200 Pinterest Family Recipes

Whether you're snowed in or just want to fill the house with the warm and cozy scent of sweet baked grains, kids love whipping up and eating cake, cookie or cupcake batter. 

Baking cakes, pies and cookies is just the sort of thing to do this time of year. The sweet anticipation of eating it up makes getting snowed a lot less tiresome and a lot more fun. 

Brenda loved watching a television game show centered around healthy eating. The entire family was involved. They searched for healthy alternative cake recipes online. After finding two recipes they bought the ingredients and went to work (or play) whipping up the cake batter.  Imagine baking a delicious cake that has 80% less calories than store bought cakes and makes you feel better too! 

After baking the two cakes they voted on the appearance, texture and taste. Giving each category a score from 1 to 10. It was fun to watch, but it's even more fun to do in your own kitchen with your own kids.

200 Pinterest Family Recipes

To help snowbound families with a knack for cooking and baking Brenda and I have put together a Family Recipe Box of 200 Pinterest Family Recipes featuring all sorts of fun and tasty recipes some good and healthy and just plain good tasting. The Family Recipe Box will be a permanent feature of  the Family Reunion Planner Social web app soon to be released. 

Take a look at more than 100 recipes posted by fellow reunion planners and enjoy your own family bake-a-thon. 

10 Snowbound Activities To Beat Boredom

It came out of no where. Only a few days advance notice. Brenda and I watched the news as half the east coast was pummeled by several inches of snow. In some areas snow drifts were several feet high. We were grateful we did not get a single snow flake here in Maryland but we drew up a list of things we intend to do when the big one hits. 

Trapped in the house and no way to get out? Being snowed in is fine for one day but two or more days can drive you out of your mind. So what else can you do when you're snowbound and have nothing but time on your hands? 

10 Snowbound Activities To Beat Boredom

1. Catch up on your reading. 
2. Clean and organize.  
3. Take time to write to friends and relative using printed greeting cards. 
4. Look at home movies. 
5. Update memory book. 
6. Add an item to a memory chest. 
7. Try out some new and old recipes. 
8. Plan for a spring or summer gathering. 
9. Build your music database
10. Call friends and family
11. 
    

In addition to these activities think about what you like to do and plan ahead by having everything on hand. Like to knit. Get some knitting yarn and access to online knitting tutorials.
the art of knitting crochet and sewing

Like to cook and bake. Look over some recipes now and put together a shopping list including the ingredients of several recipes. family recipes

Like to paint or draw? Gather your materials today and put them aside for use when snowbound. 

Like printing and writing greeting cards? Print some cards today and write to family on snow day.
fun printable greeting cards

Like crafts like quilting? Create a quilting bag complete with all the items you'll need to tackle that winter project. family reunion crafts

7 Fun Snow Games You Just Gotta Try

Brenda called her family who live in New York. They were pummeled with several inches of snow. We are happy to report all is well. Our prayers are on behalf of all you east coasters. Keep warm. Stay dry. And to all the kids and young at heart out there... Put on your coats, hats and mittens cause it's snow playing time! 

So what to do with all that snow? Most winter Olympic activities require lot's of snow. Here are 7 great Olympic snow games for hours and hours of fun.  Want to make the most of it. Capture the day on Video and play it that evening or the next snowbound evening. You'll probably laugh so hard you'll side will hurt.

7 Fun Snow Games You Just Gotta Try

1. Make sleds from household items like stuffed heavy duty leaf and lawn bags, cardboard boxes, storage container lids  and have a snow sled race.
2. Make 30 snow balls and have a snow ball toss contest. Form two teams. Each team tries to toss the snow ball in the teams designated container. The team with the most snow balls in their container wins.
3. Build a course of hurdles and have a relay and hurdle jump contest.
4. Have two teams each trying to build the bigger snowball.
5. Build a snow man. Form two teams each with it's own hat. take turns trying to toss the hat on top of the snowman.
6. Using one snowball, play snow ball tag. Toss the ball to a team player to tag the other team member. Try to intercept the tossed snow ball and tag the opposing team player.
7. Snow sculpt a work of art.

These games are not just for kids but for kids at heart. Join your kids in all that snow and make it a day they will never forget. Next stop, some hot cocoa, fudge brownies or hot baked pie. Yummm! Get even more great home recipe ideas for the snowbound at http://pinterest.com/fimarkhome/family-recipes.

February - Black History Month

Black History Month
A Celebration for All

Black History Month is a remembrance of important people and events in the history of the African Diaspora. It is celebrated annually in the United States and Canada in the month of February, while in the UK it is held in the month of October.

Black History Month was established in 1976 by African-Americans for the Study of African-American Life and History. The month-long celebration was an expansion of Negro History Week, which was established in 1926 by Carter G. Woodson, director of what was then known as the Association for the Study of Negro Life and History.

At first it was celebrated almost exclusively by African Americans, taking place outside of the view of the wider society. Increasingly, however, mayors and governors, especially in the North, began endorsing Negro History Week and promoting interracial harmony. Now Black History Month is a national observance. Families are encouraged to take advantage of the effort to promote recognition of a rich heritage, culture and resilient people of African decent including African Americans, European Africans, Brazil, the Caribbean Islands and Jamaica to name a few.

1. Black History Month Activities:
2. Join or form a Family History Society
3. Donate to your favorite black charity
4. Visit a black museum or art gallery
5. Write about your families contribution to black history
6. Read a grade level book regarding notable black achievements to your children
7. Volunteer in some way to give back to the community
8. Learn more about Black History Month at http://black-history.fimark.net

In celebration of Black History Month Fimark Home presents the Family Reunion Theme "Family Fest." A family reunion festival planner featuring cultural exploration in food, culture, stories, poetry, music and colorful decor and costumes. You'll find this and more in Fimark's Family Reunion Planner at http://family-reunion-planner.fimark.net

Incoming 2013 - Family Night Highlights

INCOMING 2013
The Fall has passed and winter is upon us. Before you know it, it will be spring again. Can you believe that 2012 has come and gone? It was back in 2008 that we wrote... "Before you know it we'll be sipping a frosty glass of lemonade to the beat of "Family Reunion" on a warm Sunny day while the youngn's laugh and play." Well 2008 thru 2012 has passed but we do have our memories don't we? And that's what it's all about. Even now we are halfway thru the month of January and the rest is about to be gulped down.

NO REGRETS
Don't drink your refreshing cup of life to quickly. Learn how to truly savor the moment. Enjoying the moment is not as easy as it sounds. But when you consider the fact that all we really have are our memories, the present time, and the happiness we hope to enjoy in the near future making memories free of needless regrets has much to do with knowing how to enjoy the moment. 

1. Don't drown out past regrets in bottles of brew and addicting substances. This will only conjure up foolish talk and actions we end up regretting later. 

2. Don't attempt to mimic a pretense of happiness. Why pretend when you can experience the real thing? Give yourself permission to be truly happy. Love, loyalty and commitment make it happen.

3. Don't try to live someone-else's life. Help them live their own life and always live your own.
Learn from mentors example and be an example yourself.

4. Trying to relive the good old days in our present time won't work. Focus on living in the here and now. Only then can you look back fondly and enjoy a memory with substance, meaning and purpose.

5. Much of your success in creating a memory has to do with good planning and keeping things simple enough to enjoy the present. Give yourself permission to enter the moment, the present day and hour and make the most of it with the ones you love rather than fussing over endless details.

NEW YEAR RESOLUTIONS
What are your New Years resolutions? How close are you to meeting your goal? Here's are some tips that help make your resolutions a reality.

1. Spend more time with family even if it means writing letters, making phone calls or video conferencing. Not a phone person? Don't worry about it. Set a date to get together and pass it on.

