I don't really have anything specific to post about, but I thought I would give a small update of each Shaw for you. 
Tuh Tuh Tuh...Tate

Tate is such a good boy and has been having a blast at daycare. He loves seeing his friends there and plays very well. He's kind of been a stinker with naps lately and I hope it doesn't mean he's growing out of them; we love our little sleeper. Tate has a lisp that has worried us a little. We had his speech evaluated by Kids on the Move and our worries were put to rest. His speech abilities are actually in the 89 percentile for his age. Tate's hardest sound is 'S' and I didn't know a way to show him how to get his tongue to work so he didn't make the 'th' sound. We were given some exercises to help him form his sounds correctly and already we can tell a difference. We ask him to say "tuh tuh tuh Tate" and then "sss sss sss Snake". He's doing so well with it and already picking up on the 'S' sounds on his own. So proud of you Bubba!
 Ellie Mae

Ellie has been busy with school and soccer. Her soccer season ended on Tuesday. She did a very good job and enjoyed playing, now she has requested to do dance. We'll see how that works out. She was chosen as Student of the Month for her kindergarten class. Her principle came and presented her with a certificate and pencil. Her teacher said she chose Ellie because Ellie is always a good helper and helps the other kids if she finishes with her work first. She also said that Ellie is very caring and makes sure that everyone in the class feels happy and special, that she is a good friend to everyone. We made sure that Ayden got to be there when they did the presentations and he said "yeah, Ellie is those things." Definitely!
Ayden J.

Ayden has been busy with school and making sure to watch his Cougars on weekends. A few weeks ago we had parent/teacher conferences and his teacher said she loves having him in class. He is one of her best readers and asked him to read to the entire class to show them how to use voice inflection. She says he does so well with voice inflection and flow that she wanted him to teach the others; I think he was a little nervous but felt good about himself.  He and Spencer were able to go to the BYU broadcast center and attend a taping of BYU's pregame/post game show of the BYU vs Notre Dame game. They were in the audience and got to see Brian Logan (former corner back). Of course, it was recorded at our house and we got to see them in the audience. The day included free lunch (pizza: Ayden's FAVORITE) and watching the game on the HUGE screen. 
Spencer
Spencer has been working for Morgan Stanley, a financial company and has been enjoying the laid back atmosphere. And last week in church he was given a new calling. The bishop was reading a list of names of people with new calllings and announced that "Sister Spencer Shaw has been called to be the assistant scout master and 11 year old's teacher in primary." It was pretty funny and he was teased all day about being called "sister" Shaw. Last week he was able to do a cabinet job for his old boss and he loved it. He said he didn't realize how much he missed it, but he was very sore the next day!
Loni
I have been busy with work and kids. I work for an internet company that sells children's jewelry TinyBlessings (our Ellie is on the website modeling some necklaces.) and it's been very busy. About 2 weeks ago, I was there on a Friday night until 8:15pm. I love where I work because they are very flexible about sick kids or school events. I am also the 2nd counselor in our Primary and that's been a fun opportunity for me. It's my month to teach sharing time and I have enjoyed teaching the kids about the blessings of the priesthood. With Spencer being in Primary with me now, I have warned(threatened) him to not make faces or distract me! So far my warnings(threatenings) have worked.

So that's what's happening with us. We're staying busy with everyday life and enjoying the beautiful fall weather here. We did see snow on the mountains last week and can't wait for it to be in our own yard. The kid are very excited for Halloween. Ayden has decided to be a mummy, Ellie a cheerleader, and Tate...we've haven't figured his out yet. Any ideas? Well check back in a few weeks to see what we came up with.
 

Halloween Craft

Aunt Katie gave us a Halloween craft to make with the kids. They had a lot of fun painting and decorating these.

They each got to make a ghost, pumpkin, and frankenstein out of popsicle sticks. Tate did a very good job painting his own sticks and really didn't get too much paint on himself. Ellie's favorite part, even after my hesitation, was the hot glue gun. She kept telling me "I've got this mom.". I still helped her! Ayden's favorite part was hanging them on our tree outside. They each cut out their own pieces for the faces, even Tate. We gave him the extra dull safety scissors and after about 20 minutes he had one eye cut out!

their finished crafts

goofy kids

We put them on our tree, but we forgot to turn off our sprinklers so the bottom ones kind of fell apart! 
Thanks Aunt Katie for giving us the idea for their Halloween craft.

Taste the goodness

While Ayden and Spencer were at a BYU game on Friday, Danielle and I decided to make strawberry jam. We grew up with this stuff always in the freezer! My Grandma James used to send us ice cream buckets full of strawberry jam. It kind of became a tradition in our house. Eating toast with this jam reminds me of my childhood. I always thought that it was grandma's special, secret recipe. Nope, it's right on the pectin pack! So we thought we would give it a go.
I was able to get 8 lbs of strawberries for a very good deal and that made enough jam to last our family quite awhile.

I had no clue it was as easy as chopping strawberries, adding sugar and then the pectin mix!
Of course having helpers made it a litter easier

And our finished result tastes great!

I love that I was able to recreate one of my childhood memories to share it with my family.

Rah Rah Rah Rah Rah.....Go Cougars

Friday night Spencer and Ayden went to the BYU vs Utah State game. Ayden has been looking forward to going to a game for quite a while. It's been forever since he's been the Cougar Stadium. The game didn't start til after 8pm, but that didn't stop them from going down early!
Ayden and Spence met up with Grandpa Shaw and Uncle Ben. Here they are on the drive to the game.

Spencer said it was really cold so it's a good thing they brought blankets and coats. I'm not willing to sit and freeze for 4 hour for a football, but it didn't even faze them!

Luckily for my boys, the BYU Cougars beat Utah State (my team). I am getting over the loss a lot easier than they would have. As much as I tease them, I think it's great how loyal they are to their team.