Chip Gaines and Joanna Gaines celebrated a major milestone in their family on Saturday. Their son eldest son Drake graduated from high school. The Magnolia Network stars marked the occasion with a video showing off major moments throughout Drake’s childhood set to Tracy Lawrence’s “Time Marches On.”
“It feels like just yesterday that we were cheering him on as he took his first steps… but last weekend, as he walked across the stage to receive his high school diploma,” Joanna, 45, wrote on Instagram. “We were cheering him on as he took his first steps into a world beyond what he’s known. We’re so proud of you, Drake.” She included a hashtag with his jersey number, 16.
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Joanna also shared a photo of Drake holding his youngest brother Crew, 4, during the graduation ceremony. “Melt. My. Heart,” Joanna captioned the post. Joanna and Chip, 48, are also parents to Ella, 16, Duke, 15, and Emmie, 13.
Last year, the Gaineses admitted to PEOPLE they were “freaking out” about seeing their eldest child prepare for college. “Five babies, one that just started his senior year of high school. So we’re freaking out about that,” Chip told the magazine. “Jo’s been an emotional wreck… You can quote me on that.”
Joanna later added that this moment reminded her how they were a “tight little family unit and we’re a bigger family.” Now that one child is leaving the nest, it “changes that dynamic,” she said. Chip shined a light on the positives though, noting that wherever Drake goes, it will be “exciting to see what he becomes and I think it’s healthy.”
The Fixer Upper star also wrote about saying the major life changes they are experiencing for the first time in their relationship. “Soon, our oldest son, Drake, will be leaving home for college,” Joanna wrote in an essay for the couple’s Magnolia Journal. “In the grand scheme of heartbreaking things, this one comes with a lot of gratitude and excitement. But still, my first child is moving away, and our family dynamic will change because of it, and that can feel like a loss of its own. I catch glimpses now of what that life will look like and wonder if – or how many times – that might bring me to the floor.”
The Gaineses also celebrated their 20th wedding anniversary in May. Chip recently recalled how he had to “fight like hell” to keep their family together in the face of challenges they could not control. “I’ve never worried much about what we’ve had to leave behind, but hitting the 20-year mark has me looking back a little more than I normally do,” Chip wrote in Magnolia Journal. “It certainly hasn’t been a perfect story or an easy path. Instead, I’d say the story of our lives is more like Crew scribbled a crayon across the page. But every curveball, every pivot, every upside-down moment is what taught us how to hold on to each other for dear life. Without them, we wouldn’t have us.”
