2010 Ultimate Au Pairs

Location:Salem, OR
Au Pair: Simona Armenean, Romania

Simona Armenean has been with us for nearly two years, and in that time has become one of the family. My wife passed away several years earlier, and with no nearby relatives and two boys just starting elementary school, I decided that I needed help because I often work long hours. The boys were in daycare, but they really needed a female influence in their lives. I began interviewing au pairs, and upon speaking with Simona there immediately was a connection. I was a little apprehensive at first, inviting a stranger to live with our family; however, when I returned home after her first day alone with the children, I knew that I made the right choice. After school, Simona and the boys had built a colossal fort out of blankets and chairs and were laughing and playing together. I laughed when I heard that the boys wanted root beer earlier that day, but even though they said it was OK, Simona wouldn't let them have it because it had 'beer' in the name. My decision was confirmed again when my oldest son had surgery. During his first week of recovery, he wanted Simona to stay with him throughout the night, which she gladly did. If the children are sick or scared in the middle of the night they want Simona, and she lets them sleep in her room. When Simona is away they ask "When's Simona coming back?" Now a Friday evening ritual, Simona gives up her free time to take the boys swimming and to get ice cream. And at night she tells them a bedtime story.

It did not take Simona long to fit in with our routine. Like most au pairs, she takes the boys to and from school every day and helps them with their homework; however, Simona goes a step further by volunteering at their school and meeting with teachers if more direction is needed for homework assignments. Now that the boys are no longer in daycare and waiting for me to pick them up, they can participate in extracurricular activities. After getting them from school, helping them with homework, and feeding them dinner, Simona takes them to karate lessons and Cub Scout meetings. Simona even arranges and hosts play dates, so that the boys can play with their friends outside of school. Routinely, she cooks meals for all of us. On Father's Day, she had the boys prepare breakfast (with her help, of course!) and serve it to me in bed. On another occasion she prepared an authentic Romanian meal for many of the neighbors. She also prepared meals for a neighborhood family who was displaced by a flood, and another family stricken with the flu.

Birthdays are extra special with Simona. She arranged fabulous birthday parties for each of my sons. Simona goes out of her way to create opportunities to bring the boys and their friends together. She has hosted Halloween parties, at-home movie nights, Christmas cookie making parties, and scavenger hunts. At Christmas, she organized a group of neighborhood families to go caroling. The look of delight on our audiences' faces warmed us all despite the frigid temperatures.

In the summertime, Simona kept the boys busy by taking them swimming, to the beach, pool, library, children's museums, and summer Bible camp (which she volunteered at while they attended), and by planting and caring for a plot in the community garden. She even taught both of them to ride their bicycles. This past summer she also played the role of tour guide. Her previous host family from Germany came to visit Simona - so she obviously made quite an impression on them, too.

Apart from her involvement with the children, Simona has become friends with quite a few of the neighbors. The neighborhood children (and parents) all love her. She gladly tells stories and teaches games from her childhood in Romania - all of the children can seemingly never get enough. Even with all of her family responsibilities, Simona still makes time to mentor other au pairs. She even went out of her way to get local au pairs together and planned a surprise party for the au pair Area Director as a way of saying “thank you” for everything she’s done.

I originally hired an au pair to help me with the children. However, in Simona's time here she has given Michael and Stephen a childhood to remember. She has gone out of her way to soften the loss of their mother, making sure their every emotional, social and physical need is met. She treats them like her own children and is always willing to do whatever she can to help out around the house, at church or around the neighborhood. She works tirelessly making this a loving environment for the boys to grow up in, sacrificing her own free time for the good of the family. She has earned a place in our hearts forever. Our family all agree that Simona is the Au Pair of the Year.

Location: Germantown, TN
Au Pair: Jakeline Vaz, Brazil

All the au pairs that our family met over the last two years have been extraordinary young adults. We have formed lasting friendships with Rodolfo (Mexico), Joelle (Switzerland), Daniella (Austria), Thaysa (Brazil), Janaina (Brazil), and Pump (Thailand). How nice it is to know that when we visit their countries in the future, we have built-in friends to introduce us to the culture! But we would never have met these friends if it had not been for our Au Pair of the Year, Jakeline Vaz, or “Big Jake” as she is known in our house.

After leaving her position as an English teacher in Brazil to try something new, Jake arrived in May 2008. She is now completing her second year with our family. We have had the au pair of the year for two years in a row! We could not possibly fit in one short essay what these two years have meant to us.

First, you should know that Jake is the ultimate childcare provider. Mary Hana and Michael love her like a sister. Her calm demeanor compliments her adventurous spirit. Jake takes her responsibility very seriously and not once in two years have I worried about my kids while they were in her care. Peace of mind is the single best gift she has given me, as a mom.

When the childcare is done for the week, Jake continues to shine! Within only a few months of living in Memphis, Jake borrowed an evening gown from a friend, entered the Miss Faces of The World 2008 Pageant and won first place! Mike and I were so proud of her that evening and the rest of the year as she represented the pageant at events to raise awareness and funds for The International Children’s Heart Foundation. Jake has been asked to join the foundation doctors on a tour of Central and South America after her au pair experience has ended. Jake will be visiting children’s hospitals and attending events to bring awareness to this worthy cause. When Jake dressed as Cinderella for Halloween 2008, a three year old girl in our neighborhood believed Jake was a real princess and demanded to walk hand in hand with her all night. I can just imagine the look on the children’s faces when this princess walks into their hospital rooms next year.

