Week of Awesome

Every year at this time, my husband Forrest gets really busy at work. The craziness usually lasts from early January until the end of April. As an accountants wife, you just get used to not seeing your husband during those months. Busy season is hard on me, yes, but it is torture on Forrest. Last year his busy season lasted 6 months and he was working over 80 hours a week for most of that time. His first busy season, 2012, I decided to try and help him out by giving him something to look forward to. My plan originally was just for one night, but it quickly evolved into something much more fun. One entire week of a fun surprise every night. A Week of Awesome.

I started out by sending him a text message the Monday I was going to do it, telling him I had a surprise for him when he got home. That helped him get through the day. I made a poster with a hint as to what the activity was going to be and hung it on the door for him to see when he got home. Given that he was getting home usually after 11 PM, I designed the activities to be short but full of action so he could get enough sleep. Here are some of the activities that have been included in our previous Weeks of Awesome:

Spy Night - I used red yarn taped to the walls to make a maze of "motion sensors." The started right at the front door so he had to climb through them without touching the sensor to get to a treat in the kitchen. You know, like they do in the movies when they are trying to get to the diamond in the middle of the room but it's protected by laser beams :)
ESPN Zone - I set out workout clothes for us to change into and we played games on Wii Sports Resort. We played each game once and whoever won that game got a point. The winner got a back rub from the other person.
Mr. and Mrs. Smith - I got this idea from Pinterest. I bought two nerf guns and I hid in the bedroom with mine, all loaded when he got home. He walked in to see a note by his gun and ammo telling him to be prepared to defend himself. Then we battled it out with our nerf guns until we were completely exhausted.
Spa Night - I filled a basin with warm water, got some foot scrub and went to work giving him a foot massage while he told me about his day.
Night Under the Stars - I set up our tent in the living room and we made s'mores over the burners on the stove and fell asleep watching a movie on the air mattress in the tent.
Hide and Seek - I did this on a Friday since he got off a little earlier and we had more time. I made up a number-alphabet code using his favorite Harry Potter book and wrote a note using that code. I left the note in the book for him to decipher, and I left and went to the Cheesecake Factory (which is where the note told him to meet me). Once he got there we talked and laughed and indulged in delicious slices of heaven.
Indiana Jones Night - I set out his most safari like clothes (and I was dressed safari too) and we sat and watched a little bit of his favorite Indiana Jones movie. We couldn't watch the whole thing because it was so late, but even a little bit of it was fun!

Psych Night - We devoted this night to our favorite TV show, Psych, by eating pineapple and randomly selecting episodes from Netflix to watch. We picked with our eyes closed, then once the show started we had a competition to see who could name the episode the fastest. After we guessed it, we closed our eyes and started over again! (This only works because we've seen every episode more times than we could possibly count.. Time well spent!)
Double Trouble - we did this one when we were expecting the twins. We chewed double mint gum, watched some of those awesome double mint gum commercials from the 90's ("double the trouble, double the fun" - those commercials made me wish I were a twin so bad!) and finished off the night with the old version of The Parent Trap. 

Forrest has loved every activity and so have I! He gets so excited about Week of Awesome and I know it's become something he looks forward to every year to help breakup the monotony of busy season. It's quickly approaching time for Week of Awesome 2014 and I'm excited for him to see what's in store! (This year, since I finally live by some of my sisters, I'm doing a Sisters Edition of Week of Awesome. I'm super excited about that one too!) I'll be sure to post pictures and tell you all about this years' activities once we're finished!

I never tell him what week it's going to be, or what the activities are going to be. The mystery adds to the fun of it all :) Hooray for Week of Awesome!!