It's all about patience and persistence - you often have to expose a child to a new food numerous times before he or she will begin to like it. So keep trying!

Barack puts on his suit and tie [and] he's out the door — I'm getting my hair, makeup, the kids, I gotta brush their hair. You know, he's always looking like 'where are you? where are you going?' But yeah, you know — it's fun to look pretty.

It's hard to make speeches with your hair in your face!

I mean, hope doesn't get actualized in three and a half years. If that were the case, we'd be out of luck as a country.

It's important for us not to lose sight of the fact that this is a family that's grieving and there's been a tremendous loss. And we all have to rally around that piece of it.

Sometimes the issue is about whether families and communities think girls are even worthy of an education in the first place. It's about whether girls are valued only for their labor and reproductive capacities or for their minds as well. And it's about whether women are viewed as second-class citizens or as full human beings entitled to the same rights and opportunities as men.

This year's [2016] White House holiday theme is "The Gift of the Holidays," and our decorations reflect some of our greatest gifts as a nation: from our incredible military families, to the life-changing impact of a great education.