Jennifer Lopez on Blending Families with Alex Rodriguez: 'The Kids Are So Open to Love'

Since Jennifer Lopez began dating Alex Rodriguez two years ago, their romance has steadily blossomed.

“We love each other and we love our life together,” Lopez, 49, tells PEOPLE in this week’s cover story. “The exciting part of our love is that we’re both very aware of how lucky we are to have found each other.”

Of utmost importance was making sure their respective kids felt comfortable with the union, and with each other. Lopez, who has 10-year-old twins, Emme and Max, from her marriage to Marc Anthony, and Rodriguez, also divorced and a dad to daughters Natasha, 14, and Ella, 10, took great care with the introductions.

To their delight, the families clicked.

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“Kids are so beautiful and open to love and new friends,” says Lopez, whose new comedy, Second Act, opens on Dec. 21.

“I was so loving to his kids and he was so loving and accepting of mine, and they embraced each other right away. [It was] ‘I get a new bonus brother and sisters to hang out with all the time and it’s nice.'”

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A-Rod is equally as pleased. “Our kids have become best friends and that keeps us both grounded and appreciative,” he says.

“We couldn’t have asked for anything better than the four of them getting along as they do.”

For more from the exclusive at-home interview with Lopez, pick up this week’s issue, on newsstands Friday.