It’s the first day of school for Hoda Kotb’s two daughters and everyone is ready for it!
“First day!!! 3rd and 1st,” the former TODAY co-host captioned family photos on Instagram. In Hoda’s pictures, the girls look sharp in their back-to-school outfits: Haley Joy, the elder daughter, wore a denim jumpsuit and little sister Hope Catherine rocked a purple pleated skirt over a pair of leggings. A beaming Hoda jumped into frame as well.
Hoda also posted individual portraits of her daughters, along with a shot of the trio walking to school. The proud mom also snapped a group photo of her children posing with friends at school.
Hoda, who shares her daughters with her ex-fiancé, Joel Schiffman, recently left New York City (and her longtime job as TODAY co-host) for life in the suburbs.
“We’ve had seven great years in the city with kids and that’s amazing, but I also think kids need to have their feet in the grass and dirt,” Hoda told her former TODAY co-host Jenna Bush Hager in September 2024.
As Hoda explained on-air in August 2024: “It’s all new — new kids, new school, new things, new everything. And it’s funny because all I could think of was I want my house for the kids to feel warm and cozy and a place where they want to hang. And that’s it.”
Hoda marked her move from the city by getting her dream car: A minivan.
“Let me explain: Me in a minivan is a dream,” Hoda said on TODAY last year. “I’ve wanted it and I haven’t had it and also, I am sometimes a ‘Carpool Mom.’ I can only take three kids because there is no other room — not anymore! … I cannot wait for it.”
She even declared her first grocery store run, “breaking news” on TODAY, explaining: “It feels like you are flying in a plane at 35,000 feet … my kids piled in, they want to sit in the way back, go ahead because this is a big old bus.”