The thing that has surprised me the most this week (aside from the fact that my candidate actually won), is the sheer volume of tears I have shed.  I see Malia and Sasha walk out on stage, cue tears.  People dancing and celebrating in the streets of Kenya, tears.  A video of a woman voting in Selma, tears.  Even the talk about what type of puppy to get and the answer of needing to balance their desire to get a shelter dog with getting a hypo-allergenic dog and more tears.  In fact, several times my daughter has looked at me confused and asked 'why are you crying Mommy'.  To which I answer - 'because I'm happy about Obama.' 

I am sure this makes absolutely no sense to her.  I myself am somwhat confused about my seemingly endless emotional response to this election.   I'm assuming that at some time in the next 4 years I will stop crying thru presidential press conferences but if not, so be it.  I'll take emotion over apathy any day.  Being that this was the first election I voted in as a mother I guess its all par for the course.  I also blubbered thru the Big Apple Circus last week because it was my daughters first cotton candy and introduction to clowns so maybe I need to partially chalk it up to George Costanza's famous line "it's not you, it's me".  And, in the end, isn't that what Obama keeps telling us, “All of this happened because of you, we just made history.”   And, here come the tears.

As for linkin blogs, keep reading for my top tear-jerk moments of the past week and even other stuff that happened in the news like the second recorded virgin shark birth, the not so virgin news about Sex and the City Movie Part Two and more...

We wrote about the book making possibilities from Blurb last year, but I had never tried it myself. Well, I just made my first digital photo book through Blurb.com and it came out great. I love giving photo albums, calendars and other custom and personalized gifts at Christmas and a Blurb book is perfect. In the past I have printed them out on high quality color printers and either had them bound at Kinkos or bound them myself, but having a professionally bound book is much easier and looks pretty slick.

Here's what I liked and thought could have been improved, plus what I learned along the way. At the end of the post find out details for our giveaway. Five winners will get to make their own blurb books, plus we've got blurb discount codes anyone can use right away.

It looks like another rainy Saturday this weekend, so we've got some great indoor activities at four different museums. They're not all free, but they're all worth doing. Sunday should clear up so take advantage of the relatively warm and sunny weather while you still can.

The Intrepid Reopens
The big news for this weekend is the reopening of the Intrepid Sea, Air and Space Museum after a two year refurbishment. In celebration there will be music performances, giveaways, and more fun out on the new park-like pier. Saturday night there will be fireworks too. The museum is not free, but all the other events are. Saturday, 10am-8pm. Sunday, 10am-6pm. 46th St and Hudson River. Find out more at IntrepidMuseum.org

America is moving forward by looking backward. As they compare Obama to JFK and anticipate his bringing some forward-thinking good old retro energy to the White House, I am also looking back for some great ideas for Christmas gifts back in the day when kids got presents a little more stimulating than a Nintendo DS or the latest iteration of Tickle Me Elmo. I'm not thinking about BB Guns, a la A Christmas Story, I'm thinking about science kits like chemistry sets and electronics sets.

I don't know when science kits stopped being the cool gift kids wanted (gee did it have something to do with the video game?), but I can't think of anything cooler than finding one of these sets under the tree. I have to admit that I wasn't all that psyched about trying out the chemistry and electronics sets in our science kit review process, but we had more fun with these kits than with any other.

It seems like it's never to early to start your summer planning. And if you are thinking about summer sleep away or day camps for next summer, then the NY family Summer Camp Fairs this weekend and next are a great place to start.

I attended these fairs last summer with my daughter and found them really helpful. Trying to pick a camp based on a pamphlet is really hard. I was pleased to find that at this camp fair the camp directors or another other important representative attends so you can really get a good idea about the camp, ask questions and leave with lots of information about several prospective camps. I discovered a bunch of really cool camps I had ever heard of.

At the New Victory Theater's, Hunchback , author Victor Hugo narrates the tale, leading children through the performance, giving the story some significant historical context and explaining the importance of references to the Notre Dame Cathedral. The play/puppet show is pretty cerebral, and can be a little scary, but my 8 year old companion loved the goofy Victor Hugo and I loved the artistry of the puppets, mask and staging of the show.

...Third Place in our Halloween Costume Contest!

We always say, everyone's a winner on Mommy Poppins, so even though McCain/Palin didn't win the highest office in the land, their campaign wasn't for naught and they won't go home empty handed. This mini McCain/Palin duo takeThird Place in our Halloween Costume Photo Contest.

See the other great winning costumes:

With the colder weather ahead it's time to start planning for how to pass the time indoors. If your kids are anything like mine, they love being on the computer and playing games on sites like Webkinz, Club Penguin, and Nick Jr. But I noticed they can be just as happy and have just as much fun if I put them on an educational site, it's just a matter of remembering about the good ones.

There are dozens of great, smart, fun sites where kids can play games and learn about science. I've rounded up some of the best educational science websites for kids to help keep those indoor activity times a little smarter: