Maarten's eighth birthday morning excitement threatened to become a complete disaster when everyone started arguing and yelling with each other about the most unimportant trivial matters. The parents stood by helplessly trying to remain calm and fearing the worst. Finally, the happy birthday boy could not take it any longer and became unhappy. All within five seconds or less. Maarten had risen out of bed extra early that morning, because he could not wait, getting his hopes up so high, and then all of this nasty yelling and cussing. Tears came to his eyes, and finally poor Maarten ran upstairs crying. What a shame. After consoling him for fifteen minutes or so, the temptation of the colorfully wrapped presents and chocolate birthday cake was too much for him to resist, so he came back down for a second try. This time it was good, really good, and we all forgot about the near disaster which is a regular occurrence for a family of four wild-and-crazy kids.