which will stall out the work to fix water damage and mold removal).  Seriously?!?!?!  We had just decided on tile and a sink and toilet for the master bath repair (due to a leaky shower that began sometime last summer we have been showering in the kid's bathroom/tub).  Oh well.  It's not toxic black mold, right????  Who needs more than one working shower/tub in a house anyway?
Except that the plumber will potentially need to shut off the water from Tuesday until sometime Friday.  Did I mention that we have triplets?  And jobs?  And clothes/dishes to wash?  Again, things could be worse.  We are all OK and there is no major damage (in case you can't hear me, I'm knocking on wood in my bedroom right now).  Not major in that we do not have to tear the house down.  But this was certainly not in our plans right now (are home repairs EVER in someone's plans?) and things just seem to be so busy and slightly chaotic in our world that I don't even know how to go about getting it all done.  Poor Daddy is worn out.  Maybe we should just go to Disney World next week and leave the repairs to the professionals?  I think that would work out for all of us!  What do YOU think?????
Ok, sorry.  I'm done ranting for now.  I just had to get that off of my chest.  It will all work out eventually, but for today, it was slightly more than I wanted on my plate.  It really could be worse and I KNOW that in my heart.  Thanks for letting me blow off steam here.