Chip and Joanna Gaines Get Emotional Ahead of Son's Senior Year: 'How Do You Slow Down Time?'

James Hardie

Chip and Joanna Gaines are going through all the bittersweet moments that come with being parents to a high school senior.

Speaking with PEOPLE about their home siding collection with James Hardie, the Magnolia power couple opened up about some of the exciting things happening in their own home.

"Five babies, one that just started his senior year of high school," Chip, 47, says of their family. "So we're freaking out about that."

"Jo's been an emotional wreck," he jokes. "You can quote me on that."

Though Joanna, 44, says that isn't quite the case, Chip did acknowledge what a big deal it is to watch their oldest, son Drake, 17, set off on his senior year.

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"She sees Drake off to his first day of school, which in kindergarten, it makes sense that you get really emotional," he says of Joanna. "Your senior year, this is a celebratory moment."

Joanna recognizes that she has a lot of feelings about all that's ahead of them. "I think for us, it's the realization that we're this tight little family unit and we're a bigger family."

"There's seven of us, but knowing the second that one baby leaves, it changes that dynamic," she notes.

Chip is choosing to focus on all the exciting aspects of watching Drake prepare for his next chapter. "I think like anything, we've done our job. And now with this little boy, man, whatever he is, it's going to be exciting to see what he becomes and I think it's healthy."

Joanna adds that she's in disbelief at how fast her not-so-little boy has grown up.

"I'm like, 'Oh my gosh, I remember him being a baby and then how did this happen?' So that's where, for us, it's like, how do you slow down time? Because we know time actually doesn't slow down," she says.

"But when you choose and you're intentional about what it is you do during the day and how you spend your evenings in some, I think unique way, you can actually slow time down and really savor those moments," Joanna continues. "That's what we're really wanting to do, is pay attention and say, 'Hey, this last year we held it well and go on. Go on, young man. Go do something amazing.' But I want to hold it well."

Just a bit older than their son is the couple's Magnolia-brand business, which started with Magnolia Construction over 20 years ago. Magnolia Construction made for an easy partnership between Magnolia Homes and James Hardie to create a siding collection to transform homes' curb appeal with long-lasting beauty and durability.

"Construction is where it all started for us. What we loved about this partnership with James Hardie is we've been using their product for 20 years. We drive by the homes we did 20 years ago down by Baylor University and those were all Hardie-sided homes," Joanna says.

Adds Chip, "I was joking before that back in our day you had to do really good work for people to get out of their car. I mean, realtors would drive up, look out the window and then literally keep driving if they didn't like what they saw."

"You really had to put your best foot forward, first impression kind of a concept. With James Hardie, we've always been really proud of the reality that we can put James Hardie siding on a project and know that 20 years later we can drive back by that project and still feel a lot of pride in it," he continues. "As opposed to feeling like you have to shade your eyes because you're embarrassed of how it looks 10, 20 years later."