2. Don't just talk about what you want to do. Make it happen with good planning. 

3. Planning an event? Begin by considering the purpose of the event and what you want to accomplish and express. Create a theme. 

4. Put an event planning date on your calendar and think about the features of the event until the planning date arrives.


2ND ANNUAL FAMILY NIGHT

Brenda and I put on a successful 2nd Annual Family Night last month for family and friends. We enjoyed professionally  composed music by close friends of the family. We enjoyed slideshows of our young from birth to present. We even composed our own background music for a family musical movie. Our purpose in doing this was six-fold.

1. Bring our family back together purely to celebrate family values and take pride in our roles as parents and siblings.

2. Teach the importance of putting family first over and above secular interests.

3. Teach our youth solid relationship skills while building character and unbreakable bonds.

4. Provide a positive pro-active outlet to direct all of our creative energy and inspire our youth to think about what they want to do with their life.

5. Fill the need for paternal affection

6. Heal aching hearts needing to confront family loss and provide closure.

7. Learn how to celebrate new life.

This time around their were fewer delays and disappointments. More time for hugs, taking photos and shaking hands. Our 2nd Annual  Family Night event was the most wonderful and beautiful moment that I and most of the attendees had ever experienced.

My most gratifying memory is that 2 years ago the whole thing was conceived by Brenda and I on our family summer vacation.



WATCH THEM GROW

Planning a family reunion is a great reason to come together. Be it to quilt, knit, exchange ideas, photos and recipes or just reminisce. When you think about it the time spent in preparation for a family reunion is as meaningful as the event itself. It's a time to enjoy the moment.

A proverb ways, "Wisdom is the prime thing. Highly esteem it, and it will exalt you. It will glorify you because you embrace it. To your head it will give a wreath of charm a crown of beauty it will bestow upon you. Another says, 
even the ant is “instinctively wise.” — Proverbs 4:7-9, 30:24, 25.

We are all growing and entering new stages of life we once only hoped to enter. Graduation, marriage, business, parenting, grand parenting and great grand parenting. It's a time to take on a new identity and carry the torch. To sit among comrades who share your joy and experience.  To learn how to make the most of it. To gather wisdom, give wisdom and appreciate the good results of applied wisdom.  

Events and ceremonies help us put it all into perspective. When planning any event including weddings, graduation and reunions take the time to use that time to contemplate and plan the future and appreciate the accomplishments leading to entering the next stages of life and most of all to gather the wisdom needed to carry on. When the events have passed you realize just how much it  was needed for all involved.

SHOUT OUT!
Here's a shout out to our new family reunion planners in Main, Georgia and The East Coast. - Welcome aboard.

WE WROTE THE BOOK
Brenda and I wrote the book on family reunion planning. Makes a great keepsake to pass on to the next generation. Get your copy of the The Family Reunion Planner Guide and Keepsake at  http://family-reunion-planner.fimark.net and start creating memories, drinking up life and living in the moment.

GET FREE STUFF
Like this blog but haven't signed up? When you sign up you're entitled to discounts and freebies to make your event planning even more enjoyable. And who doesn't love getting freebies in the mail! Signup on from this page.

Happy Reunion Planning Everyone!

Making Family Night A Hit

1. Family Night - A Big Hit
2. Making It All Work
3. Surprise Surprise
4. Food Glorious Food

Family Night - A Big Hit
This is an exciting time of year for me and Brenda. We are planning our annual Family Night with family and friends of the family. We started this traditional gathering in order to celebrate family values, present good parenting ideas and connect closer with our youth while giving them an opportunity to reveal their hidden talents, interests and their more mature side. 

Since the very first annual Family Night it's been anxiously anticipated among families in several groups in our community. 

It's amazing what gathering purely for the sake of connecting can do to the spirit of a child. Often teens distance themselves due to misunderstanding what a busy schedule of hard-working parents can do to them. This often leads to unspoken heartache and disappointment, making the parents job even more difficult. But when family members come together to prepare for Family Night doing what they all love doing most wounds quickly heal.

