Dear future Au Pair!

We are excited about this opportunity and cannot wait to meet you! Josh and I (Alison) have been married for 5.5 years but we have been together for 11 years. We have five kids, but you would only care for Oskar, Wyatt, and Ellowynn. I have two girls from my previous marriage, Presley (16) and Reagan (15.) Josh and I have a son, Oskar (4), and a daughter, Wyatt (2.5) and Ellowynn (3 mo.). Rounding out our family is an English Lab named Bear, who is 6.

We live in Green Oaks, IL, 10 minutes south of the Illinois/Wisconsin border. We love where we live as there is so much to do, and it is centrally located. Milwaukee is 45 minutes north, and Chicago is 45 minutes south of us. While Milwaukee is much smaller than Chicago, both offer everything you can imagine from a big city. Major and local concerts, sporting events, festivals and fairs, premiere and eclectic shopping, tons of restaurants, city tours, theater, museums, zoos, aquariums, you name it! The beaches of Lake Michigan are located 15 min. from our house. We love spending summer days at the beach playing in the sand and water and having picnics on the beach. We are also part of the Lake Bluff Yacht Club, which allows us to use small sailboats and kayaks and participate in fun social events on the beach. Also close by are many parks, hiking/biking trails, The Chicago Botanical Gardens, Independence Grove, three major zoos, sporting arenas, theaters, both cinema and stage and skiing/sledding, to name a few.

A 5-minute drive will take you to Libertyville, which has a ton of restaurants, shops, parks, playgrounds, hiking and biking trails, cafes, a pool, a small beach/lake, a library, local gyms, and much more. Another 10 minutes south, you are in Vernon Hills, where there are several outdoor shopping centers, a movie theater, more restaurants, and big box stores like Target. You will find five grocery stores and several fast-food restaurants between Libertyville and Vernon Hills.

Living where we do gives us all four seasons, providing us with many opportunities to participate in many diverse events and activities. We love being outdoors: hiking, biking, fishing, camping, gardening, playing sports, you name it! We enjoy attending music and art festivals, farmers' markets, and sporting events, weekend trips to neighboring states, and exploring Illinois. When the weather does not cooperate, we love playing games, sitting by the fire, watching movies, cooking, and doing crafts. We are very close with our families and enjoy spending holidays with them and hanging out with friends.

We LOVE celebrating the holidays and birthdays! Every holiday, I decorate the house and try to plan a meal around that holiday. I always love doing something fun on that day, and we celebrate with our family when we can. We will attend if local community activities are associated with the holiday. For example, on the 4th of July and Memorial Day, we have parades and BBQs; we always dress up for Halloween and have a neighborhood hayride and trick-or-treating. There is a tree lighting ceremony at Thanksgiving to kick off the Christmas season. At Christmas, we go to several light events, cut down our own tree, bake cookies, and celebrate with Family. Birthdays are a big deal in our house. Everyone chooses a theme for their birthday, and I decorate accordingly. They also get to choose what is for dinner.

Another thing we love to do is travel! We love going on day or weekend trips in Illinois (IL) and to neighboring states like Wisconsin (WI) and Michigan (MI). Some of our favorite places in IL are Galena & Chicago. In WI, we love to go to Door County, Eagle River, and Lakewood, where we have a family cabin. In MI, we like Petoskey, Mackinac Island, and Traverse City. For spring break in March, we spend a week in Florida, and in the summer, we have been traveling to Canada and North Carolina to see family. We will travel to Raleigh and The Outer Banks (OBX) in July to visit my brother. We would love your input on other trip ideas!

We have chosen the au pair program because both Josh and I love our jobs, so we want to continue working. Josh is the Regional Install Manager for a heating and air conditioning company, and I work as a Grants Manager for a school district. We are not fans of the traditional daycare setting, and we have heard many great things about having an au pair! We love the idea of having the person who will help raise our children be a part of our family. And that is what you will be to us. An extension of our family! We want you to feel at home and that you are a part of our family. Since we cannot stay home with our little ones, you are the next best thing!

We look forward to meeting you and cannot wait to welcome you into our home!