Victoria Hanke (Germany)

I would like to nominate Vicky as Au Pair of the Month. Vicky is a warm and kind hearted girl who goes above and beyond each day with our family. She is always smiling, even though the tough moments and we appreciate having her with us so much.

Vicky loves cooking and baking. She creates many delicious and healthy dishes and she always includes the children who also love helping in the kitchen. Vicky is so very patient with her 3 'helpers,' even when they are creating more mess than actually being very helpful.

This past month, we experienced a bit of a disaster as a pipe broke and we had to shut off all the water in our house. Vicky helped us to move to two separate temporary accommodation houses that our insurance company booked for us and made the best out of 'making due' without any fuss or worry. She made the whole experience a real adventure for the children, creating new games to suit the different space. Although the children did not have all of their toys around them, Vicky made sure that they were well entertained with lots of dancing, cooking and storytelling. We really could not have gotten though this tricky time without her calm and helpful nature.

We hope that Vicky will be the next Au Pair of the Month as she so deserves the recognition for all of her extra effort. From creating hairstyles my 4 year old daughter will actually to be happy with, to making a packed lunch for my husband when he has forgotten to make his own, Vicky has really carved out a place in our home and in our hearts.

- From the Lemmens family