Making It All Work
Four key factors to making this work for each family member are:

1. Get the youth involved in the planning, writing and organizing process. 
2. Make sure there are plenty of eats the young folk and parents like and allowing them to clown around while taking snack breaks each hour or so. 
3. Set up the show in dinner theater fashion. 
4. Have the participants serve meals and soft-drinks to the older ones so they can connect with them in a special way.

One of the biggest hits of a our semi-formal family night affair is the Talent Show. Every second is savored and parents are proud of whatever their children do. Another hit is a well prepared drama complete with dignified comedy, cuteness and bitter-sweet situations.

Surprise Surprise

This years event will feature a movie taken of lasts years Family Night drama with added footage and a slideshow segment of all our kids growing up from infancy. 
To add some snap and surprise there's sneak peak "guess who" footage of the parents when they were the same age as their children. 

The folks were thinking about getting warm and staying warm throughout the coming winter months. Coats, jackets hat's, caps, scarves and gloves are on the top of the list. Brenda's even started knitting again. 

I decided to feature an adventurous knitting class scene in the drama. How could I knitting class scene possibly be exciting and adventurous.? We pulled it off. 

Read about the history of knitting and weaving and you'll see for yourself what a fascinating journey this artistic way of life has taken from the days of old to our time. According to the reviews the knitting scene went off quite well and now folks are seriously considering having a weaving/knitting class of their own once or twice a month.

Read about the history of knitting and weaving and you'll see for yourself what a fascinating journey this artistic way of life has taken from the days of old to our time. According to the reviews the knitting scene went off quite well and now folks are seriously considering having a weaving/knitting class of their own once or twice a month.
Read about the history of knitting and weaving and you'll see for yourself what a fascinating journey this artistic way of life has taken from the days of old to our time. According to the reviews the knitting scene went off quite well and now folks are seriously considering having a weaving/knitting class of their own once or twice a month.


Food Glorious Food

What inspires good spirited merriment better than a good hot meal. Depending on the season and economy we either have a potluck meal presentation where all the invited guests bring a dish or we will have it catered. Frankly they seem to prefer the variety in potluck banquet style dinners. 

Fimark's new Family Reunion Planner Social application soon to be released will feature a Family Recipe Collector via a Pinterest app. You can share recipes, get recipe ideas and comment on them. 

Take a sneak peak at some of the recipes that will be featured at http://pinterest.com/fimarkhome/family-recipes/

Planning and Decorating
We get our planning and decorating ideas, music and supplies and gift ideas browsing online stores around this time to take advantage of Black Friday Week specials. 

Happy Family Reunion and Family Night Planning!

Mark and Brenda

The Family Reunion Book is now 40% off. Was $29, now only $16.99
http://astore.amazon.com/family-reunion-20/detail/1461124239

Family Reunion Supplies - Get up to 55% off during Black Friday Week
http://astore.amazon.com/family-reunion-20?_encoding=UTF8&node=6

Family Night Theme Music just 0.99
http://astore.amazon.com/family-reunion-20?_encoding=UTF8&node=2

Autumn - A Celebration of Family

This time of year is best enjoyed with family and good friends. It's a great time for neighborhood walks. front porch dining in flannel and wool sweaters. Brenda and I love taking long leisurely drives and enjoying the brilliant fall foliage.

Stop at a vegetable and fruit stand and drink down a cup of fresh apple cider. Taste chutney on sweet and salty crackers and spice bread.

As you're heading home watch a slow sun set, tell stories about your childhood, youth and growing up while enjoying the scent of pine cones, and wood stove embers stir in the sweet smell of harvest.

