"Hok!" (Titus speak for Hockey!)

Last weekend, we headed to Minnesota State Mankato for their hockey Alumni Weekend. The best part was getting to play on the ice before the Mankato/Duluth game (in which Mankato came away with a great 4-4 tie)! It's safe to save Titus LOVED the ice and the action! He seemed to also love the penalty box, which may lead to nothing but problems in a few more years! All in all, he enjoyed his first Unofficial visit there (Evie's second)!


On Monday afternoon, Titus was not feeling well and not a happy camper about it while vacationing in Phoenix. Nothing could settle him down and he definitely did not want to do anymore swimming. Finally, I tried walking him around the complex. After about 10 minutes, he said "ball, ball, ball!" We had come across the basketball court and he finally got a smile on his face. For awhile, we watched the boys who were playing and then Titus practiced his own moves on the court!

Triple T!!!

While in Indianapolis nearly two weeks ago, Grandma Lucie and Bumpa stayed with Evie and Titus for four days. Although most everyone was sick for the majority or the time, I think fun was had by all and Titus even came away with a brand new nickname: Triple T! It's fitting and has stuck! Triple T standing, of course, for Titus The Terror (replacing his previous nickname of Titus the Destroyer). Even Evie has taken to calling him Triple T now and he seems to bask in the glory or terrorizing many things around the house...and usually looks back at us after the destruction with a gigantic smile on his cute little face!

Alongside of terrorizing any and everything he can get his hands on, Titus has really come into his own in the past two to three weeks. He still communicates mostly with sign language (milk, please, water, thank you, more and kiss are his go-tos), but now he can also actually SAY ball (his official first word; Chad was thrilled while I silently cried in a corner that it wasn't mama), "ack" (when we ask him what a duck says), possibly Bumpa (the jury is still out on this one) and, as of three days ago MAMA (although it comes out baba, but he will point to me or to me in a picture and say it, so we are pretty sure he just cannot make the M sound). Another amazing thing is he seems to understand about half of what we are saying now. He will head for the stairs when we say it's time to go upstairs for a bath. Putting on shoes, sitting down, washing hands, cars, balls, take off clothes, change diapers and many more are just a few simple commands that he for sure understands and will do an action accordingly. And, although the debate in our household has always seemed to be between hockey and basketball, Titus has seemed to take a huge interest (and seriously is pretty darn good at it) in a sport all his own: soccer! He loves to kick the ball around and into a make-shift goal Grandpa Dave has made for him out of cones! This sparks clapping too, as he knows it is a good thing when the ball goes into the goal! Of course, we have not been able to get a great shot of this on video, but the one below is not too bad! While Chad was in Indy, my goal was to get him used to using bowls and plates too! It has officially been such a success (although occasionally in a Triple T fit the plates or bowls can get flipped upside down still), that we added a place mat today! I think he loves being a "big kid" like Evie! Speaking of Evie, Triple T can still out eat her at every meal! Today he finished off her sweet potato pancakes and blackberries after his own meal that was already much bigger than hers! I guess when you Terrorize your Mom, Sister and Home all day long, you can work up quite an appetite!


For Valentine's Day, Chad and Evie went to the Chaska Community Center's Sweetheart Dance, although Dad's day was complete when Evie asked him if they could leave the dance early to go watch the hockey game next door! They did and she is super into the Zamboni now and claims that all of Titus' big trucks are Zambonis! We continued the Battey-Family tradition of having heart waffles in the morning, followed by our giant heart-shaped chocolate chip cookie in the afternoon. Uncle Marc came for dinner to be Evie's Valentine and she even received her first bouquet of flowers from him!


It has been nearly two weeks since Chad and I have been home from the Super Bowl in Indianapolis. It was an AMAZING experience and one that neither of us will ever forget. I am fortunate to get to reap the perks of Chad's job from time to time and this definitely was the best "perk" I have ever received! The night before the Super Bowl, we went to a party hosted by "The Girls Next Door." It was interesting to say the least! We were definitely the group wearing the MOST clothing there! The next morning, we happened to meet Condaliza Rice at brunch, got to have sushi, Saki and more while listening to The Fray and Lenny Kravitz live before the game and then enjoyed watching Chad out at the field for the coin toss and alongside the Patriot's sideline during the game. And don't even get me started on Madonna! She was AMAZING! It is definitely an experience neither of us will ever forget, but one we are crossing our fingers we will get to do again sometime...hopefully with the PURPLE!

He's super cute and so much fun, our hockey player's turning ONE!

On Saturday, January 7, Titus had a crazy day of celebrating turning the big ONE with nearly 50 friends and family members! His hockey-themed birthday was a great success and Titus LOVED getting to eat his chocolate cake with peanut-butter frosting! Although he didn't care too much about the many great presents he received, he sure thought the wrapping and tissue paper were pretty great!

YUM....Thanks to Macaille Mahoney-Hafner, Titus' cake was both cool and delicious!

As you can see, Titus had all sorts of help unwrapping his presents!

Thanks to all the Grandparents for their help in making the food, cleaning the house and busying the kiddos while we prepared for the big bash!

Titus Turns ONE!!

It is hard to believe a year has passed! After such a rocky start in life, it is fun to see what a healthy, happy, strong, funny little guy Titus has turned into in the past 365 days! Titus continues to be such a happy joy in our lives. However, with age, some of his easy-going, laid back attitude has been replaced with a short-fused temper every once in awhile! That definitely doesn't come from Dad's side of the family!Despite that, his smile is infections and one of our favorite things in the world and we love what a love he is; always wanting to snuggle and be by his family! At one year of age, Titus' favorites include: black olives, bananas, pop-up books, waving, signing "all done," blueberries, electrical outlets (even though they are covered), pointing, signing for his milk, Crosby (the blanket/stuffed animal he sleeps with), sucking his thumb, cuddling, music, dancing, reading books (especially if they have a beat to them), night lights, our carbon monoxide detector, climbing the stairs, saying "Ah Ah" (which we think means Evie), pancakes and waffles, chasing Evie, clapping, praying, playing peek-a-boo, giving high fives, "if you're happy and you know it," looking at pictures of himself, pretending to talk on the phone, throwing balls, applesauce, Ritz crackers and more! It took him awhile to get on the move (he much preferred snuggling in my lap and WATCHING everyone do everything), now that he has mastered crawling, walking and climbing the stairs, we have nicknamed him Titus the Destroyer! Nothing is safe from his curiosity! We also think he is a bit of a character/prankster! He loves to give us this little smirk that I swear I have seen before (hmmm...maybe from Dad?!?!)! It will be so fun to continue to watch his personality develop!

To help ring in turning one, Evie and I took Titus to an ornament making party, McDonald's for lunch (complete with the playland, his favorite place) and then celebrated the evening with Dad, dinner and cake! He was a fan (wonder where he gets that from?)! We look forward to celebrating with almost 50 friends and family members this weekend for his official birthday party (hockey-themed, of course)!

Titus loves to play with Evie...and has a great "fake cry!"

In the nearly three years our family has been going to Lifetime Fitness Center 5 times a week, never once have we had an incident report with Evie (in fact, I never even knew LTF HAD incident reports)! Poor Mr. Titus has been involved in two in the past four months!! Both times he has been "the victim" but my mother says I am just getting myself used to life with a rough and tumble boy (although, have you seen Evie?!)

Where Did December Go?!

With January blustering itself in, it is hard to believe December 2011 has come and gone! I shouldn't be surprised, our calendar had events nearly everyday and with Evie really getting into Christmas for the first time, we had a blast!

Our first December stop was at the Chaska Community Center where we welcomed in Christmas (and Santa on a firetruck, although we got there just a tad bit late for that) with cookie decorating (and, as you can see by the pictures, plenty of cookie tasting), crafts, a visit with Santa and petting one of his real live reindeer (Titus was all about this, Evie, not so much)!

Our next Jolly Stop was to the Mall of America for the annual Viking's Holiday Christmas Party! It's hard to tell who enjoys the limitless rides, no lines and all the treats, Caribou and food you could ever want more: the kids or the parents! Clearly, as you can tell from the pictures, Evie is not a fan of men who dress up as anything, especially Santa or Viktor! We actually took two cars to this event so Chad and Evie could stay and shut the very last ride down!

The following week, we had a fantastic Friday in downtown Minneapolis! I always forget how much I love it downtown: Christmas lights on every tree, hot chocolate vendors, great shopping, resturaunts: what's not to love! We spent the morning at the Children's Museum of Minnesota. What a treasure! We easily could have spent an entire day there and still gone back for more. Evie loved the art studio and storytime the best! That same evening, we made a second trek back downtown (due to naps we had to travel back home in between) to attend the Holidazzle Parade. Chad was able to get us tickets in the "hot seats" although we both agreed with such a great night, we would have perfered to be out on the street with everyone, although you couldn't beat the hot chocolate! Uncle Marc joined us for the fun and everyone around us got a kick out of Evie on her "cell phone" calling goodness-knows-who to tell them when to send the next float!!

We spent Christmas Eve in Alexandria with champagne, crab legs, cookies, swimming at the Y and of course, presents! The highlight for me was Evie lighting the Advent Candle at church (with a lot of help from Grandma Lucie). Christmas morning, after a wonderful visit from Santa, we headed to Little Falls to see Grandpa, Grandma, Auntie Enie, Great-Grandma Deen, Uncle Marc and even a surprise visit from Uncle Marco, Josh and Mitch! Again, great food, treats and presents were had by all! In fact, the next morning, Chad went into Evie's room thinking she was crying because she had to go to the bathroom, when in fact, she was crying because she was sad Christmas, and all the presents, and all the people, was over! Hard to blame her!

We hope your holidays were as eventful and joyous as ours and hope your longest list this Christmas, was the one that counted your blessings!