Jake is a natural born teacher. She taught us the art of cooking Brazilian rice and bread of cheese (yum!), but our family failed miserably at learning Portuguese. Undeterred, Jake sought out the director of an ESL program in our neighborhood. She volunteers her free time to teach others English. Jake also volunteers with my daughter’s Girl Scout Troop teaching them different styles of dance and helping with other activities.

In addition to the time she has donated to charitable endeavors, Jake has made many new American friends. Jake is an accomplished dancer and has performed or taught dance around the city. She was selected as spokes model for the Memphis Brazilian community to appear on a local news segment about the annual Brazilian Carnival party. She has been the Maid of Honor in a friend’s wedding and appeared in advertisements for the friend’s clothing store. Jake has represented Au Pair Care at events in Memphis and always takes time to welcome the au pairs in our local group. She helps them overcome homesickness and embrace life in America. She has organized many weekend trips with other local au pairs. She even convinced her sister, Thaysa, to join the Au Pair Care program.

Throughout her stay, Jake has given serious consideration to her future career goals. She has exceeded the minimum education requirement and taken classes to explore nursing, human resources and international business. Jake’s goal is to be accepted into an International MBA program. She will be an asset to any multi-national corporation.

In one year you can get to know a person pretty well. In two years you can get to know a person really well. Our family -Mike, the kids, Big Jake and I – traveled together, celebrated together, made messes together, cleaned together, cried together and, above all, laughed a lot together. I could fill a book on all the funny things that happen when a young lady from Brazil comes to live with a crazy family in Tennessee! There have been moments that taught us more about our own country, things you take for granted until you see them through an au pair’s eyes – icemakers, electric blankets, drive-thrus, fall leaves, beaches, snow, jack-o-laterns, SEC football, Disney World…

Our family recently saw the movie The Blind Side. On some level Au Pair Care families all over the U.S. are living a version of that story every day. In exchange for opening your home to someone “different”, you expand the definition of family and enhance many lives. Big Jake is family. By what she has accomplished and contributed to our home and community, she sets the example of all that this program was designed to offer. She is the Au Pair of the Year.

Location: Bethesda, MD
Au Pair: Raquel Sales Theodoro, Brazil

Whenever anyone ever asks us about our experience with having an au pair, we always respond that it is unequivocally the best decision we ever made when it came to childcare. While we are, of course, very pleased with AuPairCare and all it’s done for us, the primary driver behind our response is Raquel Theodoro, whom we’ve been fortunate enough to have as part of our family since October 2008. She is unquestionably everything you could ask for in an au pair and more.

To provide you with some perspective, Raquel probably has as demanding a work load as any au pair. She is responsible with overseeing the care of not one, but two sets of twins (ages 7 and 1 ½ years old). Entrusting somebody with the care of our two sets of twins was understandably a decision we did not take lightly. In fact, we had already had an unsuccessful experience with a different au pair and were understandably apprehensive with making another go of it. Upon her arrival to the U.S., Raquel quickly put our minds at ease through her actions and her caring demeanour. She immediately engendered our trust, created a bond with all four children and fulfilled every role that one would expect of an au pair. In a nutshell, from day one she has taken on more responsibility than we could have ever imagined and done so with a pleasant and sunny disposition.

She always manages to juggle her responsibilities, and has gone the extra mile to make sure that she provides us with the extra set (or two) of hands we need to get through the day given our busy household. She is extremely responsible and reliable, never missing a day’s work and always asking what she can do to help regardless of whether she is technically “on duty” or not. Equally as important, she has truly broadened our family’s perspective about world cultures and has imbued us with a “joie de vive” reflective of her native Brazil. Her enthusiasm and excitement about life is infectious, and she has truly made our home a happier and more positive one. Upon learning of her intentions to extend for a second year with us, literally every member of our family jumped for joy.

We’re sure that you receive a countless number of essays whose descriptions about how much an au pair means to families mirror what we have said thus far. Why we think Raquel is so special is that she is still with us after suffering as painful and devastating a personal setback as she did shortly after deciding to stay on for a second year. Last July, Raquel was informed that her fiancée had tragically and unexpected died in an accident in Brazil. Obviously her world was turned upside down and she was devastated. When she boarded the plane to Brazil for the funeral, she swore to us that she would return to fulfill her obligation as our au pair. We, of course, understood that after a life-changing event such as the one she endured, that that just may not be feasible for her to do so.

True to her word, she was back with us in the U.S. a few weeks later. Not once did she make anything of how hard it must have been to leave her family and return to us. Not once did she ever waver in her commitment and loyalty to our family. And not once did her demeanour, work ethic or pleasant attitude wane since returning. We have all marvelled at how well she re-acclimated to our family and how much a Godsend she has been to us both before and after the incident. We have also admitted to ourselves that we probably would not have been as strong and as courageous as Raquel has been during this time of unimaginable grief. To see her go on with life and to provide such loving care to our children despite all that she has been through literally leaves us speechless. So when we became aware that we could nominate Raquel for the 2010 Au Pair of the Year Award, there was never a question we would—not only because she more than deserves it but also because it provides us with an opportunity to articulate just how much she means to us and great of an individual she is.

As her 2 years with us draws to a close, we are both sad that our time with Raquel is coming to an end but also reflective on just how much she has contributed to our family and added to our lives. We have two hopes going forward: 1) we can somehow manage to find another au pair that measures up to Raquel (doubtful, but we’ll try) and 2) that we remain in close contact with someone who we truly will consider to be part of the Eagle household forever.

Location: North Carolina
Au Pair: Isabelle (Bella) Frostad, Norway

Location: Washington
Au Pair: Marry Riscarolli, Brazil

Location:California
Au Pair: Fatima Villar, Argentina