This is the month to celebrate family tradition enjoy the tastes of your culture. It's also the ideal time to plan your next family reunion.  What better time to begin baking and cooking then Autumn. It's a time to crank up the oven heat, get cozy and fill your home or apartment with the scent of roasted nuts, grains, pumpkin, ginger, honey and Cinnamon.  Serve robust dishes that warm you up deep down like chili, brothy beef stew or minestrone

or good old chunky chicken pot pie.

Bring the family together, enjoy engaging activities like updating a special family events calender, creating family slides shows, make printable and online keepsake booklets, design colorful t-shirts and collect and try out traditional and new family recipes. The sky is the limit.

Now you can do all that and more under the golden tree. Fimark Home Online and Legendary Heritage Heirlooms present a suite of family reunion planning tools and applications that include exciting craft, recipe and party and dinner planning ideas. And best of all you can do it all and share it all while staying connected to long-distance friends and family online.

Fimark's Family Reunion Planner Social includes the following:

1. FAMILY REUNION PLANNER CHECKLIST
2. TODO LIST
3. DOWNLOADABLE EVENT PLANNING WORKSHEETS
4. THE COMPLETE PLANNER IN EBOOK FORMAT
5. NEWSLETTER MAKER
6. INVITATIONAL PRINTABLES
7. FAMILY RECIPE COMPILER
8. FAMILY REUNION SURVEY
9. FUNDRAISER WIDGET AND APP
10. RECEPTION HALL FINDER WITH REVIEWS
11. HOTEL FINDER With REVIEWS
12. REUNION CRUISE PLANNER
13. VACATION BOOKING APP
14. T-SHIRT DESIGNER
15. ITEMIZED BUDGET ESTIMATOR
16. DINNER PROGRAM TEMPLATES
17. ITINERARY TEMPLATES
18. DISCUSSION AND HELP BOARDS
19. ENGAGING FAMILY CRAFTS
20. MUSICAL SLIDESHOW CREATER
21. INSPIRING REUNION POEMS
22. INFORMATIVE REUNION PLANNING BLOG
23. FAMILY REUNION KEEPSAKE BOOKLET MAKER

Why learn new applications and perform tedious record keeping when much of the work has already been done for you within the applications and devices you normally use each day.  Fimark's Family Reunion Planner Social integrates the family reunion planning process with many of the powerful social application you already use to enhance your event planning experience your way.

With Fimark's Family Reunion Planner Social you get the job done more quickly performing up to 80% of your planning tasks online.

This is the future of event planning utilizing the best in cloud database and  DOM technology, online document sharing and social network integration.

With three options available for planning your Family reunion  Fimark's Family Reunion Planner Social is more flexible and greener than ever before while helping you expedite tasks in a more organized and time efficient way.  Reduce footwork, lower event planning costs and spare your reunion funds for other uses.

Often event planning involves lots of time consuming data entry, numerous meetings with the family reunion planning committee, visits to hotels, collecting fees, reliance on a slow post mail system, the cost of stamps and shipping and delivery of t-shirts, the hunt for quality services and vendors and having to raise more funds to offset unexpected costs.

The Fimark Family Reunion Planner Social is designed to eliminate all of that while helping you save money, scores of tasks over weeks of time? How? 

The planner includes online tools, apps and spreadsheets integrated into a document sharing and conferencing system so other committee members can assist in getting certain tasks done and maintain good record keeping.

The  reunion planning interface features award winning services like family reunion  hotel finder,  reviews and online tours, committee video conferencing and spreadsheet document sharing,  and a means to import social network contacts to spreadsheet format not to mention the ability to design your custom T-shirt online and share with family members across several social networks enabling them to buy shirts online. 

You'll also enjoy bulk discounts for group orders and fast printing and shipping. Conference online using state-of-the-art conferencing programs. Hold a seasonal shopping fundraiser online and invite members to order products they need and love while profits are deposited into the reunion account. Make use of fundraiser widgets and Facebook apps to make donations convenient for all.

Fimark's Family Reunion Planner Social to be released November 26th.