Heart-Shaped Pretzels.
I don’t have time to make these this year. Maybe you can.

Valentine’s Day falling on a Sunday this year is messing with me. Some people are like, “Yay, Sunday! I’ll have more time to make it special.” Me? I’m like, “Oh goodie. I get to try to make something special out of our busiest day of the week, which is followed by a day away from home at basketball games, which comes at the end of a crazy busy last ten days.”

Pity party much, Laura? Eh, more like simply trying to find my wits while figuring out the logistics of making Valentine’s Day fun for my fam. Sure we could wait and celebrate on the 15th – except that we can’t because that is Justus’ 16th birthday and we’ll be all about Justus that day.

Making Valentine’s Day special is going to be a family affair this year – which works just fine because our boys are big and capable. We’ve all been in cahoots, and if you recall, we plan to make a big fried chicken dinner together that day. This is ultimately a terrible plan for a Sunday meal for us since it takes so long to prepare and we are all usually starving by the time we get home from church. But whatever. I guess we’ll come home from church, start the chicken frying, then eat our salad course while we wait. I plan to have the mashed potatoes made ahead of time. The boys can make a dessert on Friday before we go to basketball games. There, that oughta do it.

So breakfast.

There will not be time for me to stand at the griddle making our traditional heart-shaped pancakes that morning before church. Plus I’d prefer not to dirty up the kitchen at breakfast, rush out the door, then come home to make fried chicken around a bunch of breakfast mess.

I’ve decided instead to make one of our family favorites: Oatmeal Breakfast Bars – with a few chocolate chips sprinkled in (because chocolate chips turn these into something Valentine-y, right?). I can bake them Friday since I’ll be gone all day Saturday. If I have time Sunday morning, I’ll make strawberry smoothies to go with the bars.

While thinking about breakfast for Valentine’s Day, I remembered a menu planning resource I created a few years ago. This has 31 Real Food Breakfast Ideas, all of which are linked to the recipes you’ll need. Help yourself! Hopefully it will give you some breakfast inspiration if you need it (for Valentine’s Day and beyond)!

I wanted to also remind you of a fantastic gift for Valentine’s Day that doesn’t involve the kids. (I mean, we love ’em – but Valentine’s Day night we anxiously shoo them off to bed so we can finally have some alone time.)

A MELT Massage For Couples package is so much better than any other gift I can think of. Most other gifts are eaten (chocolate) or die (flowers) and become only a memory. The MELT series is a forever gift. You can enjoy it on Valentine’s Day, the day after that, every other Tuesday, during times of joy, during times of stress… See? A forever gift.

I love (and need!) massages, and I’m pretty sure I’m not the only one. Matt and I have really enjoyed the MELT Massage For Couples videos and lessons. As I’ve said before – these are very tastefully done so you don’t have to worry about anything weird. They simply teach great massage techniques to bless your relationship!