Expand'n Gro Your Vegetable Garden and Flowers

This is a Sponsored post written by me on behalf of Scotts® for SocialSpark. All opinions are 100% mine.

Spring time has arrived and the changes of season comes new life. Flowers that have gone dormant over the cold season are now in bloom. This is also the time to grow a vegetable garden. Flowers and vegetable gardens need food to grow. The soil our flowers and vegetables are supposed to grow is, is not longer enough to sustain their growth, beauty and taste. This is why Scott's Expand ‘n Gro™ planting soil will be something you can not live without.

It is frustrating when you work so hard at taking care of your flowers and vegetables, only to see they are not surviving in their element. Not only is this frustrating, it becomes expensive with all the seeds purchased and any type of flower purchased at your local nursery. This Expand 'n Gro™ soil will grow up to 3x the flowers and vegetables compared to the native soil, the soil will improve over several years, this concentrated planting mix expands up to 3x in water, will feed up to 6 months and the all natural fibers hold up to 50% of water versus the basic potting soil. A bag of Expand 'n Gro™is available at garden and lawn retailers in the Midwest, Northeast and Texas.

This Spring I have begun planting my vegetable seeds and planting flowers, mainly bulbs, in my backyard. I began using this Expand 'n Runabout three weeks ago. I can not wait to see how well my garden grows once I move my starter vegetables into my native soil. My flowers are beginning to come up and I know it has to do with this Expand 'n Repotting soil. Some of the flowers I am growing are in the ground and in plants. So far, I have seen very nice results and if you are like me and you love to see flowers bloom and show off their colors and scents, this is the only potting/ground soil to use from now on.

Whether you like coconuts are not, your plants do. Coconut Coir is at the heart of this planting soil. Coir is all natural and light weight. If you are looking for something all natural, like I have been, this is why I use this. I do not want contaminated soil, which contaminates my food and flowers. Coir is found in such places as Sri Lanka, India, Vietnam, Mexico and The Dominican Republic. The whole coconut is used in making this soil.

Now, the key benefit of this soil is the moisture and control bulk density. It is vital the soil reach the plant roots for proper air space and circulation. This is also critical for the health of growing flowers and vegetables. Tilling this planting mix into native soil can reduce the soil's bulk density, which makes it up to 40% lighter and creates up to 90% more air space.

This sounds like something everyone who likes to get their hands dirty to create the flower or vegetable garden with want to use. The bigger, better and more tastier vegetable begins and ends with Expand 'n Gro™S.

So, I encourage all my readers to mix their native soil with Expand 'n Gro™.

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Have You Shopped On Become Yet?

If you like shopping online like I do, this is one website you have to visit. I have been shopping here for a while now and they have some pretty cool products. This website sells products in for the home and garden, electronics, sports, automotive, clothing, jewlery, health and beauty and what ever hot product they are promoting. Aside from all the above shopping areas, this website loads quickly. When you want to visit a website and it takes more than 6 seconds for it to load, it is time to go somewhere else.

This is not the case a Become.com. Once you are on their website, their website is laid out nicely too. All the major shopping area's are at the top of the page, a search box under the shopping area names, a tab from products and guides and photos of current products on the homepage.

With that said, and with summer just around the corner, you will be looking for swim suits soon. So, make Become your first, and last, place to find the perfect swim suit for you. Right now at Become, they are showcasing the nike swim necessities splice tankini set. Right now there are a variety of tankini's for sale at 20%-50%. Some tankini's are black, black and white and colorful. A tankini is great for ladies who want to wear a cool looking tanktop without showing their belly. These have become over popular over the past years. There is no need to go all summer not wearing a bathing suit anymore.

Now, whether you live in warm or cold weather, it is going to be cooler at night. With cooler nights, it is necessary to dress for cooler weather. Along with looking at the tankini's, I saw these cool 2009 northface jackets. There are northface jackets for men and women in a variety of sizes, colors and prices. Even if you think the winter season is over you might still want a new jacket. This jacket can be saved for next fall or winter season too. Some of these jackets are thin enough to wear everyday, whereas there are jackets meant for skiing and just being in the outside weather.

If you are going to attend a wedding, or have a daughter getting married soon, it is time to begin looking at wedding cake knives. The oneida cake knife is one of the most popular names in wedding cake knives. Some of the cake knives can be personalized with the bride and grooms first names on it. The cake knives can be purchased at a low and or high price. It all depends on what the bride is looking for.

This is an great website to 'bookmark' with all your favorites. If you are on FB and Twitter, you will also want to like and follow Become on these sites to receive online deals. 

Twice Girlies and Neighbor Across the Street

My twins, they are not shy at all. In fact, I would say they are no where near being shy. If I let them, they would talk to everyone in and on our street. Ever heard of the "Wonder Twins"? Well, this is what my twins are. When they begin talking and being active, indoors or outdoors,  their "Wonder Powers" of talking..and talking...and playing and so much more goes into overdrive.

Here are my twins helping our neighbor across the street. We love our neighbor and whenever she is outside sitting on her chair or working in her front yard, so are my twins. So, here are my twins talking and asking our neighbors ears off. What they are talking to her about is beyond me. I was sitting across the street reading my book my Frank Peretti, "The Oath". I take my camera almost everywhere I go and so I had it outside with my as always.

