Welcome home, Hoda!
Hoda Kotb just returned to the U.S. after covering the Olympics in Tokyo, and she received an adorable greeting from her two girls, Haley, 4, and Hope, 2.
The TODAY co-anchor shared an Instagram photo of Haley creating what looks like a “welcome home” card for her mom.
In the same post, Hoda shared another cute picture of Haley and Hope in matching white and blue dresses.
She also shared photos of herself and each of her daughters munching on one long strand of spaghetti, à la “Lady and the Tramp.”
“I had a ticker-tape parade. It was like a mini ticker-tape parade with these two kids,” Hoda told Al Roker during a behind-the-scenes special on TODAY AllDay Thursday, describing her heartwarming reunion with her daughters: “It was amazing to come home.”
“They had two chairs out, pulled up to the front door, they were waiting when I got there,” she added. “It was the cutest, sweetest … I just hung on last night. I just hung on tight last night.”
Before Hoda left for Tokyo, Haley helped her mom pack all the essentials — including one of the 4-year-old's own dresses decorated with stars.
“When ur daughter packs one of her dresses in your bag! Xoxo,” Hoda wrote on Instagram, beaming as she held up Haley’s surprise addition to her luggage.
Hoda carried Haley’s star dress with her as a good-luck charm as she cheered on Team USA.
“I took it everywhere with me,” she told Al. “Haley kept seeing the dress, and she was like, ‘That’s my dress! That’s my dress!’ And she was asking about if Simone (Biles) got to see it, did Simone see her dress, and yes, she did.”
The dress wasn’t the only surprise Haley had in store for her mom during the Olympics. Just before Hoda boarded the plane to Tokyo, her colleagues commented on her latest Instagram post — a video of Haley saying “Congratulations USA!” directly into the camera.
The thing is, Hoda hadn't shared that video; it turns out Haley had figured out how to post to her mom’s Instagram account by herself.
"I look, she figured out to, boop, post it, so now Mama's going to have to crack down on the phone usage," Hoda joked.