Jim Toth is a Pretty Good Stepdad to Reese Witherspoon’s Kids

Before marrying Reese Witherspoon, Jim Toth jumped right into the stepdad boat willingly with both feet.

Since January 2010, Toth has been playing the dutiful stepdad to future wife Reese Witherspoon’s kids, and now that he and the 36-year-old actress are expecting their first child together, there isn’t a doubt in anyone’s mind that he’s going to be a great dad to their baby. “Jim is super-close with the kids,” says US Weekly of Toth, who was himself an only child, but has become a regular at 12-year-old Ava’s school swim meets and 8-year-old Deacon’s basketball games.

Despite Toth’s enthusiasm in embracing Witherspoon’s kids and the daddy-lifestyle, one source says that the CAA Agent’s desire to start his own family wasn’t there from the get-go, but has rather been a fairly gradual process, inspired by his interactions with Witherspoon’s children. “Before Jim met Reese, he wasn’t sure about having kids,” says the source. “Being around her kids has really shown him what it’s all about.”

Now it seems 41-year-old Toth is all about raising a family. With both Ava and Deacon, Witherspoon’s kids from her previous marriage to now-ex-husband Ryan Phillipe, play house quite nicely. The practical couple, wed in March 2011, go to Santa Monica’s Thad’s Episcopalian church services every Sunday (the church represents a missionary movement that heavily promotes community spirit). Afterward, new-family in tow, they head to lunch at their favorite places, like Ivy at the Shore or Blue Plate Oysterette.

“They’re big family people,” a source adds. “Reese makes Jim and kids a priority. They’re together a lot.”

Another insider said, “Settling down with Jim and raising a family is what she wanted.”

Do you think that Jim Toth is doing a pretty good job playing stepdad to Reese Witherspoon’s kids?