Please, follow this link to purchase your ticket for the 2012 Disco Cruise.
1. Select amount of tickets and hit “update”
2. Click “Don’t have a PayPal account” (assuming you don’t have one) to make a payment
3. Fill credit card information
4. After the transaction is complete SEND AN EMAIL TO YOUR LCC AND LET HER KNOW THAT YOU PURCHASED THE TICKET!!!
5. Check your card statement to make sure the payment went through.
For our May au pair meeting we will meet on SATURDAY May 19 at 5pm. I can’t promise you anything, but I WILL ATTEMPT to light a bon fire 
and we can make s’mores (a traditional nighttime campfire treat popular in the United States), weather permitting. If it’s too cold, windy or rainy (you tell me when we meet) as an alternative we can take a ferry ride. The best address I can give you (for your GPS) is probably 609 Front Street, Mukilteo, WA. Once you arrive there you will see a large parking lot next to the beach (not the one for ferry traffic), so you can park there. If anyone wants to carpool with me, be at my house little before 4:30pm.
If you drive, take I-5 south, take the NE 45th Street exit (#169). Turn left onto NE 45th Street. Continue east about one quarter mile to 15th Avenue NE and turn right. Head south on 15th Avenue three blocks to NE 41st Street. Turn left at Gate #1 into the Central Plaza Garage. Stop at the gatehouse inside the garage for directions and a parking permit. Based on their website parking should be free on weekends after noon, which means it could also be busy… so as always give yourself some extra time.
Let me know if you are interested in carpooling with me or if you want to take a bus click here. Let me know if you need more help with getting here.
Now let’s just hope the weather holds and we get to enjoy the campus and the blooms while staying dry. Don’t forget to bring cameras!
We will meet on Sunday March 25 at 1pm at the Bothell Fire Station (10726 Beardslee Boulevard, Bothell). During this meeting we will cover fire safety (another topic from our Continuing Education Program) and get a fire station tour (and an opportunity to sit in a fire truck). Every year this is a very informative and interesting meeting and this year I would like to invite children to join us. I plan on brining my son and would like to know if any host parents and children would be interested in joining us too. The space is limited so you need to contact me (preferably in the next week or so) so I can coordinate with Kirsten, the Public Education Officer, about details.
|
|
|
|
I love this time of year — when we get to read all the Au Pair of the Year nominations! The outpouring of praise and gratitude from our host parents and the wonderful stories about our amazing au pairs just warms our hearts.
Semi-finalists
Each au pair program can send three applications as semi-finalists to IAPA for consideration for the Au Pair of the Year Award. From the numerous applications we receive, we (a team of about 20 staff readers) read and rate the applications and select the top three and submit them to IAPA. The three semi-finalists have been notified and are anxiously awaiting news from IAPA to see if they are chosen as finalists and advance to the next round. This year’s semi-finalists are:
Simone Staudenmann from Switzerland living with the Liebold family in San Diego, CA
This is amazing — Simone was a semi-finalist last year, nominated again in her extension year and selected AGAIN as a semi-finalist. Her host mom writes, “Our au pair Simone Staudenmann, one of last year’s Au Pair of the Year finalists, is almost another mother to my children. Despite rocky circumstances this year, they are thriving and I feel it has a great deal to do with the EXCEPTIONAL childcare they have and the consistent love of an additional family member. Simone always, always puts my children’s needs and well-being first. Having seen it time and time again, I know we are the luckiest family in the world to have her in our lives.”
Alex Krosse from Germany living with the Urbaniak family in Potomac Falls, VA
Alex continually goes above-and-beyond for this family with two adopted children, one with special needs, and a host father who lost his spouse shortly after Alex arrived in their home. “Alex is a blessing — I have checked his back for the wing-stubs that all aspiring angels must have. He has not only become a true member of my family, he has also become a member of the community. He is a volunteer fire fighter in our community. He has also volunteered with meals on wheels. This nomination isn’t for someone who has done his job. It is for someone who has joined our family and became a true friend during a time of need.”
