We are looking for an au pair to join our family and be a helping hand to our three kids= a 15 year old boy (Jacob), an 13 year old girl (Sarah), and a 12 year old boy (Ethan).

Mom (Inge) is semi-retired and works from home as a real estate broker and property manager, and Dad (David) is retired.

Jacob, our 15 year old (will be 16 in August), has a genetic disorder which is similar to Angelman's Syndrome. He has a happy demeanor and loves music and cartoons. He has cognitive delays so he is like a 10 month old in that he needs help dressing, eating, bathing, and he wears a diaper. It’s easy to change him but sometimes, admittedly, it can be messy. We have a routine to change him, and gloves if necessary. Usually there is someone at home to lend a hand so that two people can change him. The younger kids help sometimes too! (handing babywipes, or getting a plastic bag to put the diaper in). Jacob is a sweet boy. He loves hugs and to cuddle, and he loves going in the water (pools or the ocean), he loves roller coasters, and he is not bothered at all when we go somewhere new whether it’s overnight or to a park, restaurant or someone’s house. He goes to the local high school in a special education classroom every day – the bus picks him up at about 7:15 in the morning directly at our house and brings him home at 4:00. Sometimes he gets frustrated if he is hungry and he may blows raspberries (like blowing air through his two lips and tongue to make a spitting sound) or take his hand and hit himself in the chin, but he only does it when he is very frustrated or hungry. He also does not have awareness of where he is – he could walk out of the house, so we need to make sure we watch him and hold his hand when we walk somewhere, just like we would our other kids. He moves around a lot and sometimes spins around. He smiles when he does this – it’s very cute. We have a wheelchair for Jacob to sit in when we go places with a lot of walking like Disneyland or when we are out because sometimes he sits down and decides he is done walking. When we go walking he will do that with – we hold his hand and walk, but if we stop for a minutes or two he sits down on the ground. So the chair makes it easier for everyone. Our son likes sitting in the wheelchair and it makes it easier for all of us!

Sarah and Ethan are both loving, sweet, bright, fun, well-mannered with a great sense of humor. They both do well in school. Ethan is good with math, gymnastics and computer games. He loves gardening and cooking shows. Sarah loves reading books, drawing pictures, making things like jewelry, and watching cool youtube videos (which we limit). They are best buddies Sarah is kind, clever, empathetic, has a beautiful singing voice, she has great sense of humor and is very creative. Our son is sweet, sometimes very shy, has a good sense of humor too, and is very clever with numbers, loves math, loves to learn to cook.We teach them to speak with love in their heart, be respectful of others, to say please and thank you, to lend a helping hand to others, to believe in themselves, and to believe in and trust in God.

We have a large 5 bedroom 4 1/2 bedroom house and for the au pair we have a separate bedroom and mostly private bathroom (our youngest son brushes his teeth in the bathroom before bed). We put the au pair’s cell on our unlimited calling, internet and texting plan. We have a white Nissan pickup truck (fun to drive) for the au pair to use during her free time. We don’t mind if you had a friend (girl) come and stay the weekend with you, or one night during the week. We are very easy going but we don’t want our kindness to be taken advantage of.


The au pair should have a sense of humor, patience, a kind heart, be organized, and have an easy going and happy personality. We like to have things in their place at home but we are not neat freaks or germaphobes. We realize that kids will sometimes spill, make a mess, leave shoes in the middle of the floor, etc. Our goal is to have someone who has a kind heart, who will engage the kids and have fun with them instead of just sitting on the couch and letting them watch tv or play on the computer. We are hoping for someone with some organization skills, someone who is proactive and who takes initiative to do things, is flexible when things change, someone who wants to play with the kids and who will do fun things with them like baking cookies, playing in the pool, playing games, going for walks, planting flowers, teaching the kids to cook things or sorting through toys and old or too-small clothes to donate to charity, or going for a hike in the backyard or something interesting.

Here is an outline of what we are looking for help with and what happens each day with the kids. We are very flexible and are home often, so we are all a team together. We are flexible and can adjust the days off and schedule easily.

- Be at home when the bus arrives with our eldest son (about 2:20 pm).
- Sometimes pick up one or two of our kids from school in the afternoon (2:50 pm) -with Jacob in the car - he loves going for a ride in the car!. Ethan goes to practice 5 days as week.
- Help the younger ones complete their homework or projects that are due.
- Prepare healthy snacks for kids
- Make sure they do their animal and other chores in the house, or play in the backyard, ride bikes, etc.
- Help the kids with washing their sheets and making their bed; do Jacob's bed every week or two.
- Since we have three kids (and therefore crumbs on the floor, or table, etc.) we expect the au pair to swiffer or vacuum the floors every other day or so
- Help the kids put away their laundry, help Ethan organize his room (Sarah is very organized!).
- Help with the kids dishes – help putting them in the dishwasher after meals and snacks, helping unload the dishwasher.
- Do meal planning with mom to determine the meals for the week. Sometimes go grocery shopping when the kids milk or other items are running low.
- Cook meals for the kids; 2 or 3 times a week make a large batch of pasta so Jacob has lunches to bring to school each day.
- Do a 1-2 loads of laundry per week for our eldest sons clothes as needed.
- Help Sarah and Ethan do their laundry and put it away.
- Helping kids organize and put away their toys and belongings, and pick up after themselves.
- Care for our eldest son including dressing, feeding, diapering, bathing, watching him.
- Be an extra helping hand at home and when we are out & about.
- Be proactive in doing things related to take care of the kids. Play a board game with them. Bake something together with them. Find a recipe together and make it. Teach them a new skill. Learn about something interesting. Around the house, we'd love it if the au pair sees things that need attention and either direct the kids (if it's something the kids left out or made dirty) to take care of it. Or while there is downtime take clorox wipes and wipe off Jacob's toys, or periodically wash his blanket.