My Family Rocks...and Rolls

             I have a blended family. Not many people know what that is or how it works out. So I'll explain how my blended family works. Being part of my family makes my life truly exciting. I have been an official step mom to my boys for about 5 years (but part of the family for about 10 years). I am also a new mother of a two year old named Dante. Our house is full of boys and a perfect balance between responsibilities and play time. The dynamic between my husband Todd and I keep our home functioning smoothly. As a mother figure to a 16 year old  and a 12 year old, I need to be very involved with football, other televised sports, need to have knowledge of new videos on Youtube, and be active enough to play some kickball. I also need excellent eye-hand coordination for  any spontaneous gaming opportunities. My husband and I spend our time off singing baby songs, reciting nursery rhymes, changing diapers, kissing boo-boos and handling loads of house work!
The best thing about my family is the different happenings-daily. Sometimes it’s teen troubles or project and homework help, or my toddler is getting into trouble somewhere in the house. But no matter what Dad and I are an unstoppable team! We have even nick named ourselves the GT-UNIT, which is a Gina and Todd well oiled machine. It is a life full of quality, rather than quantity. Todd is so much an active part of his children’s lives I often have to stop him in his tracks much like a yield sign just to steal a kiss. Todd is a phenomenal father, the best I have ever seen. He is  a cool guy who has several amazing qualities. We have joint custody of our boys. We have them 4 nights a week. He and I see them everyday, and we love it! To make our time fun and productive we have special days we have incorporated into our lives.
             We have “Morning Mondays” which is when we are all up getting ready for our day at the same time. Big brothers help with our little guy. As I’m getting ready for the day, Dad’s preparing breakfast, snacks, and bringing boys to school. Tuesdays are “Try- new-Tuesdays”. If not for this day we’d be eating mac and cheese or chicken nuggets with no variations from that kind of meal ever. It’s squash we are trying this Tuesday, not sure that’ll be a hit but who knows. Wednesday’s are “At Work Wednesday”, the boys would head with dad to work but now they stay home with me. Thursday’s will sometimes be our movie night. We take turns picking movies. I’m thinking of showing Twilight at my next turn. Love story stuff is my favorite! We have “Feel Good Friday”, which consists of nice dinner talk. We do an activity where we take turns saying something nice about everyone and we feel good afterward. We have family game night Saturdays when we can. Big brother will read Dante to bed, then we play a game! Sundays we try to get to church. This blended family is fantastic! It’s so amazing how we all work so well together, Dad and I are always on the same page while our baby plays with his big bro’s; that is why my family rocks and rolls!

Blended ('blend)- to blend and mix, to put things together with typically good results. A combination of things that become one to exist as one.Verb.

Balance (ˈbalənst)- fairly proportioned. Equal and even parts. Taking all aspects of something into consideration to make something that is well proportioned. Adjective.

Dynamic- (dīˈnamik)- a force that makes something change and progress. A process of evolution and a system that shows progressive growth in an area. Adjective.

Spontaneous (spänˈtānēəs)- all of a sudden an opportunity. A unsuspecting occurrence. 

A time frame where something happens once and a while. Something that happens at random. unplanned activity. Adjective.

Machine (məˈSHēn)- something with many parts that together function properly. Parts of a whole that work effectively together to preform a task. Noun.

Quality (ˈkwä-lə-tē) - the value of something. The degree of greatness. How good or bad something can be. A feature or characteristic that describes something or someone. Noun.

Quantity (ˈkwäntətē)- the amount of something. A way to measure something but usually not by an actual measurement system. Noun.

Several (ˈsev(ə)rəl)- more than two but not many more. Something that has a countable amount greater than two. Determiner and pronoun.

Joint- something that is shared by two or more people. Two parties that work together as one. Adjective.

Productive (prəˈdəktiv)- to make or create an abundance of something. Producing or able to make more of something and to accumulate some item. Achieving an abundance in a progressive manor. Adjective.

Variations (ve(ə)rēˈāSHən) - the difference and change in something with known boundaries. A shift or change in the normal order of something. a different version of something.

Practice: Unscramble each word, read hints for help.

1. ytilauq                          

(hint: how good or bad something is)

2. tnioj

(hint: together)

3. veresla

(hint: more than two but not many)

4. emacinh

(hint: something with many parts that run well together)

5. endedlb

(hint: mixed together)

6. dnamyci

(hint: a system that shows progression)

7. blanced

(hint: even and fairly distributed)

8. senapontsou

(hint: suddenly and without a plan, at random)

9. qantyitu

(hint: the amount of something)

10. sariationv

(hint: differences and change in something)

11. vetiprocud

(hint: the ability to produce or create an abundance of something)

 It is not uncommon for families to exist in many different forms, such as being a blended family. Knowing more about different types of families helps people to better understand each other and those in their community.

http://www.focusonthefamily.com/lifechallenges/relationship_challenges/blended_families.aspx

Grammar point: I used quotation marks in the paragraph above because the days in my week have different titles. Make sure you know when and how to use quotation marks. The first thing to remember is that quotation marks are always used in pairs. Quotations marks are used to set off spoken language or titles of things that do not normally stand by themselves.

Exercise: Look inside of newspapers and magazines and cut out 3 examples of a place where quotation marks are being used. Try to find quotation marks being used to reveal the title of something and an example of when dialogue and spoken language is being used.