Jenna Bush Hager’s daughters sit on the couch feeding their auntie Barbara Bush’s 7-month-old son, Edward, inside her Brooklyn townhouse.
Mila, 11, holds the baby contentedly — a perfect babysitter in the making — while Poppy, 9, maneuvers the half-full bottle, tipping the end up just enough for her little cousin to drink. The girls’ younger brother, Hal, 5, is busy running laps around them, turning Barbara’s blue walls and her couch cushions into open road for his new toy taxi cab, while Barbara’s eldest child, Cora Georgia, 3, scuttles out the door to school with her father (and Barbara’s husband of six years) Craig Coyne.
Amid what Jenna, who shares her three children with husband Henry, later dubs the “circus,” the Hager sisters remain a perfect, well-synced tag team. With a mom and an aunt who can’t help but finish each other’s sentences, it’s not hard to see where they learned the art of sisterhood.
“That’s what a sissy does,” Jenna tells PEOPLE in this week’s cover story.
Barbara Bush and her children, Edward and Cora Georgia; Jenna Bush Hager and her children, Mila, Poppy and Hal. Brian Doben
The twins, now 43, are used to the controlled chaos. Their own childhood inside the White House is no secret, and they’re learning to embrace the budding personalities of the five children between them while continuing to set an example at home — and on TV.
On March 24th and 25th, Barbara took a break from what Jenna jokes is her “day job” at the NBA (she works on social impact) to graciously return to the fourth hour of the Today show on NBC — which she swore she’d never do — to co-host Jenna & Friends.
“This is easy. We’ve been practicing for this since our childhood,” says Jenna, who’s welcomed more than 20 guest co-hosts since Hoda Kotb’s departure in January. “We had a talk show called Barbara & Jenna & Friends in the womb.”
Barbara is quick to agree.
“It was a hit,” she muses, though she cautions viewers against getting too attached. “I’m going to keep the seat warm for two days, and then I’m going to return to my cave,” she says with a laugh.
Jenna Bush Hager and Barbara Bush. Brian Doben
Admittedly, Barbara’s schedule will remain quite busy even after her stint on Today as the sisters embark on the tour for their new children’s book I Loved You First (out now).
The sisters hail from a political family, yes, but a literary one, too: their mother, former first lady Laura Bush, was a librarian, and so were both grandmothers: Laura’s mother, Jenna Welch, and former first lady Barbara Bush.
A sewn, needle-pointed pillow that says “Reading is sexy” is an heirloom among the girls from their paternal grandmother. Today, the pillow rests proudly on Barbara’s couch, and in a brief moment of down time during PEOPLE’s photoshoot, Jenna reads a Mo Willems Elephant & Piggie story to Hal (complete with funny voices for the different characters), while a curious Poppy gingerly turns the pages of a copy of I Loved You First.
Jenna later describes the new book to PEOPLE as a “call to action” for busy parents.
“It’s like, ‘Hey, put the phone down. You only have so long with your kids,’” she says of the book’s theme. “If you can see the world through your kids’ eyes, it’s so optimistic and joyful and creative.”
Jenna Bush Hager and Barbara Bush. Brian Doben
For Barbara, time is equally as precious. Everything about motherhood is still new, and she relishes the novelty.
For more of Jenna and Barbara’s exclusive interview, pick up this week’s issue of PEOPLE on newsstands Friday.
“I was just telling my husband this morning, I know at some point [Cora Georgia and Edward] aren’t going to need me in this way, and I don’t want to miss it,” she says. “Little tiny blooms of purple flowers were coming out of a flower bed when we were walking to school, and Cora Georgia was so excited to point it out when I would have walked by and missed it. These little things that are just so beautiful and magical about our world would be so easy to pass by if not for the kids’ reminder.”
Barbara Bush and her children, Edward and Cora Georgia; Jenna Bush Hager and her children, Mila, Poppy and Hal. Brian Doben
Jenna, who gave birth to Mila in 2013, says she always knew Barbara was destined for motherhood.
“Because that was what she wanted, you know? And Barbara works hard to get whatever she wants. But it’s so beautiful to see her embrace her kids. And they are the luckiest, because she’s so creative and fun and present,” she says. “All kids want is to feel like they’re seen, and she makes both of her babies feel like that.”
“It’s very beautiful, sissy,” Jenna adds as Barbara begins to well-up with tears.
The sisterly display only reconfirms the truth that the two have been a duo since before birth, and they’re approaching this era of their lives — filled with co-hosting, co-authoring and raising the next Bush generation — the same way they’ve faced everything else: together.
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Jenna puts a finer point on things. “Our shared history makes us brave,” she says.
Today with Jenna & Friends airs weekdays at 10 a.m. ET on NBC.
