A Busy February for the Hollimans (Part 1 of 2)
25 February 2003
February is always a busy month around here. Both Katie and LW have birthdays in February. In addition, it seems like the family is usually over the holiday hang-over we experience every year after Christmas.
February 4, 1988 is a day that will live in infamy. Maybe that is over reaching just a little bit, but until you live with the boy, don't be too quick to judge.

The boy likes to celebrate his birthday with his friends and the latest in video games. This is no gathering for the unprepared -- each of his friends usually show up with their own game consoles and a couple of controllers. This year, we had dual Playstation 2 consoles networked together. In no time at all, the family room looks like a burgler dumped his take after ripping off a used video game store.
After a few short moments, the consoles are powered up and the boys are plugged in. Surprisingly, they can go on in this mode seemingly indefinately.
I could post more pictures, but I'm not sure if you'd notice much of a difference.
Being teenagers with a deep well of energy and competitiveness, the video games can (and do) last into the wee hours of the morning. This can make for a long night if one is a light sleeper. Luckily, I'm not. I shut the door, close my eyes and its off to dreamland. Unfortunately, Rebecca sometimes has trouble sleeping through a quiet night -- let alone a night filled with teenage boys shouting at one another. Indeed, during the boy's 13th birthday celebration, Rebecca finally gave up sometime around 3:30 am and sent me to urge to boys to go to sleep. Not lacking in a positive learning curve when it comes to getting her sleep, Rebecca now flees with Katie to the relative shelter of the Fox's and leaves us "guys" to fend for ourselves. That means tearing the boys away from the tube, taking them out in public where they can embarass themselves (do you have a little story to share with us on this point, Kevin?), eat and take in a movie before returning home and plugging in. I then go to bed and let the boys wear themselves out. The results are shown to the left and below.
At this point, Rebecca shows up like Florence Nightengale to fix the boys breakfast. OK, she only cooks the pancakes, but she'll take credit for the whole enterprise ...