Make My Day!

One of the things my husband and I find hardest about raising 4 babies, is finding the time each day to make sure they get individualized attention from each of us. We've tried a few different ways of making this happen, but over time, they have all fizzled out. For awhile we would trade days and take one of the older boys with dad, and one with mom each night when my husband got home from work. My husband would take one outside, or to his shop to work on a project. I'd take the other and have them help me make dinner. The boys liked this, but once baby number 4 arrived, it somehow disappeared. The other day my second child, and the one that tends to get lost in the shuffle the most, came to me asked why we don't do this anymore. I knew then that he wasn't getting the kind of attention he needed from us. Don't get me wrong, I want to raise independent children that can keep themselves entertained, but I also don't want to look at them on their graduation day, and wonder how I missed it. How I missed them growing up. There are days where I look at my beautiful 2nd born as I put him to bed and wonder, " Did I talk to you today? Man I miss you." This is NOT okay. So here we are, planning new ways to get much needed alone time with each of our beautiful monsters.

What I came up with, is the "Make My Day" chart for the barren side of our fridge. Each morning the monsters awake, and head straight for the kitchen to pick their activities for the day. They know the expectation, and so do we. Each activity gets 15 minutes. That is 30 minutes a day for each babe, 15 with mom, 15 with dad. This hardly seems like enough to me, but I promise they notice. When they're getting their own time with each of us, their behavior improves, and they appreciate things more. It's only an hour of mine and my husband's time each day, and I think that is absolutely do-able, if you prioritize your time. Our kids are gifts from God, we only get for a short time here on this Earth, and I don't want to look back 20 years from now and wish I had spent more time with them. Work CAN wait! Chores CAN wait! Your kids CAN NOT!!!!

So here is the DIY on how we accomplished this chart. Enjoy!!!

1st I started by gathering pictures from over the years of my boys enjoying their favorite activities....


 
 Movie Night




Playing Cars With Dad


Building Legos


Playing Dress Up


Science Experiments With Dad



Cooking With Mom

You get the idea.

I then went to Walgreens, and ordered 4x4 prints of all our favorite activities. After Googling Coupon Codes, I found this one for 40% off, and got my 25 prints for only $6!!!!

2. After picking up my prints, it was time to make my magnets. Here is what you will need....

*Pictures=$6
*Homemade Mod Podge, Recipe found here=$1
*4x4 blocks of wood (Needed the hubby for this one, Mama doesn't use a table saw) Scrap=FREE

(not pictured, because I forgot: hot glue gun, and craft magnets)=$4

3. I then applied a thin layer of Mod Podge to a 4x4 block of wood. Any type of light wood would work for this. Mine was a scrap piece of plywood I had laying around.


 
 
I used Mod Podge because I didn't want glue lines that often form when using craft glue. This look could also have been accomplished with spray adhesive, but Homemade Mod Podge was much cheaper, and we do things on a budget in the FourMonster House.

4. Next apply your picture.

 
Lightly rub it on flat with your fingers.

5. Use your Glue Gun to adhere a magnet to the back. (I forgot to take pics of this step, whoops)
    FourMonster's Grandma provided the magnets. They were $8 at Hobby Lobby, but like me, she loves her Hobby Lobby app, and used the 40% off coupon there to get them for less than $5. (I still owe her for that)

That's all for the magnets, Now for the Chart itself.....

I used my silhouette, to cut out the vinyl lettering for my chart. Since most of you probably don't have one of your own, I am not going to go too deep into that process. This could easily be done in a variety of different ways. You could make another 4x4 magnet with each kids picture on it, one of mom, and one of dad. You could purchase vinyl letters from Hobby Lobby, use a Paint Pen, or Chalk Pen, so many great ways to accomplish the same thing. I just used my Silhouette, because I love it, and happened to have it handy. ;)

With the supplies I had already, and the ones I had to buy, this project ended up only costing about $11.00! That is awesome in my book.

Here is the finished product. The kids are loving it, and I think they really dig the fact that they are in charge of designing and directing their own special time with Mom & Dad each day.

The magnets, all finished and up on the fridge.


The finished product! I love that not only is this a great way to keep our kids feeling loved, and important, but a beautiful way to display fun family memories!!
 


Designing their day! They have so much fun with this!!!

Thanks for stopping by, let me know what you think of this project in the comments. Also, I'd love to hear how you and your family make sure to spend quality time together each day.