This past weekend we were in PauP for a wedding. One of Manis' good friends' daughter was getting married and wanted Ani as the ring bearer. For anyone who knows Ani well... yes, go ahead and cringe at the thought of trying to get Ani to walk down an aisle without doing anything crazy... it certainly added a few gray hairs to my head! I had planned on gettin millions of pictures but it was all so crazy that I ended up with hardly any :( Here are a few though...
On the way to the wedding... traffic was so bad that we were all a little stressed about getting there on time... in the end we were there in plenty of time... enough time for Ani to run around and exhaust her mother trying to keep her from dirtying her dress.
The Lovely Ring Bearer...
... with her ring pillow (turned the wrong way) and her fancy gloves.
I didn't get any pictures of her walking in but here is what happened... I was standing with her at the back of the church and her turn to go down the aisle came before I expected it so I just set her down and told her to walk -we had practiced hundreds of times (it felt like) but she continued to be completely unpredictable. She started to walk down the aisle then stopped at the first post of flowers to play with them. The usher girl (usheress? usherette?) took her hand and she walked down the aisle like a little princess! In the meantime I was trying to run down the side aisle to meet her in the front but at the side door someone blocked the way and I couldn't get by. When she got to the front she must have looked around and realized she was surrounded by strangers because the next thing I knew, as I was trying to get by the lady blocking my way, there went Ani... running back up the aisle! I then tried to get her to sit with me through the service but she would have none of that so we ended up going to the car...
...where she sat with Uncle Petion...
...and happily ate crackers. Toward the end I put her dress back on and took her back in for the recessional.
The bride and groom, Flavie and Donald.
On the way to the reception she fell asleep (thankfully!)
Arriving at the reception
She slept through most of the reception and we left shortly after she woke up so it was quite a pleasant reception! She looks so angelic when sleeping :)
On the way home we stopped on the road to eat some food that we had with us... quite a nice view, huh?
Ani happily eating her M&Ms that we bought her before leaving PauP and Tiga eating his lunch.
Oh the things one does to keep a child happy on a 5 hour trip... like let them eat a whole pack of M&Ms!
Manis on the hill overlooking the ocean.
Then we got back in the car and bumped the rest of the way home.
All dressed up for the Christmas Program
A group from Anse-Rouge came to sing and during their song Ani got up and danced on stage with one of the teachers.
Before we opened gifts on Christmas night we sang some carols. Krischelle and Josiane were there but I didn't get a picture of them :(
Ani played Santa... here she is trying to get the presents from under the tree.
She was so excited about her balloons from Mema
She also loves her Duplo Legos from Uncle Steven and Tati Tivie :)
On the way to the wedding... traffic was so bad that we were all a little stressed about getting there on time... in the end we were there in plenty of time... enough time for Ani to run around and exhaust her mother trying to keep her from dirtying her dress. 
The Lovely Ring Bearer...
... with her ring pillow (turned the wrong way) and her fancy gloves.
...where she sat with Uncle Petion...
...and happily ate crackers. Toward the end I put her dress back on and took her back in for the recessional.
The bride and groom, Flavie and Donald.
Arriving at the reception
She slept through most of the reception and we left shortly after she woke up so it was quite a pleasant reception! She looks so angelic when sleeping :)
On the way home we stopped on the road to eat some food that we had with us... quite a nice view, huh?
Ani happily eating her M&Ms that we bought her before leaving PauP and Tiga eating his lunch.
Oh the things one does to keep a child happy on a 5 hour trip... like let them eat a whole pack of M&Ms!
Manis on the hill overlooking the ocean.
Helping Tati Krichou untangle the lights
Krischelle painstakingly fixing the lights
Ani "helping" by going through all the ornaments
She decided to pick me a flower :)
Showing off her new uniform for Uncle Petion
Running down the walkway from her grandma's house
With her airplane backpack on... looking like she is getting tired of pictures
Her airplane backpack from Papi
One last big smile
I took her to school and sat with her for a while with the other kids so she could get to know some of the kids in "her class". She then went over and sat on a bench by herself and pulled out the book that I had put in her bag. 
While I was taking pictures of the other kids, a little girl she knew came and sat with her so she starting showing her her book.
Showing the book to her friend
Other kids started gathering around
Pretty soon she had a little crowd around her to whom she was explaining the story - partly in Creole, partly in English ;)
