Hoda Kotb had a busy morning on Wednesday.
The broadcaster started at 7am ET Today news show co-anchored alongside Savannah Guthrie. But shortly before 7:25 a.m., she left the show to take daughters Hope Catherine, 4, and Haley Joy, 6, to their first day of school.
“Hoda, you’re on the run — it’s the first day of school,” Guthrie, 51, told Kotb after the two finished reading the interesting stories that follow.
“I’m taking my kids to school!” Kotb said, seemingly asking the producers, “Okay, can I leave now?”
“Yeah, give them a hug for us,” Guthrie said, as Kotb frantically left her chair and told her colleagues Today stars Craig Melvin and Al Roker, “Byeee! See you later!”
Guthrie cheered as Kotb left the set, “Go get ’em, girls!”
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Kotb is expected to return in time for the 10 a.m. ET broadcast Today with Hoda and Jenna, which she co-hosts with Jenna Bush Hager. In her absence, Melvin entered the Today sit together with Guthrie.
Hoda Kotb and her daughters at their home in New York. Hoda Kotb Instagram
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On social media, Kotb marked her daughter’s milestone by posting a quote from the famous writer Dr. Seuss. “You are going to great places, today is your day!” read the post, taken from a favorite children’s author’s 1990 book, Oh, the places you’ll go! “Your mountain is waiting, so go!”
“Happy first day of school! Xo,” Kotb wrote in the caption.
The night before, she was preparing for the milestone, sharing photos of her girls getting their hair cut at home by hairstylist Laura Bonanni Castorino, head of department at Today show.
“Thanks to my friend @lbcastorino!” wrote Kotb. “The best pieces for back to school! First day of school tomorrow! 📚 🎒.”
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Tuesday marked Kotb’s return to the Today after the end of the summer vacation in Mexico.
Discussing escape on Today with Hoda and JennaKotb told Bush Hager, 41, about the restorative time off.
“I had a great trip with my kids,” Kotb said. “I took them with my sister, we went to Mexico just for fun.”
“And let me tell you something, it was magical. It was one of those annual vacations where you go and say to yourself, ‘If only everyone could be like this…’ — and that doesn’t happen, we have our fair share of dissolution. ”
“Everybody was happy, everybody was healthy, everybody was — it was one of those that you just said ‘Thank you.’ We are all here, we all feel good,” Kotb concluded.
Today airs weekdays (starting at 7 a.m. ET) on NBC.
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Source: HIS Education