Fixer Upper Chip Gaines and Joanna Gaines were famous for their house flipping. Now, they have their own TV network, product line, and empire in Waco, Texas — and that’s in addition to taking care of a big family. Joanna recently posted about her daughter’s 16th birthday, and she clearly put major time and effort into the elaborate setup. Here’s what she posted.
Joanna Gaines posted about her daughter’s 16th birthday on Instagram
Chip and Joanna Gaines have a reputation for managing their large family while also working on their own home projects. And when it comes to birthdays, it’s clear the couple makes their kids feel special. Joanna uploaded a clip to her Instagram on Oct. 19, 2022 showing Ella’s decorated house.
“My sweet girl turns 16,” Joanna captioned the post. “I’m trying my darnedest not to cry like a big fat mama baby when she drives off by herself tomorrow.”
The clip shows Chip and Joanna’s living room and dining room decked out with large helium balloons. The balloons come in a variety of colors, from sky blue to lavender to light orange, and have feathery streamers that are the same color hanging from their bottoms. Below the balloons is the dining room table with wrapped gifts.
Ella seems to have an eye for design. “She asked me if she could be a designer when she grows up,” Joanna captioned an Instagram post with Ella back in 2016.
Some fans were brought to tears by Joanna’s recent post.
“As the mother of six girls, you are right to cry,” a fan wrote. “We always say you don’t lose them when they go to college. At 16, they are gone. They are gone at 16. Just make sure you are finding more time to spend with them. And then the most amazing thing begins to happen, they actually look for ways to spend more time with you.”
How many children does Chip Gaines and Joanna Gaines have together?
Chip and Joanna Gaines have five kids — Crew, 4, Duke, 14, Drake, 18, Emmie, 12, and Ella, 16. Many wonder how Chip and Joanna Gaines got there. Fixer Upper couple balances family with business, and they’ve admitted it’s not always easy. Chip even admitted to People that he’s a stricter parent than he thought he’d become.
“And when I got to be a parent, I don’t know what it is about it … I feel a little bit like a drill sergeant sometimes,” he said in 2018. “Some elements of my personality, as a parent, I’m not real crazy about.”
As for Joanna, she’s a more “laid-back” parent than she thought. “[There are] certain things that I really care about, but I think the funny part, with Chip, is just the video games, the TV,” she added. “That’s where he kinda gets a little strict. It’s, ‘You go play outside.’”
Do they want more children to be?
Chip and Joanna Gaines have five children and a business empire. Can Chip and Joanna Gaines take on more kids? Entertainment Tonight interviewed them about the aging of their children and how it was possible to expand their family.
“I am terrified of that moment when our last one leaves,” Joanna admitted. “For me, it’s like if we can just keep having babies, then at some point it’s for sure I won’t have to experience that.”
Chip said that Crew, their youngest child, allowed Joanna and him to reevaluate their lives. “Then we had about eight years where we thought we were done with new babies and we were raising the four that we had,” he said. “… Crew, really, just something about him was almost like a parachute at the end of a race car. It didn’t force us to slam on the breaks, in the negative sense, it allowed us to really stop.”
Now that Ella’s getting older, perhaps Chip and Joanna will consider adding to the family.
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