Nadia Nielsson from Denmark living with the Owers family in Houston, TX
Nadia cared for two adopted children with emotional issues who had just lost their father. Being adopted herself, she related to the girls on this and many levels and was always there for them, every day, every mood, every practice, every dance recital, every game, every birthday. From her host mom, “I imagine over the years we will welcome several au pairs into our home. But I can’t imagine that any will be as special to us as the wonderful young woman who nurtured all three of us through the most difficult year of our lives. Nadia will always have a special place in our hearts and will always remain a treasured member of our family.”
All are wonderful au pairs and excellent nominees. Let’s keep our fingers crossed that the judges at IAPA feel the same way!
State winners
From the ratings of the nominations, we select state winners as a way to recognize additional au pairs for their outstanding service. Our state winners are highlighted on our website, http://www.aupairoftheyear.com/2012-award-winners.html
Our February meeting will be held on Sunday February 26 and it will be our first host family event of this calendar year. We will meet for a 5 o’clock ice hockey game at Comcast Arena in Everett. Everett Silvertips will take on Portland Winterhawks!
This has been a popular yearly meeting and the Silvertips are treating us with nice lower level seats for only $15/seat. Please click the link below and purchase your tickets directly. We will be seated together if you buy tickets through this link. The seats are available on first come first serve basis which means it is important to buy them soon so we all get to sit together. I encourage whole families to come, this is a children friendly event, although it does get pretty loud. So just be prepared for that.
http://www.silvertipsgroups.com/tickets/specialtickets.cfm?SpecialNum=506064118
I will be waiting inside, by the entrance to our seating section, starting 4:45 pm. Please, FIND ME BEFORE YOU GO TO YOUR SEAT to sign in.
We will catch up on things and plan for 2012 at our January meeting. I would like your input for future au pair meetings as well. So please, think about what you would like to do, bring ideas and give me feedback of what you liked so far and what would you like to see changed.
As a part of the program we will also discuss some of the topics from our Continuing Education Program for au pairs. I will email you the quiz for Sports Injury Prevention and Household Poisoning Prevention. Please, fill in answers and bring with you to the meeting.
We will meet on Sunday January 22 at 1pm.
We will meet at Alderwood Mall for our upcoming au pair meeting. I will be at
Starbucks just outside food court area (across the street from Lowe’s cinemas)
so you can park by the cinema. I will be there little before 1pm and I pay for
first $40 worth of drinks for you.
At 1:15pm I would like us all to move to food court area where we can
comfortably fit our group and discuss our future au pair meetings and do the
quiz for our continuing education program. Let me know if you need more specific instructions on how to get there. When I looked up the address for Starbucks it wasn’t showing the right one… If
you are not familiar with Alderwood Mall (anybody? ) let me know and I’ll help you.
Thank you for sharing your lives and cultures with all of us. You make my job so much fun and I keep learning all the time! Thank you for the amazing dishes you (au pairs and host families) brought for our Thanksgiving potluck. I can’t tell you how much I enjoyed them all!:
Liptauer (Austria), Arroz Con Pollo (Colombia), Brezeln (Germany), Pul go gi (Korean), Cheese Bread (Brazil), Kartoffel Salat (Germany), Li Hing Pineapple (Hawaii), Chicken Strogonoff (Brazil), Colorful Noddle Salad (Germany), Panierte Huhnerstreifen (Austria), Homemade bread and Artichoke dip
As I was going through my paperwork tonight, getting ready to close the month of October and send my contact reports to the office, I realized something. I realized (and I don’t know why it took me this long to process) that at our last au pair meeting I heard one and same message from ALL au pairs that night. The message was I’M SO LUCKY WITH MY HOST FAMILY! This made me feel so happy that I had to share it. I too feel very lucky to have a “happy group” and I want to say thank you for being just the way you are.
|
|
|
|
|