6 Tips for Camping with a One Year Old

Our family loves to camp. We are not hardcore campers, though. I'm not big on having the little ones out there in the extreme heat/cold or storms. We've decided to go again when the weather cools off here a little bit. We've had a heat index of 100 degrees or more for the last few weeks. 

This year we will have a 15 month old with us. I've been searching Pinterest for some tips to make things easier. I thought I would share with you some of the ideas that I'm going to try. After our trip, I will let you know whether they were a success or failure.

6 Tips for Camping with a 1 Year Old

1) A tent to sleep in and a tent for the little ones to play in. Extra bugs and dirt can go in the play tent and stay out of the big one.

2) A Sound Machine to help everyone sleep.

3) A Baby Carrier that can also carry baby on back or hip for hiking trips.

4) Some kind of bug repellent is a MUST. I don't really want to put any bug spray or bug lotion on the littlest one, though. I would like to try these stickers.

Creamy Baby Oil also works wonders against mosquitoes. I'm not sure about ticks.

5) I love the idea of using Johnson's Baby Head-to-Toe Disposable Washcloths to give the little ones a bath before bed so they will sleep better.

6) The Pack and Play will be another good place for the littlest one to play so that I don't have to worry about her walking into the fire or something while I'm busy.

For more camping tips, check out my Camping Pinterest Board. Let me know if you've got any good tips for camping with a one year old.

Perfect Southern Biscuits

My husband and I LOVE large buttery biscuits! No matter how hard I tried to make them, I could never find the perfect recipe. Until the day that I did! I modified that recipe, of course. I thought I would share with you how I made them. Let me know if you love them as much as we do!

How to Make Perfect Southern Biscuits

Add Self-Rising Flour to a mixing bowl. Cut in cold butter with a pastry blender until coarse crumbs form. (The pastry blender makes life SO much easier!)

Blending butter and flour.

Add milk. Using a fork, stir until just moistened. Turn out onto a floured surface.

Dough ready to roll out.

Lightly knead the dough with floured hands for about 30 seconds or until nearly smooth. Roll dough to 3/4 inch thickness.

Dough 3/4 inch thick.

I like to use an old soup can with holes cut into the bottom to cut out 12 biscuits. Place on a greased cooking sheet with sides touching.

Biscuits ready to bake.

Bake at 475 degrees for 13 minutes or until golden brown.

Golden Perfect Southern Biscuits

Spread butter on top and serve warm. My husband loves his biscuits with honey.

Warm biscuit served with honey

To print this recipe, pop-out the image below.

It's Time to Can Peaches!

My friend Kaity and I canned peaches for the first time this weekend. Things like this are definitely more fun to do with a friend! Since we had never canned peaches before we needed a little help. We found some awesome instructions on this post. 

How to Can Peaches

Ingredients Needed:

Peaches

Water

Fruit Fresh

Equipment Needed:

Water Bath Canner

Jars, Rings, New Lids

Jar Lifter

Magnetic Lid Lifter

Knife

How we did it:

We had 3 boxes of peaches that were each a 1/2 bushel. We decided to can them in three batches. This worked well for us, but it took ALL day long. Good thing we were having fun, right?

1/2 Bushel of Peaches

Begin by washing the peaches.

Washing Peaches

The peaches were then peeled, quartered, and pits removed. Use Fresh Fruit to keep them looking nice because this process takes a while.

Peaches ready for the jar

The water in the Water Bath Canner was heating during this process.

Water Bath Canner

The jars were washed and kept warm while the lids were in a little pot of simmering water. Then it was time to put in the peaches and the hot water before placing them in the Water Bath Canner. (Make sure to wipe off the jar rims before placing the lids on.) Process pint sized jars for 25 minutes and quart sized jars for 30 minutes. Remove the jars and place them on a towel to cool. 

Canned peaches cooling on a towel

Let me know how your canning process is different than mine!