So, while I am reading my book and taking photos of my girls, they are digging in the dirt with our neighbor and asking her what they can do for her. I know they will not stop taking because I can hear they and see their body movements from where I am sitting.

Here are the two photos I took of them helping our neighbor:

TwiceGirlies at AWANA

For years now I had heard of AWANA from some of my friends at church. It sounded like something I wanted my girls to be in, but I had never signed them up for the mid week bible study/game time for kids K-12. Well, two weeks ago, my girls friend,Miraiam, invited them to AWANA. I said, sure, lets go my girls will love it. They loved it so much, I signed them up for the remaining season. The AWANA in my city ends in May and them begins again after summer break. When I signed up, I paid half price.

Well, the first night my twins were there, they did not know the song. The song was about the names of the books in the bible. I remember, going to South Hills Academy, when I was a kid learning the all the books of the bible OT and NT. I had to learn them all as my curriculum and I can still hear myself learning and saying them aloud today. The more my twins go to AWANA, they will learn both these songs. I can probaly find something on YouTube about learning the names of the OT and NT books.

Alright, so here are photos of my twins on their first week:

The photos above are showing my girls learning the verse John 3:16 with one of the volunteers. At my girls age, they begin out as SPARKS and move on up to a new name the older they get. Once they learn the verse and what it means, they earn a red vest and their first book, Hang Gliders. The vest shows them they are part of SPARKS right now and the more they learn from the bible, verses and such, they will earn badges and wings. Every time, I think, a student learns verses and what they mean, they earn a colored gem that gets attached to the wings.

After sitting at a certain table with their leaders, it is game time. That is what the photos above are. My twins are doing an obstacle course on this night. They are different events every Wednesday. This was just one week where they did this.

Last week, my twins learned John 3:16 and earned their red vest and first book. Now, they more AWANA bucks they earn, they can probably get a bag for their book. I am so glad they are having fun. Their twins, my sister's boys and my nephews, are also apart of AWANA. They have been going longer than my girls, are older and live in a different city.

Here are photos of my twins wearing their AWANA red vest and holding their Hang Glider's book:

TwiceGirlies At Alyssa's Birthday Party

My twins were invited to one of their friend's birthday parties a couple weeks ago. Oh they had so much fun. There was a bouncy house and a playground. The party was just for girls, so there was girlie things to do like getting a hairdo, nails painted, make up. It was so much fun. My girls were playing outdoors and running around the backyard with the birthday girl, Alyssa, and some other friends from school and Alyssa's cousins.

The home where the party was held, it was just amazing. The home sits on property where an almond orchard is. I had fun at the party, just like my girls did. I was meeting new people and just chit chatting away.

When dinner time came around, the kids, and adults, got to make their own pizza's. Yeah, there was mobile pizza guy at the party with a brick oven, pizza dough and pizza toppings. It was so much fun. I think this is one of the best parties my twins and myself have gone to in a long time.

While people were making their own pizza's, Alyssa was inside the home opening gifts. She received a lot of nice gifts, including the hat and headband my girls gave her. After the gift opening was done, it was time to eat cake, so everyone sat around the dining room table and sang, "Happy Birthday to Alyssa".

Here are the photos I took at the birthday.

TwiceGirleis Playing With Hannah at Park

A couple weeks ago (last time I wrote an article) my twins and their friend, Hannah, played at a local park. I have known Hannah's Mom for a long time now. So when I saw her daughter, Hannah, taking dance classes at the same place my girls have dance, we set a play date. The girls just had a blast with Hannah. The weather was nice that day and it was just nice to get out of the house.

Yeah, living in California (So Cal or Nor Cal) if you do not like the weather..just wait an hour. I say this because last Sunday, I was sitting in my front yard when the weather was very nice. It was warm and sunny. Then about an hour later, all this wind began picking up and grey clouds were showing up.

But I digress..

This day though, the weather happened to be wonderful all around. The sun was out, kids were playing and it was just good day. So, my friend and I sat on my blanket I brought with a bag of goodies. We talked about things we found we had in common. We talking about these things, we have in common, two weeks before the play date. It is just amazing how people are brought back together after drifting away, for whatever reason.

So, our kids are playing and having fun and we are talking about certain things we happen to agree with. It was like a WOW moment for me, and her. We are not alone in the things have come to learn and it is such an eye opener.

Aside from that, our girls have a good time together and they now have a new friend. It is a good thing too because they are the same age and like to do the same things too. Yeah, when the weather gets better, we are sure to have more play dates.

TwiceGirlies Playing With Romeo

In one of my last articles I wrote about my twins and their love for our neighbor's cat, Romeo. Well, my goodness, if you saw him and played with him you would love him too. When we walk down this street to his street and my girls call his name, he comes running across the street my girls voices. He used to have a necklace on with his phone number and name on it. It must have fallen off somewhere.

Anyway, on this day, the same day I took those amazing sepia photos of my girls, Romeo followed us home. Since I was taking photos of my girls, I included Romeo in the photos too.

O Romeo, Romeo, wherefore art thou Romeo (Shakespeare-Romeo and Juliet)

Here he is, in my front yard taking photos with my girls and loving it.

From these photos, can you tell my how much my twins love Romeo? No, really, can you tell? Romeo loves them just a much. I mean, if a cat will allow these little girls to mess with his ears, you know he loves them too. Hmm, I guess his name, "Romeo" is very suiting for him.