Sensory Lab-Jam Packed Holiday Crafting

Our Sensory Lab is one of the most popular sessions we host at the Art Lab.

Kids get right into it and really get messy.

http://restlessravenartlab.com/

After School Craft Session

A local after school day care set up a session and came by for some winter/Christmas crafting.
We managed to work solid for an hour and each kid accomplished 9 crafts.
They were great gifts for them to give to family and friends, and to decorate their homes.
I loved working with these kids.

Deep Frying the Turkey

Brining the turkey is vital to a great tasting dinner.
This year we tried a new brine with oranges and herbs galore.
This is at least the 5th bird we've done this way and we convert some sceptic every time.
There's quite an art to it and if you don't do it correctly you can end up with some serious injuries or a projectile turkey.
Look it up on youtube!!!

Hubby set up outside, far from the house.
It was a cold, cold afternoon but that didn't effect the cooking time.
I love that the oven and kitchen are free for cooking all the other delicious stuff.

Elf on the Shelf

Adventures of Chuckles Our Elf

Chuckles returned in full force this holiday season.
It was so exciting to see the young ones sheer joy as she woke each morning and tromped through the house excitedly searching for the mischievous little red elf.

Non of the ideas are super original but thankfully the internet is loaded with other peoples elf adventures.
It saved me on a few late nights when it got too late or the one night I actually forgot.

I dont recommend 24 days but I know that this was probably the last year of Magic in our house, so i really wanted to make it special.

I even used elf to my advantage on a particularly difficult parenting day.

This was my fave for sure.
A few friends of our came to stay for the weekend and elf couldn't help himself.
LOL, it was funny to see poor E's face in the morning!!

Christmas