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George W. and Laura Bush spill amusing family details with Jenna on TODAY

The former president and first lady shared what they're like as grandparents and talked about Jenna's failed bid to become a national anthem singer.
/ Source: TODAY

To the rest of the world, they are former President George W. Bush and former first lady Laura Bush, but to Jenna Bush Hager's children, they are "Jefe" and "Grammy."

The two shared what being grandparents for the past eight years has been like as they spoke to Jenna and Hoda Kotb on TODAY Tuesday.

They also celebrated the release of George W. Bush's new book, "Out of Many, One: Portraits of America's Immigrants," in which he shares the stories of men and women who have immigrated to the United States. He also led a naturalization ceremony on the plaza at Rockefeller Center Tuesday in which 30 people officially became U.S. citizens.

Their time in New York City also meant getting to see Jenna's three children, Mila, 8, Poppy, 5, and Hal, 1, at Jenna's home in New York City on Monday. They admittedly got all the grandparent time they could handle.

"Screaming around, jumping off the furniture," Laura Bush said. "We had to leave."

"It was an exhausting experience," George W. Bush joked.

They also shared that the origins of Jenna's television career began early when she lobbied for a prime spot during the 1988 election season when she was 6 years old.

"Before the '88 (Republican) National Convention, Jenna begged my mother to let her sing the national anthem," George said. "Mother of course said, 'No way, you can't sing.' That one was pretty straightforward."

George W. Bush told Hoda her mentoring has been a big help for Jenna in their two years together on the fourth hour of TODAY, but Jenna had been preparing for the job for a long time.

"That was great that you've done that, but actually Jenna had been practicing for this job since she was about 5 (years old)," Laura told Hoda.

They also shared that George controls the television remote at home and is the better dancer, although throwback footage shown on TODAY of him dancing during his presidency may have been an argument against that.

Hoda also put them on the spot by asking if they watch Jenna on TODAY every day.

"I'm very infrequent," George deadpanned.

"I watch it occasionally," Laura said.

Even the times when Jenna spills stuff about growing up with them as parents?

"I think I've missed that," Laura said. "I hope."