Book Review: The Girl in the Gatehouse

Photo Source: Amazon

I never used to read romance novels because I thought they were all trashy. Lately however, I seem to be reading a ton of them, and not one is trashy. Quite the opposite, in fact. Guess you just have to know where to look, right?

The Girl in the Gatehouse by Julie Klassen is a lovely Jane Austen-esque novel written in easy to understand English about a young woman who has many secrets, and a man trying to prove he has increased his social standing. Brought together by happenstance, they are intrigued with one another, and find that nothing is as it seems. Lessons in loyalty and not judging without all the facts abound in this charming story. I thoroughly enjoyed this book. Romance & all. :)

I received this book in exchange for my review from Bethany House. All opinions are 100% mine!  

Halloween 2011

I would love to tell you that I have a a dozen beautiful pics of all my kiddos & their costumes, but there's only 3. Yup, just 3. It was freezing outside, the kids were so excited & just wanted to go trick or treating. As you can see, they barely held still for the ones I did get!

Here is Pinky Lee as "Audrey Hepburn in Breakfast at Tiffany's" & Lil' C as the Queen of Hearts

 Believe it or not, I did not decide on or make these costumes early. On Thursday, I had convinced Lil' Coconut to reuse her pirate costume from last year, and Pinky Lee was going to wear an old cheerleading uniform. But I went to Hobby Lobby to get the stuff to make Bug & Boo Boo Bear's costumes & found myself staring at tulle, dreaming about the inspiration costumes I'd found on Pinterest. Suddenly not caring that I had less than 24 hours to complete all the costumes for Friday's Halloween parties/parade, I bought supplies & rushed home to get started. I had to make 2 additional trips to the store, but managed to bring them to the school just in time!

Personally, I think they turned out great, and my girls look fabulous in them (as always!). Not quite the same as the inspiration photos, but certainly cheaper and made with love from momma! :)

 Suprisingly, I actually had to explain what boys were dressed as to many people! On the other hand, these costumes got more compliments than the girls' did!

Bug as the Red Angry Bird & Boo Boo as an Evil Piggy.

Thanks to Pinterest (again) for the inspiration for my boys' costumes. Not quite as good as the originals, but I've never claimed to be good at drawing! Boo kept taking the darn thing off randomly & we'd tell him nobody would give him any candy if he wasn't wearing his costume. Occasionally he would put it back on and join the other trick or treaters. Bug on the other hand, thought it was the coolest costume ever & said all his classmates thought so too. Yea!